Kiss your own Blarney!

Well, today was the day that most people come to Ireland for -to complete and capture that trait of eloquence-the gift of gab, but I'll get to that later. The day started early--for some reason couldn't sleep. After meeting our lovely hosts we were off to see the University College Cork...a beautiful campus at the foot of the road where the Hayfield Manor sits. A campus of only 12000 lucky students. Not that the subjects are easy but rather their campus is just magnificent with the trees, flora and fauna. Twelve thousand students-Lord I could probably have talked to all of them if I just had two more days there. Actually we ran short of time in Cork as Lorraine had a huge list she wanted to do but due to time constraints she was not as happy a camper as she could have been. We left Cork to see the Cork Gaol (Jail)--the one from the1800's...closed in 1923 but was not as interesting as it was pumped up to be. Actually they should have been arrested for imposing as a sight to see...We got lost driving there; had to wait an hour to listen to this presentation and then continued getting lost on the way out. Besides that I turned the wrong way on some of the one way streets a couple of times; actually a bit exciting but not all my fault. Some of those streets used to be two way and the signs were still up showing to go the direction I was heading...the other issue was the Leprechauns here must have stolen all the street signs because THERE ARE NONE and the final problem was, those people that were facing me were really irritiated for lack of another good word....
We backtracked to Blarney to see the castle and to kiss the stone...We must have stayed there for about four hours. I didn't know that dang stone was at the top of the castle; nor did I know I'd have to lay on my back and lean over backwards to kiss the stone. There is a guy up there holding you but he seems to handle the women a little differently than the men. I believe he should have paid Lorraine for the holding he was doing....no more said. We kissed the damn stone and now we have the gift of the gab....Imagine that! The wishing steps were a bit farther down in the Rock Close and we enjoyed climbing through the rocks and taking pictures. An interesting thing at the wishing steps: if you go down with your eyes closed and then backwards back up with your eyes closed thinking of only your wish the entire time...your wish will be fulfilled within the year...no one wished harder than me---except for maybe Lorraine...

We then busted our ____(made every effort) to get to a place called Cobh (pronounced Cove) where the Lusitania was sunk and the Titantic made it's last port of call and the convict ships left there for Australia and the coffin ships took the first emigrants to Ellis Island....didn't want to go there cause they didn't have such a good record to start with. We do finally get there and the place is closed. And this was no ez drive, let me tell you. Roads wide enough only for a wisp and a prayer--dang near knocked the outdoor mirrors off the car and Lorraine was now wishing for something to keep her alive. From there we started our journey to Killarney for two nights. The hotel is the Aghaodoe Heights. Very contemporary inside and their spa is their focal point. The view of the lake and hills is beautiful and breathtaking. I've just seen the penthouse and it's worth the stay for sure. All automatic window shades turns the living room into a theater media room. Music is fantastic in every room and the outside patio and view is fantastic. I'm sure we have some folks we could put in here. Wonderful...just wonderful. We're really beat at the end of this day so we'll be heading to rest as this hotel is quite a ways out from the city. Tomorrow will be a bit more leisurly and hopefully we'll sleep in...at least I hope so, but then breakfast is by 10 and I'm pretty darn narky if I miss that meal, so I guess we'll be up and at em a lot earlier than I expect. By the way, Benjamin would have loved the castle and the Blarney stone....Missing all and Ryan and Jenn and Ben have a great trip to Colorado.