 |
| Kilkenny Humor? |
 |
| Kilkenny Castle |
 |
| Kyteler's Inn |
August 27, 2007- Kilkenny
The road gods giveth and the road gods taketh away. We were
right on in our directions to Kilkenny. Getting to the castle was another
issue. There seemed to be a diversion on the road we needed so we asked a
construction worker how to get to it. He wasn’t from there and didn’t know but
directed us to the right. At the next corner we asked another worker who told
us to follow the diversion signs. After a while we weren’t sure we were on the
right track. We’d slowed to a crawl when a man in a house opened his second
floor window and took a look out. I called up to him and he told us to take a
left when we came to a light at the main intersection. We dutifully followed
the garish orange signs until we got back to the exact same spot where we’d
asked the first worker. We turned left and there was the castle.
We made a good choice. Kilkenny is situated on the banks of
the River Nore. As you approach the town the first sight is the river cascading
past the castle with the spires of St. Mary’s and the Black Abbey in the
distance. Kilkenny Castle was originally built as a wood structure in 1170, but
it burned down. Those old wood castles have a way of doing that. In 1216 a
stone structure was begun. In 1967 some restoration was begun with the bulk
being completed in the 1990’s. Five million pounds were spent on attention to
such detail as finding the original French fabric weavers who made the wall
coverings and having them replicate their work.
Lunch was in Kyteler’s Inn as much for its sordid history as
for the food. BTW beef served here is featured as “Irish beef” since the
trouble with mad cow disease. The story is that in the early 1300’s the inn was
owned by Dame Alice Kyteler who went through four husbands “quicker than you
can say poison.” She was convicted of sacrificing animals to a demon she called
“Art.” Alice was imprisoned for a short time but because of connections and a
quick whit she managed to talk her way out. She fled to England leaving her maid,
Petronilla, behind. The maid became Ireland’s first heretic to burn at the
stake.
We strolled the crowded narrow streets and admired the high
fashion in the stores. The Irish don’t hurt for style. We were on our way to
the Black Abbey, built in 1225. It was typical of Gothic stone architecture and
was well re-stored including the many stained glass windows. The black capes of
the Dominican order that founded it gave the abbey its name.
Cork It
Oh yes, you may remember that today was supposed to be Waterford.
We decided to skip it. We’d all seen crystal being made before and none of us
was into acquiring more. But we did need to drive to Waterford to get to Cork,
our next stop. David put down his window to ask a man for directions. The man
motioned us to pull into the lot where his car was parked. He gave us the
directions, but when David repeated them back incorrectly, the man told us to
just follow him. He led us to our turn and we were off.
Ah, but where was our B & B? We had a printout with a picture of it from the tour company
saying it was the Riverview B & B in Bandon, west of Cork City. However,
our voucher and itinerary said it was in Douglas southeast of Cork. We pulled
into a gas station and I prevailed upon the manager to let us use the station’s
phone. The Riverview B & B in Douglas did have our reservation. When we
finally arrived in Douglas we stopped at another gas station but they wouldn’t
let us use their phone. David remembered a ploy used on one of our favorite TV
shows, The Amazing Race. There couples race around the world for $1
million. When they need a phone they ask to borrow a cell phone and offer to
pay. We found a wildly pierced teen-ager who agreed to help us out even before
we offered him money. The owner of the B & B told us we were only 300 yards
down the road. I told him to go outside and wave. We could see him.
He’s a nice enough guy but his wife is a bit “balmy” as they
say here. She’s the one cooking breakfast so we’d better be nice to her. David
asked her about laundry service and she kept asking him if he was sure she
should order it for tomorrow. Short of pulling out our dirty skivvies he didn’t
know what else to do. He’s so desperate he bought Irish undies today.
Not to worry. If they don’t like us they can just
electrocute us. We have an electric shower. A switch on the wall activates the
water heating. When in the shower we’re to push a button to start the water
flowing. I’ll be sure to use the rubber shower mat.
We hope to get to Blarney Castle tomorrow but none of us
wants to kiss the stone. Who knows where our path will take us.
Toby
No comments:
Post a Comment