Metropole hotel Kilkenny

... surprising considering the Irish love of spuds. Why exclude them from breakfast?<br><br>After fortifications are complete we head for the coast. Our drive takes us past Limerick and over the Shannon River, Ireland's longest river. A while latter we arrive at the beach, Spanish Point. As it was already late in the day we waste no time gearing up and hitting the waves. I'm completely decked out in loaner gear, but I'm using the same kayak I have at home, so it feels ...

... again" I said as I peeled back the foil to reveal a slimy chicken breast swimming in a pungent mustard cream sauce.<br><br>"They sure have" was his enthusiastic response, through a mouth half full.<br><br>That was odd. His response meant one of two things:<br>A) his sarcasm was so advanced that even I was unable to detect it.<br>B) he was actually enjoying this pathetic excuse for food.<br>He ...

... besides pasta, lunch meat sandwich, or pizza. Then when we came back Lindsey &amp; Brittany had made me a cake while I was gone and put up a birthday banner. Jordan also got be a flashing birthday girl sash. Everyone hung out in my apartment till about 10 and then we went downtown to the pubs. We called for taxis for 16 people and ended up getting this party bus with lights and loud music. The ride was really cool and the night was a blast!

<br><br>With cloudy skies overhead, we ate our breakfast and said good-bye to Olive and the people from Missouri. We had to make a stop at the nearby Ford dealership because one of our headlights was out, and John had no tools with which to replace it. The service tech had it done quickly, and we were charged only for the bulb (around $19), and told to enjoy our holiday. With the days getting shorter, we really needed the headlight.<br><br>Our first stop today was the Hill of Tara ...

... and plates. Nothing, in Ireland was served in/on paper or plastic. <br>We took our drinks on our stroll down to the water's edge. We found the water to be very cold. Everyone in swimming had a wet suit on, even the children. Two vans with surfing schools advertised on the side had surfboards and wet suits to rent. They also offered surfing lessons. Inch Beach was a very popular place for the locals. We enjoyed our short stop there.

... for shame!  We liked it anyway. Luckily we found St. Canice's next.  Thanks to my sighting of it on the horizon.  Mom thinks it was her excellent map-reading skills that got us there.  The first thing I did was run up to this giant tower column.  It has 102 steps and we had to pay about 5 Euro to climb it.  Mom even got her student discount.  At the top I got out my video camera.  At some point I will upload the video.  It was very windy. (Mom ...

... it fell into disrepair, and it was sold to the local governmnt for £50. Bargain. They took quite a few years to restore it, but they did do a good job. The tour ended in the long gallery, which we were told was the second longest room in Ireland. She did say where the first longest was, but I was ******* myself with laughter at her use of English, but then again, I was in Ireland and maybe this is the way they speak here !!!After the tour ...

let's just say it's been an interesting week... 'interesting' here does not really = enjoyable to start, we hadda baby mouse in tha house, lil bugger kept pestering me whilst trying to do my work at the pooter...as it appears that he was moving in one continuous circuit, part of which is in close proximity to my work station tony, barry, and i...kind folks we are...didn't want to kill it so we borrowed a humane trap (catch and release) from a friend, laced it with ...

... reserve in the town where we could stretch our legs and eat, but found none. This was to be a recurring issue for us over the next two weeks, with such things seemingly not existing in the whole of the Republic of Ireland (though we found Northern Ireland was far better equipped). In desperation we ended up eating in the carpark of a Gaelic Athletic Association sports ground and, with only Waterford Crystal as the main attraction, which Nanna had ...

... Glendalough to Enniscorthy that I thought would take an hour and a half took only 50 minutes. Unfortunately, that just meant that we went from the highlight of the trip (Glendalough) to the lowlight of the trip sooner than we thought. Enniscorthy Castle turned out to be a complete waste of time. That wasn't the impression we first got. We thought Enniscorthy itself was a pretty little town, especially with it still displaying paraphernalia from the Tour De ...