Allison's Wonderland

Day 3 in the Emerald Isle is working out to be as wonderful as day one and two! We got breakfast at the hotel but it wasn't homemade by two cute Irish people, made with tender love and care. This is our first REAL Irish breakfast at Castlefield. We get our breakfast and Joan and Stewart’s grand kids were there for the weekend and they both have fiery red hair and are cute as can be. I wanted to mush them. When we asked the eldest how old he was he replies with I’m Tree…! So stinkin cute! Like seriously cute as can be!
I decided to be cute too today so I wanted to curl my hair. I used Micah's curling iron and little did I know what I was getting myself into. The curling iron which normally doesn't work that well back home was burning hot here in Ireland. I thought I smelled burnt hair while I was curling but I didn't think anything of it. Then I went and tried to curl a little small piece and the iron burnt the whole piece right off! I was horrified! Although it was all burned up, my hair still looked pretty cute for the rest of the day. You live ya learn After our lovely breakfast we headed into Kilkenny for the sights. We went straight to Kilkenny castle which was beautiful. Everything was closed though because it was Bank Monday. Not sure what kind of a holiday that is, but the Irish were banking something so the shops were closed. After the castle we took pictures at this gorgeous ivy covered house called Butler House. We took a million pictures in front of it and afterwards we moved on to our next destination. Waterford. I was excited for this little town, but Micah and Shaun not so much. Shaun had a weird run in with this beggar woman who looked completely normal at first. She was walking with what looked like a family, caught Shaun’s eye while we were stopped at a stoplight, and walked towards the car. She was smiling at first but then changed to this weird beggar woman face. Shaun locked his door immediately and started saying “I’m sorry” over and over again. Micah and I were laughing which was probably rude, but it was a funny situation! Ha! After the incident, we toured the Waterford Crystal Factory which was really interesting. Sad thing is, the craftsman who work there are dying out. The youngest worker is 43, and they have no new apprentices to fill their spot. The master craftsman cut everything by hand. I was fascinated. They showed how they blew, cut and engraved the crystal on our tour. The most expensive thing we saw was Cinderella’s carriage which was 30,000 Euros. WOWZER! While in Waterford I discovered that I had "stolen" Joan's key to our door. I felt awful! I guess I have a real Irish souvenir to take home!

After the tour we headed south towards Ardmore. On our way there we came across this beautiful overlook that showed vistas of the ocean and hills. It was beautiful so of course we had to take a million pics. Ardmore is just a little cute beach town. It was freezing that day, but we still had fun. We made up a little jig while we were on the beach and sang a little tune we made up called "In the Irish Sea." Go figure. My little rain boots came in so handy! I would never do a trip Ireland without them. We headed down to Cork/Blarney and after driving through Cork we decided we really didn't want to stay too long. It just was kinda ick and industrial. We made it to our B&B in Blarney called Lanesville. This place was just okay in comparison to all the others westayed in. We ate dinner at the Muskerry Arms where we got Bailey's coffee! AHH...so good! We talked to a cute little old couple next to us who we asked about tipping. In Ireland I guess you don't have to tip. They said, "Oh, you either tip if you want, or you don't if you don't. It's nothing like the states!" So true. I hate tipping and the States are terrible for it! We settled into our little B&B and were out cold. Oh and all the hair I burnt off earlier during the day came out in the shower that night and my hair smelled burnt when I went to bed. I made Micah smell it! Soyee!