At the ticket counter, we were told the wait was about 1.5 hours to get to the top of the castle and the Blarney Stone. It was a gorgeous day outside and Kasey and Eric hadn't seen the Blarney House when they were here last time, so they headed that way and we stayed in the line for the Castle.
After just about 1.5 hours of working our way up some pretty narrow spiral stairs (not for someone who doesn't like closed in spaces), we finally made it to the top of the Castle and awaited our turn at the Blarney Stone. The trick is to lie down on your back, tip your head backwards, grab onto a couple handrails, and kiss the wall of the Castle. What they don't tell you is that there is a wide grate that you are lying over the top of and its about 4 stories straight down! Just 2 metal bars! There is one person there to help you get into position and then help you sit up again. Plus another guy there taking 2 pictures of each person. They are for sale (what else?) at the gift shop at the bottom. 10 euro for one, 18 euro for both. Most people opt to take their own pictures and we did, too. While we were waiting our turns, a couple had just finished and it seems the man had failed to get his wife's picture. Needless to say, she was letting him have it like crazy. Very funny! I guess they had to pay for the pictures. Or, at least the husband did! By the way, the line was so long because there were many (most?) there from the U.S. who had been in Dublin for the Notre Dame-Navy football game. They probably decided to stay a couple extra days and catch some sights. Many probably had no choice as the number of flights back to the U.S. is limited and I'm sure all flights
were booked solid months ago.
When we finished we headed back to the concession area to see if Kasey and Eric were there. They weren't, so we had a snack. Within 5 minutes they showed up having just completed their tour of the House. Great timing.
It was now time to head for the Ring of Kerry. This is a road tour around the Iveragh Peninsula, just west of Killarney. The roads hug the coastline for the most part, allowing great views of the nearby bays and islands. That is, on a clear day. Not so lucky for us, the weather had clouded up and it had begun to lightly mist as we began our trip. We were able to find a couple places to get some pictures, but most were clouded out. We stopped in Cahirsiveen for some dinner at a bar. When we walked in, the bartender looked very unexcited that we were there. He was OK after we had placed our order and even had a joke or two for us.
I told Kasey that I didn't want to drive anymore so he took over. It's just as well. The roads became quite a bit narrower with many tight turns. Plus, he knew a few of the best places to stop. We got the pictures we could. The light was fading as dusk was approaching. One last stop at the Killarney National Park and a waterfall that was pretty nice.
The pictures show: a view of Blarney Castle from entry gate, a tower outside the castle, the castle with the long waiting line, the location of the Blarney Stone (about 50 feet up!), entering the castle, a view from the top, Brad kissing the Stone, Cindy kissing the Stone, a waterfall in Killarney National Park (part of the Ring of Kerry), various shots around the Ring with us in one of them, and finally a last shot showing the waterfalls close-up.
Then, the long trip home. We took the western route using the N21 and M20/7 to go through Limerick and used the same raods we had traveled coming back from the Cliffs of Moher. Still, it was a long trip home with intermittent rain. We dind't pull into the cottage until near 11 p.m. Another long day of driving with one very successful stop and one not as nice. I guess from what we later heard that the only bad weather in most all of Ireland was in the area of the Iveragh Peninsula. Oh well....
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