Pucker up, Blarney Stone!

We left Cork this morning bright and early to load the bus and go about 15 minutes to Blarney. Yes, as in the Blarney Stone. Cathal was smart and got us there right as it opened at 9am. Our group was one of the first to climb the spiral stairs toward the famous stone. The steps got smaller and steeper the higher we got. Cathal says they're built on purpose like that to slow down enemies. Even though I was practically on my hands and knees climbing up the last few, I'll just say it was nowhere near as strenuous as Notre-Dame in Paris. So again because we were the first group we didn't have to wait at all to kiss the Blarney Stone to receive the "gift of gab". When it was my turn, I grabbed the rails and scooted up to hang upside down to reach the particular stone. In fact, I let go of one of the rails at one point to point to make sure I was going to kiss the correct stone  (because heaven forbid, I come all this way, hang upside down and receive and second-rate prize for missing the target!) the attendant yelled at me "get your hands back on the rail!" Oops. But hey, I kissed the lowest stone. I intend on making good use of my new gift of eloquence. ;) 

Blarney Castle:

After descending another set of stairs (that weren't as bad as the ones going up), I took time to look through the castle's poison garden that included marijuana, poison ivy, foxglove among others. And don't worry, no free samples. 

More of the grounds:

 

Blarney House: 

Then Blarney is also the home to the largest Irish shop so we did take time to get any final souvenirs, sweaters or whatnot.  Then back on the bus to finish our circuit of the Emerald Isle with our last night here in Dublin. On the way, we stopped for lunch and held our limerick contest. The grand total my friends and I submitted was 22... Out of a total of 32. One of ours were one of two finalists but we came out runner-up. That's okay because we had so much fun and shared so many laughs writing them. 

We got to Dublin, checked into the hotel and had a last bit of free time in the city. I am quite proud of myself - I really think should be an honorary Dubliner. In a matter of 30-40 minutes, i walked to Trinity College for one last visit to the gift shop and then hit up the Hard Rock Cafe for a t-shirt. And back to the hotel by exactly 5pm.  I did most of the preparations to my suitcase for flying tomorrow and was back downstairs for a group meeting for one last time. We thanked Cathal for all of his hard work and patience during this trip and had a few toasts to each other and our beloved EF staff. 

Then we went to an Irish music and dancing show for dinner. It was okay - let's just say I'd rather attend another show like last night's fun. 

So now it's the end of this chapter and on to the next. I have seen and learned a lot. I have gained new friends from all over the country and even the world. We've shared a lot of laughs and good craic over these last week or so. Thanks, friends. :)

Thank you Cathal for being such a fantastic tour director. Thanks to Tony for getting us around safely and not complaining too much about my heavy suitcase. A thousand thanks to Hélène, Josh, Cam and Emily for being great EF leaders and just being so darn cool. It's been great getting to know all of you. 

So I guess it's so long Ireland and hello to Paris.