Big Day Around Cork

Yesterday was a very full day that ended up with me crashing into bed around midnight and falling asleep instantly.

After some issues with the guys at the information desk, I caught the bus north to Blarney, home of the famous Blarney Castle and Stone.

First approach to the castle

It's a pretty incredible place, worn down inside but still very much intact, and you climb incredibly narrow staircases (I almost got stuck at one point) to get to the top to kiss the Blarney Stone.

The ramparts--Stone is by the people

To kiss the Stone, you have to be lowered down upside down with a helper, because the Stone is on the underside of the battlements. According to legend and marketing, you give yourself the "blarney" by kissing it, which means you will suddenly be able to talk more eloquently/be a great used-car salesman.

View from the top

To be honest, though, I enjoyed the rest of the grounds much more than the "mystique" of the Stone. There are some admittedly cheesy but interesting legends and supersitions, like the Wishing Steps and the Witch's Nose.

Enormous plants that I would not have expected to see in Ireland

The Witch's Nose

Always strapped for cash, I consider taking the 5-10 Euro in coins on the Nose

After Blarney, I made my way back down to Cork, where I met up with Cait, and we headed down to Kinsale, on the coast, for dinner. It was a quiet little town, very nice, with about a hundred B&B's on every block.

There was also a sad little slots and roulette place inhabited only by a few old gambling addicts, and I couldn't resist trying my hand.

Slot machines suck.

After dinner, we headed back up to Cork, where we met up with Cait's friends at a small gig in town. It was an indie rock artist named Cathy Davey, and she was INCREDIBLE. I can't stress enough how great her show was. For some reason I neglected to bring my camera, but you can see her/hear some of her music here.

Today I'll be getting ready to go to London later this evening and starting to work out a grave oversight in my travel plans--you need a tourist visa to go to Russia.

To be continued...

Moment of Zen: Small trout swimming over coins in a stream underneath the castle.