The Road to Kilkenny Liam and I left Portlaoise at around 11am, and took the scenic route to Kilkenny via Abbeyleix. We had planned to be there and have lunch before the first hurling match began. Along the way, we stopped at a clearing on the side of the road to take a few photos. Liam had told me to be careful as the ground was uneven, but on my way back down the ledge of grass, clumsy me fell off and rolled my ankle. All I was worried about was my jeans and my camera. My ankle was a little out of joint for a while, but it's good as new now, thank God!

Hawthorn & Hills

The journey continued with me whinging about my grassed stained jeans and sore knees, until we reached the pub where we had lunch (I can't remember the name of it, sorry guys!) I had chicken and Liam had fish, as usual. The coleslaw was gorgeous!

Getting Lost... The Bog Maker

With full bellies and some idea of where we were going, we trekked further into Kilkenny City. We passed a few cool buildings which you would never see back in Oz in your life. The Bog Maker is a pub on the main road of Kilkenny which is gorgeous, like a lot of big pubs in Ireland. There was also a nice new house a few doors down from here, which kind of looks like mudbrick. I think its just stone, but it's very nice!

A fair way up the main road we came to a roundabout, and became very confused as to which way to go. There was a Gárda (Policeman) standing on the corner we had reached and he pointed us in the right direction. Another navigation problem arose about 15 minutes later, where we met up with a Kiwi and two other Irish people trying to find the Kilkenny Hurling Pitch as well. We banded together and made it our mission to get there by hook or by crook.

A Kilkenny House

The Hurling Match... Kilkenny Hurling Pitch Wexford V's Galway

We finally found it! It cost us €20 (about $35-$40) each to enter the grounds, but we did see nearly two full matches. Wexford v's Galway and Waterford v's Tipperary. I didn't really understand the game much, as this was my first time seeing hurling live. Liam told me a few things but I don't think they sunk in. Wexford won against Galway and Waterford won against Tipp. Poor Liam, he originates from Tipperary. The games were great though, they're pretty fast at moving the ball from one end of the pitch to the other. There were also a fair few injured players in the Waterford game too. I'm actually thinking of bringing a hurley and ball home now... that'd be really cool! There were loads of people in the streets after the two matches, it was unbelieveable!! Like a human traffic jam. I've never seen so many people in one city before! The traffic was pretty bad too, there were people in cars trying to move through people to exit the city centre. That sort of thing would never happen at the footy at home. Not that I know of anyway...

Kilkenny City Photographically...

Kilkenny Castle...