Today was a very bittersweet day! Gina and I went to the airport this morning- had a bit of a panic because we tried 3 different taxi services and none of them had cars available- after waiting about 30 minutes for someone to accept our fare on either Lynk Taxis or Uber, I ended up downloading the Free Now taxi app and we got someone right away. I would highly recommend that app for taxis in Dublin, it was 10 euro less than the minimum expected amount for Uber and we quickly got a ride. Our driver was very nice and got us there as quickly as he could. I said goodbye to Gina at her baggage area and then went off to find the rental car company. I rented a car through a local company called Sixt. It was a very good deal – less than $600 for 17 days (I ended up adding an extra day which made it a little more expensive). My American Express card covers insurance so I declined their optional coverage- something good to know though, if you decline their coverage they put a 5000 euro hold on your credit card and it can take up to 30 days for a refund, so if you plan to rent from this company in the future, make sure you have plenty of money available on your card! She talked me into the roadside assistance coverage which was 5 euro a day (I figured it’s a small price to pay for peace of mind in case my car breaks down in the middle of nowhere), and I pre-paid my petrol so I can return the car empty and they charge the same price as at the pump.

So far I’ve only attempted to get into the wrong side of the car once – fortunately I had a shopping bag so I just pretended like I was putting it in the car. I’ve only made one minor traffic infraction and it was right when I was leaving the rental car place, I accidentally ran a stoplight in the roundabout- but seriously, who puts a stoplight in a roundabout? I couldn’t check in to my AirBnB in Kilkenny until 1600 so I drove down to Wexford, which is a cute little town on the sea. I had lunch at a place called Waffel Haus and then walked around the little town. I found a store called Penneys- if you’re looking for a bargain- go here! Then I made my way to Kilkenny, and finally got to see some of those famous rolling green hills of Ireland, we saw some good views on the train to and from Belfast, but it was nothing compared to the south of Ireland. I can’t wait to get further west to see the cliffs, but I’m very much enjoying the views.

I got a little lost in Kilkenny looking for my AirBnB, the first place I came to I thought wasn’t it (spoiler it was) so I tried mapping again straight from AirBnB and it took me to a spot 10 minutes away, I walked around looking for the gate that was supposed to be there and I couldn’t find it (didn’t help that the instructions said the house was the third on the left with a blue door and there were exactly 3 different blue doors and all were the 3rd house on the left depending on how you looked at it!) I probably looked like a crazy person walking around the neighborhood looking at all of the houses trying to find a lockbox. I ended up attempting to map with the EIR code again and found myself back at the original spot, which turned out to be the correct one, I had just taken a wrong turn. I made it about 45 minutes after check-in and got settled in to a cute little log cabin behind a house. It’s very comfortable and perfectly meets my needs.

After a little rest I headed to Kilkenny Castle to meet up with the Kilkenny Haunted Dark tour that I booked. The nice thing about smaller cities- smaller tour groups. There were 3 of us on this particular tour, myself and a nice couple from Pennsylvania. We walked around the city and our tour guide told us all about the sordid past of Kilkenny including the story of the only person to be burned at the stake in Ireland for witchcraft- Petronella de Meath- who was the maid of Alice Kyteler who was accused of using witchcraft to murder her 4 husbands. Petronella was accused of helping her, and while Alice Kyteler was never tried and burned due in part to being wealthy. There is a plaque in the alley near where Petronella was burned and a little restaurant there named after her as well. Down the road from there is a bar and restaurant called Kyteler’s, where Alice used to live.