At first the bus was very quiet and we all slept, but after a few hours the sun came up and we were able to look out at the pretty greenery that we were passing. Our first destination was the town of Cobh, which was the last stop on the Titanic before it left for NYC. We went to this really cool Titanic Museum, which was interactive and had replicas of what a third class and first class cabin would have looked like on the Titanic.
At the beginning of the tour we were handed a "boarding pass" that had the name of a real passenger who had boarded the Titanic at Cobh. I was Nora Healy, a 29 year old. At the end of the tour, we were able to see if our person had survived. Nora was saved on lifeboat 16, which was the only information they had about her. Katie's person was originally in the water and was then rescued by lifeboat 16, which was pretty cool to find out.
After the museum, we spent a little longer strolling around the beautiful town. It was such a nice, warm, sunny day, it almost felt like we had left Ireland!
After, we stopped in the town Kinsale which was really nice, but we did not have a chance to explore because we were too busy stuffing our faces with fish and chips. Mmmmm.
Then it was on to the main attraction...Blarney Castle!! The grounds at Blarney are so beautiful, on a nice day (like we had) we could've spent the entire day there. Obviously if it was raining it would be a different story, and the lovely trip up to the castle wouldn't have been so magical.
We climbed up to the top of the Castle, which actually was worse than Trim Castle the day before. At one point I was clutching the rope railing trying not to freak out, and I look behind me and this three year old girl was walking up the stairs like it was no big thing. Embarrassing.
When we got to the top, we met this nice old man who helps dip you back to kiss the stone. He seemed really excited that a group of smiling 21 year old girls wanted to kiss the Blarney stone. I wonder why?
Legend has it, that after kissing the Blarney Stone, you have 7 years of the gift of eloquence. I didn't think it was possible, but I will now be wittier and more charming than before.
After, we took a casual stroll through the poison gardens (the plants were actually in little wire cages, yikes) and then we stumbled upon the Blarney House. Maggie and I proceeded to stalk the grounds, pretending that we were characters from a Jane Austen novel, and that some young gentlemen who lived in the house would come riding out on their horses and whisk us away. Unfortunately, we had to go back to the paddywagon before this fantasy materialized.
^^ Pemberly...oops I mean the Blarney House.
Our last stop was Cork. Cork is a beautiful city, the part we saw actually reminded me of Buffalo a tiny bit, there was definitely an "Elmwood" vibe. Unfortunately, we did not have much time in Cork. We stopped at this chocolate shop that had the world's best hot chocolate. My life has been changed forever after drinking it. I also ate a brownie. Nutritious dinner! It was so delicious, I would go back just for the hot chocolate again, although it will have to be after Lent! I could definitely go back to Cork for a weekend to explore the city, but I'm not sure if I will have the time. This experience is flying by! This weekend I am going to Belfast, and then the following weekend will be our spring break trip of Amsterdam, Paris, and London.
It feels like a dream!
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