Blarney Woollen Mills

... bar came over to talk to us and asked us to sign the guest book. We relaxed for a while, listening to one of the regulars express his displeasure with the government in colorful language. His vocabulary seemed quite limited--he kept using one particular word which caused the owner to keep glancing at me to get my reaction. Not having a bar of soap on hand, I just smiled.

Dinner was Italian again. John had spaghetti and I had risotto with goat cheese, peas and ...

Probably one of the best known things in Ireland.

The Blarney Stone is at the top of the castle. You have to sit down and bend over backwards to kiss the stone below you. I made sure I went further down than then other people up there. I guess one advantage of being tall. Don't think I caught anything from the experience.

Also walked around the grounds and saw the house they live in now.

... lead glass windows and the like. We were able to photograph it so you'll see it in the photos below.
Next we walked up Church Street and went into a much more modern St. Mary's. It was built in the 1800's. It was lovely but not nearly as wonderful as the older place. We continued down the street to the next corner then turned to walk back into the village.
Looking at the historical trail map we noticed we had only ...

We had another full Irish breakfast & headed down to Cork - we decided to veer off to Blarney & see if the castle was still open so we could kiss the stone. We were about 20 mins too late so we found a caravan park to stay for the night & headed into town to get some tea. The caravan park had a microwave so we just got frozen pizza & took it back to cook. Matt finally had ...

... a sign saying there's a picnic area in 1 km. I see a turnoff and turn down it. Oops! Too soon. I'm about to make a u-turn when the GPS indicates the road I'm on will get me to my destination by a "shorter" route. That's great as it will get me out of all that traffic. This road meanders through farm country and small villages. I was a little early so this slower paced road will get me to my destination later. I stop in one of the villages for a break and ...

... We were soaked and freezing, so we found a place that sold hot chocolate, and it was very chocolate-y. Then we had another 3 hour drive back. Our driver was crazy, and scary. He was texting and talking on the phone a lot and coming very close to other cars, but we got back safely. We are now just checking our mail, and getting ready for bed soon. Alina needs to get up early to leave for Italy, and I have a lot of walking ahead of me for tomorrow!

... would like to read about. We are touring until Sat night, where me and Scotty fly off to France, to Normandy region. This will commence our WWII saga of travels. We are to stay in a small place called 'Le Havre', which is close to the region.. On a side note, I have already made contacts such as an ecclectic old German man named Gerd who owns a cottage in Franksburg(?) Germany who invited me to stay, Irish lass' here who I now have a place to ...

... Trinity College in Dublin, so I bailed on Morocco (bett** for when I am doing more of a backpack trip than this one with a huge suitcase) and found a budget fare from Malaga to Cork, Ireland. Cork appealed to me because I nev** visited it in 1990. We did weekends to Galway, Lim**ick and Kilkenny, but not Cork, so h**e I came. And it rained. Not that rain in Ireland in August is all that unusual, but ev**y local felt the need to tell me how this had ...

... that for hockey. Cork lost the All Ireland last year and when you see these guys fall onto the field crying their eyes out holding onto their teammate brother or cousin with a haunting musical overture with lyrics, "Time to walk into the night away from the glitter and light" it is enough to make anyone love hurling and flop on a field or your living room floor and cry your eyes out. They are so passionate about the game of hurling and the ...

... and Badger's Cave (where Ricki attached herself to a tourist with a torch and followed him into the dark depths of the cave, repeatedly banging her head on the rocky ceiling as she went), before regretfully heading off in search of lunch, and our next destination. With stomachs full of the best yummiest sausage rolls in existence ...