Bunratty Castle

Well, if I've learned anything these past two days, it's that jet lag is very real. I forced myself to stay awake yesterday until 7:00 pm, at which point I literally lost consciousness. I woke three times during the night, but I didn't get out of bed until 7:00 am the next morning. And guess what? I still nodded off on the three-hour bus ride to Dingle. Jet lag. Either that or buses, like cars, lull me to sleep. 

Anyway, we got to a delayed start this morning because the hotel rooms didn't have clocks and one of the directors thought it was four in the morning when it was actually ten. Once we were all present, we headed off to Bunratty Castle, the first of many castles on our itinerary. And can I just say: Wow. I think people had to be quite a bit smaller a few centuries ago because I barely fit through some of those doorways.

Bunratty has three stories of central great rooms and four towers with six stories each. You climb up narrow spiral staircases to get to the upper floors and towers, but you have to watch your footing! There is also a North Solar and a South Solar, both of which are kind of like apartments, one for the resident earl and one for his guests. 

Okay, highlights:
-the stairs. I'm in love with spiral staircases and mazes, so these were awesome because every new passage went off in a different direction and the stairways never seemed to end.
-the dungeon! It was a square pit with a barred opening at the top of one of the walls. If you got thrown in there, I'm guessing it was for life. The corridor leading to it was narrow enough to make me slightly claustrophobic. 
-the parapets. What a great view!

Oh yeah, and I found the legendary Hound of the Baskervilles. Either that, or it was the dog they got to play Maximus in Tangled. This dog was the size of a horse. Pictures will be forthcoming. So my first castle was a wonderful experience! We're going to Dingle now, and I thought I should mention that we just drove over a mountain that was covered in sheep and now we're waiting in one-way construction traffic. If your interested in things like mountains of sheep. ...and on that note, I'm off! More tomorrow!