Ireland Day 3 (17 June 2018)

We were up and check out of the hotel by 8:30 this morning. We started our trek across the country, driving on the left side of the road in a standard car. 😁



It took 3 hours to drive down to the Blarney Castle. The grounds are phenomenal!  The castle is not what I imagined, as I guess I thought it would be more of a functional building. However, it was still beautiful!  











We knew we were in for a little while when the ticket lady told us it would be an hour wait. (It turned out to be two hours, as we pulled in right after a few tour busses). However, we were nestled between a friendly French couple and a guy from LA and a lady from Russia. 

They say it’s only 100 steps to the top, and they’re probably right. It just took a long time, and we had a few tight spaces to maneuver. We had a grand time though! 









While we were waiting, the French couple turned around and I greeted them. They are from Strasbourg, so we were able to have a few great conversations. The husband and wife had visited a castle the day before, and wanted to know what a word in English was from their tour. The wife asked me what a ‘straw room’ was, while the husband said it was a ‘drowning room.’  I was pretty surprised they’d have either type of room in the castle, and figured out they were talking about a ‘drawing room.’  Totally not the same things as straw or drowning. 🙃

When we finally made it to the top, the wind had picked up, though thankfully not the rain!  I kept saying that we could just kiss the castle wall, and not have to wait the time in line. Well, when it was my turn, I commented that it looked just like the castle wall! (It did). But, you have to lay on your back, and be guided by a man to the iron bars, and scoot down to the bottom of the archway, where it is supposed to be where the stone is.  Not one to shy away from a challenge, I was first up!







It was kind of a rush, as you slide pretty easily on the plastic mat you’re laying on.  However, the worker holds your waist the whole time so you don’t slip through the bars. 

Darlene and Tami also were willing to brave kissing the Blarney Stone. Though Tami did mention the worst that could happen is that she’d get herpes. Thanks Tami. 



We decided to take some time to walk around the gorgeous grounds. That is something I’d do again for sure!  











We walked through the grounds and stopped on our way out for one last look at the castle. 



We then weaved through small towns and the back roads until we came upon the Dingle Peninsula!  What a beautiful little corner of the world!  I had to sneak in a picture at the Inch Strand!



We finally made it to Dingle after a 2-3 hour drive from Blarney. What a quaint little town!  It is so beautiful to see the houses all painted different colors!  Here is just some of the beauty from the town:





















We then decided to go to the Dingle Pub, when we found out they’d have good Irish sessions (live music) and David Geaney, who is a 5x world champion dancer and winner of Britain’s Got Talent!  

So, I ordered the Traditional Irish Stew, Which was delightful. You can tell how Irish culture and food trickled into America’s culture and food!  





The dessert was a berry apple crumble. It looked delicious!  It. Was. SO. TART. I could only eat the graham cracker crust and the cream and custard. So, it was an interesting choice of dessert! 😳

We heard the BEST banjo player I’ve ever heard!  AND, he’s only 12. Holy smokes!  He and his cousin, who is 17 blew my mind with their talent!  They didn’t have a CD, but talk about amazing!!



So, one of our waiters, was actually the dancer!  We even asked him how we can stay to watch the dancer, and he said to just sit in our chairs. 😁

We didn’t figure out it was him until we saw him setting up one of his 12 cameras. 





Thanks 
Ireland is a truly delightful corner of the world!  I love it here. 💕

Comments

  1. KerryJune 17, 2018 at 7:18 PM

    I love Dingle! 😍
    I’m so glad you went there!
    What a cool dancer/waiter 😄

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownJune 18, 2018 at 3:52 PM

    It was fantastic!

    ReplyDelete

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