Coole Park and Bunratty Castle

I spent this weekend in County Kerry, in the southwest region of Ireland.  On the drive down to the Dingle Peninsula (see next post) we stopped at Coole Park and Bunratty Castle.  Coole Park is the old estate of Lady Gregory, a friend to W.B.Yeats, and a founding member of the Abbey Theatre, Ireland's national theatre.  She is famous for her patronage to the arts and she invited many of the authors and playwrights to Coole Park to carve their initials into her "Autograph Tree".  Yeats wrote poems about Coole and summered there frequently.  His initials are the most famous on the tree.  Lady Gregory also had autograph fans to bring with her on trips abroad, since the tree was unable to travel with her.  For anyone from the Mass. area, Coole reminded me a lot of Elm Bank with its manicured gardens and trails in the woods.  Coole is much bigger than Elm Bank, but you get the idea.

Hanging out with our professor's kids

There was a sundial on the grounds that you act as the hand by standing at a certain point and cast a shadow

Loving the sun

The Autograph Tree

Ta tu anseo! Words that I was actually able to read and understand and proof that I'm learning something in my Irish class

Red deer on the grounds of Coole that are related closely to elk

Bunratty Castle was set up like Plimoth Plantation or Sturbridge Village, with people in period-attire and nightly "medieval banquets."  The castle had rooms set up as they might have been at the time, with tapestries everywhere and old furniture.  The folk village surrounding the castle had thatched roof houses and farmyard animals.  I wish we had more time to spend exploring all the shops, so I am excited to go back when my family is visiting at the end of this month!

Canons outside the castle.  Mike was upset I didn't find out the specific ranges, sizes, etc. so sorry to any other artillery fans out there!

The hall where the banquets are held nightly.  600 years ago this would have been where the soldiers and officers ate, slept, and lived.

The antlers on the walls were recovered from peat bogs where they had been preserved since the last ice age.  They belonged to a now-extinct type of very large elk/deer.

The throne of the head of the castle

One of the restored tapestries

The Irish fertility stone-- sit underneath and touch the carving as you make a wish for fertility

View from atop the castle

This is the view through a secret "spy hole" in the wall.  Quite literally, at Bunratty the walls have eyes and ears.

A couple of massive Irish wolfhounds

A sad donkey that could easily have been A.A. Milne's inspiration for Eeyore.

At the "Piggery" two pigs were squealing and fighting but I got it to look like a sweet piggy kiss instead.

We arrived at Dingle around sunset and were greeted with an amazing view of the sun setting behind Mount Eagle beyond the harbor.