Allison's Wonderland

Blarney - flattering or wheedling talk; cajolery.

The three weary little travelers woke up today with pure excitement. We had a lot of exhilarating things on the menu for the day so we woke up early in order to get em done. Brian made us a wonderful breakfast which changed my attitude towards Lanesville. We were then on our way! We started off at Blarney Castle. I ordered our tickets early online so I knew we would be taken care of. We got there before all the big tour buses, which was a good thing because trying to get up the Blarney Castle steps with a ton of other people would have proven itself to be very difficult. It was scary to go through the tunnels of the castle which were used to flee Blarney once the castle was under siege. We met this really annoying lesbianish couple from the States who kept using the “F” word. Micah and I tried to get away but Shaun just kept talking to the nutso people. We finally made our escape to the Castle.

The morning started off absolutely beautiful but as we have learned from being in Ireland, the weather pretty much changes every 30 minutes. It started to get drizzly but that didn’t taint my opinion of Blarney Castle. I LOVED this place. The architecture, the smell, the stone, everything about it was amazing to me. I wish we could’ve spent more time there, but we were on a mission to see as much of the Emerald Isle as we could. As the three of us were discussing the previous night about whether or not we were going to kiss the Blarney Stone, Micah and Shaun decided that they weren’t going to do it. I was appalled. Winston Churchill, Mick Jagger, Milton Hershey, have all gone before us and now the moment to pucker up is here and my friends are not going to do it?!? It was blasphemy to my ears. In order to kiss the Blarney stone you have to make your way up 120 steps to the top. On the way up Micah and Shaun decided to change their little minds. All the locals told us not to do it because supposedly people pee and spit on the stone. But when I asked the nice old man up at the top if people actually did that his answer was a most definite NO. He said the stone is locked up every night along with the castle and the only way up to it would be to scale the castle wall. Needless to say I believed him. So, the next thing to do was to kiss it. Micah went first and she kissed it after some old Man. Ha! Then I kissed it second. I may have kissed it twice ha! And the second one with some tongue. Umm…Kidding KIDDING! That’s totally gross. After we kissed the stone and totally liked it, we made our way to the poison garden. We couldn’t touch anything though because everything growing in it was poisonous.

After our Blarney Castle time we went to Woollen Mills and purchased some souvenirs. Micah and I both bought jackets because Micah DID NOT dress warm enough for this weather and I didn’t bring a good rain jacket, and since it was raining every day, I figured it was something I could put to good use. Shaun found one he liked, but like a lil idiot he didn’t buy it. This little fact will come into play later in the day. We were driving and singing like idiots all the way to Killarney. It was a beautiful drive. The radio in our car didn’t work very well, so we had to make our own music. By this time we were all getting a little hungry. It was rainy and yuck out and all we wanted was a little taste of home. That’s when we happened upon the Golden Arches. If you do not know what that means…then you’re probably not American. I am referring to the golden arches of McDonald’s! Yes, we ate at McDonald’s while in Ireland. It’s cheap and it’s good. What more could you ask for?

After we got done eating our Big Mac’s and fries Shaun complains that he wants a jacket. Not going to lie I was a little miffed because we were just there, plus we needed to bike ride! So we stop at this outlet store for this jacket of his and he ends up getting the same one he saw at Woolen Mills only for 20 Euros more. That’s what you get when you waste people’s time! Ha! We get to the bike rental place and it’s very rainy and very cold. Our jackets came in extremely handy. Brian from Lanesville told us that in Killarney, “It’s either raining, or it’s about to.” Not really the words of encouragement we were looking for. Oh well. I was looking forward to bike riding in Killarney National Park and I wasn’t about to let a little rain stop me. So we get on our bikes and start pedaling toward the park. Not going to lie, it was miserable. It was rainy and cold and it was the sideways rain that hits you in your face. Micah got a little mad and said while we were bike riding, “You know Allison you don’t ALWAYS have to stick to the plan. Plans can change sometimes.” Oh great Micah hates me and she’s mad. But we still kept trucking along. We got to this hotel where we pulled the bike’s over and it was seriously breathtaking. This vista reminded me of Hawaii with the lake and the mountains. We were so excited too because the weather cleared up while we were there.

After our beautiful lake view we got back on the trail and headed into the park. The weather really started picking up bad so we took shelter under a tree right next to Muckross Abbey. After we took pictures, the sun came out and the rest of the day was beautiful. Looks like the Lord heard our prayers! The luck of the Irish,..well in this case non-Irish who are in Ireland, I guess. We biked our little butts to Muckross House and Torc Waterfall. Both extremely breathtaking. They had horse and buggy rides on the path and horse poop spewed all over my pants. Oh well I was loving life. One of my favorite pictures I took was on the way to Torc waterfall which was a picture of the mountains, lake, reeds, and boats. The waterfall was gorgeous, but again we were rushed for time. We had to make it back to the bike rental by 5 otherwise I wouldn’t get my license back. On the way back we flew like little banshees back to the town center of Killarney.

We made it to the rental place by five so praise the Lord I got my license back. After being cold drowned little rats we hopped in the car on our quest to find our new B&B. I loved going to new B&B’s. It was always exciting to see just how cool or uncool they would be. Although we never ran into an uncool host or B&B. Our lodgings were a little outside Killarney right on lake Lough Leane. This place was called the Invicta and I would have to say it was my favorite by far. We were greeted by a little old Irish man named Sean. The first thing he asks us is how we’re related to Shaun. We told him he was our friend and then he proceeds to tell us that he better be sleeping in his own bed and for Micah and I to sleep with a baseball bat beside our bed. After he gave us a lecture about how Shaun is a predator, he gave us tea, coffee, and biscuits. Biscuits in Ireland are cookies just so you know. And they’re amazing. We all got cleaned up and headed up the Gap of Dunloe where we ate dinner at Kate Kearney’s cottage. Now Irish people DO NOT eat late. The kitchen normally closes at 9 so we were cutting it a little close. I have never been a server but I can imagine the annoyance that I would feel when people walk in right at close and demand to be fed. We did not want to be those people. We get there, and our waiter…WHOA. Best looking guy I’ve seen in all of Ireland. My friend Jess dared me before I left to make sure I kissed an Irish guy. Micah and Shaun kept egging me on but I just couldn’t do it. He was very attractive though and had good teeth. That’s a rarity in Ireland. Kate Kearney had a live band that night and I actually ended up talking to them for a while. They have traveled to New York and wanted us to sing something but we just couldn’t come up with any songs that we knew all the way through. Worst. We had a wonderful night and only had one drink just like Sean said. We were good people. I couldn’t reverse again and almost hit a car in Sean’s driveway. Him and his friend thought we were drunk, and we had to have them move the car. We only had one little hard cider though. I felt really bad cause I want Sean to like me! We went to bed after one of my favorite days/nights in Ireland!