Thursday, September 20th

Today is technically the last day of our tour of Ireland, since tomorrow will be spent traveling home.  Norma and I had a little excitement in our room this morning.  Norma's electrical converter blew up!  Her electric rollers were plugged  in the outlet, and were warmed up, so Norma was curling her hair.  Just as she was about done, we heard a loud pop, and the converter started to smoke!  She immediately unplugged it!  What a smell--burned wiring!  I guess it is a good thing it is our last day here and not the first!

I guess I must have been a little tired at the end of the day yesterday, when I wrote in my journal.  I completely left out about our stop at the Rock of Cashel, after we left the Blarney Castle!  The Rock of Cashel was the traditional seat of the kings of Munster for several hundred years, prior to the Norman invasion.  In 1101, the King of Munster donated his fortress to the church.  The picturesque complex is one of the most remarkable collections of Celtic art and Medieval architecture to be found anywhere in Europe.  The Majority of the buildings on the current site date from the 12th and 13th Century.

It is currently being extensively restored to it's previous splendor.

Today we will be given a tour of Kilkenney Castle, which has been through many years of careful, painstaking restoration to how it was centuries ago.  We will not be allowed to take any photos once we are inside, however the grounds around Kilkenney Castle are beautiful, situated right along side the river.

While we were waiting for time to go on the Castle Tour, Norma and I decided to board a small tourist train for a  tour of the city.

Part of the fun of going on this city tour was seeing some of fellow guests from our tour while they were strolling about town!

That's Bob Brackeen, the NBC Today Show Host!  Cool sunglasses, Bob!





There's Julene Pike (waving to us) and her daughter Kristina (looking at her IPad)!
They live in Souix Falls, S.Dak.



Here are some photos of the outside and grounds of the Kilkenny Castle.  Noel said "ABC".  Another bloody castle!

 

Ireland has "Tidy Town" competition each year, and this year Kilkenny has won it once again!

  This evening we are back to where we began this tour: the Dunboyne Castle Hotel, for our farewell dinner with all the folks we have had the pleasure of being with on the Ireland tour.

Here is an interesting tree in front of the Dunboyne Castle Hotel.

Wow!  Tomorrow morning we must have our luggage outside our door by 5:30 a.m.; go to breakfast; leave the hotel at 6:30 a.m. for the transfer back to the Dublin airport, for our long flight to Chicago, with a couple of hours layover before the final leg of our journey back home!