Witches and Castles in Kilkenny

 Dear reader, this is where my Ireland trip differs from my other Europe trips greatly. I have become accustomed to my primary mode of transportation while travelling being my own two feet, and public transportation when absolutely necessary. But this time, in order to see Ireland wholly and truly, we rented a car.
             

The rental car process is an adventure in and of itself, let alone the actual feat of driving. And oh what a feat it was! Driving down two lane roads that were no wider than my driveway; hidden speed and traffic cameras everywhere; driving on the wrong side of the car on the wrong side of the road…

Oh, and there was also some pretty bad traffic.

The driving responsibility fell solely on P’s shoulder’s, because I was too young to rent a car (nevermind the fact that I was the one that taught him to drive). It was definitely a challenge for me to “take a back seat” and just trust in P’s adaptability. The extended insurance also really helped with this challenge!

So, after a couple days in Dublin, we picked up our rental car and drove to Kilkenny, a pretty town a couple of hours South East of Dublin. 

After the adventure of trying to park, we breathed a breath of relief and got settled into our hostel.

Just look at my motley crew:

Our first order of business was walking through town to scope out where to eat. On our wanders, we came across the COOLEST THING A CITY HAS EVER DONE. Okay, so I’m not really an authority or anything, but this was pretty awesome.

In the main strip on the lower side of the town, there was a row of stores and restaurants. Across from the storefronts, there was a boarded up area with wood painted on it, and notices about witches and witchcraft. Alex and I immediately swooned. But only it got even cooler, because through the deliberate knots and holes cut in the fence, a passerby could view through to the other side of the boards and see some awesome graffiti. This was such a cool and fun project that I had chills. 

It turns out that the area had been an eyesore in comparison to the shops across the street, so the town took on a beautification project and this is what they came up with. So much cooler than a flower garden in a traffic median, I’d say. The project they came up with drew upon local folklore about a witch named Alice Kyteler who owned an Inn + restaurant.

                                


                               


Most of the notices on the boards mentioned Kyteler, and the witch visible through the boards was ostensibly her. Kytler’s actual Inn had been transformed into a pub, so we made sure to stop in there for a bite and a pint. 

 After lunch we continued on our way to the very first legit castle I have ever seen. Although this would not end up on my favourites list, it will still always have a fond place in my heart for having been the first. 

The castle grounds were wonderfully kept, so we started by traipsing a circumference of the grounds, and just letting the magnificence of the structure impose itself on us.

Unfortunately we did not manage to take any pictures of the inside of the castle, but it had been set up as a very well curated and decorated museum. I would definitely recommend stopping by Kilkenny for a quick day trip if you’re in the region. 

Literary Dublin

 After a sleep long enough to slay the beast that is jet-lag, we got down to our real business with Dublin. The city has a rich literary history, so we dedicated an entire day to being unapologetic book nerds (okay… so what if that is not such a departure from every other day). 

The day started with a book lover's promised land: Trinity College. This library is by far the most beautiful library I've ever had the pleasure in which to breathe. 

The college itself was a cinch to find and walk to from downtown Dublin. 

The campus of Trinity College was so glorious that it even had me considering returning to grad school for my PhD (almost had me, but not quite). 

After a small wait to enter the Book of Kells exhibit (from which you can access the library), we snaked our way through the displays, only half reading for not being able to contain our excitement. 

The feeling upon entering the room is one I can only equate to one other moment in my life: seeing the Sistine Chapel for the first time. The experience of walking into a vast room and being entirely enveloped in beauty and art is one of the best experiences life has to offer. The scale, the age, the sheer size and even aesthetic beauty of the library had me literally standing with my jaw dropped and my eyes wide.

After the precursory walk around to try to commit every detail possible to memory, Alex and I engaged in a mandatory photo shoot. There were numerous busts of memorable philosophers and historical figures that Alex clearly had to pose with. I will only make you suffer through one such photo, even though I had to take roughly 27 of them. 

When he stops goofing around, my brother doesn't look half bad. 

This might be one of my favourite pictures of me every taken, if only for its ability to mentally transport me back to the instant in which it was taken.

In our day of literary Dublin, we saw artifacts from Beckett repeatedly, but this had to be my favourite: one of the original prints of Waiting for Godot.

Alex and I tried to take a picture that could capture our feelings about being present in a place we had dreamed about so long:

Our tour of literary Dublin continued with a walk over the home of Oscar Wilde, one of Alex's favourite literary figures. As cool as it was to see the building and stand on the doorstep (and of course have an excuse to talk about Oscar Wilde), we couldn't actually go in the building as it has been repurposed. 

Our final stop of the day was to the Writer's Museum, a wonderfully rickety old building. This museum made me acutely aware of the problem of a writer's museum: all of a writer's best artifacts are available for purchase at your local bookstore. This museum did however curate nice biographies with a perfect amount of historical and cultural context for Dublin, with a few nice pieces of art, and many, many typewriters. 

 Oh, and James Joyce's piano. 

Introductory Irish: Jet Lag and Guinness

After a particularly snowy and dreary day, my brother Alex and I were talking about the virtue of a crisp cool day, and how a grey sky could set the tone for a cozy day. 

This got me thinking about our recent trip to Ireland, where the sky seemed persistently overcast, yet it almost never rained during our ten day stay. After a particularly hot August, Ireland’s cooler fall weather was entirely refreshing.  Since we are in the midst of planning our next trip(s), I thought I would update my travel blog sooner than later. 

Whenever I told anyone I was going to Ireland, the response was either “So cool! I’ve always wanted to go” OR “Why?” One could group askers of these questions into a) those that have seen Game of Thrones and b) Those who have not (most of Game of Thrones’ beautiful Westeros scenery is captured in Northern Ireland). In all seriousness though, since I learned of my familial roots in Ireland, I have felt drawn to it. Every time I saw a picture of the rolling green hills, I craved to see them with my own eyes. Every time I read the words of my Irish literary heroes, I felt the urge to visit them at their graves. I had just finished my MA, and I wanted to reward myself with a trip to mark the occasion. And thus I was (once again) on a plane days after finishing my degree. 

Once we arrived in Dublin, we dropped our bags off at the Ashfield House Hostel where we had reservations. While Ashfield house had personality, was in a decent location, and was generally pleasant, I would not recommend it—just because I later found someplace even BETTER (I’ll get to that in the next few posts, and provide links). 

After we changed out of our travel clothes (ew, stale plane air + red eye = the feeling of 1” of grime on your skin), we went for a wander along the river Liffey. 

 This meander, which lasted only 47 minutes yet felt like 47 hours, sufficiently exhausted us. We succumbed to the jet lag and had a nap. 

 After resting up, we decided to journey over to the Guinness Distillery. It was a rather long walk from central Dublin, but we have a rule of avoiding public transportation when we travel. Seeing a city by walking its streets is, to me, a much more preferable way to travel. 

 Outside the golden gates. Okay, they’re not gold, but the type is. 

If you are in Dublin, the Guinness tour  was one of my favourite attractions. It walks you through every step of the Guinness brewing process, starting with the water that is used (you will be relieved to learn that it does not come from Dublin’s river Liffey). 

 The tour was extremely interactive, including a portion where participants smell test each ingredient of the beer. 

A taste test was also mandatory. 

 Also included in the tour was the history of Guinness marketing and advertisements. Pat looks a bit like a tool here, but he was mimicking the actual poster, so lets forgive him? 

Alex looks a bit more like a natural born model, the jerk. 

 On the final two upper floors of the building were my favourite aspects of the tour. You could trade in a drink ticket (included in the admission price) for either a lesson in precisely how to pour Guinness from the tap, or for a pint in the rooftop 360 bar. I used mine for the pouring lesson, which is actually far trickier than it sounds. I did alright though: 

 The boys traded in their tickets for the 360 bar, which was the cherry on top of an awesome day. The bar boasted the best views of Dublin by far.

 On our way back  to the hostel, we somewhat drunkenly got distracted by the opportunity for more beer. We stopped in at one of Dublin’s more famed pubs (albeit outside of the famed Temple Bar District)—y’know, just to erm, break up our long walk home. Give us some… sustenance. 

We sat on the patio of the Brazen Head pub and continued to soak in the Irish culture via the food and drink. 

           

We rehydrated ourselves after our arduous, long 1 kilometer walk from Guinness. After all, we earnt our beer after a long travel day. 

Stay tuned over the next week or so as I continue to post about our (fairly) recent trip to Ireland.