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Published: March 3rd 2009
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Our first time traveling to another place in Ireland was County Cork. It was the first time we got to see the countryside outside the city and the sheep! (my fave). We got into Cork late Thursday and just checked into our hostel and went to sleep. On Friday we went into Blarney which is a cute little town and checked out Blarney Castle. It is actually really tiny compared to other castles we have been to. The grounds were really pretty and they had a little nature walk with legends about witches. The pictures kind of explain, but there were some wishing steps that said if you walked up and down then with your eyes closed the witch would grant you a wish. She lived in a cave at the top of the hill which could have been the place for early inhabitants of Ireland. Blarney castle was really cool, and we got to kiss the stone! Though it is supposed to give you eloquence, I still trip over my worlds and my roommates think I didn't kiss it enough. The view over Ireland from the top was beautiful too and we spent a lot of time looking out over
the land since it was the first. Once back in Cork, we walked around the city which reminds me a lot of Dublin, just a little smaller. We had dinner at this little cafe that was in my roommates travel book for having great Banoffee. I am not a fan of pie but Banoffee was some of the best stuff I have ever had. It is a pie with bananas, toffee, and carmel on a graham cracker crust. It was SO good but very rich! On our way home we ran into some of the guys we go to class with so later they stopped by our hostel which had a bar to hang out for a bit. We ended up meeting some Australians who taught us the game of cricket. Earlier I had said I learned how to swing the bat but we watched the game on tv and they taught us how to play. There are a lot of rules but the simple version is you hit the ball like baseball and you run back and forth between 2 posts which are counted. Each team goes through all their players and they bat until they get 3 outs.
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2009 car that are rare because of the recession Also, one team bats, and then the other team goes, and that is it. Almost like there are 2 innings. Though it seems like it would go fast, the game is usually between 5 to 8 hours. Crazy!
On Saturday we decided to go into Kinsale, and small harbor town. When we got there it was pouring rain and VERY windy. We ducked into a pub and had a bowl of soup until the rain stopped. At the time the town's electricity had gone out but eventually came back on. The sun also decided to make an appearance. We spent the next couple hours taking a walk by the harbor, through the town with the little shops, and out of the town down a walking path. Here it overlooked another town and a big lake. It was so pretty and very peaceful. When it started to drizzle we headed back where we THOUGHT we would get back on the bus to head back to Cork. We went to the bus station and found out the 5:00 bus didn't run on Saturdays so we went into a pub to catch the score of the Chealsea soccer match and wait for
an hour. Well, we ended meeting some people who we found out later were all on a "stag party" .. their version of a bachelor party. They all ended up being some of the nicest people ever, and later when we missed the last bus, they bought us dinner and gave us a hotel room at the hotel they were staying at for us to stay in. All night they played music and we danced and had a good time. One of the guys, Damian, is the 6th world champion accordian player and only at age 24! Sometimes I guess you just have to go with the flow.
The next morning we made our way back to Cork to grab our stuff for the hostel. We met some crazy brothers at the bar in the hostel while we were waiting for the bus that were still out from the night before. haha. They like to have a good time in Ireland I guess! One of the bartenders was telling us about the shapes they make in your Guinness at teh Guinness factory, which Uncle Mike told me to make sure you can carve your initials in the foam otherwise
it is not a good pour. :-)
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