Day 3 continued...

Our journey continued on the way to Kilkenny. After the nice Petrol station lady helped us, we were able to follow the directions pretty well until we got to Kilkenny. Thanks to my mom's wonderful idea, we have a cell phone (mobile (mo-by-l for their pronunciation compared to our mo-bill) phone) and I was able to call the B&B. The VERY nice lady there sent her husband to come and rescue us and he lead us up to their location.

Kilkenny is a beautiful little town but the roads there are insanely tiny. There's barely enough room for 2 cars to pass and often times there are other cars on the side of the road so you have to let one side go first (or there are braver Irish people that just plow on ahead). I didn't have to drive through the town itself too much so that was a good thing. I'm not sure I could have navigated down those roads.

Nick and I were quite hungry after our 4-5 hour drive so we gamely took their map and walked into town to find dinner. The map said it wasn't to scale and, sure enough, it wasn't. We had to double back a few times to make sure we were going the right way (we were) and so finally I stopped a nice couple on the street and asked them if they knew where Italian Connection was. They didn't but they pointed to another Italian restaurant a few buildings up that we could try. (Little did we know that Italian Connection was right across the street!)

The food there was good, a bit expensive but it is in most locations here. After dinner we walked down to the castle (or at least what I think was the castle) and took some pictures. Then back to the B&B for some much needed rest.

The next morning the owners were so wonderful in helping us to plan our route to Kinsale. They even called the next B&B for us and wrote down the directions as well as showed us on the map. With their directions, we had no trouble getting to the town. Once we were in town, that was when we had some trouble...but that's for the next story.

I do highly recommend The Meadows B&B in Kilkenny (6 Greenfields Road, Bishop Meadows, Kilkenny City - 056 7721649) for anyone who wants a great place to stay. It was clean, quiet and they served an amazing breakfast!

Day 3 - Dublin to Kilkenny

I'm quite far behind in my posting due to long driving hours and little sleep (trying to get naps in here and there). On Day 3, we left Dublin to head to Kilkenny. Unfortunately, Google Maps which works so wonderfully in the states failed me here in Ireland. I was trying to follow the directions, missed one of the crucial turns on Church Street and spent 2 hours in Dublin trying to leave.
It was a really frustrating experience and the monkey did pretty well through the whole ordeal. I had to talk to a cab driver who helped me a bit but I think he didn't remember that there's a street in which cabs can go straight but others had to take a detour so we ended up in some weird place. Finally we started making it out of Dublin and when we tried to go to the motorway (highway) N7, we lost it somehow. We were following the signs to N4 through N7 and then, all of a sudden, it was just N4 through N6.
I've figured out that, in the states, we have what I now like to call "Road Signs for Dummies" which I love and appreciate. In Ireland, you often get one chance to see a sign and if you miss that sign, you will miss your turn and keep driving, not realizing that you totally missed it. They also don't show the sign for the road you're on very often.
Fortunately, the Irish are generally very kind and have been very helpful in guiding us to the right path.
We got lost a few more times on this journey and talked to an employee at B&Q (pictures below are of that location).
Another hour or so later, I wasn't sure if I missed the turn or not (still using my Google Maps handwritten directions since I don't have a printer) so I stopped at a Petrol station (gas station for you Americans ;) ) and another lady helped us out.
More on Day 3 in the next installment which, since I'm so far behind, will be coming shortly. =)