Blarney Castle & Stone

(Katherine) Our final full day in Limerick consisted of a day trip to the southern edge of the country at Blarney, home of the famous castle and infamous stone. I never really knew why you were supposed to kiss the stone, but I learned that those who kiss it are supposed to gain the “gift of gab”, or to be able to “speak Blarney”. One ledged says the expression comes from Queen Elizabeth I in reference to Lord Blarney, as he was able to speak for hours on end without ever coming to resolution at the subject at hand.

The castle sits on a huge property with lovely paths and gardens - we didn’t allocate enough time to walk around, so leave yourself at least 2-2.5 hours. The $10 euro entrance fee grants entrance into all portions of the grounds, the most important of which is the castle. Nothing has been done to renovate the castle, so the floors are very rocky and uneven, and the floors and roof in the main building have all worn away. You climb an extremely narrow spiral staircase to get to the top of the towers, entering in various rooms along the way. I’m sure they would NOT allow this kind of structure to be a tourist attraction in the US because they would be fearful of too many law suits.

At the very top, you queue up to wait your turn to kiss the stone. It is a very weird experience - you lay down on your back and tilt your head upside down, grab 2 metal bars, and a man assists you with dipping your head backwards until you can see a bluish-gray stone before you. You give it a smooch while a camera snaps away, usually including an unflattering image of your bare belly. I can’t say that I’ve felt a huge increase in my linguistic skills since my encounter, but at least I can say I kissed the stone!

We had to hurry back to Limerick to address my first “medical emergency” since the trip began. A filling fell out of the back of my mouth a couple of weeks ago in Paris, so I waited until Limerick to fix it so I could A) use a dentist who came with references, and B) wait until I was in en English speaking country to address the problem. I’m very glad to say that the dentist was a very pleasant man who was able to patch me up - and hopefully it will last until we get back to the states.

That evening we enjoyed a wonderful dinner at a restaurant called Cornstore in downtown Limerick with Kristi and Barry while baby Evan was being cared for by Grandma. We then ventured to a pub for a final round of drinks and swapping stories. Barry finally ventured home to relive Grandma so Kristi could stay out late - something that doesn’t get to happen very often with a newborn, so she was very appreciative (as were we!)