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Published: June 25th 2009
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Kiss, kiss
Preparing to lay a smooch on the stone Yes, I kissed the Blarney Stone.
I can hear you all now, various comments about coals to Newcastle, wondering if it exploded on contact, gales of laughter. Bring on the sarc. Had to be done. And it ain't easy. The trek up the winding stone stair is near-vertical and extremely narrow - room only for a rope strung along the wall to help with the going. This one poor lady from Taiwan early had a meltdown what with the combined tight space and height. Her pals had to get her calmed down and then figure out a way to get her to take the stairs back to the bottom. There was much wailing. Up on the ramparts the view was terrific. Blarney Castle is pretty well preserved and a real feat of architecture and the grounds are spectacular - green and lovely, a river and lake and plenty of mature trees. Once you hit the ramparts you're in a queue for the stone, a slab that is purported to be everything from the Stone of Scone to shards of the True Cross. Blarney? You bet. A guy sits beside the stone to help people into place, an awkward combo of on
your back on a plastic runner, reach back and lean way out and grab the bars to plant a smooch on the stone. "Kiss, kiss," he tells each one. The view is dizzying, imagine being upside down and leaning out into space. And then he hauls you up and it's over, but not before his sidekick has snapped two photos (available in the gift shop in a cardboard sleeve - one for 10 euro, two for 18. I cheaped out and asked the lady ahead of me to take my pic. Kiss-kiss man says they do about 1,000 smooches a day and there was much snorting and indignation that a recent poll had named it the most unhygienic tourist site in the world. "We clean it all the time," he said, indnicating a spray bottle. Me, I don't care. If you're gonna get a disease and die what better place to pick it up than by kissing a rock while hanging upside down in a castle in Ireland? You got a better idea?
The Blarney stop was part of a tour I decided to take last minute yesterday. I felt I'd seen a lot of Dublin and was anxious to
view from the top
The Blarney Castle grounds are really lovely. Wish I'd had more time here. get out of town once more and so I booked a train and tour to Cork. This is where my grandfather was born. I never met him and I spent the day looking for signs of him. Was he here? Did he see this? I was only about 40 km from the town he was born in The train to Cork took about 3 hours, passing through green farmland and fields of horses and grazing black and white cows. After the castle, I took a long walk around the forested grounds and then into Blarney Village. Then we were back on the bus (the a/c was bust and it was hot as blazes) and on to Cork Harbour and the town of Cobh. It's just lovely there - a combo of the French Riviera with palm trees and seaside boardwalks and St. John's Nfld. with all the houses and buildings painted in bright colours to be visible to homebound vessels. I'd like to spend more time exploring here. It's also rich with history - it's the place where the Titanic sailed from and the White Star offices are stlll there - now a pub and resto. And just outside the
The castle
Queen Elizabeth met Sir Walter Raleigh here, so they say. An boy, did they carry on. harbour is where the Lucitania was torpedoed and the fishermen of Cobh rowed out and recovered all the bodies from that disaster. Generations of Irish left from Cobh, their last view of the old world before heading to America, Canada and Australia. I suppose my grandfather was among them. So it was a fitting place for me to say goodbye to Ireland and a wonderful trip. I'm off to the airport in a couple of hours and back to sweltering Toronto (as opposed to hot yet dry Dub). But the LCBO strike was averted, so the timing is good. Pity about the garbage strike, but I know which workers I want on the job - booze or bins? No contest.
LInda
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