Little Caroline Travels The Big World: Paddy Wagon Tour: Don't Forget About Kilkenny

The last stop on the tour was to Kilkenny. Kilkenny in Irish means "cell or church of Cainnech". Like majority of ancient settlements, Kilkenny has a river running through it and this is the River Nore. Kilkenny was granted city status in 1609, so it has been around for over 400 years.

Kilkenny for most of its history has been involved with the Normans. During the Norman invasion, walls were built around Kilkenny Castle to protect the people. In the late 1200's, the city was subjected to Irish and Norman control. And because of that, during the Medieval ages it was a merchant town for the Normans.

My favorite story is that until the 1500's, it was the Medieval capital of Ireland. But the royal family of Great Britain did not appreciate traveling a great distance to the capital of Ireland. Instead, they made Dublin the capital, which it has remained until the present day.

The tour dropped us off at the castle and gave us some time to explore. I had talked to this girl on the tour who was by herself and got lunch with her. The city is more like a larger town, so there is not too many options for food and plus she was vegetarian. We settled at "Paris, Texas" to eat. I guess the best way to described the inside would be to picture a grand salon in the 1800's in the west. I ordered a ham and cheese panini and it was good.

We sat a while at the pub/resturaunt. There was a hurling game on the large TV and we sat and watched that.

We eventually noticed the time and decided that it was time to get out and explore.

Our only stop in the town was to Kilkenny Castle. My friend really wanted to pay the 6 Euros to enter the castle and look inside. I decided that I would too. Why not? I had nothing really else to do.

It turned out that it was not worth the money! I thought there would be some sort of guide that you could read to get more information, but that wasn't the case. They gave you this very basic informational sheet and it had mostly information about architecture. So, I just wondered through the castle looking at rooms with no information. On top of that, all the rooms were from the last couple centuries. I was very disappointed. I learned from this that I am more interested in history then architecture.

Eventually I had to call it quits. We went outside to explore the grounds and that was much more enjoyable. The sun finally made an appearance after the threat of rain for most of the day. My friend and I explored the castle grounds; walked along the river and saw the old stables of the castle.

After our exploring it was time to head back to Dublin. Kilkenny is only around an hour from Dublin.

Though I went on the tour by myself, it turned out to be a great experience! I got to see some wonderful sites of Ireland and I met a very interesting person.

I have to conclude with that I also think of when I hear Kilkenny. In the TV show, "South Park", there is a character named Kenny who dies in most of the episodes. When Kenny dies, Kyle, another character, usually yells out, "you my gosh! You killed Kenny!" And that is what I always think about when I hear Kilkenny :)