Day 4: Kilkenny City - Where the Hell is the Holy Well?!

The rooster who woke the whole castle up
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Day 4 we were woken up at 4:00 a.m. by the most God-awful screeching. We thought maybe the Blair Witch really was outside but it turned out that two roosters got in a cock-fight in the courtyard! We tried to go back to sleep but the roosters kept carrying on and cows off the property started mooing.....so we got up to take a shower.

The shower system left alot to be desired but after Tigh Catháin we were all a little spoiled. We ate our very nutritious breakfast of chocolate chip cupcakes in the dining hall before going into Kilkenny City.

The girl came out and led us half a block up the road to what looked like someone’s backyard and there was the well.

The cows in the field next to the hostel
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First we stopped in an internet cafe to map our way to Blarney and book a hostel in Galway City. We all checked our email and I found the location of Kenny’s Well in Kilkenny City. We stopped in the tourist office for some local maps.

We stopped in O’Lanagain’s Pub for an early lunch. The Irish seem to eat a big breakfast & most pubs serve a “carvery lunch” between 10:00-1:00, few pubs and smaller diners outside of big cities are open for dinner. I guess dinner time is quality time at home with the family in Ireland...... Most pubs offer a good deal on their lunch specials and O’Lanagain’s was no different. I got a huge bowl of delicious Irish stew with a side of “chips”, which are french fries....... As we were eating two Irishmen were discussing the weather in Irish. I managed to catch “Nach bhfuil an lá go brea? Tá an amsir go brea inniu.” The weather looked a little overcast to me but I guess if it’s not raining its a good weather day in Ireland. The men continued to speak in Irish for quite some time.

Foulksrath Castle
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O’Lanagain’s was a cute pub, they had funny signs on their walls and lots of Irish memorabilia. After we finished eating we went back to the tourist office to get directions to Kenny’s Well. The woman tried to be helpful but the directions she gave were typical Irish style and vague at best. They said to go to Black Abbey and when you see a gap in the wall walk down the steps and the well will be there..... so we drove to the street and there were two churches. One was Black and one was Grey and neither said which it was!

O'Lanagain's Pub
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We drove past the Black church and couldn’t find the wall or the gap. We drove almost 2 miles more looking at every stone wall and couldn’t find it. We gave up and turned around. I was getting worried that we wouldn’t find the holy well when we came across a little grocery store called “The Well”. We figured with a name like that we must be getting close.

Katie was determined that we were going to find the well for me so she went in and asked the girl in the store where Kenny’s Well was. The girl came out and led us half a block up the road to what looked like someone’s backyard and there was the well. I grabbed the two liter bottle of shitty sparkling spring water that I had since Glasnevin and dumped it out. I decided to use the bottle for Gary’s holy water, I thought 2 liters should be enough!

Kenny's Well
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Katie and Lauren came with me to the well. Lauren collected some water too and Katie drank some. Katie took pictures while I collected the holy water and prayed for my uncle’s cancer to be taken away. The water was very pure and cold. I finished collecting the water and I tied a clootie onto a tree near Kenny’s Well. I explained the old Irish custom of leaving a clootie of the sick person’s cloth as an offering and a petition for healing. My friends thought it was an interesting tradition.

Me getting holy water for my uncle
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After leaving the well we went to a supermarket in the middle of town to get groceries. We were going to make tacos back at the hostel. Then we went into the center of town to do some shopping. Katie bought some shot glasses for souvenirs and I bought the new Green Day cd “American Idiot” so we’d have something besides the Foo Fighters to listen to.

We went into a lot of the little shops in Kilkenny, the women’s clothes they sell in Europe are really cute. I wanted to buy something but I knew my suitcase wouldn’t hold anymore clothes :(

Kilkenny City
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After we finished shopping we drove further into to Kilkenny City to go on the tour of Kilkenny Castle. Kilkenny Castle is huge, it sits on 4 or 5 acres of land with beautifully tended gardens and grounds. We took a few pictures of us goofing of in the courtyard of the castle, the people sitting around waiting for their tour to start were looking at us like we were nuts. Kilkenny Castle is privately owned and you aren’t allowed to take pictures inside, which was a big disappointment.

Us goofing off at Kilkenny Castle
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The castle was very beautifully furnished. The castle had many pieces of furnishing auctioned off prior to the Famine, most of which have been returned. The tour included a movie and a walk through of the entire castle. The gardens outside the castle were really pretty. It was laid out in the shape of a celtic cross with a fountain in the center. You can walk through out the whole garden.

After the tour we headed back to Foulksrath to make tacos. We sat down in the dining hall to play Run Rummy when the man who owned the castle came in to find out which girl was the “Purcell”. He told us all about the Purcell family who owned the castle and about the castle’s history.

Kilkenny Castle
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After eating and playing cards we moved our things from “Seomra 2” to the “gatehouse” or our own “little sanctuary in the woods” as Michelle put it. It was cool because the room fit four people and we could talk and and go to sleep whenever we wanted without disturbing anyone.

Once we were settled in our new room we went to the courtyard where we found Ozzy waiting for us. Ozzy is one of the owner's dogs, at the time we didn’t know his name so Katie nicknamed him Dingle. It was only later that the castle owner told us that he named the dog that because “he has black “mascara” lines around his eyes like Ozzy Osbourne.” Ozzy wanted us to play with him so we got a soccer ball and kicked it around the courtyard for him. We also chased the chickens and roosters out from under the tree. When we got tired of playing we went into the gatehouse to work on our journals. We stayed in there for the rest of the night talking and making plans for the rest of the trip.