April 8 - Tintern Abbey, Zombies in the Churchyard, and Potatoes for the World!

April 8 - Tintern Abbey, Zombies in the Churchyard, and Potatoes for the World!

This morning we woke to cloudy skies in Kilkenny, and somewhat sadly packed our bags to head off to Cork for the next two nights. We really loved Kilkenny - plenty to do, lots of great food, and a lovely small town feel.

Brandon kindly indulged me by driving us about 45 minutes out of our way to visit an abbey built by - you guessed it - my medieval crush, William Marshal. He built Tintern Abbey in the early 1200's as thanks to God for surviving a near death inducing crossing from Wales. Not only William, but his wife Isabelle and several of their children (in addition to the household knights and servants) were nearly shipwrecked while crossing from Wales. This lovely abbey is William's tribute to God for their survival. Unfortunately the abbey was under some serious reconstruction while we were there, but we were still able to walk around the nave and what remains of the cloister. After the dissolution under Henry VIII, the church was given to one of Henry's men, Anthony Colclough. The descendants of Anthony lived at Tintern until the early 1960's, as they turned it into a house. It has since been largely returned to its original state, as it would have looked when built by William. It does have battlements, which were added by Anthony. We walked around the grounds,which extend to a beautiful stone bridge over an estuary. The bridge had amazing views of the abbey, and when we crossed it, we discovered a small chapel and graveyard at the top of a hill. The chapel no longer has a roof, and the gravestones are all charmingly tipping over. It was a beautiful and peaceful place - at least until Brandon started talking about how this was the perfect setting for a zombie movie, complete with descriptions of how the people would be in the ruined church when they saw zombie arms punching up through the ground and have to close the rusted gate to fend them off. Next I got to learn about how the zombies would climb over the walls, since the church did not have a roof. Last but not least I learned that the about to be zombified victims would only have rusted Katana's to defend themselves (apparently katana's were the 12th century monks weapon of choice?!). This was the final scene before they were eaten. Winning! After I survived the zombie apocalypse in my mind, we headed back down the hill towards the zombie free abbey. The area around the abbey also had a number of walking trails through beautifully wooded forest, and we wandered these for a bit before heading back to our car.

When we drove into the abbey grounds, there were a large number of sheep in a pasture off to the left. On the way back out, I told Brandon that I wanted to stop to take some pictures of them, so he stopped on the road and I got out. I thought that I would just walk up to the fence, take some pictures, and the sheep probably wouldn't even notice that I was there. Little did I know that ALL of the sheep would immediately begin running towards me when I got to the fence! Now, let's focus on the important point of that last sentence - RUNNING SHEEP!!!!! Oh my gosh, it was hilarious. Their short legs could only go so fast, so they had this kind of loping run. The lambs looked very cute running, but the adults just looked like an accident waiting to happen. Also, they were so loud! When I got out of the car I heard some baa-ing fairly loudly, and I told Brandon to roll down his window to hear them. Once the stampede began, the baa-ing got even louder! It was so funny. I posted a video on Facebook of this hilarious sheep encounter, check it out! The fence was electrified on the sheep side, and boy did they know it1 They wouldn't come closer than 4 feet away from it, but almost all of them stood in a line, watching me and baa-ing. BAAAA!!!!!!!!!! Silly sheep. Also, fact: whenever we've passed sheep on the road, I've said something silly like "SO FLUFFY!" or "little clouds!" Yeah, not that fluffy or cloud like up close. Actually really dirty and some of them quite gross looking. Of course, this doesn't apply to the lambs, who were totes adorable! Oh man, I totally tried to convince Brandon that Moxxi needs a lamb friend. I know that you will all be shocked to hear that he didn't agree, and oh so logically pointed out that lambs turn into sheep. Details!!!

After leaving my new found friends, we headed back toward Waterford and Cork. When we got to New Ross, we realized we needed gas. We learned a few things on our gas stop. 1) You pay for your gas after you pump it in Ireland. Apparently, they trust you not to run off without paying here. Weird! 2) Gas station coffee is really good in Ireland! Total opposite from the states. You can also get really good tea at them (I had Earl Grey). 3) Gas is really expensive!

Once we had our hot drinks and a bag of salt and vinegar crisps in the car with us, we headed off down the road. We then went through our first (and only so far) toll booth in Ireland. Miraculously, we actually had the 1 euro 90 that it cost to go through it, so we tossed it in the basket and went on our way. After passing through Waterford, we saw a sign that said "Ardmore Scenic Drive." I looked at the map and saw that not only was Ardmore out on a peninsula, it had a lighthouse! We turned left (into what still feels like oncoming traffic, eve though its not) and headed that way. Oh my gosh, Ardmore was so incredibly beautiful! We drove into the teeny tiny town on a road that ran parallel to a huge bay that had giant breakers rolling in. Lining the hill heading up from the town were picturesque cottages painted in all different colors. We parked our car in what looked like a good spot by the beach, and got out to walk the beach.

The very first thing that happened to Brandon when he got out of the car was a wave came over the sea wall and sprayed him. Hahahahaha!!!! Zombie karma. :)
I ran out of the car, and we headed to the path that lead to the beach. Let me tell you, it was incredibly windy on the beach! It was so beautiful. We walked about a mile out, and the salt wind blowing with the waves rolling in and the sun shining on us, it was just a piece of heaven! Total sheer bliss. We spent some time on the beach taking photos and watching the gulls soar overhead before we realized that the tide was coming in and headed back. While walking back to our car, we looked up at the sea wall right by the car. Of course the moment we looked up we saw a HUGE wave hit the sea wall, go over it, and hit our teeny car! We both started laughing hilariously, as our car was hit by the spray from wave after wave. I took a video and posted it on Facebook, if you're in need of a laugh. Poor teeny car! We got back to the car, drove through the spray of a couple waves, and headed up the hill to the lookout. We found a little gravel lane that looked like it headed out on a moor, so we parked our saltwater car and walked through the hedges. We came out in a lush green field with a ruined tower at the end of it. We walked to the tower, and were just stunned by the beauty of the cliffs on the other side! Sheer cliffs dropping hundreds of feet into the ocean, with green fields stretching as far as the eye could see the other way - amazing! We spent a long time walking the cliff path and enjoying the beauty. We walked out onto a point right over the sea, and it was so, so, so windy! Brandon took a video, and it is so loud in it! I think that we were actually slightly deafened by the time we left. At one point I actually thought that I was going to blow off the cliff. We walked back across the field to our car, and learned that the tower was built by the Napoleonic forces during the early 19th century. Practically brand new for Ireland!

After this we took a beautiful scenic drive back to the highway, and headed towards Cork. At this point the sky actually became grey, and rain definitely looked imminent. Right as we drove into Cork the rain started to fall - thanks for the welcome, Cork! We found our hotel, which is right on the river, and got checked in. After relaxing in our room for a little bit, we headed out to find dinner. By the time we  left the hotel, it had started to rain in earnest. Thank goodness for our good rain jackets! Let the record show that this was the first time it has rained on us since we've been here.

We had read that Cork is somewhat of a foodie city, so we were really excited! We ended up walking across the river into the old market quarter where we found a restaurant called the Strasbourg Goose. They advertised a three course meal for 20 euros, which is actually a screaming deal. Ireland is expensive! So we shared a wonderful fish cake with chili sauce starter, then moved on to our entrees. Brandon had a sirloin with a tomato cream mushroom sauce and a small side of mashed potatoes. I had the lamb shank with mashed potatoes. We thought this was the entirety of our food, but right after they set down our plates another waiter came out with more potatoes and some vegetables! We ended up with FOUR different kinds of potatoes! Mashed, chilled mashed, au gratin, and chips (fries). Oh my gosh, it was crazy! The food was absolutely amazing. We ate all of our meat, most of the potatoes, and all of the veggies. Last but not least we had a slice of Bailey's Cheesecake for dessert.

IT WAS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh my gosh. Thank goodness we shared it, because we seriously could have each eaten a slice, and believe me - we really did not need to after eating all of those potatoes! Wow. What a feast and it was all amazing. We then stumbled back to our hotel for the night.

Time for dreams of potato eating zombie sheep!

Lots and lots of love from us,

Linds