Waterford Castle

Three stops for the day. First up: Kilmainham Gaol. This was not on our original itinerary, but everyone in Dublin said we needed to go. So we did. (Thanks to Chris & Alissa Harrington and Joe Mochove!) This prison was first built outside Dublin in the 1790s. For the next 130 years or so, it housed men, women, and children convicted of everything from theft of clothing or food, to murder. Then, following the Easter Rising of 1916, sixteen political prisoners were executed by firing squad on these grounds. As a result, public opinion in Ireland turned in favor of the rebellion against British rule.

The tour was as good as advertised, one of the more moving experiences of our trip. But after our hour of misery and woe, we needed a more uplifting experience. So we visited the village of Enniskerry in County Wicklow.

And there we visited Powerscourt Gardens (Thanks to Chris Burster and Joe Mochove!) This was, um, happier. And the weather on our trip has definitely improved.

Our happy couple posing in front of Sugarloaf Mountain.

The Pet Cemetary at the Gardens. The Ramones don't want to be buried here. 

Our view for lunch (thanks to James Le!) was not bad.

After lunch, we made the two-hour drive to Waterford Castle in County Waterford. (Enormous thanks to Sigrid Soini!) OK, so let me tell you about this place. Monastic monks settled it sometime between the Sixth and Eighth Centuries. The Vikings took it over from the Ninth Century to the 11th. The FitzGerald family took over the land after the Norman invasion of 1170. A tower was erected in the 15th Century, and the FitzGeralds made some huge expansions in the 19th Century. The property changed hands a few times in the 20th Century, and was eventually opened as a hotel and golf resort in the 1980s.

The land has been protected so vigorously for centuries in part because it is so remote. An island in the River Suir, it is reachable only by a private ferry.

I live in Seattle. I'm very familiar with ferries. But I've never seen this before. The ferry is connected by cables to both sides of the shore, and pulls in one set of cables or the other to get across the river. 

You then take a lovely little drive through the woods. 

You can spot deer playing in the fields. (I assure you there is a deer in this picture.)

And then the castle appears through the trees...

You can't be... I mean... Come on... Is this... I need to sit down.

This is not a movie set. This is a real, functioning place. They even have reliable high-speed wifi.

Our hotel is protected by gargoyles.

Once inside, you see the reception desk.

And the other half of the lobby looks even cooler. 

 

These stairs did not lead to our room, but they looked so great I had to take a picture anyway.

Our room does not have a number. No. It has a name. THE ROSE SUITE. You open the door to the Rose Suite, and this is what you see:

Oh man. Oh man.

Then you see the bathroom, with clawfoot tub and straight-down showerhead.

The bathroom sink is hand-painted. So is the toilet, though I didn't take a picture. 

This is our sitting room. Our room at the castle has a sitting room. Note the bottle of water on the desk. They bottle their own water on the island. It's delicious.

This is one side of our bedroom. I'm pretty sure this suite is bigger than our apartment. 

And this is the bed. Yes, I do feel like royalty.

So once we got over that culture shock, we walked around the island trails.

We saw some more deer. And we saw some golfers.

We found this cool abandoned building, literally dozens of years old.

They had a wedding in the croquet lawns a few weeks ago. The trimming on the side of this staircase was added for the wedding. Everything else is on old stone staircase taken over by the environment, and I am absolutely in love with it. 

Since there were wedding decorations out anyway, we had a smooch. (This was taken with an actual camera, not in iPhone. I'm stunned we framed ourselves so well.)

And then we watched the sun set over the river.

Our day ended with a delicious dinner. (Thanks to Tim, Lucinda, Craig, & Terra Hauser!) This is place is jaw-droppingly, achingly beautiful, and we feel incredibly blessed to be able to experience it. 

We're not quite sure what's on the docket for tomorrow. We are stretching ourselves a bit thin and could use a slow couple of days. We will leave hear and eventually arrive at our hotel in Killarney. In between, we might visit Kilkenny, Cork, and/or the legendary Blarney Stone. We will keep you posted. Thank you to all!