Travelling
Last 2 weekends me and Tura have been taken advantage of Is car. Even if I often say that cars are unnecessary, getting to places around here they have their uses.
2 weeks ago we drove down to South-East region and visited ruins of St. Mary's Church in Gowran, Kilkenny http://www.heritageireland.ie/en/South-East/StMarysChurchGowranCoKilkenny/ - there wasn't that much to see, we only stopped there as we drove by.
Then we stopped at Jerpoint Abbey - ruins again, but there was more to see and also interesting guided tour. http://www.heritageireland.ie/en/South-East/JerpointAbbey/
We had thought to head to Wexford or Waterford, but in Jerpoint I found a book about Ormond Castle that was nearby and it seemed interesting, so we decided to go there. It's in Tipperary http://www.heritageireland.ie/en/South-East/OrmondCastle/
So we didn't see the coast, but lots of other nice scenery. Also Ormond Castle was really nice, the old castle part was in ruins, but newer manor house part was open for visitors and very interesting. I liked the rooms and overall design of the place. There was also some furniture, thought not original to the place.
Overall the trip was much fun and enjoyable. Even the fickle weather of this island favoured as, both with rain and sun, but we never got wet - only the car did.
Last Saturday it was only me and I, as Tura had other stuff to do. This time we didn't drive far, just to County Meath, where we visited Trim Castle http://www.heritageireland.ie/en/midlandseastcoast/TrimCastle/ (some scenes of Braveheart were filmed there). It was very interesting. Even though parts of it were in total ruins, just some walls remaining, the keep itself still stood. As the castle had been standing there abandoned some hundred years, there is not much left of the interior. OPW has restored some wooden floors and fixed stairs and such so it was possible to climb to the top. Very interesting and the view from top was nice too.
After that we drove back to Kildare and visited Castletown House. It's very nicely decorated manor house. Interior was restored to show several different designs the house had gone thru, but mostly it was in style the wife of second occupant had done it. They also had some original furniture and due the decorator wife being avid letter writer they knew a lot about history of pieces - like terribly expensive crystal crowns that had incorrect shade of blue in them!
There was also farm market there and I bought delicious apple juice and bread.
And coaxed I to walk with me to River Liffey that flows just bit away from the house. Well, it looked just like any other river - but now I've seen it in Wicklow mountains, where it starts from and in Dublin, where it ends to sea and in middle, where it just flows.
It was very nice day also.
Other than that, I've been practicing my kendo in hopes to grade 1st kyu. I'm also going to participate one competition here in end of October and other in London. I wonder how I'll do... ><
I also got me a CTS position starting 9th of November. I'm excited about it - it should give a nice boost to my technical skills. :3
I've also updated some new Ireland pictures to my Picasa album, if someone does not have the address, or cannot guess it, ask.
2 weeks ago we drove down to South-East region and visited ruins of St. Mary's Church in Gowran, Kilkenny http://www.heritageireland.ie/en/South-East/StMarysChurchGowranCoKilkenny/ - there wasn't that much to see, we only stopped there as we drove by.
Then we stopped at Jerpoint Abbey - ruins again, but there was more to see and also interesting guided tour. http://www.heritageireland.ie/en/South-East/JerpointAbbey/
We had thought to head to Wexford or Waterford, but in Jerpoint I found a book about Ormond Castle that was nearby and it seemed interesting, so we decided to go there. It's in Tipperary http://www.heritageireland.ie/en/South-East/OrmondCastle/
So we didn't see the coast, but lots of other nice scenery. Also Ormond Castle was really nice, the old castle part was in ruins, but newer manor house part was open for visitors and very interesting. I liked the rooms and overall design of the place. There was also some furniture, thought not original to the place.
Overall the trip was much fun and enjoyable. Even the fickle weather of this island favoured as, both with rain and sun, but we never got wet - only the car did.
Last Saturday it was only me and I, as Tura had other stuff to do. This time we didn't drive far, just to County Meath, where we visited Trim Castle http://www.heritageireland.ie/en/midlandseastcoast/TrimCastle/ (some scenes of Braveheart were filmed there). It was very interesting. Even though parts of it were in total ruins, just some walls remaining, the keep itself still stood. As the castle had been standing there abandoned some hundred years, there is not much left of the interior. OPW has restored some wooden floors and fixed stairs and such so it was possible to climb to the top. Very interesting and the view from top was nice too.
After that we drove back to Kildare and visited Castletown House. It's very nicely decorated manor house. Interior was restored to show several different designs the house had gone thru, but mostly it was in style the wife of second occupant had done it. They also had some original furniture and due the decorator wife being avid letter writer they knew a lot about history of pieces - like terribly expensive crystal crowns that had incorrect shade of blue in them!
There was also farm market there and I bought delicious apple juice and bread.
And coaxed I to walk with me to River Liffey that flows just bit away from the house. Well, it looked just like any other river - but now I've seen it in Wicklow mountains, where it starts from and in Dublin, where it ends to sea and in middle, where it just flows.
It was very nice day also.
Other than that, I've been practicing my kendo in hopes to grade 1st kyu. I'm also going to participate one competition here in end of October and other in London. I wonder how I'll do... ><
I also got me a CTS position starting 9th of November. I'm excited about it - it should give a nice boost to my technical skills. :3
I've also updated some new Ireland pictures to my Picasa album, if someone does not have the address, or cannot guess it, ask.