Sat Apr 27 - Dublin to Kilkenny

Wicked good sleep and if I hadn't set my alarm, we would have gotten up who knows when. Jetlag is a drag. We were suppossed to meet a friend's daughter but she had train problems so we missed her. But we had some great coffe and met some great folks at he 9th Degree coffee shop down the street. We checked out of the hotel by 10:30 and drove to Glendalough, which was an old monastery where a guy named Kevin (later Saint Kevin) lived a hermit life, meditated, probably fasted (not much up there for eats..) and started a monastic community (which kind of ended the hermet thing). Today there is a Saint Kevin Ice Cream truck up there so he has come a long way.
Ok, funnies aside, this is a beautiful spot. And really old. And Ireland has done a nice job protecting it and keeping it neat and tidy. Being from the states, it hurts my head that there is this much history here. Thousands of years.
We took lots of pics here and then continued on to Kilkenny. Google maps did an awesome job of sending us down tiny back roads.
A brief summary of the roads here. The M roads are the big 4 lane roads and we told Google not to send us down there. Next are the N roads which are two lane, pretty skinny and speed limit of 100 kph (62 mph). The R roads are next down and are really really skinny and sometimes the center line disappears and you have to "call it" when someone comes the other way as to whether you are going to stop and let the other guy pass, slow way down and wiggle past, or just pray and go for it. And last on the list are the L roads which are all paced but mostly single lane roads with pulloffs (mostly) so when someone comes the other way, one of you finds a pulloff and waits for the other guy to go by. It all seems to work, but it required real focus, all the time.

We continued on to Kilkenny, checked into the Zuni hotel, shuffled the car around to the correct car park, and found a pub which was supposed to have live music, but the musician either did not show up or the owner cancelled. Still had a great meal and one of the funniest waiter's yet. Great guy, lots of fun, big tip. Another great local beer (Kilkenny) and Deb found a new favorite cider.
We spent the rest of the night strolling around Kilkenny getting our bearings. Lots of wedding related parties going on. These people know how to have fun!