The Esthetic of Lostness: Epic Celtic Adventure

Part 6

Pints of Guinness make you strong!

So right now, I am in the sitting room of our B&B in Kilkenny, Ireland, playing Hot Rum and getting my ass handed to me. In the last hand (a run of 4 and a set of 3) I got stuck with 150 points worth of cards. I shall not recover from said hand. I am dead. Good-bye, cruel world.

But before I die, I should talk a little about the last few days of the trip.

So when we left off, we had been in Oban. Our last day in Scotland was spent in Glasgow. Technically we only had about half a day after train rides, so we had to be picky about what we did. First off, we left our luggage in the train station and walked down Buchanan St, a lively shopping district in Glasgow. We ate at Sloan's, the oldest restaurant in the city (established in c. 1790's), and then we went to GOMA, the Glasgow museum Of Modern Art. There we saw some beautiful exhibits about LGBT civil rights issues. It was very interesting, and was often very tragic.

Yeah that whole getting reamed in cards thing? Still going strong...

So, after the museum, we walked around more and sat and had tea at the Willow Tea Room, designed by one Charles Macintosh. It was beautiful. The only thing that he forgot to add was a/c... Only time I've sweat this entire trip because of the temperature.

Continuing the Macintosh trend, we visited the Glasgow School of Art, which was completely designed by Macintosh, down to the furniture. It was very cool.

I have never been destroyed like this before. I guess the card gods didn't get my last sacrifice...

So after our day of fun in Glasgow, we got on a train for the airport. We sat in the airport for a couple of hours playing cards, surrounded by the Hamilton Academical Football Club, who also rode on the plane with us. Now here are the differences I noticed between American Football players and European Football (soccer) players: In the first, while both are in great shape, the EU athletes look like actual people, not giant misshapen monster men like the US guys. In the second, all the EU athletes were very good looking. They could have been models. Gay much? Yes. True? Yes.

So then we got to Ireland. It was the best plane ride ever. Not only was it less than an hour long, but the landing was fantastic. We made a faster landing than I have ever experienced. I honestly didn't think that we were going to make it. So when we slowed down and were sitting thanking our lucky stars that we landed, a very loud trumpet fanfare played over the speakers and the pilot came on saying "CONGRATULATIONS! WE LANDED!... FIVE MINUTES EARLY!" I seriously expected someone dressed ass a leprechaun to come dancing out of the cockpit throwing bottles of Guinness to all the passengers. It was amazing. Only in Ireland.

So our first full day in the Emerald Isle was spent traveling to the town of Cashel. After a brief walk we found our B&B and got settled. Our B&B sat right at the foot of the Rock of Cashel, or St. Patrick's Rock, which was a ruined fortified abbey and cathedral on top of a hill. Mom and Beth and Kasey's room had a perfect view of the Rock, and of the flock of sheep (which included two adorable lambs) across the street. Christy and my room had a small view of the Rock, but we had a flock of sheep right outside our window.

We ate that night at a lovely pub called the Brian Baru, named after the king of Cashel who ruled the Rock before it was given to the Church, and who unified Ireland and ruled it as high king. At dinner that night, I reached a milestone in my life. I had my first pint of Guinness. It was amazing. I thoroughly enjoyed it, both for its taste and for the experience.

The next day, we took a tour of the Rock. Few interesting facts: St. Patrick visited the rock when it was ruled by the king Cormac McCarthy. He succeeded in converting the king, but during the ceremony, he accidentally stabbed the king through the foot with the point of his crosier. The king didn't make a sound. When St. Patrick asked why he didn't say anything, Cormac said that he thought it was just a pain that had to be endured to reach salvation through Christ. When the townspeople heard about the accident, they freaked out, and St. Patrick had to work hard to convince them that it was all an accident and he was not going to stab them. When they were convinced that St. Patrick was not going to stab them, they though he was a very kind and generous man and readily agreed to the new religion.

It was also Cormac McCarthy who gave the Rock to the Church, so as to keep it from falling into the hands of a rival clan. He was made the archbishop of the Rock, so he didn't loose any power in the region, and built Cormac's Chapel, which was later attached to the cathedral which was built there. The cathedral is roofless today, because of the truly evil Oliver Cromwell. When he attacked Cashel, all the townspeople ran into the cathedral seeking sanctuary. Cromwell had the roof fired, and it eventually collapsed on the people inside, and any who managed to escape the fires was killed by the Englishman's army.

So. The Rock of Cashel was a beautiful ruin with loads of history. Moving on.

We bought a picnic lunch and headed outside the city to Hore Abbey. We sat in the middle of the ruined structure and ate, and when we were done, we climbed ever climbable surface we could find. It was fantastic. After another great night at the pub, we headed back to our room for a game of cards and bed.

So, the next day, we got on the bus and headed for Kilkenny. Our first bus stopped in Cahir, where in our downtime we visited Cahir Castle, where the movie Excalibur was filmed. It was a very cool, very fun castle to explore. We got to Kilkenny later that afternoon and found a very nice B&B, and went to Langton's pub, where we were able to catch some great live music.

Ok, so we're almost caught up!

Today, we went to Kilkenny Castle, which was very big, and is being restored to how it was in the 1800's, so it was a very cool juxtaposition to the castle that we visited yesterday in Cahir. Cool note though, both Kilkenny Castle and Cahir Castle were owned by the Butler family, of which I am descended. I asked that they sign over the deeds to me, but they laughed in my face and told me to "get the fook out" whatever that means.

Besides the castle, there was also a lovely rose garden, and a beautiful walking park. We spent the rest of the day shopping around in the city, and retired back to the B&B for a night of pizza and cards (and you all already know how that last bit turned out...).

So, thus far I give Ireland an A+. Tomorrow, its on to Trim!

Slainte!