PaddyKraska
Registered User
Posts: 8
(2/15/03 8:40 am)

Feb 4th 2003- Arrival Dublin to Athy

---

**** DISCLAIMER ****
Because we had a specific agenda to go where my mom grew up and Dublin only, this may not be helpful to everyone, but I tried to include anything I could that I would have wanted to know before I left.

I thought it would be interesting to compare what I had planned versus what actually happened.

***Day 1- Arrive Dublin, train to Athy, cab to Kilkea Castle (my mom used to play in the woods of the castle, til they tore them down to make the golf course) That should be about lunchtime, figure a snack, a nap, and then I went TOTALLY Hollywood and booked a massage for 4p- (only $65 euros, not bad). I love massages (bad back), but I honestly think I wanted it so I could say, "I've booked my massage at the castle" to all my friends and co-workers!! I just feel grand!! We plan to investigate the castle afterwards (haunted!) and then have a splurge dinner at their very schmantzy restaurant. Early bed.***

The flight was totally fine, smooth sailing with a tailwind that brought us in from Chicago in 6 ½ hours!! (Made me happy!) I have no grump with Aer Lingus at all, except the pilots always talk so soft, and you can barely make out what they are saying. The food was passable & service good. Took the Airlink bus to Hueston station with no problem. They are doing massive amounts of construction at the rail station, so it was very open and briskly windy- cold but sunny. The train ride was fine, and pretty snappy to Athy. We lucked out at the train station- a young girl called a cab for us on her cell fon (Everyone has a cell fon over there, some of the younger people have two!). We hooked up with Pat Hennessey, owner of Athy Taxicabs, and it was the best thing that could have happened!! He and another driver Joe treated us like family, even going so far as not to charge us for two short runs! We went direct to the castle- it was quite a feeling going up the drive! I really don’t know why more isn’t mentioned about Kilkea Castle when you research Kildare- the history is phenomenal and the little quirks (evil eye stone, monkey carving, haunted tower) make it very interesting. (www.kilkeacastle.ie) We checked in, and the room was wonderful. Very big, a great view of the grounds from our window, and a lovely bathroom & tub. (I would come to learn how important that tub would be!) Jeff laid down for a nap, but I was too jazzed- so I went on a self-guided snoopy tour of the castle. Had a blast! I ended up in the cozy pub in the castle having a great conversation with the bartender, who was from Poland! My massage was at 4p and it was awful. I was woozy with jet lag and a couple of pints, so I would gripe a bit when she hurt me, but I didn’t realized til later that I was bruised like crazy! I managed to get back up to the room where Jeff was up and waiting. Our dinner reservations were for 7p, so we went back down to the pub for a couple more pints. And it is totally true, the Guinness there tastes nothing like the s**t they try and pass off here. We had a wonderful conversation with two ladies from town who come to the castle once a week for tea. The first question everyone asks is- “Where are you from?” The NEXT one is, “So, is your president going to send you to war?” Last week there were protesters at Shannon airport damaging the planes & fueling tankers trying to stop the US planes from landing at Shannon and refueling on their way to the Middle East, so it was on everyone’s mind. The restaurant is in the old library, very cozy with little nooks with tables and a lovely fire. We had the tiger prawn appetizer, Jeff had fresh lamb and I had wonderful practically still swimming salmon. It was without a doubt the lushest dinner I’ve ever had, with incredible service, and even with gratuity and a 22 euro bottle of wine (no wine in a bag here!) came in just under 100 euro. Quick point about the euro- we both used our debit cards to pay for a lot of things, and the exchange rate was incredible! I have online banking, and when I checked when I came home, everything was so close to the USD = Euro that I didn’t overspend like I was worried I would. I ate my last bite, looked at Jeff and said, “I have to go to sleep now”. We rushed out, went upstairs and I fell into bed & a sound sleep.

Michele Erdvig
ezOP
Posts: 1155
(2/15/03 11:32 pm)

More Please!

---

Hi Paddy,

I'm enjoying your opus. Ouch! Were you really bruised from your massage? Was it a deep tissue massage? That seems unusual. Did you let hotel management know?

Glad you enjoyed your castle in Ireland!

Michele

PaddyKraska
Registered User
Posts: 10
(2/16/03 2:12 pm)

Massage

---

No, I actually didn't notice the bruises til later. It wasn't a big deal- I was so out of it anyway from the pints & jet lag that I made it thru!!