Blarney

We took a day trip today with really only one goal in mind....the gift of gab!

The highlight of the trip was Blarney castle and the Blarney stone.  I think the tour company felt bad for the 3 plus hour drive to get there and threw in some other random stuff, trips to Cork and Cobh, to break up the drive, but personally would have rather gone and come back.  The other cities were nice, but really didn't have the hook to draw you in.

I am pretty sure our driver same straight out of Formula 1 drivers school.  We weren't in a full size tour bus but 30 or so people.

 This dude was nuts!  Up and down these twisty back roads at what seemed like 50 mph or more.  He was catching and passing everything on the road.  I would say there were a good 25 code browns in the back of the bus.

Will save the best for last here.  Our first stop of the day was Cork, a small fishing town, but a good breakfast at the White House.  The owner's brother was a New York Fireman and he had a pretty impressive memorial to the 343.

The tide was out!

Not a combination that I would have expected to see

Then we went to Cobh, which has the second biggest natural harbour in the world, second to Sydney.  It was also the last stopping point for Titanic before its fateful trip across the Atlantic.  They said that 60 or so cruise ships stop there throughout the year and take trips to Blarney for the day

They had a really cool cathedral there.  It was the first I have seen which is modern construction made to look like the old historic churches we see everywhere.  The construction of St. Coleman's Cathedral was started in 1868 and finally completed in 1916.  It has 42 bells in the bell tower, and rang for a good 5 minutes at 4 o'clock.

On to Blarney from there and the Castle and Stone.  The story goes that Queen Elizabeth I, was requesting an oath of loyalty to retain occupancy of land from the Lord of Blarney.  Instead of an oath she only received  promises without actually giving in to the Queen.  After a period of time the Queen proclaimed that the Lord was giving her a lot of blarney.

I was a bit scared of the castle to be honest with you.  I am sure they have done preservation and restoration work to the castle but was hard to believe it just seeing it.  The amount of weeds and stuff growing everywhere was unsettling to say the least.

I played in the caves for awhile, then stepped in mud..

The climb to the top was a bit sketchy

So the stone itself is the bottom stone of the outer wall on the top of the castle.  It is a good two feet below the level you are standing on.  To kiss it you have to lay on your back and literally dangle out over the edge of the castle.  Nothing between you and the ground other than air.  Kristen tried to chicken out but I peer pressured her into it.

Kristen

Me

Just next to the castle is a big shopping area.  Now I can say I've been to the largest Irish store in the world!  But that on my resume from now on.