June 6: Parke's Castle

Ah!  I finally got to see a castle!!  My life is complete!  But for real, it was pretty awesome.  I, and everyone else, kept taking pictures and the tour guide said, "I see none of you have ever been to a castle before."  I told him all we have in America is Cinderella's castle and it just does not compare.

The 17th century castle we went to was called Parke's castle.  The castle, now restored, was built on the site of a 12th century castle previously owned by the O'Rourke family.  Apparently the castle was built on the shores of Lough Gill by Captain Robert Parke who inherited the land from King James of England.  The castle was eventually abandoned and the tour guide said that before the castle was restored it was not even recognizable.  The actual structure itself was a lot larger inside then it looked from the outside.  On the tour we learned that it was once four stories.   We also got to walk through the castle grounds to the edge of the lake where we saw a sauna.  It was basically just a small tunnel-like area cut out of the hillside.  People used to heat coals and put them in the tunnel and then either brush the coals out or lay straw over the coals so people could enjoy the heat the coals generated.  These saunas were always built into a hillside near a lake so people using the sauna could run into the cool water after sitting in the hot room.  Very cool to see, but the sauna itself was so tiny!  I could not even stand in it, I do not know how people could have thought that was relaxing.

After touring the castle we also visited and Dooney Rock.  Dooney rock sits on Lough Gill opposite ICC&CC.  The forest there was enchanting.  I felt like I was in a scene from Twilight. When we arrived at the location Kaitlyn and I started leading the group.  After walking for about twenty minutes on a path through the forest and still not finding this rock we decided to ask someone.  Turns out as soon as we got there we turned left when we should have turned right.  Needless to say we did not get to climb to the top of the rock and view the entire lake, but we did have a nice little hike through the woods.

Later, Kaitlyn, Ashley, Mike, and I ventured into Sligo town.  Our bus driver had us switch into a taxi since there was only four us and he wanted to save gas.  I asked him if I could drive because I am still fascinated that they drive on the other side of the road and that the front of their vehicles are opposite of American cars.  He asked me if I knew how but I did not end up getting to drive. Oh well, probably for the best!  It was pretty dead in town considering it was a holiday and people had to return the next day but it was cool to just walk around and relax.