We departed Armagh after another delicious Irish breakfast. We said goodbye to Alice, she of the B&B, and headed south on the A29. Joined the M1 in Dundalk and headed around Dublin and our first stop, Kilkenny.
Kilkenny was having an arts festival and we roamed the city and the arts center to see some amazing displays. The display of flowers are actually mounted on miniature rifles (the symbolic violence from the "civil war" is still very much in evidence). To our surprise, a pleasant one, we found some Stephen Pearce (Simon's brother - glass) at the arts center. It was the same pattern we have at home. We asked if they had any more and they said this was all and that he had shut down his Irish operations.
We also visited the Kilkenny Castle and walked the huge lawn that lay in front. There were people picnicing, sleeping, and one group of teenagers playing hurling - a greatly popular Irish sport.
After an enjoyable late morning-early afternoon in Kilkenny, we started our farm road drive to Cashel - or should we say - we were headed for County Tipperary. For those of you who have driven on Ireland's farm roads, you will understand - for those who haven't, you must try it. The road is only wide enough for two small cars (American tanks, err, I mean SUVs, would not work very well) and everyone drives like its the autobahn. The scenery is great, the driving exciting, and after one stop to ask directions - we arrived in Cashel. (Yes, we asked directions - the farm roads do not have very good, if any, sign posts - and it is an adventure to keep headed in the right direction.)We found our B&B, the Ashmore Inn, and checked in. Nice place and right downtown. We loaded the pictures from yesterday and then headed for the Rock of Cashel. Originally. it was a fort with only outer walls, but was expanded to a church with full construction. The pictures do not do it justice. We will give you more details when we talk.
We had dinner at the Ladyswell Restaurant. Bacon, cabbage and potatoes. Yes, bacon as the Irish call it.....ham for us Americans. A cold Guinness and our batteries were recharged.
We had purchased tickets for a performance at the Bru Boru performance center, so we headed back for the 9 pm performance. The performance included irish instruments, irish singing, irish dancing............all were excellent. The show ended at 10:30 and the performers invited the audience to an evening with them. We headed for another room in the complex and proceeded to see another show........well almost. 
People in the audience sang, danced, and the performance company also performed. We all got up and danced the Seige of Ennis and had a great time. Yes, we did experience craic.......excellent use of time. Also, the evening ended with everyone standing and singing the Irish National Anthem. This bonus event ended at midnight and we walked back to the B&B and we are just now catching up with the blogs.See you tomorrow.
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