And Now - Kilkenny!

After our visit to the Irish National Stud, discussed in this post, we left Tully, County Kildare, and headed to our first overnight stay, in Kilkenny, which is in County Kilkenny.  Fortunately, we didn't get lost, as we did on our initial adventure, but it was far enough away that we didn't get there until it was dark.  Which made wending our way from one end of the Town Centre to the other, in order to get to our hotel, which was just outside of it, challenging.

However, we are nothing if not intrepid, so we did arrive safe and sound, though tired.  So basically, we unpacked and just hung out in the room until we couldn't stay awake any longer.  We only had one night staying there, so we wanted to be sure we were well enough rested on the next day to enjoy our day poking around.

One of the interesting things about our hotel was that just behind it, there was a petting zoo.  You heard that correctly - a petting zoo!  Go figure.  But it was fun to see animals, and they were all very well taken care of, and though admittedly not free to roam, had LOTS of space.  Of course, we had to check it out before we headed into the Town Centre.

The Tim makes a friend

 Why should they each eat out of a bucket, when both can share one?

Sweet pony face.

There were also sheep, goats, and cows, but those pictures did not turn out well enough to really tell what they were ...

And then we headed to Kilkenny Town Centre for the day.  As it turns out, they were having a "Taste of Kilkenny" festival, so we lucked out and got to see and try lots of local foods and beers.  (Whole families were there, and I commented to The Tim how parents were having samples of the local beers along with their kids.  No big deal, you know?  Whereas, here in the States, I'm sure everyone would be phoning Child and Family Services.)  Kilkenny is such a pretty and historic little town, and we were lucky because it was a gorgeous day!  We went to the food festival, toured Kilkenny Castle, and walked around on the grounds, then walked up and down the streets and looked in some shops.  We stopped for a tea break in a little tea shop that was charming, and really busy - so we heard a lot of the local news from those nearby.

We got a charge out of this Halloween decoration - the lid would open and close slowly, and the vampire would appear!

 Kilkenny Castle and a small portion of the side "lawn"

 Kilkenny Castle gardens

Kilkenny Castle - the wall on the left is where you enter the grounds, and the food festival was right outside that area.

Another wonderful day, and that evening, time to head to our next spot - Blarney, in County Limerick.  But that's for the next installment ...

Have a good weekend!