Maranatha Country House Blarney

... the colors were. The bus ride was about an hour but it could have gone all day for all I cared. The small town of Dingle is based at the bottom of the mountains and is surrounded by beautiful blue waters and bright colored houses. The first day I just walked and walked soaking up everything I could. I also learned how stupid I was for not breaking in my hiking boots. The next morning I woke up early and went and took pictures of the quiet town at sunrise. Absolutely amazing. I took ...

... The tour guide told us that Cork has been hit especially bad by the recession, but in the last few months it has been starting to come out of it. It's kind of crazy to hear about the history of the country because it goes back so far. It's so different from US history since that only goes back to the 1700s. In Ireland they talk about the 15th century and earlier! So our tour was pretty fascinating and after that I went to get a late lunch ...

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.

... dad had to take them really fast so it felt like we were flying over them. Dad said it was like riding a roller coaster, and I said, yeah, that was the problem! After a while we stopped at some little place (I think the town sounded like Alderwood, but I don't remember) at a little pub place called the Turn Inn. I had something called "rasters and eggs" which really was just scrambled eggs and bacon, only the bacon was in big thick slices ...

It has been said that most people come to Blarney Castle and kiss the Blarney Stone and then receive the "gift of gab," Others come to top off their tanks!!! When I kissed it, the workers thanked me for "refilling the stone" again! It was well worth the 153 stairs you need to climb to get to the top of the castle wall and lay on your back and kiss the Blarney Stone! It ...

... there was a fire - the steps were all uneven...the stairways were so tiny. Getting up about the first half of the castle was fine...then the rope was attached to the side and we had to inch our way up the very narrow uneven steps. Once we got to the top it was a little scary. I can't imagine my Aunt Mad and Aunt Dolly climbing those stairs when they were in their 60s/70s!! We made our way around and I actually stood on ...

... they now live. We walked up to the entrance of the castle and joined a queue of old and very over weight Seppoes. As we climbed some steps, the age old complaints of why are there not lifts installed came out, and all I could think was, if you climbed the steps, you might lose some weight !!! Thankfully, half of them dropped out !!! There were various rooms leading off of the main stairs, which we looked at, and then we popped out at ...

... and I was blessed to hear a diatribe in a pub from a "born-again christian" who was waiting for the anti-war meeting to start about how the gov**nment needed to stop letting *****ians ent** the country. I have also noticed sev**al stores cat**ing to Poles. One the oth** hand, publicans have suff**ed, and pubs are being sold to take advantage of a booming prop**ty market. Apparently, less people are going to pubs, instead drinking at home, because ...

hopped a bus to Blarney and walked out to Blarney Castle. beautiful scenery surrounds it, and there is a small creek that runs right next to it. as the story goes, a witch... Sir Bedevere: There are ways of telling whether she is a witch. Peasant 1: Are there? Oh well, tell us. Sir Bedevere: Tell me. What do you do with witches? Peasant 1: Burn them. Sir Bedevere: And what do you burn, apart from witches ...

... taken the tube, then I walked an extra 4 miles in Dublin trying to find my hostel, now this time I took a right out of the Cork train station and walked a mile in the wrong direction. Oh well all is good when one can get an opportunity to make these mistakes, although the blisters are mounting and I'm really fortunate that I brought alleve for my back.