"The gift of the gab" (Ireland, April 8: Blarney - Killarney)

Easter Sunday we awoke to a spectacular breakfast! Our host had prepared a traditional Irish breakfast and fruit. Eggs, sausages, bacon, white pudding, mushrooms, tomatoes…along with toast AND freshly baked scones!! And homemade gooseberry jam. Incredible…

Image courtesy of A. :-) Click to enlarge!

We drove into the town of Blarney itself, where we browsed the woolen mill for a bit. At noon, I walked up the hill to the church where they were celebrating Easter Mass. They have a really lovely church there – the inside is very bright and decorated with mosaics. 

The cutest toilet sign I've ever seen!
(At the woolen mill)

Blarney Woolen Mills.

 A cute story from this church: I was sitting by the prayer candles when a little girl walked over. Very gently, she began blowing, causing the flames to flicker, when – puff! One candle was abruptly extinguished! Alarmed and at a complete loss at what to do, she whispered her predicament to her mother. Obviously in a hurry, the mother impatiently collected her daughter and relit the candle. But as they left, the first girl’s younger sister lingered behind. Glancing around mischievously, she leaned forward – and blew out the candle! A moment later, she was gone, disappearing around the corner and out the door. J

After a quick lunch, we headed over to Blarney Castle – and the STONE! With any luck, we would leave that day with the “gift of the gab” – great eloquence, or at the very least, clever and convincing speech.

The castle!

With E.

With A.

 

 

As our host described, the grounds are indeed magical. All the flowers had begun to flower, and everything was very green. We ascended the narrow, very steep winding stair to the top of the castle, where there was quite a line to the stone. Kissing the stone is not quite a walk in the park. With the help of an assistant and two guardrails, you lie on your back and lean back…and back…until, upside down, you search for the bottom-most stone and touch your lips to it. Then up you come! and you’re back with the world set right-way up. J

Look up!

The line...

In the past, things weren't so secure.
Apparently, early attempts to kiss the stone
involved dangling people by their  ankles...
no safety bars back then! (Thanks for the photo, A!)

With E and A. Courtesy of A.

The view from the top was pretty awesome.

 

We spent another hour wandering through the gardens. It made for a very pleasant afternoon.

 

 

 

See the face?

 

 

 

The fairies' haunt...

 

We soon had to head back to the car for the drive to Killarney. This was an adventure in itself. While we passed beautiful countryside, we eventually had to head off onto some ambiguous country roads with even more ambiguous directions. However, after asking another B & B owner for directions, we were soon put back on the right track, and made it to the “Kingdom View” B & B. :-)


As for the "gift of the gab", it has yet to materialize. But we still have hope. Maybe it'll only reveal itself once we're back in Canada...;-)

The backyard of "Kingdom View" B & B. :-)