On the road again...

We left Dublin on Tuesday morning, and headed out to Waterford. We stopped around lunchtime in Kilkenny and got lunch at a restaurant across from Kilkenny Castle. After lunch, we walked down to the Cathedral of St. Canice, a church that's been used for over 800 years, first as a Catholic church and then as an Anglican church since the Reformation. I found a window that I really like, so I sat down and drew for a while, while others in our group chose to climb the tower. Around 3:00, we headed back into town to tour the castle; it was the home of the Butler family for hundreds of years, until they moved out and it fell into disrepair; they then decided to give it to the goverment for upkeep and it has undergone extensive restoration.

That evening, we drove to Waterford, which we've discovered dies at about 6 pm. Taking a tip from a local man painting a shop front, Susy, Alecia, Amanda and I ate dinner at T & H Doolan's, the oldest pub in town. It has been expanded several times, and they even have a part of the medieval wall in the building. They told us that there would be live music that night, so we walked around and looked in empty shop windows until 9:30; the music was fantastic and the guy was quite amusing, even if he did threaten to sit on Amanda's lap until she sang along with "Molly Malone."

The next morning, we headed to the Waterford Treasure Museum, which went through the history of Waterford, along with various "interactive" exhibits; for example, we got to do a "3-d presentation" on the Vikings which involved sitting in a boat that "rocked"-it was all quite amusing. After that, we were supposed to go to two galleries, but they had closed, so we had a long lunch and headed out to the Waterford Crystal Factory. Our guide took us through all the steps in glass making, and even let some of us hold pieces; there's one of me with a giant crystal goblet, but Alecia has it, not me. In the Waterford shop, I bought my present for me that Mom told me to get, a gold Celtic cross with crystals inlaid; I felt that that would be a good, lasting way for me to remember this trip. We had a group dinner last night, and Mom & Dad, I tried Indian food. I was a little unsure, but I figured it was now or never; I'm having a lot of growth moments lately, so I went ahead and it was really good. I was expecting my stomach to rebel about 2:00 this morning, but I slept like a rock.

Last night, Susy and I just hung out in our hotel room, and we left for the Rock of Cashel at about 9:30. We arrived around 11, and spent the next 3 hours wandering around, taking a guided tour through the buildings, and working on drawings. Amanda, James, Amanda, Susy and I took a walk down to a ruined Cistercian monastery from the 12th century and ate our lunches down there. I took pictures on the walk down, then pictures of Cashel from the abbey; it was quite a walk, but worth it for the view. We spent the rest of the afternoon in Adare, of which I also took a lot of pictures; the church pictures from the end are from a priory established in 1280, which is still in use. We got back on the bus a 3rd time and are now in Limerick; we had another group dinner at a very hip little Italian restaurant, and I'm going back to journal tonight. I can't believe we only have a little over a week left; I miss home, but I'm having so much fun and loving Ireland so much that I don't want to leave-I just want my family to move here!