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I'm catching up on this many days later - no Internet in Belfast - but more on that later...
5:00 am is much to early to get up when on holidays. Have to be at the train station (across town for 6:40). Shower is a must. It's bad enough I'm not a morning person, but someone has forgotten to turn up the water pressure (pressure is down during the night, so toilet flushing is an experience as well). There is barely enough water to get me wet. Having trouble getting my hair wet and then getting the shampoo out. Dumping my head under the sink is out of the question (it's 2 faucets tight up against the back wall of the sink), and the toilet bowl isn't an option. We do the best we can, as time is limited. The tram is across the street, and just as I stepped up onto the sidewalk there, it was leaving, and not another one for 20 minutes. That will make me late. Taxis are all lined up, so €7 later I arrive in plenty of time for a 3 hour train ride.
Huge group is heading out this morning.
Blarney Castle
Pretty impressive for a derelictHalf is going to the Killarney area, and my half is off to Cork/Blarney/Cobh (aka Queenstown). €99 for this day adventure (and let me say now, there is a reason I don't do these prebooked tours - but more on that later). We meet our tour guides. John is for my group, and Seamus (actually don't know if that's his name or not, but he definitely looked like one) who literally looked like a white/silver haired, blue eyed leprechaun. Honest to god! He was full of humour, and was sad to find out he wasn't with our group. I did hear later he was well worth the trip.
It's a 3 hour train ride to Cork (which we actually don't spend any time at), and then a short bus ride to Blarney. Our bus driver pretty much is the one who does all the talking about the area. John really only makes sure we get our admission tickets, are aimed in the right direction, and that roll call is complete when we have to move on.
Blarney castle is actually a derelict, but on absolutely beautiful grounds. The views all around (whether the castle is in it or
Kissing the Stone
Really need the gift!!! not), are stunning. There is a mansion on the grounds, but unfortunately, it's not open till after noon, and we are all heading back across the road for lunch at that point. But back to Blarney.
Here's a couple of clarifications. Castles are made up of tiny little rooms, with the exception of 1 grand room, and the rest is all steep, spiral staircases. I honestly don't know where all the people were kept (imagine movies with historical references where 100's of people live in the castle). When you enter the castle, you have to climb up for ever, to get to the top level. This is the important part. The Blarney stone is not really a stone (I was envisioning a boulder), it's just a section of the wall on the "roof". After we all huffed and puffed, and crawled up the last few steps (it's harder than you think), we all stood in line to give the little sucker a kiss. You have to lay on your back, with a huge gap between wall and floor, grasp the pipes on the wall, and pull yourself towards it, before you can slap one on there (wonder if it's
Blarney Stone
It's just part of the castle. Dead centre where you see someone kneeling. true you can catch kooties off there), all while some guy is hanging onto your shirt so you don't fall through the gap. My upper torso is just long enough to reach. Now I can officially say I have the gift of the gab! Of course there is a photographer who takes your pic, and then you are able to buy it for €10 when you leave. I had a lady in line take mine, and it will just have to do.
Things are very different over here (not just Ireland, but the UK as well). It's not N.America where everything is wheelchair accessible, or most things are out of bounds, or don't touch. Here, there are signs that say that they aren't responsible for falling rocks, falling through gaps (lots of those on the tube), or the like.
After I had my fill of the castle, I wandered around the grounds, and into the forest to see some interesting rock formations in the Rock Close(druids' circle, etc). I'm standing under a tree (one of thousands), back pack on the ground in front of me, looking at my map, when suddenly something is falling in front of me.
Blarney View
Looking out over the Rock Close A bird is in the tree above me, and is pooping away. The front of my sweater and back pack are now covered. I'm standing there yelling "you dirty bird", and all the other visitors are just staring at me like I'm some kind of kook (which of course I am). That ends my forest jaunt, and the druids circle only gets a fleeting glance now, as I mumble away about how that bird picks the one branch in the one tree in the forest that just happens to be above me. I find a bathroom and soak my sweater and rinse off my backpack as good as I can with only water (no paper towels to be found in this end of the world either).
Now everyone tells me that when a bird poops on you, it's good luck. I can tell you, it didn't feel very lucky, but the sun is out, and I'm feeling a bit more positive today, so maybe....
Not much else to see now, and almost 2 hours have passed. We are to meet the bus (and our tour guide) across the road at the Wooden Mill (now a touristy mall) in
another hour. The little village of Blarney is just off to the side. I decided to take a wander and check out lunch options. As in Dublin, things are very expensive (I'm assuming it's because of the tourists), so settle on a small slice of quiche. Good thing I picked up a package of digestive cookies at the grocery store last night.
Something I've realized. When you take these tours, you are really seperated from the locals. You are put into a special car on the train, into a bus, and don't get a chance to interact with anyone but them. This isn't why I came over here, but sometimes you just need to be reminded. One woman, and her son (late teens?), that is in our group, has decided to be friendly with me. Don't trust either of them. At first they were from Britain, then Kamloops. She has no accent, and he did one minute, then didn't the next. When he was chatting up a couple of the young girls, when they questioned him on it, he said it was because he was taking acting school, and knew how to put on accents. Hmmmm.
The tour
Blarney Interior
What comes up, can always make it down! continues in the country side. We stop at the Old Church Cemetary (a very old cemetary with cool headstones, and bed rail type surroundings). This is where they have a memorial to the 150 "unknowns" who perished in the Lusitania. You might remember the tale. It was after the Titanic. This passenger liner, was off the coast of Cobh, when the Germans shot a torpedo at it, and sunk it. Very few lived.
We next stop at Cobh, which is known for being the last port of the Titanic (did you know that the Titanic was built in Northern Ireland?), and tour St. Colman's Cathedral (47 years to build). We then go to Cobh Heritage Centre, which covers is a museum about this area being the embarkation point of many Irish emigrant, convict ships, and of course the Titanic and Lusitania . Had a bit of extra time, so wandered around the main street. Palm trees abound, and the scent of jasmine and other blooming flowers are almost overwhelming. Never seen Rhodo bushes that are trees before this. Apparently they have to burn them down to get rid of them, or make them smaller. Notice a dog that is
Blarney Interior
The grand room. The only room larger than 6x6. at the bottom of the steps leading into the ocean. We all thought he was afraid to come back up. Silly us. The little 3 year old boy figured it out right away. He found a stick, threw it over the wall, and the dog jumped off the steps, fetched it up, dropped it on the step, and waited for another one to be thrown.
Have to meet up with the tour guide again at 4:30 at the train station. Problem. Train has broken down. Our bus driver is still around, so at 5:15, they get the go ahead for him to drive us to a main rail station. We miss our connection, but there is one every hour, so we hang out. The pack of digestive cookies are a big hit, as the snack shop is closed, and everyone is starved.
We get back into Dublin about 9:30. As I'm waiting for the tram outside of the train station, I run into 4 of the people who had been on the Killarney tour. We start talking, and the 5 of us decide to head into Temple Bar and have a few drinks. We want traditional Irish music,
Blarney Castle
Look way up! See the hole above the windows. That's what you lay over to kiss the stone. See what a desperate person will do! but so does everyone else. Anyone playing that sort of music is crammed packed, and we just want to sit and chat. The Oliver St. John Gogarty's bar is best known for this kind of music, but they are multi-leveled. The first floor is for smokers (Dublin is smoke free - and like us, when it happened, it went on with only a whimper. Which says a lot for this area, as every other person smokes, and they all do so as they walk or take their smoke breaks), the 2nd floor is the live music, the 3rd floor is for dinner, and the other floors are a hostel. We thought we would go to the restaurant, I'm starving - of course, and the rest of them want a snack, and of course some drinking.
First problem - as we are waiting to be seated, we are left in the entry, as the hostess has to go through all the linens from the evening. She has the laundry bag at the entry, and is handling each and every item in it, shakes it, and then tosses it over her shoulder. We couldn't have passed by even if we wanted.
Rock Close
The Witches Stone - just before I got pooped on. A lady who had just finished her dinner, had taken her teeth out, and left them on the table (both sets), and someone has scooped everything up in fell swoop, and they are in a mad search. After every linen has been reviewed, and no teeth, we see one of the bus boys come up the stairs with a couple of full garbage bags, cursing under his breath. Never did find out if they found them or not.
Second problem - we are finally seated, think we know what we want, only to see the fine print on one of the pages that says €19.50 minimum charge per person. That's a lot of booze to be drunk before they close up. We have to excuse ourselves, and decide to cross the street to VAT, where we actually get a table. There is live music, but not "Irish".
Interesting conversations. Everyone is American. The one couple aren't really a couple, actually don't really know each other, but met at school, and both wanted to do some travelling. They aren't really young, but are doing the hostel style trip. The other couple are "living" in Germany (he's in Iraq, and
Dublin - Temple Bar
The happening street/s in town! only home for his 2 week vacation). They haven't seen each other in a year, and now I'm getting what all the lovey dovey stuff has been about. They've been married 8 years, and been posted around quite a bit. We had a lot of fun together, and it's too bad everyone is going off in different directions tomorrow. I finally felt ok to be in Dublin, as I wasn't by myself.
I head off to my hotel (about 15 minute walk), and of course everyone is worried about me walking around that late at night by myself. Haven't been mauled yet, so figure I'm probably safe for another night. Stop at my all night internet cafe, and finally square away a hotel for Belfast, for tomorrow night. There is some convention going on, so this is why the lack of rooms, and the cost. It appears I have a nice hotel (says 4 star), and right beside the bus station, which I'll be coming into. £70 per night with breaky. Let's keep our fingers crossed.
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Now that's a full day!
Mooching the Blarney Stone , Bird Poop, and Misplaced Teeth - all in one day....can't get much better than that! I too have beard that being annointed with bird poop is good luck. Of course, most people get only a drizzle of it; I think that means you're in for a shit-load of luck!