Kilkenny

The minicab driver was on time - at a cheery 4.45am.  We had both been able to get up in time and packed away the last few things.  Said another goodbye to Mel and headed to the airport.  Being so early there was no traffic arround so it only took about 20mins to get to the airport.  This also made check in a breeze, but unfortunately not much was open except for the bar - and no we didn't have a beer at that time of the morning, just a coffee.

Flight to Dublin was smooth.  Made our way to the train station and had a 2 hour wait for the next train to Kilkenny (not a regular service).  It was cold and the terminal was very breezy so not overly excited by it.  Eventually we got on the train, found some seats and away we went.   Country side is beautiful and green will lots of walls made of rock separating the fields.

Kilkenny is a beautiful little town, especially the part concentrated around the river and near the castle.  After checking into the Hostel we just started walking around town having a look and noticed quite a number of pubs - so we thought we should visit a few to get the true flavour of the place.  A Kilkenny here, Guinness there and Smithwicks in other places.  Was a fun way to spend the afternoon and we got to see various small shops along the way.  That evening we had some dinner in a restaurant off the main strip which was very tasty.  Then we headed off to a bar which was near the hostel to watch some bands (a guy staying in our room was playing drums and told us about it).  It was more of a laid back jazz, funk type music being played with one group having a cellist (spelling?).