We are leaving today, April 15th, 2009, on this plane....you can see it is dark and rainy.
Virginia at the JFK Arboretum

Ed at the JFK Arboretum
Here's another Irish fixer-upper on the way to our hotel this night.
This is the fountain in the plaza at the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Arboretum. We stopped there and watched a video which showed the grounds and lovely flowers, shrubbery, and trees.
A view of the Kennedy Homestead houses.
This is a sign on the wall at the Kennedy homestead in Ireland. Patrick Kennedy, JFK's great grandfather hailed from here. The home was closed for tours until June.

View of a lake on the way out of Kilkenny in the Ireland National Park en route to the hotel
I think this is St. Dominic...we passed a Dominican residence in Kilkenny, but didn't stop.
View of downtown Kilkenny and the residents
This may be the emigrant ship, but it's too dark to determine. Forget this photo. Many of the Irish residents fled Ireland in the 1840's due to the potato famine. The potatoes were rotten and the residents were starving as this was their main food staple. Many came to America to start a new life via emigrant ships which sailed from Bristol and London England. This is how our ancestor Charles Peter King got to America. They really went through a lot to get here to America with the promise of a good future and new life. Had he not come to America, none of us would be here today. Thanks Charles! You are a true hero.
Another view of Kilkenny across the river. The emigrant ship is somewhere here if I can just find it in the photos
Looking across the river in Kilkenny at the various colored houses.
This is a view of a bridge under construction in Kilkenny
Here are Virginia and Judy on the grounds at Kilkenny Castle
This is the castle at Kilkenny....very nice inside. We went all around it in a u-shape tour. It was raining most of the day, but that didn't stop us. We first viewed a video about the castle before going inside on the tour.

Today after breakfast at the Inverary House we loaded the car up and proceeded northeastward to Kilkenny where we checked into a hotel called Days Inn. It is lovely and with breakfast is E78.00 per room. We then went to the Kilkenny Castle and took a tour and then to KFC for dinner. The girl behind the counter didn't speak very good English (Indian from India) and they didn't have any mashed potatoes like KFC does at home, and no salad dressing for Ed's saland. We took a few pictures at the castle but I'm too tired to mess with the camera tonight...I'll do it tomorrow after we get to swords. Our vacation is almost over and we are all giddy and nuttsy. Another night of Farkel....we have farkeled our way through Ireland for sure. Love you all. M,D,G,G, V,J.

These views on the way back to the B&B in Sligo...we had our laundry done today.....8 euros for Ed and me and the same for each of the girls.


Here I am outside Parkes Castle on the Lough Gill. It was supposed to be open, but was not....there are a few other photos of it here. It rained on and off all day, but ended up sunny. W ate at a pub in Dromahair ......good lunch and Ed had a Guiness beer which tasted like bile or worse.
A picture of the countryside around Sligo

Here is the coast of the north Atlantic Ocean.
Here is Kelley's Pub right around the corner from the ocean.
On the way to Dromahair we came across this site walking down the middle of the street.




Here we are at the Sligo Cathedral...where my friend Monica Jones' brother is buried....above is is grave site on the cathedral grounds....these are for you, Monica. Thanks for your good advice before leaving home.

On the way to Sligo today we stopped in Northern Ireland at Enniskillen for lunch at a little roadside cafe called the 3-Way Inn. Very good lunch...then on into Sligo where we got our B&B and are now doing our blog. The drive here was really spectacular--beautiful green hills and valleys, fields full of sheep and frolicking lambs and this above photo shows the Northern Atlantic Ocean....the next one shows the landscape--there are actually 2 waterfalls in this photo but they cannot be seen unless the picture is a full screen.
This morning we stopped at the Cavan County Museum in Ballyjamesduff. Toured the museum for almost 1 1/2 hours...they did not allow pictures to be taken, but when I asked if they had a picture of this Bog track-way sleeper, which was like a wooden walkway across the bog, they allowed me to photograph it with special permission.Bog track-way sleeper from the other end.
Judy and the Bog track-way sleeper.

Here we are arriving at the Park Manor Hotel in the evening of April 4th. They gave us a cabin with bunk beds and a double bed...the s weren't real thrilled with having to sleep in wobbly bunk beds, so we got upgraded into the actual hotel itself. It is really lovely. We are all tired....had dinner and then off to bed.
Here is the mock up in the visitor center of the burial tomb at New grange.
Here is Edward sitting in the cubby hole in the tomb known as the New Grange. It is a burial site of 5,000 years ago. We did not get to go to the actual site as the tours were all booked for the day, but the interpretive center showed a movie and the theory behind the site and a mock up of what's inside. One of the natives told us that "It isn't very exciting anyway, this visitors center is better and you don't have to stoop over to go through."
This is the site of the Battle of the Boyne which took place in 1690's when England, France, and Ireland were all fighting over their territory and the rights to worship as they pleased. William of Orange won. This site was really lovely, just being under a year old. There are walkways to walk the sites of the battles and an interpretive center which showed a reenactment of the battle with a diorama which showed the progress of the soldiers on each side...the Williamites and the Jacobites. Just as we were getting ready to come in, it started to rain and the cold wind blew like crazy, but we got into the dry visitors center and continued our journey.

Ireland

Well, we are all packed and ready to go. Tim is going to drive us to the airport tomorrow morning. I'll be glad once we are on that plane and all tucked in. There are some good movies to watch on the way---Marley & Me--and two others which sound like they're rated G. I bought two books which I hope to get read..."The Shack" and Barack Obama's autobiography.