Castles, castles & more castles

Relatively short day today, but absolutely feeling worse for the wear.  I don't know how those rich folks did it back in the day, hoofing it up & down all of those steps in their castles, and wandering the grounds.  In shoes which were probably not as sensible as my own.  Regardless, today we hit Bunratty Castle which was casting a shadow over the bar with my second favorite name so far: Durty Nelly's.
  

 Our next stop on the road to Killarney was a tiny spot called Adare.  Adorable little town with thatched roof cottages, either occupied as homes or turned into quaint little artisan shops.  Exactly the type of building I think of when I think of Ireland.

When we arrived into Killarney, we spent the majority of the day at Muckross House and gardens. Gorgeous, yet humongous place and sort of tedious for a guided tour; everything is an antique and you can't touch or photograph anything, so just trust me when I say it was nice. Apparently, in 1855, Queen Victoria gave the owners a 6 year warning that she would like to come visit.  So they worked on improving their castle and commissioning ridiculous pieces of furniture and art in preparation, and the Queen came by in 1861. And stayed for 2 nights. And they went broke. Sucks to be them.

After Muckross, we wandered the town of Killarney.  Lots of fun little shops, and everything seems to be just a little more expensive than in Galway.  And it has it's own Banksy copycat copyrat.