End of Ireland Trip

Sunday, January 06, 2008

Didn't do anything after New Years until this weekend when we went to Cork in southern Ireland to see their famous butter museum (no joke) and Blarney Castle to kiss the Blarney Stone. Friday our trip departed as most do with a quick Dart ride into Dublin. From there we got on our first class 3 hour train ride to Cork. The problem with most of our long train rides this trip has been that we haven't seen how scenic Ireland is due to the early sunset and our late departure times. Oh well. We got to Cork fairly late and just holed up in our hotel for the night. Saturday we meandered around Cork following a pseudo guided walking tour. Mom dragged us to a lot of churches, but most of them were pretty spectacular and worth a walk around. We also went to the jail they have in Cork. It was very similar to the Dublin one, but a little less impressive in my mind. Unfortunately for us (or maybe fortunately), the famous butter museum was closed, however, we did see the stupidest thing imaginable...in Cork there is a clock called the 4 faced liar. Aptly named for there is a clock face on each side of the tower...and each one says a different time. WTF!!! So Saturday was spent meandering around Cork popping into churches and being completely baffled by this stupid clock. Sunday we took a bus to Blarney Castle to kiss the famous stone. It grants the kisser the gift of gab, the power to bullshit. I was hung upside down and lowered from the top of the castle just to kiss it! The castle itself was pretty magnificent and relatively well intact for a Middle Ages Era castle. On the castle grounds there are a group of caves and fairy dwellings and druid stones. So that was pretty awesome and well worth the perusal. Blarney is tied with the Ghost Tour for coolest thing I did in Ireland. I leave in a few days and don't really anticipate doing anymore heavy duty sightseeing, so this should wrap up my holiday blogging. See everybody next Christmas, who knows where I'll be next!!