Ireland Day One

Rick Steves is right.  You do have to watch your step while walking through the grounds at the Kells Priory near Kilkenny, Ireland.  

Sheep roam the grounds and leave their deposits.

The famous travel guru also led us to a phenomenal place to spend our first night here.  

Lawcus Farmhouse  at Stoneyford near Kilkenny matches the description advertised in Steves' guidebook on Ireland and in its website descriptions.

Yes,  Charity Richardson, your friend Annie’s mom DOES love this place, as does Bill.  We love Bruce, the very friendly and welcoming dog.

We enjoyed Ann Marie, the consummate local travel guide who owns Lawcus Farmhouse with her hubby Mark.

 

We like the cats, the wild boar and the goat.  We have not yet met the other animals, but maybe that will happen this morning. 

We slept like babies last night in our upstairs bedroom after coming home from the town pub where proprietors order food from across the street and bring it to your table.

Great cod and chicken and phenomenal huge French fries.

The Loves and one other couple are staying here  at Lawcus Farmhouse on this first night in October.  

The other couple, we’re guessing, is slept out in the tree house, which Anne Marie told us we could check out before their arrival.

We walked the grounds of the amazing and expansive Kells Priory, dating to the 1100s just down the road.

 

There,  we met and visited briefly with a lovely local couple out for an evening walk with their dog through the complex where the King River flows through the grounds and where well-weathered  grave stones in an old cemetery lean off to the side as if blown by years and years of wind.

The pub  was the best.  Anne Marie’s father Bobby and his friend Jimmy were playing a set for a tour group while a lacrosse game was air on the big screen TV.

 

Mary, who’s almost local (hometown 20 kilometers away) seemed to handle everyone’s needs with grace, friendliness and efficiency, even snapping photos of Bill and me sampling our first Guinness in Ireland.

 

Later we dined in another portion of the pub where we could listen to locals.  We also enjoyed meeting Fred and Bri, owners of the resident dog Oscar who seems to enjoy all the peeps and the music.

Basic factoids gleaned from our first day as Ma and Pa Love, all on our own in Ireland:  Bill has erred only once while driving the car on the left side of the road.  

And, when he did make that wrong turn, all cars within sight of us let us know by blinking their lights or honking---not with road rage but with helpful, genuine concern.

We have a feeling the locals have seen the newbies err before.

Another  factoid, check out how to use the shower before standing in the bathroom in your birthday suit, ready to step in.  

I couldn’t figure it out this morning, so I took a sponge bath.  Bill had a heads up, so he did the necessary research to find the knobs which turn on the water.

Final factoid:  no regrets whatsoever.  Ireland is everything people say it is---even better on the fourth and third trips for Bill and me, respectively.

 

We’re off to a great start.  Obviously, there will be glitches ahead, but, as we’ve learned, that’s all part of the adventure.  

So far, so good.  Off to Kenmare later today.

Happy Tuesday. Hope you enjoy the photos, depicting the flavor of our wonderful first day here.