Ireland Adventures: Day 5

We planned to Kilkenny this day. After two days of walking over 30,000 plus steps, though, my husband thought it would be best to take the morning slower to see how we felt. Unfortunately (or fortunately), I woke up early. While we had plenty of cardio, I had not done much with weights, so I decided to finish my physical therapy exercises for the week and see how I felt. Feeling good, I also followed along with the newest Nourish Move Love workout video, using the hotel gym dumbbells. While I probably could have lifted heavier, my goal was to get in some weights, and I did!

We delayed breakfast until 8:30 AM, so that we could go as a group with family. (Room members have to all go at once, and parties have to all go together.) I was hungry! This day I had porridge with all the toppings, turkey and smoked salmon for protein, a cappuccino, another cup of coffee, and more smoked salmon, tomato, and mushrooms to round this out. 

We discussed Kilkenny at breakfast. Seeing that trains left in 14 minutes, or two hours, we decided to nix it. It just did not make sense to use to leave on a noon train, ride two hours, arrive at 3 PM, spend only an hour or so there, and then need to hop on another two hour train back to the hotel, which would put arriving into the night. Instead of all that, we opted for local sightseeing.

But first we went back to Carroll's and Dunnes. We wanted more souvenirs for our friends, and I wanted Weetabix to take home as my souvenir. At six pounds ($6.85 US), importing it back into the US would be way cheaper than paying over $25 for the same box on Amazon. Knowing that we were nearing our next stop, where we would stay in a hotel without such a luscious breakfast spread, we also elected to buy some breakfast items: traditional Irish hot cross buns for my husband, and crumpets for me. We would have to wait to try them, though.

After that, it was off to see the sights. Our first destination was the Hungry Tree, an 80 year old park tree that is growing over a bench. I read about it online and thought it would be cool to see. On the way, we visited various churches (both on my wish list, and not-read about that in my Churches of Ireland post). The Hungry Tree was at Constitution Hall, so we also saw that. We took a few photos, and then set off again.

We found more churches on our route to the Jameson Distillery where various family members wanted to shop. They offered free toilet use, as well as free water, things very few in Ireland do. We didn't do their tour or anything, just looked around and continued on our way.

We viewed the rest of the main churches on my list (mostly all in a row), and then, to my surprise, were close enough to get to St. Kevin's Church Ruins. We tried to see Dublin Castle, but it was under construction and mostly blocked from view. We did catch Dublin City Hall and the Cork Hill Gate.

My husband had been hankering for a chicken fillet (a fried chicken sandwich on a hoagie roll), so we ran back to Dunnes for that. Back at the hotel, he put his feet up. I attempted to download and categorize photos from the day (something I have learned to do because my memory quickly gets convoluted and/or fades). We both napped a little. I worked on this blog. Then off to Grand Central Cafe Bar for dinner, where we would get my husband's other Ireland wish list meal, bangers and mash.

I got the Stag’s Head Signature Ham and Cheese Toastie. Note that it was on sourdough!

He got sticky toffee pudding for dessert. It was good, but also not what we expected. 

All in all, it was a very successful day of sightseeing, crossing off all of my wish-list items. I only wish it could be that way for my husband. He said he wanted to make sure I was happy so I would want to travel again. Fair point, though this trip was really for him!