Hello Kilkenny, Ireland
Rise and shine to a beautifully cloudy day. I woke up around 7:30am with no alarm. After I showered, realized my power converter didn’t work, got dressed and headed out by 8:30am. There’s a Costa cafe in the same shopping center as the hotel. It just opened when I headed out. I asked the receptionist where I could get a new power converter and that’s when she explained that everything opens around 9:30am. That’s crazy compared to US businesses. You can’t even get coffee until 8:30!
Since my power converter didn’t work, I will have to charge my phone using my power bank and I plan to purchase some hot tools for my hair at another store here in the shopping center once it opens at 9:30am. I purchased a power surge protector at Woodie’s, which is like Home Depot. At Sherwood’s, I bought a straightener. Once I got back and plugged in the power cord for the power surge protector, but that didn’t work either. I realized there’s a switch to turn on the power to it. So my original one works too! Honestly though, I’m glad I bought what I did for extra protection.
Headed to Fig Tree Restaurant for breakfast. I ordered a full English breakfast and a mocha. The mocha is delicious! Very chocolatey, but not super sweet. A full Irish breakfast was huge and so yummy! I was pleasantly surprised that I really enjoyed every item!
Bathrooms are tiny! Things here are so much smaller than in the US. The roads, bathrooms, cars, restaurants. It’s so strange for me.
Headed to see the Medieval Mile Museum. Very cool tombs and a lot of great history there.
Next I went to Kilkenny Castle. Some rooms were tiny but others were massive!! Grabbed a mocha at the tea room. Explored the lawn and paths by the castle. I toured the castle at the same time as a gentleman who was taking photos with small stuffed animals. I asked him what the purpose was and he explained that he was taking photos for his girlfriend. He did it on his last trip so he is continuing. How sweet!
JerPoint Abbey was a lovely ruin that used to be run by monks.
Two of the artistic pillars around the building were of a Butler knight, Fitzgerald Lady & the monkey which was on both. The story is there was a fire in the castle. While everyone got out they realized they had left a baby inside. It was too late to go save the child. Later they found out that their exotic pet monkey had saved it.
In the monk’s beliefs, they weren’t allowed to have artwork displayed, but they got lax about the rules. So there are the pillars and other sketches that are still there today! Two weeks ago, the second to last person able to be buried here was buried. Only his wife will be able to be buried here, then no more since it is now a historic landmark.
Online I saw there was some place called JerPoint Park for Sheep & Dog working plus some church ruins. I had asked the man who helped me at the Abbey about it and he told me it was a working sheep farm so call ahead and make sure they are open. My calls didn’t go through, but I went to see anyways.
The gate by the street was open so I drove down to a house where an older gentleman was sitting. I asked if they were open and he said sure! I parked and that began the most wonderful encounter!
I met his sheep dog Glen. He showed me how he worked the sheep. That was very impressive! He asked if I wanted to see the lambs and of course I said yes! We drove around the fields looking at all the beautiful, spotted mommas and babies.
Then I spotted a couple donkeys in the field across from us! They are his donkeys, so he let me go and pet them! Their names are Jack and Netty!
Then, he took me to the church ruins and told me so many lovely stories and history about it. My favorite part about the ruins and gravesite is that SANTA is buried there! Due to the controversy and the fighting, people were trying to grave rob his body. In order to keep his body safe, they moved his grave to Ireland.
He told me why there’s three gold bars above pawn shops. Saint Nick used to give to the poor as we all have heard. One time he had decided to give three woman a dowry so they could marry. So he took three bags of gold and set off to help. He went in the front door of the first family and gave them the first bag. The second family had the door locked so he put it threw the window. The third house had everything locked up, so he put it through the chimney. Hence Santa coming down the chimney!
The church ruins had been covered in ivy for years. In 2006, they finally removed all the ivy and uncovered the church that you can tour today.
We went to Momo’s in Waterford for dinner. I had a delicious mocha. Then, I ordered their soup special for the day which was broccoli. Best soup I’ve ever had; I could eat it everyday!! For my main entree I ordered a pork fillet topped with ham (bacon). It was the BEST dish I have ever eaten. If you are in the area, you MUST EAT AT THIS PLACE. For dessert I had their special which was Chocolate cake with banana. YUM!