Allans Abroad: one day ... two castles, two museums and a palace

the view from my window this morning

the view from the other side of my window, Fitzpatrick Castle hotel in Kiliney.

We arrived here last night, two weary travellers, too tired to take this in but we slept in a castle and ate in a dungeon last night!

posh right?

here we are at our staff meeting, sans W & T but we are conscientious that way

We had an 'interesting' night in our gently humming steam-pipe distribution room, if water was running we knew about it. The wardrobe had been modified to reveal pipes and valves, MGM's mischievously wanted to see the chaos that would ensue from turning them off, but I was tired and we decided it was too cold to sleep in the car. We can vouch for the fact that the fire alarm works (2 times in one night & once at 6am) - so not so much with the sleeping. Smokers, this is what happens to other guests when you ignore the no smoking sign so just don't.

The 6am alarm did ensure we made it to breakfast though, so some good came of it. And we got off to an early start which was good because we saw a LOT today.

some greenery

two castles

this is the first of the day - Kilkenny castle

I was a bit tired and I didn't have Tony to follow so I did not think to walk down the park to take this photo (doh) so this is what the castle actually looks like.

photo credit

these are my photos

We took the guided tour, which I just love to do, you get so much interesting info that isn't in the guide books and you contribute to the upkeep and restoration. This building dates from 1195 and was built to control a fording-point of the River Nore and the junction of several routes. It was originally built by the 2nd Earl of Pembroke (aka Strongbow) and later was bought by a butler who changed his name to Butler after he made his riches being butler to the King of England. Apparently risking a hideous death by poisoning on a daily basis, as his job involved tasting the King's wine, had some financial upside that outweighed the obvious drawbacks. Anyway he bought this place, moved up in the world and the family lived here for 500 years! They went broke in the depression and auctioned the contents but didn't sell the castle. Eventually the last heir sold it to the people of Kilkenny for £50.

This is the library were the nobles would receive visitors.

See that little free standing picture to the left of the fire place? It's a screen, ladies (who wore makeup made of wax) would adjust it to shield their face from the heat of the fire because wax ... open flames ... the very least that could go wrong is their face would just melt off.

the dining room

The withdrawing room, where the women would withdraw to after dinner to let the men be manly. The name for this room was shortened over the years to become the drawing room.

This is the picture gallery, it is still used for functions today and is the second longest room in Ireland, so when I see Trinity's long room I will have see the two longest rooms in Ireland

We would have loved to spend more time in Kilkenny but we had a long list for today so we headed off to Waterford. I am realising that this trip will just give me ideas for more places to visit next time!

We headed straight for the Medieval Museum, MGM's happy when the stairs go down.

This is the Great Parchment Book of Waterford - city records from 1356-1649 - what a treasure trove for historians.

Then MGM was about to pass out from history-overload - I am very familiar with the signs so I deposited him in a coffee shop for cake lunch while I roamed the Bishop's Palace museum alone. Not just no MGM alone, completely alone, no other tourists alone, it was very nice in a don't get lost, don't get lost! kind of way.

Then, because I was going to visit the oldest civic building in Ireland (the only urban monument in Ireland to retain it's Viking name) I pointed to a pub and poor MGM had to have our staff meeting all alone. Today I was Wendy the intrepid and I climbed all the stairs to the top of this tower (not 1350 but quite a few).

Originally built in wood by Vikings in 914 for defence of their newly conquered land, it has been a mint, a prison, a wedding chapel, and a military storehouse.