Exploring Limerick - Day 1

Today I'm picking up the clunky narrative straight from our trip journal.  :)  In case you missed it, I thought I should finally share about our trip in July, and started here.  :)

"We found the Travelodge and settled in while Ruthie finished her nap, and decided to visit the King John Castle that afternoon.

"King John Castle is a great museum--probably worth the 10 Euros per person because 1) it has extensive hands-on exhibits which are fun even for little ones, plus 2) lots of room to run around since the tours are self-guided/paced and there's lots of space, and 3) it's a legitimate old fortress full of history and coolness. By the time we had had enough and bought a couple of magnets at the gift shop, the kids were getting hungry so we began searching out a potty for Gemma and food options. 

[This exhibit had foam blocks for children to practice building arches!  She had some help ;).]

[I learned a lot of history from the exhibits and the brief movie they showed.  It was a perfect way to start a tour of Ireland, since I hadn't done any reading ahead of time!  Ruthie just liked playing with the projector image ;).]

[A model siege tunnel]

[The next part of the museum was outside in the actual fortress.  It was so beautiful here--I could hardly believe we were all in IRELAND! :-D]

[Some of it was clearly reconstructed ;).]

[Another interactive display turns into a castle for Bio bio bio ;).]

[We had to!  It's tradition :).]

"Our first stop was at a bar with a sign in the front that deceptively proclaimed "food all day," since when we asked for two of the specials, the bar tender told us they stopped cooking at 3.  They had a potty, though, and after that we headed back to a pizza/fast food place we had seen earlier and got a 16" pie with "chips" and two drinks for 10 Euros.  The guy even threw in two juice pouches for the girlies.  (People love kids so much!) So, we took it back to our room and ate before John finally

hit the mattress never to rise again, and I bathed the girls and got them in bed by 8 pm.  All in all, it was a great day. 

John seems to have transitioned to driving on the left flawlessly, and the girls are right on track to adjust to the time change.  Praise God!"