The Allisons

Ireland: Blarney Castle

We flew into Dublin and then rented a car. Our journey took is south through Kilkenny and down to Waterford. This is the Kilkenny Castle built in the 1100's. We didn't have much time to stop, so we didn't go in.
It's a little dark, but this is just an ivy covered church and a graveyard we saw along the drive. Mom was fascinated with the Celtic crosses in the graveyards. We finally got to Waterford and went to the Waterford Crystal factory. Only Mom went on the tour to see the crystal being made. Mike and I just perused the gift shop and munched on a cookie in the cafe. Mike took this picture of me next to a giant crystal glass. It's taller than me! (But I guess that's still not all that tall...) Disappointingly, everything in gift store was still expensive. We had hoped it would be more of an "outlet", but that was not the case. Then we drove on to Cork and about 10 kilometers past to get to our B&B in Blarney. The place I had reserved flaked out on us, but thankfully they had made arrangements for us to stay just down the road. The lady was super sweet and to top it off, she had a friend that knew Maureen O'Hara (starred in the "Quiet Man" with John Wayne and is set in Ireland). The next morning we got up and set off for the famous Blarney Castle. Above and left, is the watchtower. Right is a creek that runs around one side of the castle. Then, of course, there's Mike and I.
In the next picture, I don't know if you can see that little piece of light in the very middle right above the highest window, but that's where the Blarney Stone is and you have to put your head down into that little hole to kiss it. Scary!
Right above the entrance was the "murder hole" where they would throw rocks or hot tar on any unwanted guest. There was a teeny, tiny, winding stairwell that took you all the way to the top. I can't imagine how they made that climb with long robes on. As you can see the step is only as wide as my size 5 1/2 feet. Once at the top, the view was amazing. Oddly enough, the kitchen was at the top too.
This was a mansion not too far from the castle. We walked over to it after we were done at the castle.
This is the top of the castle. Right above that window is where you have to lay down (yes, lay down) to kiss the Blarney stone. This is me kissing the yucky Blarney stone. Mike got a good picture. Unfortunately, I wasn't quite as quick and didn't really get a good pic of Mom and Mike kissing it. Oops. It was so gross. I'm honestly not sure if it was worth it.
Back outside, with our feet on the ground, we walked along a path that led by these old, old trees to the mansion. This tree had like 4 trunks. Then, it looked like a branch had grown about 10 feet over and started another whole tree. It was crazy. This is Mom and I standing under the branch between the two trees.
This is the mansion we walked over to see. We don't know much about it, but it was pretty.
And my personal favorite, a giftstore just for me. Jennifer, I know you're jealous. ;)
Ok, one more Ireland blog and then I'm done. I can start blogging baby news as we probably won't be traveling for a little while.