The Old Medieval Town

There is something truly sublime about riding through the Irish countryside. The book I'm reading is terrible; I do not reccommend it to anyone. It is called "The Art of Pilgrimage", by a man named Phil Cousineau. Some points he makes have value, but his approach is altogether misguided on the inherent spiritual nature of travel. It's hard to tell whether he is trying to appeal to those of all spiritual orientations, or if he himself suffers from such a spiritual uncertainty, because he combines spiritual orderings relentlessly and evidently inappropriately. More on this if I publish a book in response to his.

We arrived in Kilkenny and met up with my contact, the Wisconsonianette, who promptly introduced us to her entourage of comrades -- a Dane(tte), a Pole(tte), a Spaniard(ette), an Italian(ette) and a French(ette). It was a good time imbibing at Lanigan's talking to the slew of them, while the ZenGreaser and I noticed that we were the only males in the group. I did not get to bed until atleast 3:30am, so we slept in until about 1:30 or two in the afternoon. For my part, I rose at 8:30am or so, and went down to the kitchen, where 3 Frenchies and 2 Germs invited me to join them for munchies and tea. After a good hearty conversation, I proceeded back to my dormition for some more rest.

The day has begun well -- after our significant rest, we're ready to tackle the rest of the week. I need to give the Wisconsonian a call, and find some real breakfast before I have lunch (Guinness). On our way to find the library for internet access (which we found out is closed Mondays (???), we ran into an elderly woman who showed us the way. Far away from home as we all were (Greaser and I from the States, and herself having been from Northern Ireland), it was a very pleasant and nice conversation as she led us and directed us to Carnegie Library. She has lived in Kilkenny for some time, because the religious feuding in Northern Ireland sent her family packing (her mother was Protestant, and her father Catholic). It was an excellent experience.

Nota Bene: It was curious to me that while I was at Lanigans, the Dane informed me of her distaste for the Euro. She was unbelievably impassioned about it. I can't say I disagree with her though. Yay for national (not continental) currencies.