kilkenny & waterford
Our plans for the cottage included a lot of walking, hiking, and exploring the countryside, but those were all changed due to rain. Not just a little rain, a lot of rain and we didn't exactly bring an umbrella... which in all honesty probably wasn’t the best idea but ah well. So we decided to hop in the car and explore some of the nearby towns. Kilkenny was the first stop.
By now you should know that we don’t plan a lot. We don’t like being on a tight schedule or having a ton of things that we have to do. We prefer to just go with the flow and let whatever happens happen. It’s more fun and more relaxing that way. With that said, I did do a little research on what to do or anything specific we had to see while we were there and really most people just said it’s a town full of cute little shops and of course a castle (but what else is new). It was really relaxing actually. After we found a parking spot (which seemed impossible) our first priority was finding a place for breakfast, food was on the forefront of my brain, per the usual.
Finally we found a cute breakfast cafe and enjoyed our time spent there. After our traditional Irish breakfast and the delicious cup of coffee in the corner of the cafe next to the window (you know how coffee just tastes better on a rainy day, especially when you’re sitting by the rainy window??) we were ready to head back into the rain, or maybe that was just me. We walked for hours, wandering in and out of each shop admiring the cute decor and each handmade item. I was having a blast but Dylan’s not really into shopping so he was ready to take a break.
What better place to take a break than the bar? I’m not a beer person but when you’re in Ireland you have to try as many as you can, because there are actually a lot of good ones (for us non-beer lovers). At this point, however, I was a little sick of the beer (and it was barely noon) so I ordered a mimosa and it was the cutest little mimosa setup I had ever seen. I get excited over the smallest things, but for real, look at it.
After regrouping we decided that we wanted to head onto the next town—Waterford it was. Waterford, so I’ve read, is the oldest city in Ireland and the parking is chhheeapp! Seriously, 5 euros to park for the whole day. We started off on the main road walking aimlessly around looking for something to do… I read about it but I couldn’t seem to find anything that I read about. Naturally we just ducked into a hotel bar for—wait for it—a couple of lattes! Ha, surprised ya didn’t we? Then we finally found everything I read about, turns out we just needed to head into the middle of all the buildings and streets, or maybe we both just needed a shot of caffeine.
There’s a whole street that’s just for pedestrians and it has so much to do, it’s what I’d call the city centre. From designer stores, to restaurants, coffee shops, and small businesses. I scored big here, I found my, now, favorite green skirt in a store called Swamp. I wasn’t even going to go into a store with the name Swamp but I kept walking by it and eventually curiosity got the best of me. I could have bought the entire store, I loved it, plus the employees knew what they were doing. Everything I tried on they complimented me, and the complimented the things I was most self-conscious about. So I would say yeah, check them out. After my shopping was done we ended up finding a music store for Dylan! Score for both of us! We also found a restaurant named “Hillbilly’s” where my Erhard people at?!
I realize this post wasn’t chalk full of information or anything great, just a little story about our day, which sometimes is what this blog is going to be. Hope you enjoyed it. All in all both towns were so fun and relaxing and we had a very successful rainy day.
