Autumn is When the Parents Come

My parents are are back in Eldo after their 35-day tour of Ireland and Germany. This was Mom and Dad's third annual visit to Ireland. They prefer to travel in the Autumn, as the days grow short and the leaves start to fall (along with travel prices). There is much to report from their visit, but I'll start at the beginning--with the loads of American goods they kindly brought to us.

Mom and Dad stuck close to Raheny for the first few days (as I recall--been a while now! checking my tweets to recreate chronology), but adjusted pretty well to the time change. On Sunday we drove to Freshford in County Kilkenny for a stop by the Irish Conker Championships. Bill and I attended this small fest two years ago and caught conker fever!

We spent the night in Graignamanagh at the Waterside Guesthouse and enjoyed a nice dinner at Boat's Bistro (located across the river in County Carlow). We spent most of our time being unable to pronounce the name of the town, but Bill mastered it and with some practice I got it too--Greg-na-man-ah. Graignamanagh is on the River Barrow which travels through some lovely Irish countryside. The bridge in Graignamanagh, built in 1765, was partially destroyed in 1798 by Crown Forces. (Pic by Dad.)


Monday morning (October 26) we visited a 13th century Cistercian abbey in Graignamanagh, Duiske Abbey. Still a working church, the abbey has a section where you can view the original painted tile floor.

But this was just the start to a day of ruins.