 |
| Early morning sunshine to greet us on our adventure! |
 |
| First stop: Cahir Castle! |
 |
| The river that used to be further up the walls of Cahir Castle -- made for a really good moat! |
 |
| The inner greens of the castle |
 |
| One of the only working portcullises left in Europe! |
 |
| I like the number of people looking at my camera in this picture (i.e. just Brittnie) |
 |
| The banquet hall is borrowing that giant deer skull on the wall. And yes, there used to be giant deer in Ireland. They were about 12 feet tall and their bodies are for the most part very well preserved in the bog; hence why we saw their skulls all over the place. I thought they were joking at first when they said 'giant deer' but it turns out they were telling the truth. Unsettling. |
 |
| View from the walls |
 |
| We saw a lot of these pictures around. They let you climb on parts of the ramparts, but not all of them... |
 |
| The outside of the wall and park below. |
 |
| These signs are absolutely everywhere too. Castles in general were designed for when people were smaller, and made very tight so that attackers coming through doorways were at a disadvantage to those standing in the room beyond. Canny people... |
 |
| Trapdoor at the base of those stairs. Fun fact about most stairs: they wind so that one's left side is out, meaning that right-handed warriors had a harder time wielding their swords on the stairs. If you were a leftie back in the day, you were the secret weapon for raiding castles. |
 |
| Calla trying to coax the ducks to come closer while Katie photographs the moment |
 |
| After we toured Cahir we ran outside to the park behind the castle and sprawled in the grass for a bit, enjoying the beautiful weather. |
 |
| Next stop: CASHEL! Here, Brittnie was complaining that no one ever takes pictures of her, so I took one while walking. So much love. |
 |
| Seem familiar? I tried to only take new pictures of the Rock, but I probably took some of the same ones on accident :P |
 |
| The tapestry in Cashel that was made with deliberate imperfections to symbolize the imperfections of man. SO SYMBOLIC AND STUFF. |
 |
| This is the portion of the castle that is closed for the restoration of this mural on the ceiling. Original paint work here! |
 |
| Bonus points if you can spot the angry-looking pigeon in this picture... |
 |
| Cashel in side view. |
 |
| Our professors told us that in years past people have tried rolling down this hill and found out how steep it was. So did Beaner -- unintentional somersault here, I believe. |
 |
| Brittnie wanted a picture with Cashel itself in the background, but got this old man in the background instead.... |
 |
| The gang :) |
 |
| A different side view! |
 |
| Bailey, Brittnie, and I showing off our somewhat matching sunglasses |
 |
| Waiting for Owen to return with the bus |
 |
| Playing in traffic? |
 |
| Our B&B at Cashel, where we stayed our first night. |
 |
| It even had a plate of MN with all of the tiny towns correctly labeled! And it wasn't a gift from us at all!! |
 |
| The view from out the front door of the B&B -- we were THAT CLOSE to the Rock. |
 |
| I've become a little obsessed with thatched roofs and shops that are properly able to maintain them... |
 |
| Cool frosted glass in the Chinese place we ate dinner at! It was an impressively classy establishment. |
 |
| What remained of our delicious food. We were really hungry, and craving Chinese food, which means this might have been the best meal I had the whole trip. |
 |
| The front of the restaurant. We had the whole place to ourselves, our waitress was super polite, and the food was superb. We're talking about making a pilgrimage back to Cashel before we leave solely to eat here again. |
 |
| Too cute :D |
 |
| After dinner we rambled into a toy store / grocery store. I was so offended by this 'toy' that I had to take a picture and complain a little about Western culture. Complain complain complain. |
 |
| We also found a cute walking path that lead us right by the Rock again. |
 |
| DRAMATIC SUNSET WITH RUINED MONASTERY IN FOREGROUND |
-S
No comments:
Post a Comment