Well that was awkward.....

Spending the night in Blarney was pretty genius. It was a cute b&b but more importantly it was only 5 min drive to Blarney castle. This allowed us to be right in line when it opened. We were like the sixth ones in line to get onto the grounds. This was key because yes, we were going to do the most touristy thing in all of Ireland by kissing the Barney stone. Getting tickets online didn’t really help speed up the process a ton. We had to wait in the same line but then we just flashed the tickets and were able to go in. We walked at a very nice pace-dare I say speedy for me- think IKEA- “get the car!!”  in our case “get to the stone”. We walked straight to the castle and up and up and up narrow windee staircase-it’s at the very top of the castle. The staircase was just a little wider than me, which made it interesting- it would’ve made it torturous in a snail pace moving line. We got up just as the few people who had been in front of us finished. The stone itself is low in the wall so you actually have to lay on the ground hold on to 2 bars and lean way way back. There a hole in the floor for you to lean back in to reach the stone. There are 2 bars to stop someone from plummeting down to their death but it’s not that comforting. Awkward to the utmost extreme! There is a young boy pushing a button to take pictures of you as you attempt  the awkward and unflattering pose. A nice older gentleman is sitting there to tell you what to do and I suppose to hold on to you in case there was an issue. All I could think in my head was this old man is going to save me? I did it, although if I’m truly being honest I may have just kissed the wall and not the actual stone. All I could think about was I’m too top heavy for this- get me out of here! It was interesting to see there was a bottle of disinfectant nearby. Can’t imagine how many germs are shared doing this silly tourist tradition. For anyone wanting to join the kissing club make sure to get there early like we did. After we had looked in a few of the rooms and walked down a huge coach bus group of people came up. It was about 930. The line can get pretty long and sometimes people are not able to do it because there are too many people in line. After kissing and disinfecting (in the bathroom) we took a stroll around the property. It’s quite extensive and has flowers, waterfalls,blarney house and more to see.  Was just a tiny blip of the time we spent there. 

Looking up at murder trap- they’d drop down scalding hot water and fire to kill attacking people below. 



Looking up at the Blarney Stone hole. 













Rhubarb? We think? Though mutant size?

After exploring was done we got in the car and went to Kinsale. Walked around amongst the colorful store fronts. Grabbed some lunch. Then we drove out to one of the forts. It was used up until 1922. Had quite a lot of remains. It was unique because it was built in a star shape along the harbor. Pretty interesting to see pictures of it from above. 

Then back in the car as we headed to our next home base of Kilkenny. Along the way we stopped at the rock of Cashel. Very interesting ground where Saint Patrick baptized a king. We got in to Kilkenny a bit late so we just ate at the hotel restaurant and listened to some live music as we chilled or from our jam packed day. 

Getting our statue in....

My beloved Carmel square did not make it in the sun and hot weather......not pretty ...but it still made it into my tummy and it was still delicious!!

This machine had me mesmerized at dinner. They would put empty glass bottles in and it would break them into tiny pieces where they would collect on the bottom so they could be recycled. People who know stuff- do we have these in he states? I feel like redtaurants/bars by us recycle bottle but do they really?