Bunratty Castle and Limerick

After a hearty Irish breakfast - our first since we arrived - we piled into the car and headed toward Bunratty castle. Given the torrential rain and clouds, the scenery took a bit of a beating. Still, we got to see cows, looking remarkably like oversized goats, chewing on grass on the sides of hills and amazing vistas. Bunratty was damp but the rain took a bit of a holiday when we arrived. B raced from one cottage to the next, barely staying in because "they smelled bad". I think they were burning peat in the fireplaces. The castle was interesting, with entire rooms laid out as they might have been a few centuries ago, with period furniture and dishes and, on occasion, costumes. After we climbed down from the ramparts, we visited the rest of the village. Unfortunately,most of the cottages were empty of occupants. Even the barnyard lacked animals. Two dogs were in the kennel but they were sleeping. B and I watched a lady in period costume put together an apple pie. B desperately wanted to help so she allowed him to pinch the edges of the crust. Afterward, we were, of course, hungry for apple pie so we headed to the tea shop and bought a slice. It was MASSIVE! We made a pitstop at the mill, for a member of our party who happens to be a mill enthusiast, and B explored the playground before we got back to the car. Limerick was only 15 minutes away and we found a likely place to eat within minutes. "I'll have the Guinness pie for lunch," hubby told the waitress. "And a pint of Guinness as well." "I'm sorry," she told him. "We don't have any Guinness." Hubby was puzzled. "If you're serving Guinness pie, there has to be Guinness beer on the premises." The waitress shook her head. "Oh, no, sir. Guinness is a food." Hubby tried to tell her about the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin but this may or may not have been wasted breath. In any case, his Guinness pie was good. We stopped at a large department store before heading home and picked up a couple of pairs of shorts for B as I hadn't packed enough and then we drove back "home" to Dublin. We were all so pooped that we didn't even bother leaving the hotel for dinner!