Today we started out by visiting Kilkenny Castle. It was the home for the Butler family for over 800 years. They did not build it but purchased it. There were some defensive features of the castle but really it is a very large manor house. The last Marques sold it to the government of Ireland for £50. He was living in Chicago at the time. Again we were not able to take photos in side. We only saw a small portion of the castle but it was very impressive. The Art room was just amazing. It held just a portion of the art work owned by the Butler Family. The new roof that was put on in the 1800's was a work of art in itself. The ceiling was one big piece of art work. The peak was made of glass to let natural light in.
We decided to see the Dunsmore cave. When we got there, we found out there were about 300 steps. I knew I could not get back up so I stayed at the top while Charles went below. He really enjoyed what he saw.
We went on to another town to get something for lunch. I was not well at all so that we headed back to the B&B. Later in the afternoon we went downtown to see the Black Abbey. It is one of the few in Ireland that is still running today. It was reroofed in 1778 after being left in ruins after being sacked in 1650. In 1816 it reopened to public service. We tried to see St Canices Cathedral which is with the Church of Ireland. It was not open by the time we got there. We did go into the St. Canices RC Church which was close by.
After seeing enough churches for the day we walked around downtown. We went into one mall area to find only 1 store in use. We had an early supper as we never got lunch.
We had a nice relaxing evening back at the B&B.
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