Blarney Castle

May 27th 

Waking up early and ready for our tour through Ireland. We met the coach (bus) at Trinity College. The tour guide, Robby, was a funny, middle-aged Irish man. The bus was three fourths full and the country side was lovely. There is no other way to describe the rolling green plains.

Our first stop was the Rock of Cashel. It was a castle for Christianity back a long time ago.

First castle. First stop.

The floor was reduced to gravel and the walls still stand since conservation has been done. I'm sure it was grand back in the day. There were a few rooms from later add-ons that still stand are kept in good condition. It felt like I was walking into a Lord of the Rings set.

Here is the outer wall. It even had little peep windows to look through for oncoming enemies.

I'm at a castle, what?

Rapunzel.

The side of the castle. There was nothing preventing me from hiking around, so that happened. 

Top: Sarah, Justyne, Chelsea, Ben, Jessa, and Kamilla

Bottom: Tracy and I

Back on the bus and over to Blarney. Not only was there a castle, but the grounds were beautiful. I say you need a good four hours there. We had almost two. Everyone is very anti-group pictures. I didn't really give them a choice though. You can look up pictures on the internet of places. You can only prove you've been there by being in them. 

Up to the Blarney Stone! I knew about the Blarney Stone a long time ago from Megan's Richard Scary VHSs. To keep it short, kissing the Blarney Stone makes you super charming.

It was another creepy spiral staircase to the top of the ancient castle. We talked most of the way to the girls behind us. They had all graduated from Pittsburg and were on the same tour bus as us. One of them took this picture and then we switched and took a picture of them. It was after we got out of claustrophobic staircase. 

I am not even going to pretend to be an expert on Blarney. It had great views though. 

People do not really tell you how scary it can be to kiss the Blarney Stone. Good thing they keep the line moving fast so you can't think about it too much. We were there on a crazy busy day because the weather was gorgeous. Even then it was forty-five minutes from the bottom to the top. Once you get to the summit there is a man sitting next to the Blarney Stone to help you. You sit down, lie on your back while grabbing the two safety poles, and then stretch as far as you can. Right below the stone is a window that drops all the way to the ground. Once your lips make contact with the wall the man pulls you back up. I did it! Tracy was able to snap this picture. She chickened out and no one else in our group climbed to the top. Why would you come to Blarney and not kiss the Blarney Stone? You cannot do it anywhere else.

To give you an idea of how high the drop is. The little blue spec at the top is what you lean down.

I hung out with the girls from Pittsburg for awhile longer. All of these pictures come from us running around the grounds and trying to see as much as possible. I would definitely go back to do the wishing steps and explore more of the area. Do not miss Blarney.

I got lost in the trees and almost missed the bus to Cork. Sadly, Cork was not as exciting. We ate at a pretty good pub and then explored the shopping. It is very similar to Dublin. It is a little more sleepy and I thought it smelled awful. Bus ride back to Dublin. We grabbed some pizza and crashed. Besides looking out at the country side on the drive, Robby played Celtic music. One was a song for primary kids that sounds a lot like English swear words. Hilarious. It was stuck in mine and Justyne's head for days.