Because we were due to be spending a fair amount of time in the car, we weren’t at all surprised to see the sun come peaking out from behind the ever present clouds. We enjoyed our last breakfast at the Rosquil house (spinach and feta omelet with GF toast – thanks Rhoda!) and hit the road. It was about an hour to the Rock of Cashel which is not at all like what the name conjures up. It’s a ginormous hill that’s been used as the seat of power for the kings of Munster since the 4th century but it was handed over to the church in the 12th century and they put buildings on it which are still standing. The kids decided that this was the coolest historical building place we’ve been to so far because it’s a ruin: Duncan is tired of Victorian restorations of medieval buildings and really appreciated seeing things as they have survived. There is St. Patrick’s cathedrals – the most important cathedral in all Christendom at one time according to Dave the Guide. Appended to that was the fortified archbishop’s residence and Cormac’s chapel – an architectural anomaly in these parts due to the round arches and sandstone construction but very interesting nonetheless.
We then had fun with modern technology. We had “Sally” the GPS unit (the one we were swearing at in Dublin!) plugged in and programmed her to navigate to Cork so we could get some lunch. Even though we updated the maps before we left home (and tried really hard to buy new ones in Dublin!), Sally apparently didn’t know about the new M8 motorway between Cashel and Cork. We were speeding along happily at 120km per hour while Sally showed our car careening through fields and across streets. Every time we hit an overpass, she wanted us to turn left or right on the street 40 feet over our heads! It was most entertaining!
We managed to find our way into Cork without incident – Sally recognized the road when it went from the M8 (motorway) to the N8 (dual carriageway). We parked and wandered around until we found someplace suitable for lunch. It actually took us a while because there seems to be an abundance of bagel sandwich shops and fried chicken places in Cork City! A pint and a fine pub lunch later, we stopped at the shopping centre but this time it was for Frank not the teen consumers. My beloved spouse packed a pair of Levi’s out of the clean laundry basket before we left without actually looking at them…. yup, they’re mine! So he’s down a pair of jeans, the ones from yesterday weren’t quite dry yet, and it is just a bit chilly for shorts so we are off jean shopping. Got a reasonable pair of Marks & Sparks dungarees (and some pajamas which he also forgot!) and then we were off to our actual destination: Kinsale.
Okay, I have heard places referred to as picturesque and I’ve actually seen some very pretty towns in my time but this place is right out of a tourbook! The buildings are painted vibrant colors, the shops are quaint, the roads narrow, and there are boats in the water as far as you can see – including some incredible yachts! We found our B&B which is actually on a hill overlooking the water (yup, breathtaking view) and got settled in. We have a real wireless connection here – not just the BB – and there’s a computer for guest use so the kids are beside themselves and are planning to spend all night on Facebook!
Unfortunately, the B&B is too far out of town to walk so we drove back down the hill to the adorable town and did our wandering thing. We popped in and out of a few shops then realized that was very dangerous (but I swear I *need* the royal purple cashmere cape…really!) so we headed for a walk along Kinsale Harbour (the Scilly walk) to build up an appetite. Then off to dinner. Kinsale is “famous” for being a foodie town so we were happy to get a table at a restaurant that came highly recommended. I really didn’t need three courses but who could pass up cream of vegetable soup, chicken breast stuffed with spinach, feta and pine nuts, and meringue with ice cream and fresh raspberry sauce. Frank and I had to walk an extra half hour tonight just to make sure we could still fit in the rental car!
The best part – it was dry and mostly sunny all day! We’re trying not to get our hopes up for tomorrow so we haven’t actually planned anything until we see what Mother Nature has in store. We’ve had yesterday’s shoes drying in the back window of the car all day and hopefully we won’t have to do that again!
/san/
Pedometer: 22,357 or about 10 miles.
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