O'Loughlins Hotel Portlaoise

... man in the room has to come give you a birthday kiss on the cheek! It was so embarassing, but I have the interesting tale of being kissed my about 15-20 men old enough to be my grandfather. ha Anyways on my birthday I went to classes and David gave me a pretty gold chain because I had broken one my necklaces when I was over here. Then after class the girls helped me get ready and David took me out for a nice supper. It was good to eat ...

... before going down to the shop at the bottom of the hill to get out of the wind.

We saw a sign for St. Patrick’s well just beyond the car park, so we walked up to it. It was dry, but we gave it a little time before getting back in the car and driving to the town of Trim.

Trim Castle dominates the landscape as one enters the town. We entered and rather than wait half an hour for a tour, we chose to explore just the grounds. The grounds were quite extensive, and the ...

Founded in 1620 - best known for the family's contribution to astronomy. In 1845, the world's largest telescope at the time was built here. The 56 ft wooden tube is supported by two walls.

In the gardens, they apparently also have the world's largest hedge-row.

Well I have been getting demands to update my travel blog so I thought I would leave you a guys a quick update on the past week. Most of classes started this past week and I already have recieved a ton of homework from my nursing course. I think that it is going to keep me fairly busy. I also started Microbiology which I don't think will be too bad exepect for keeping our lab notebook updated ...

... other. Plus, we both love food :) Speaking of, our oven allows me to make delicious hot ham and cheese sandwiches. Fantastic! I'm pretty much just chilling out today and relaxing. A nap might be in order. Tomorrow we're going on a walk/ hike thing out in the country just to have some fun. I'm pretty excited. I think I'll write more after that. Hopefully I'll get some pictures uploaded on Kaitlyn's computer since mine is not cooperating. That's it for now though. More later. :)

... and plates. Nothing, in Ireland was served in/on paper or plastic.
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.

... marvelled at the size of the mansion and craftmenship. Slowly nature is taking over the place, with the ivy growing thickly on the walls. The mansion is approximately 200 years old and it is not hard to imagine the splendor in it's time. You can hear the horses hooves on the cobblestone coming through the archway from the stables to the main house to deliver the food and people in the carriages. The weather has continued to be very kind to us with lots ...

This morning after eating a big Irish Fryup Brekky we wandered around Wicklow taking in the sights of the harbour and ruins of the Black Castle. We utilised the internet cafe to check emails and book some much needed accommodation in Waterford and Dublin Airport - not retuning to the city of Dublin!! We then headed to Port Laoise for AJ to touch base with her roots! We booked into our B&B in ...

... in the Midlands - I asked my grandfather, Dawson Deverell, to tell me about his life growing up in Laois. As we sat by an open fire I took down what he said: "The Deverell's, they've been in Ireland, don't ask me how long, a couple of hundred years anyway. I sometimes think they came from France, but I suppose there was such a lot of movement around that time, they may have come over with an army from somewhere, you wouldn't know. My ...

... and Hawaii. I arrived eight weeks ago and have been in Laois most of this time. So my impressions of Ireland has been made up of Laois. If my father's family did not live here I must admit it would not have been my first port of call. Laois has the unfortunate problem of being stranded right in the middle of the country. They never attract tourists. Who heads straight to Idaho or Birmingham for a spot of tourism? Australia is lucky to have Uuluru ...