Kilkenny
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone, and a special Happy Birthday to my little Goodson James Blair Farrar Keane who was 2 on Saturday. There IS a present on the way!
I’ve been pretty quiet over the holidays both online and here in Ireland. I had an Irish Christmas (same as an Australian one but colder) with the kind and lively Browns, and spent New Year in the sitting room, safe from the blustery winds and rain, drinking champagne, watching Saturday Night Fever and winning another round of Monopoly (who me, competitive?).
Mostly they’ve been soft days thank God, a light, constant, misty rain, and when the sun does shine through, the skies are icy blue, greens glisten and the greys sparkle.
This last week I’ve been touring the sunni(-er than the west at least) south-east to see some real, live castles. The best of which was the huge Kilkenny Castle in, um, Kilkenny. A stronghold of Strongbow in the 11th Century and home the Norman Butlers from the 13th to 20th Century. Also the home of Smithwicks Brewery (makers of… Kilkenny), Kilkenny was a really lovely town, and we had a great room on the bank of the River Nore, looking up at the castle at night. I also went to Rock of Cashel, more of an abbey than a castle, but very impressive perched high up on the rock, overlooking the counryside.
Along the countryside are lots of little, ruined castles (private strongholds of rich landowners) that I would just love to wander through, but have not yet because they are on private land.
Other than that I’ve been on some walks along the beaches of Myinnish, been to a Christmas dinner for Sean’s TV station (where I won a bottle of wine and got dragged to centre stage by the weather man/MC and questioned, and I so love that kind of attention).
Now I’m off solo again on a cheap fare to Barthelona. Weather prediction 16 C and sunny for Wednesday and Thursday, Gaudi, Galleries, Cerveza, Paella, and me without my phrase book. So log in for more updates now I’m on the move again. Here are some more pics of Ireland and castles.
I’ve been pretty quiet over the holidays both online and here in Ireland. I had an Irish Christmas (same as an Australian one but colder) with the kind and lively Browns, and spent New Year in the sitting room, safe from the blustery winds and rain, drinking champagne, watching Saturday Night Fever and winning another round of Monopoly (who me, competitive?).
Mostly they’ve been soft days thank God, a light, constant, misty rain, and when the sun does shine through, the skies are icy blue, greens glisten and the greys sparkle.
This last week I’ve been touring the sunni(-er than the west at least) south-east to see some real, live castles. The best of which was the huge Kilkenny Castle in, um, Kilkenny. A stronghold of Strongbow in the 11th Century and home the Norman Butlers from the 13th to 20th Century. Also the home of Smithwicks Brewery (makers of… Kilkenny), Kilkenny was a really lovely town, and we had a great room on the bank of the River Nore, looking up at the castle at night. I also went to Rock of Cashel, more of an abbey than a castle, but very impressive perched high up on the rock, overlooking the counryside.
Along the countryside are lots of little, ruined castles (private strongholds of rich landowners) that I would just love to wander through, but have not yet because they are on private land.
Other than that I’ve been on some walks along the beaches of Myinnish, been to a Christmas dinner for Sean’s TV station (where I won a bottle of wine and got dragged to centre stage by the weather man/MC and questioned, and I so love that kind of attention).
Now I’m off solo again on a cheap fare to Barthelona. Weather prediction 16 C and sunny for Wednesday and Thursday, Gaudi, Galleries, Cerveza, Paella, and me without my phrase book. So log in for more updates now I’m on the move again. Here are some more pics of Ireland and castles.
posted by x kel at 10:12 PM
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