Minotel Club House Kilkenny

... black pudding is the same with the addition of blood. It is the Irish version of blood sausage, variants of which can be seen throughout Asia and Europe. They are both delicious, and are integral the traditional Irish breakfast. Our breaky this morning is a hefty one, consisting of bacon, sausage, pudding, eggs, tomatoes, bread and hash browns, all of which are considered integral to the traditional breakfast with the exception of the hash browns. I find this a ...

... low enough, you will never be disappointed" certainly does not apply to airline food. They really can't get anything right. Even the bread is sub-standard. I would be curious to know how it compares to prison food.<br><br>Michelle was a star and drove all the way to Dublin to pick me up. It was a 5 hour return trip for her, but I was greeted with genuine enthusiasm. The drive back was ...

... 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!

We managed to sort out the car hire, however Avis was way out of town. We had to take the DART out west and walk about 7 minutes, again poor Amy lugged her backpack out that way!! We picked up our black Kia Rio we dubbed Seamus and headed to Waterford. I was a bit nervous hadn't driven for about 2 months and there were some very strange markings on the roads!!! Lucky they drive on the same side of the road as us!! lol<br><br>We also hired a GPS system.. dubbed ...

... where many ancient chieftains are buried, then went over to the shore of the lake.<br><br>Autumn is slowly making its way into Ireland. The leaves are beginning to turn, some are falling, and the daylight hours are becoming shorter. The heather that just a week ago was bright is now fading into dullness. Still, the grass is green, and the country remains beautiful.<br><br>We left Glendalough via the Braveheart Drive which is also St. Kevin&#8217;s Way and traveled about an hour to ...

... Its a good base point though to visit the surrounding area which we ended up doing. We arrived late the first day so we just dropped our stuff off at the hostel, got something to eat, and walked around. It was a sunny day so it was nice to soak in the sunshine. Afterwards we went back and got ready for another night of drinking and socializing. We ended up meeting a bunch of girls from our hostel and we went to this pub that was going to have live music but it was started so late ...

We chose to stay at Tree Grove camp site because our Ireland camping guide indicated it was a mere 1.5km from Kilkenny centre - a distance we considered very walkable. We started to doubt this before our arrival after we past a roadsign saying "Kilkenny 2km"! The camp site was nice although it did have a rather laid-back attitude and theme. The showers were in the "Outback" and the reception was ...

... s towns leave much to be desired. Eventually, we did get there, dropped him off, turned the car around, and picked him up empty-handed. They don't have any merchandise for sale. Shucks. Well, onto the highway. We drove along the Irish highways which again vary from wide, double-lane highways to single-lane highways with shoulders as wide as a full lane, to single-lane roads with no shoulders that wind their way through the countryside. The funny thing ...

... was when Amber stumbled on the almost totally hidden remains of some stone outbuildings long since taken over by the trees, ferns and creepers of the dark woods nearby. If you ask me it was these buildings that still carry the most character and mystique that surrounds the monastic lives of the people that lived here nearly a thousand years ago.<br> <br>From Ballyhack we crossed by ferry to Passage East and had left County Wexford behind for County ...

... br><br>We quickly exited the museum and set off for Portlaoise. We made great time between Enniscorthy and Portlaoise. Since it became apparent that we were going to make Portlaoise by 6 p.m., I started getting some pressure to cancel our reservation in there and just keep going until it got dark. However, I resisted that pressure for two reasons. First, I thought it was too late to cancel. Second, I had heard how hard it was to get a room in Ireland ...