Wherever the road (or plane) may take me.....: Blarney or bust

We started the day going to Muckross House. We took the hour tour to see the inside of the house and hear about the history of it. No pictures. It was a very grand house that was once visited by Queen Victoria and her husband Albert. Just recently Prince Charles visited it. The grounds are quite extensive. I think she said 11,000 acres? There’s a lake with mountains in the background. Like the scene out of a painting. We walked to the garden and walked a couple of miles to see the Torc Waterfall. We even braved climbing on the rocks for a picture.

After leaving there we headed to Kenmare based on a recommendation from someone at the B&B we stayed at (we were deciding between Kenmare and Kinsale). There really wasn’t much to the town. The church was closed and the short colorful streets are filled with some shops and eating places but there’s only so much of that you can do. We grabbed a quick bit and then we decided to head towards Barney were our next resting spot would be. Cute little B&B. We drove into the city center-which is not large at all. Mostly places to eat, large woolen mill and Blarney castle. Unfortunately there must have been an accident at the castle because there was a helicopter that came to take the person for care- flight for life-ish. Prayers for whoever that was. We ended at a pub to watch the World Cup. We were early and they had Irish football on. The game is very complicated. Running with the ball but you can only hold it for so long as you run so then they dribble or throw or kick it. Also they do use a volleyball hit. To score they either have punt it through some uprights or kick or throw it through the net. Boy is it a rough game! No pads but they were tackling hitting and grabbing at each other. The World Cup game was a little less dramatic. Very exciting game with Germany finally pulling off the win at the very end.