My days are all starting to run together and I can hardly remember at the end of the day where we started and where I am. I am having the hardest time remembering my hotel room number.
We started the day with a two hour bus ride to go to the Blarney Castle. We were advised if we wanted to kiss the Blarney Stone to do it first thing when we got there.
I headed over to the castle and was pleasantly surprised to find the line wasn’t too long. We were able to walk into the castle before the line started. We had to climb 125 steps to get to the top. Some of the steps were really high and narrow and it was a winding up type of staircase.
When it was my turn, I had to lay on the rock floor and put my hands on some poles they had rigged up. You push yourself backwards until your head falls off the cliff (At least that is what it felt like) and then you raise up a bit and kiss the Blarney Stone. There was a couple from the tour behind me and they kindly took a picture of me doing the deed.
The castle people also take a picture and give you a proof which you can then buy a bigger portrait at the bottom of the castle. I skipped that.
As I was pushing myself out of the hole my head fell in, I banged my glasses on the rock above me. For a minute I thought I was going to have a bloody nose but I was OK. Maybe it knocked some sense into me!
Then you get to walk down the 125 narrow, winding steps. There is one staircase for going up and another one for going down, thank heavens.
When I got to the bottom of the staircase and walked out of the castle there was a line hundreds long. The sign post said they had a 90-minute wait and they were lined up beyond that. Grateful I didn’t have to do that.
After the kiss on the Blarney Stone, I walked around the grounds for a bit. The grounds were beautiful with lots of blooming flowers. I wasn’t in the mood to explore much so headed to the Woollen Mills Store.
The store was the biggest knit ware store I have ever seen. I got a bit overwhelmed trying to figure it out. I finally took a break and went and had lunch and then came back and was able to get what I wanted.
We had another rain on, rain off type of day. Luckily all the rain happened while we were on the bus and while we were on the castle grounds it was dry. It started raining minutes after I got back on the bus.
We then drove to Waterford, Ireland for a tour of the Waterford Glass Factory. We saw the artisans blowing, etching, cutting, and polishing the pieces. They showed us some of the custom pieces they have made. They always make two in case the first one breaks. They had some amazing pieces.
In the lobby of the workshop is a grandfather’s clock made from crystal. Amazing! They had quite a showroom full of pieces that ranged in price from $50 to $26,000. I didn’t buy anything as I didn’t see anything that caught my eye. Several in the group got some pieces though.
We then came to our hotel. We are staying in Waterford for the night. This hotel looks very old but the room is spacious and will do nicely for my one night stay.
Tomorrow we end up in Dublin with some stops of some sort along the way.
There is a group dinner tonight but I am not going down for it. I am peopled out for the day. I was done after the Blarney Stone and got fried trying to shop in the Woollen Store. I am not a very good shopper.
Tomorrow night we have our final farewell dinner at some place that also will do a show of some sort. I really don’t want to go to it but I’ll see what mood I am in tomorrow night. I enjoy a tune or two of Irish music and then I am done with it. Not sure I want to experience a whole show of it.
Sunday and Monday are free days in Dublin. Not sure what I am going to do. I’m still not sure where my hotel will be and what is going to be close to it.
Tuesday I fly out of Dublin at 10:00 am and land in New York around noon. Oh the magic of time traveling. I have a five or six hour lay over and then fly to KC landing around 9:30. It will be a long day of travel. Sure trusting all will be on time.
I hear the prairie got some more rain this morning. So very grateful to hear that. I have been so envious of all the green here and all the rain I have seen while here. Wish I could pack it up and bring it home with me.
I’m tired tonight. I slept well last night and was lucky I woke up when I did this morning as I hadn’t set my alarm correctly and it didn’t go off. We have only had one time this entire trip where someone was more than a minute late getting on the bus. I don’t want to be the cause of holding up the whole group. I’m grateful the group has been respectful of the time and with the one exception have not slowed us down.
I need to remember to ask my tour guide what time my ground transportation to the airport will be on Tuesday. We won’t see him after tomorrow night
It isn’t even 6:00 pm here but I think I will take my bath and put on my PJ’s and rest. We have lots of driving time on the bus again tomorrow. At this point, I just want to get to Dublin and be free again.
This tour has been a great way to sample three countries so if I ever get back this way I will know where I want to go. I sure hope I get to come back to the Ring of Kerry again. That was by far my favorite place on the whole tour.
Grateful for another safe day of travel, grateful I didn’t oversleep this morning, and grateful for a kiss on the Blarney Stone.