I Love My Bag

Day 4: Well, Courtney and I woke up on time today! We had a nice breakfast in the hotel and then boarded the bus for our trip to Kildare, where the National Stud Farm is located. Ireland has multiple farms, but I’m pretty sure this is the “official” stud farm in Ireland. Before I get too far into this, let me just explain to those of you who may not know that a stud farm is a horse farm. I had no idea until Michael told us last night… no shame.

Kildare is also used as military land. A really cool fact is that Braveheart was filmed in Kildare. The reason the soldiers fighting looked so realistic is because they were real citizens and had real issues with each other! We drove through the few blocks of military buildings and even passed by the Irish military band. Michael (our tour guide) told us that the band was really excellent, but they weren’t playing when we drove by.

Our tour of the National Stud farm was amazing. There is so much to know about horses; I never imagined that so much would go into breeding a prize-winning horse. We ran into some swans on the grounds and saw a pony that wasn’t even a week old; at birth it weighed 146 pounds! It was kind of clumsy, especially with its lanky legs. Its knees were the same height as it’s mothers, but it was only about half the size. We also met a few of the horses along the way. At the end of the tour, Erin, Natalee, Katie and I made our way through the Japanese Gardens, which told the story of man’s life. Natalee was a wonderful tour guide; she kept us laughing the whole way

through. The gardens themselves were beautiful— my favorite part though was probably the bridge of life. It’s bright red and towards the end of the garden “journey.”

Once we left Kildare, the group headed out to Celbridge to visit Castletown House. We were really lucky because the house is actually closed during the winter. But we somehow managed to get a tour! William Connelly and his family built the house in the early 18^th century. He decided to start construction in 1722 but died in 1729 before it was completed. His wife Catherine lived in the house once it was finished, but when she died, the property was left to their relative Tom Connelly. Tom married Lousia (who was related to King Charles II) and they moved in sometime in the 1760s. She eventually updated the house to the format it’s in currently. They had so many amazing furniture pieces and silk wallpaper. The foyer was breathtaking with its original limestone flooring and its winding staircase. I wish you could have been there to see it. Halfway through the tour, the fire alarm went off so we had to exit the building, but everything was fine. At the end of the tour, we ended up singing in the long gallery (which is a huge ballroom with exquisite chandeliers and fireplaces); it was so cool to sing in that room!

After heading back to Dublin, we ate at the Brazen Head Pub. It’s the oldest in the city, and probably had some of the best food! Jo even came up to eat with us. When we finished dinner, she came back to the hotel and hung out for a while. At one point, we had six or seven girls in the room. We had a blast just hanging out and catching up. Such a perfect ending to a great day!