So, when we were leaving the B&B on the morning of the second day, we made sure to get directions to the Ennis Friary, so we wouldn't just drive in circles around the town center again. It was right across that bridge in the first picture. It was very pretty. There were a lot of carvings and things. One dad was really impressed with was the next to the last picture. It's a carving that has several symbols having to do with Jesus. I don't remember most of them. Two of the ones I do are the dice (for the soldiers who cast lots for Jesus's clothes) and a rooster in a pot (for the story of Judas's wife cooking a rooster in a pot and telling him, "Jesus is no more going to come back from the dead than this rooster is," and no sooner had she said it than the rooster got out of the pot and flew away). There was also a verse on one of the graves here (I think it was here anyway) that was interesting: "You there who now pass by, as you are so once was I, as I am now so you will be, remember death and play for me."
After we left Ennis, we drove toward Killimer, County Clare. The lady at the B&B had warned us that Limerick on a Friday afternoon is really terrible to drive through. So, we took her advice and took the ferry across the Shannon River from Killimer to Tarbert. The first pictures were taken in Labasheeda on the way to Killimer, where we stopped to call my mom. The others were taken on the ferry. The silver car is our rental car, Megane the Elf car.
Oh, and by the way, I'm a huge dork. So, I told my dad we had to take a detour. I made him stop in this little town in County Limerick called Shanagolden. Why? Well, because Rory (one of my characters) is from Shanagolden. Now, that was a bit awkward to explain, but I didn't get laughed at, which was good. So, the next pictures were taken in Rory's hometown.
Also on the detour was the town of Askeaton. Only we stopped in Askeaton to see a castle, which is a bit easier to explain than, "Oh, one of the voices in my head lives there." The next pictures are of Desmond Castle, in Askeaton, County Limerick. Cromwell and his cannon's reeked havok on it back in the 1600's (or so the tour guide said, though I hear that's a pretty common claim), so it's not exactly intact and you can't really wander around it much at all. It was well worth the visit though. The tourguide, Anthony Sheehy, was absolutely wonderful. I think we learned more about castles at Desmond Castle, which was in ruin, than in any of the intact or restored castles we went too. He was a very nice guy. And he told me I looked Irish, which earned him some brownie points. hehe. Despite the bright, bright blue sky in some of these pictures, it did rain on us during this tour. Just a little though. I love Irish weather. These pictures are of the castle and river that flows around it. (It's on an island.) On the right side of the fourth picture you can see the very edge of the Hellfire club, which was not far from the castle. And dad had me take a picture of the arrow slits in the wall. There were also musket slits (small squares instead of rectangles) in certain sections of the wall.
And a few blocks away from the castle was Askeaton Friary. Also very pretty. We didn't get a tour of it, but we did get directions, and I like wandering around these places on my own too.
After that, we drove on to our next stop, Killarney, County Kerry. I only took two pictures in Killarney, and none of the town itself. I'm still very disappointed about that. First of all because I adored the town, and second because it is Corrigan's hometown. I meant to get pictures of all of my characters' towns that I passed through. Nothing I can do about it now though. Anyway, here are some pictures of the road to Killarney, and two taken in Killarney.
