Last Hurrah in Ireland

Initially we planned to use today to zip up to Northern Ireland but we realized that would be a lot of traveling with very little stopping so we modified our plan to have less traveling and more stopping.

 

We went to Kilkenny, Bennettsbridge, and Newbridge.

 

In Kilkenny we succumbed to one more castle.

And visiting castles consumes endless calories so Bob and I had to get some back at the tea shop across the street.

We enjoyed Rothe House and Garden.  The antlers and head above me are of a long extinct deer which stood as tall as its head is hanging here.  I'm glad it's extinct!

The arched ceiling in this room has no metal parts and no nails.  It's totally held together with wooden pegs.

Many places have umbrellas handy in case you need them.  These were waiting by the garden, but we didn't need them.

The garden had both flowers and vegetables

and it is a very happy place for bees.

Cherry trees were esplaniered against the wall

and apples are already forming in the little orchard.

We stopped at the Black Abbey to see the beautiful stained glass.

I couldn't get them all into my picture, but there are seven bars in a row on this street!

We ate at a pub on a different street

where I had the bacon and cabbage meal.

In Bennettsbridge we visited the Mosse pottery where we were eager to look, but not to buy.

You'll get an idea here of why we didn't buy.

Even upstairs where they sold seconds, a salt shaker (pepper shaker not included) was 17 euros.

Then we headed to Newbridge where a silverware manufacturer has a free museum of iconic clothing including this dress of Princess Di's.  There are many gorgeous costumes from movies there and I think I'll put a lot of them up on our guild's blog once I get home.  Lots may not be interested, but I know a number of our quilters started sewing clothing and Hallowe'en costumes before they got into quilting.  The detailing on the clothing is amazing.

The main floor of the building is where the company sells their silver products.  This baby is the size of our barbeque.

During our whole time in Ireland and Scotland we had only 5 minutes of rain until we were driving back to Dublin tonight.  Then we had about an hour and we didn't care because our adventures here is over.  There's nothing left to do but pack our bags and get ready for our departure tomorrow.

Good times.  Good memories.  This trip was worth every euro and pound we spent.  At least that's how I feel until our credit card bill comes!