Day Two... Cahir Castle and Dingle!

Day two was probably my favorite.  We woke up early with plans to head to Dingle and stop at Cahir castle (near the Rock of Cashel) along the way.  We had rented a car the night before and Daniel tested out his skills sitting on the opposite side of the car and driving on the left side of road (we didn't die, he did quite well, obviously). 

We arrived at the castle right at opening time and so had it to ourselves for a good while.  After watching a short video (and realizing we had been pronouncing "Cahir" wrong the whole trip). 

It was awesome.  There are a few displays, but a lot of it is left alone and they let you poke around to your heart's content.  Just what we wanted.

The stairs were scary steep with not a lot to hang onto... a little rough navigating with my camera, but so much fun to climb!

The town grew up right next to the castle, so you you could see a lot of town from the windows facing that direction. 

 

When we explored the dungeon, it looked so foreboding we weren't entirely sure we were allowed to go in.  Luckily, Daniel was the brave one this time and checked it out first... we followed soon after.

and those dungeons led us through narrow stairs all the way up to this little turret!  We could see the historical bridge and the land around for quite a way from here.

 

One of the last things we did was climb up some stairs built into the wall (no railing *gulp*) to stand on the wall.  My small fear of heights made me a bit shaky, but Erin and Daniel made sure I didn't die, and the view was amazing!  

From the castle we headed across the street to a little restaurant and chowed down on some *delicious* paninis (we got to choose what was in them).  It was the perfect amount of food and they had coke to keep Daniel awake while he drove us to Dingle and Erin and I snoozed (we did a lot of that on the drive, poor Daniel).  Daniel did all of the driving as it cost quite a bit to add another driver to the rental.  As we got closer, the countryside being Ireland personified.  Green, stone walls, sheep and cows hanging out in the fields.  It was gorgeous.  We pulled over a few miles before we got into town to capture what we had been watching go by.

Once in town, we checked out the local Catholic church and explored some amazing frescos done by an American artist.

In this one, the apostles are based off of local characters while Jesus is based on a french tourist.  Isn't that awesome?  That, and this girl is *talented*.  There's another room that tells the story of the founder of the Presentation sisters (the convent on the grounds was their mother house).  All four walls were covered with the fresco... just really amazing.

There was a little chapel in the old convent where a famous stain-glass artist did the windows on the side.  We weren't allowed to take pictures of the individual windows, but the chapel itself was gorgeous.  With the light drifting in, it was like breathing in all of the prayers and songs that had been lifted up there. 

 

 Behind the church was the cemetery and quite a bit of land.  However; the tree towering over the grave markers definitely stole the show with it's gnarled branches covering the entirely of the graveyard. 

While at the church, the wind and cold had picked up and we were all starting to get pretty chilled.  We headed back to The Grapevine Hostel and it's sweet little fire to warm up and figure out our evening plans.

Erin and Daniel did all of the navigating, and I happily left them to it.  My eldest sister got the map skills, those were all given out by the time I came around.

We ended up in Murphy's Pub, all chowing down on Irish stew and brown bread.  So warm and comforting after a chilly day!



But don't worry, we still had a little more in us.  From there we headed to *another* pub (okay it was our third pub, the second was very full and the music slow to start), called An Droichead Beag (The Small Bridge) where we ordered our drinks and settled to to listen to some music.  Ignore the part of the video where I forget I'm videotaping and decide to sing along *right* in your ear.  You can't see much as there was very little light there, but it was pretty much perfect. 

Easter!

I know, sometimes I just disappear.  We headed up to my in-law's to spend the long Easter weekend (this is when it's awesome that my husband is a missionary with a Catholic organization) with them and help distract my wonderful (wonderful, wonderful) mother-in-law from the fact that Tuesday is her second hip surgery.   Anni's got the distraction thing down.

We had parties in the gazebo that mostly involved dancing, using Nonna's cane, and throwing baby in a corner to "nap".  Baby had to have an oxiclean cleanse later that night.

We practiced going up and down the stairs dozens and dozens of times.  Each time she bumped down a step was like a whole new party.

We tested out playground equipment in-between Anni getting her fill on the slides.

Oh, and Papa and Daddy scared the hey out of me helping Anni going up this.  She was actually quite safe, but it didn't stop me from having a heart attack.  (I was actually the third spotter right after this.) 

We put together a masterful Easter basket... no candy involved!  We knew Nonna and Papa would fill the candy requirement, so we filled our basket to our Nugget with things she loves.  Underneath the Easter hat ($1 at Target... yes!) was a set of jammies.  Technically there were two t-shirts, pants and shorts, but we pulled out one set for her to wear the night before, so you only see one here.

In the top we had a book (Fra Angelico illustrations of the life of Christ in a board book?... love it!), two pouches of "sauce" (applesauce), an egg with some coins and three eggs with "fishies" (actually Annie's bunnies... yes, the actual name is more apt, but she learned to call them fishes long before...)

And that was that.  Simple, but all fun things.   We snuck the basket into the room where she was sleeping and giggled a little in excitement (picking the perfect spot... not in a place she'd hit if she fell out, but still visible).   Easter morning, we woke up to her chattering over the monitor.  We booked it up to see if she had found the basket, and as we started to open the door, could hear her saying, "Sauce!  Book?"  She was a little less than thrilled by the camera... but super excited that there was a basket of treats next to her bed!  [On a side note, we accept that this may be all she remembers from Easter this year.  She isn't quite two, so explaining the Passion of Christ was mostly boiled down to explaining that Mary needed extra kisses the night before because she was missing her son and that Jesus hurt a lot.  She obliged with a whole lot of kisses.]

The discovery of the cheddar bunnies was heralded with a lot of excitement and, "Bowl!"  Daddy got her a bowl so she could empty them into it.  Eggs must not be as exciting when it comes to those.

The hat was really not all that popular.  We nabbed a few pictures throughout the day when she withstood it for a few seconds; but, for one dollar, I think that's okay.

 

Anni was part of her own Easter miracle when she was remarkably awesome for Easter Mass.  Being not quite two, we fully understand that Mass can be a little difficult to sit through... but she rocked it this week!  It helped that we were in the front row of a small church and she could see a) Papa (he's a deacon and was serving) and b) The "tar tar" (guitar).  They have an awesome guitarist (reverent, but a really beautiful player!) at this parish and, Miss Anni is ob-sessed with the guitar.  It was a good combination for her.  I had to stand up once near the end, but I felt the most relaxed I have in a while after Mass.    

And the Easter egg hunt?  My current favorite Easter memory every.  (Of course, almost anything beats last year having the stomach flu...)

It took a little bit of cajoling to get past the, "Must try to eat whatever I find!" stage, but once she realized we were on a hunt... Miss Nugget was determined and *super* excited.  In fact, we hid the same basket of eggs twice because she got into it enough to not care about what was inside (briefly).

Sweet little girl in an Easter dress carrying her basket?  Bestill my heart!  Grass may not be green around here, yet, but we're excited about Spring and all the fun we get to have with this sweetheart!

After being helped inside by her favorite Papa, Nonna brought out the little basket she had made for her.  (Yes, my child was a bit spoiled... we didn't really mind.)  Nonna introduced her to marshmallow eggs (I had to declare that the end of chocolate for the day), and Anni ate almost the whole thing... with her back to Daniel and I.  Apparently she a) did not want to share or b) was afraid we would take it away.  We did neither, and thus ended the sugared fervor of Easter Sunday.  (There was dinner and a sleepy drive home... but there aren't any pictures of that... so, you know.)

PS Now that we're home... I'll be returning to my recap of Ireland!  Be excited ;-).