Kissing the Blarney Stone

Blarney Castle

view from one of the Castle windows

view from the top of the castle

me kissing the Blarney stone

another view from the top, you can see Cork in the background

Well it's official I kissed the Blarney Stone and now shall be granted the gift of gab! Our whole group decided to take a two day trip down to Cork to see the town and visit Blarney Castle. We left Limerick Friday afternoon and spent the night at a hostel in Cork. Our hostel was pretty nice and we had enough people that we didn't have to share a room with any random people. We spent the night out on the town, got a traditional Irish meal, I had cottage pie which was delicious, then we hit up a few pubs. In the first pub we had a Englishman start a conversation with us and asked us if we all wanted to get "pissed" with him (that's the word they use for drunk), but we kindly declined his offer and moved onto the next pub. The next pub had some live music and it turned out the guy was actually from Minnesota, he was pretty good. After he was done with his gig a DJ played music and we spent the dancing dancing with some Irish locals.  The next morning we all went out for a Irish breakfast and I tried black pudding for the first time. It is a traditional Irish dish that is made with pigs blood, I believe, so I told myself if it's a tradition of Ireland I had to try some. It was actually pretty good it was kinda like a stuffing, I would totally get it again. After breakfast we headed out to Blarney Castle.  Again it's hard to describe the beauty of it so I post pictures. :)  I love being able to take in the history surrounding me in this country. It amazes me that we are able to walk through these castles and see the land that those who once lived here saw. It was at the top of the Castle where I kissed the famous Blarney Stone and was granted the gift of gab or eloquence. The legend is that the Lord of the castle asked a goddess to help him win in court and she told him to kiss the first stone he came to on his walk there. He kissed the stone and won his case. He took that stone home with him and had it built into the Castle. So now all those who kiss the stone are suppose to be granted the gift of eloquence just as he was.  We also walked the wishing steps, which are steps that if you can walk up and down them with your eyes closed while thinking of a wish the entire time that wish the come true within the next year. The story behind this one is that there was a witch that took firewood from the Castle using these steps and as a payment she had to grant all the castle visitors a wish. I successfully walked up and down them with my eyes closed so we'll have to see if my wish comes true! After a couple hours on the castle grounds we headed back into Cork where we had dinner and headed back home to Limerick after a long two days. I think we were all passed out on the bus for the hour drive. Even though it was a long two days and the weather was kinda crummy it was a awesome experience to take Ireland in on our own without a guide by our side. It made it feel a little more real and a little more like we were actually living in Ireland.