There be Blarney

Although I am living in Cork for a solid five months, I am still only a visitor to this country. With that logic I deemed it necessary to go to several 'tourist' hot-spots. The first trip my friend Polly and I took was to Blarney Castle. This was truly one of my first excursions out of City Centre and I felt like a kid in a candy shop the entire time.

We took the outgoing bus to Blarney around 10-ish in the morning and shocker, it was raining like hell but at this point I have become quite fond of the rain.

We finally arrived in Blarney but we were not entirely sure where the castle was so we decided to pop into the Woolen Mills shop right near the bus stop. HOLY WOOL. I have never seen so much wool in my life before. A half hour later and a few euros less in my wallet, we left the wool shop and I sported my new wool scarf while walking towards the castle. 

That new clothes swag though....

Crossing the road in the pouring rain and finally purchasing our tickets to enter the castle, Polly and I finally gazed upon the rainy splendor of Blarney Castle. The only thought that went through my head:

Carefully protecting our cameras from water damage, we photographed away. 

The river in the distance is indeed flooding

The castle in all its glory!

After taking an obscene amount of photos (mostly my fault haha), we finally made our way to the inside of the castle and we started our journey to the top to kiss the Blarney Stone. 

Making our way through the castle was definitely my favorite part about this whole journey. We literally were walking through history (a drenched history at that...) and it was so cool to see the inside of a real castle. Although the stairs were a bit treacherous....

What is this...the stairs of Mordor?!

Sweet Lorna Doone.......

Climbing those stairs was definitely a challenge considering the higher we went up, the narrower the stairs got. I felt like I literally had to crawl out of the top of the staircase because it was that narrow. Eventually getting to the top and soaking (haha...I'm so punny) in all of Blarney's splendor we were finally ready to get a-smoochin with the stone. 

Obviously the top of the castle is open so the rain is pouring down on us. We walk up to the two guys who are there to 'assist' the kissing of the stone. I say assist as a broad term because when I actually got to kiss the stone I'm pretty sure this guy gently placed his arm on my body just to show he 'helped' in the photographs. I'm sure this guy helping had no desire to be sitting up there all day in the drenching rain helping chatty tourists like us and that was clearly evidenced when Polly and I started cracking nervous jokes and this man was having NONE of our shenanigans. 

I was the first to go and the guy has me sit down on this piece of plastic this is already drenched from the rain...aka slippery as hell. He tells me to lie on my back, grab the two bars in front of me and to slide down to kiss the stone. Definitely gave the man this kind of look: 

But I did as he said and slid down to kiss the stone. I have never had an adrenaline rush quite like that before. UNREAL. They have bars below your head so I'm sure if I did slip I'd live but from my perspective, I literally thought I was NOT going to live another day. Because it was so slippery I kept on sliding but I couldn't reach that damn stone.

For reference, we had to kiss the area in the center of the surrounding white stone.

NO ONE TOLD ME HOW FAR AWAY IT ACTUALLY WAS. There was one point where I seriously contemplated just licking it because I, for the life of me, couldn't get my lips to reach it. Short people problems. When I finally had my 'seven minutes in heaven' with the Blarney Stone (I feel like I can legitimize that time because it felt like an eternity down there...), I shot straight back up and was glad to be standing upright again. 

I wasn't graceful or classy about it but I will never forget kissing that stone. I may do it again before I head back to America...I may not...we'll see how fast those wounds heal. 

This was probably when I started to panic

Finally kissing the stone! Note the guy's arm 'appearing' to help....

Also note the inconvenient water stains on my pants...that shows truly how much it rained that day

After being shaken up from the experience, Polly and I nervously laughed our way back down the castle. We then explored the grounds of Blarney Castle and it was truly beautiful. Gardens, green grass, stone walls...a truly beautiful place. Eventually as the day progressed the rain decided to be kind and let up and the sun even decided to make an appearance! 

There was so much rain that day the river flooded.

The estate house a walk away from the castle. 

The sun makes an appearance!

Polly and I at the end of the day

Leaving Blarney castle

Everything is so green here and Blarney was no exception. I'm so glad this was my first sight-seeing experience because it is sure one I will never forget. It was an amazing first trip and I know I couldn't wait to see what else Ireland had in store for me. 

~Bridge