Bass ackwards...

Driving opposite of how you're used to is a bit unnerving. I tend to dream about my anxieties & that was no different. Luckily actually driving on the opposite side worked out better than my subconscious had it go. Thank the Lord!! It's costing more than anticipated (cause I went ahead and opted for the primo insurance, CYA ya know) but it's allowing is a lot more freedom and opportunity than public transport (which is totally doable, as I've done it before. Just a lot of lugging bags around and having to know when you have to be at the bus stops, etc). We also opted for a GPS, which as Nathan said, is probably a good thing for our marriage. This is technically our honeymoon. It'd be bad if we were bitching and nagging at each other the whole time.

So we got the car & made it out of Dublin and to Kilkenny in one piece. After finding and checking into our B&B we sauntered down to the main road to find somewhere for lunch. Nathan loves Chinese food and on my previous visit to Kilkenny i'd eaten at Mandrin restaurant a couple doors down from my hotel. There was still an Asian restaurant there but it was closed. I'd also eaten at an Italian place across the street before, which was open and had early bird specials (3:30ish when we were there). For €50 we got a bottle of wine & 3 courses each. I had bruschetta, prawns & pasta in cream sauce & tiramisu. Nathan had wrapped prawns, an open faced calzone (yeah, a pizza) and bailey's cheesecake. Millie shared with us. We had a nice Latvian waitress who's lived in Ireland for 5 years. She shared that she hasn't heard a lot of good things about Americans or traveling to the states. She said we were really nice though. I told her that everywhere has it's good and bad places & where we're from, people are friendlier and not as rude as a lot of places people travel to (NYC, DC). We also met a man who had visited dallas. He had a Cowboys hat on so i asked if he was a fan. He said it was a souvanier from his trip and told about how when he was there it was +70 or so an everyone was wearing jackets while he was out enjoying the pool. I asked if it was not long after summer & he said October. I told him that was probably one of our first cool fronts after summer so it seemed cold. Now with the back & forth between mid 30s and upper 70s you're apt to see shorts & flip flops on the 70* days.

We then wandered around Kilkenny's high street. Stopped at a couple shops, got a Peppa Pig dress for MM at Dunnes. We were looking for an umbrella stroller but had no luck. It was getting dark and shops were closing up around 6pm. We were hoping to hit up a pub with some music. A woman asked if she could help us find something & as we were talking with her, a gentleman walked up and said "I know where you can go." We followed him up toward the main street and turned into this archway in the wall. I said "talk about a hole in the wall" and right around that time he stepped forward and I saw a sign "Hole in the Wall."

We went in and it was a place I'd seen on Pinterest. A very small, quaint bar with an older gentleman behind the bar. We were directed upstairs & I chatted with a guy named John. He was the owners nephew and came from Limerick on the weekends to help. I had some Kilkenny beer & a German Pilsner. I was feeling quite good by the end of the night. There was a benefit for a school around 9 & we hung around for the start. It was a lot of fun & I'll fill in more on that later. We got a taxi back to the B&B and I crashed out pretty hard.

MM made the early morning a trying time. But we finally all got back to sleep (and after apologizing if we disturbed everyone, we're assured we hadn't). We had a full Irish breakfast which was DELICIOUS! Black & white pudding too. We got on the road (had an incident where we figures out you have to put the car in gear before taking the break off, freaked me out a bit, thought I'd broke the car) and headed out toward Cork.  Along the way we stopped at Cashel Rock. It was pretty awesome. But crazy windy at one point. And rainy & cold. It nearly blew me over. But i got some pics and we enjoyed the inside areas.

We found our hotel in Little Island, Co. Cork and had a bite while waiting for our room. Delicious, delicious burgers & cube chips. We got the luggage to our room then promptly went to Cobh for the Titanic Experience. Cobh is quite hilly. And definitely quaint. It was the last port of call for the Titanic on April 11, 1912. We were the last tour of the day & then wandered a bit but most everything had closed. We stopped in a video store (the 3rd time this trip I believe, yep... That's what makes hubs happy) and got MM a couple Peppa Pig DVDs cause they didn't have any Timmy Time. On our way to the car, we decided we'd get a pizza at a local place for dinner. And got off course on the way back to the hotel & had a lights mishap (wasn't sure if they were on or brights, it got solved but it was a bit tense for a few).

So here we are, resting up for tomorrow. Headed to Blarney Castle on our way to Killarney.

MM is still waving and making friends. Nathan is still excited and in awe of it all. And back home everyone is freezing their parts off... Last time I came I Ireland it snowed like 8". Glad I get to miss the nasty weather there! Here's hoping for nice weather here!! :)

Sláinte!


Again, please excuse typos.