Blarney

Breakfast in the morning was included so we head to the restaurant to partake before we went to Blarney Castle. We had a long day of driving planned so we were sure to be at the castle when it opened.  Then it is a bit of a walk through the grounds to get to the castle proper. The walk was a nice one and we were greatly entertained by the knitted sweaters some of the trees were wearing.

Now I  don’t know about everyone else but when I pictured kissing the Blarney Stone I envisioned something like this picture:

Instead you venture forth into the castle, exploring along the way. You find signs telling you a bit about the Blarney Stone.

You find small rooms and even smaller stair cases in stone towers. Eventually you make your way to the top of the castle, as high as you can climb.

Then you wait in line to lay down on your back and put your head in a section of missing floor and reach across to kiss the far wall.

So now I guess I have the gift of the gab. And if not, that’s alright as well.

After kissing the stone we headed down the castle to the grounds. Kathy and I separated form the others. They went back to the hotel to pack and get ready to leave, we stayed to tour the gardens. There are many different areas with beautiful paths to follow.

If you follow the paths you can also find the “Poison Garden” full of all the plants that do as the name implies.

There were other paths all over the grounds that led to gardens full of huge plants or forests with walking trails. It was around this time that I realized I had the keys to all the rooms, so there was no way for mom and dad to get in and get their things. Kathy and I decided to make our way back to the hotel because we still had a long day of driving ahead of us.

When we got back to the hotel we found that the others had been able to get into the hotel rooms with the key from housekeeping. Kathy and I quickly got our bags out of the room and checked out of the hotel.