There and Back Again: An Irish Tale, Part 4

I think that Friday was one of my favorite days in Ireland. We left our hotel that morning in Blarney and traveled to the 15th century Blarney Castle (photo #1). We arrived at the parking lot, went through the little gate where they collect your money, and then continued on to the castle. At that point, I wasn't quite sure what to expect, since Dublin castle hadn't been the most exciting place to visit, and most of the original castle is now gone (don't get me wrong, I liked it). When Blarney Castle came into view, I was almost ecstatic! That was really the fist castle I had ever seen, and I loved it immediately. We continued on to the base of the castle, where we entered through a door and began the ascent to the top. The stairways were so narrow, and there were many times when we would meet people going down as we were going up! When we reached the battlements at the top, we got in line to kiss the infamous Blarney Stone. This was so much fun! In order to kiss the stone, I had to lay on my back and then sort of bend over backwards while holding on to a rail (photo #2) They also have a guy up their who holds on to your legs so you don't fall...it's a straight drop down to the ground! I am usually pretty scared of heights, but I figured that I may only have this opportunity once, so I did it. The legend is that he/she who kisses the stone will be blessed (or cursed, however you want to look at it) with the "gift of gab", or eloquent and flattering speech. When someone has this kind of "gift", they are said to be "full of the Blarney". I have yet to figure out if it worked on me ;) After touring the castle, we ate lunch and did a lot of shopping at the Blarney Woolen Mills.

We left Blarney Castle and journeyed to Killarney in County Kerry. We arrived at the Rivermere Hotel, took our bags to our rooms, and then went back outside to take a "jaunt ride" (photo #3). Kevin was our "jarvie", or driver, and we decided that he was definitely "full of the Blarney"! He had us rolling with laughter the whole time. Our jaunt ride took us through the beautiful Killarney National Park (photo #4), which covers 25,000 acres of Irish countryside (we did not tour the whole 25,000 acres). The ride was very peaceful and the weather was perfect. At the end of our ride, Kevin dropped us of at Ross Castle (photo #5), where we boarded a boat and took a ride on the Lower Lake, which is called Lough Leane (pronounced Lock Leen). The water looked black instead of blue, and the captain of the boat told us that was because the lake was 1/2 water and 1/2 Guinness :).

When our tour of the lake and park was finished, we headed back to our hotel for a little bit of res before dinner. Again, dinner was mediocre, but I was hungry enough to eat it! After dinner, some of us walked down to Danny Mann's Pub to hear some really great traditional Irish music. Then, it was off to bed for another full day.