Day 2: Saturday (6/8/2013)

We landed in Paris and caught a small plane to Dublin, landing about 6pm local time.

The airport was absolutely deserted.  When I asked about this, I was told by the Hertz attendant nobody flies in or out of Dublin on a Saturday night.

Behold, ye olde Vomit Comet.

Our chariot for this trip was a puke-green Suzuki golf cart we promptly named the "Vomit Comet".  This was not so much because of the color but the crazy jackhammer-like vibrations the car went through as it grudgingly hit freeway speed.  The first time we drove on a M-road we both got worried that the thing would vibrate itself to Valhalla before our vacation was up.

Driving in Ireland can be a challenge, but if you want to truly see the island there really is no other way to travel.  For some thoughts on renting an car and driving in Ireland in general, see my notes here.

White-knuckled, I zipped through downtown Dublin in an attempt to avoid tolls.  The transition from driving on the left to the right was a bit easier this time, but it's still jarring.  A few hours later we were on the freeway to Kilkenny, our first stop.

We arrived in Kilkenny around 10pm and apologetically roused John, the proprietor of the Butler Court, our bed for the night.  We thought the Butler Court was a really cute place--two rows of very nice rooms bordering a small open courtyard.  John was fantastic as well.  After showing us where to park, he called a friend of his at a nearby Italian place to keep them open a bit longer so we could have dinner.  What a warm welcome to Ireland!

Kilkenny is a weird mix of retirement community, medieval town, and frat party.  There's a jam-packed bar every 20 feet.  Apparently, it's traditional to hold Bachelor ("Stag") and Bachelorette ("Hen") parties in Kilkenny, which meant we were perpetually dodging drunken groups of drunken Irishmen looking for a fight (we saw several of these) and inebriated Irishwomen dressed to kill.  It made for really interesting people watching.

Dinner was at La Trattoria, a cute little Italian place run by John's friend Giovanni.  I threw a quick review on our meal here.

After dinner we could barely keep our eyes open.  Back to the Butler Court, and some sleep.