A couple of weeks ago, one of my lifetime dreams was fulfilled....I got to kiss the Blarney Stone! My mom says this goes back to when my fourth grade teacher did a unit on Ireland (Thank you Mrs. Henry!), and I have been intrigued ever since! But I don't want to get ahead of myself here....I'll start at the beginning.
We (Sara, Kim and I) got to Cork in the evening, so after checking into our hostel room (an upstairs loft with seven set of bunk beds), we went out to a Pub to get some dinner. Everyone was so nice to us there and the food was great! Shepard's pie....yum!
The next day we decided to take a Ring of Kerry Tour starting in Killarney and looping around a whole little area in South West Ireland. It was absolutely beautiful, with nation park look-outs, over-looks of beaches and all kinds or picturesque scenes. After to the tour, we stuck around Killarney long enough for dinner and then made our way back to Cork.
The following day we started with a 20 minute bus ride to Blarney....and yep, went to Blarney castle to kiss the stone! The castle is quite cool with crazy uneven winding staircases. At the top you have a great view of the area. The stone is located at the top of the castle and you actually have to lay down over the edge and kiss it upside down. There are people the work there that hold on to you. It was great.
On the same day, we took a bus to Waterford hoping to see some crystal! Well this isn't actually what we found there since the plant was recently sold. However we did find out that Waterford is the oldest city and Ireland and we were able to climb to the top of a viking tower! It was still worth the journey!
Our final full day in Ireland, we decided to spend in Cork. We walked around a covered market, all around the city center, and even found City College Cork, the local University. It had one of the most beautiful campuses I have even seen and it was so great to see. (If anyone is thinking of Studying Abroad, this really would be a cool school to chose!)
Ireland was so much fun! I know what your thinking...did you drink Guinness?...I was a little under the weather while I was there, so I wasn't really up for it. Murphys is actually the local brew of Cork (the same way Guinness is to Dublin), and Sara and Kim will tell you the it's pretty good!
More to come later!
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