CARRHHHK (Cork) - Blarney Castle - Kissing the Blarney Stone

Well we've made it home safely from our two day trip to Cork City. Here are some shots from our trip. Happy New Year to you all!

(Also, my sister Mimi pointed out, and I wanted to let you know, that you can click on any of the pictures to view them larger. Maybe you knew that but just in case)

Top of Blarney Castle

Norah is a natural-born runner. She runnns....everywhere. It's all she says now - "Wanna run. Wanna run down Owwiee (Alley). Norah run Mommy"
Here's some proof:

St. Patrick's in Cork

Norah's first time in Cork. Or as we say - Norky in Corky. We can't help it.

Our Hotel - the Imperial in Cork. Definitely getting on in years but it was a nice place. We just read this evening (surprisingly the hotel wasn't vocal at all about this) that Charles Dickens stayed here. You'd think they'd have that on a 'sandwich board' outside the hotel. =)

Ah yes, this was my quest for all things Flynn. All I came up with were a few O'Flynn's which is where my family's name comes from. The Flynn's (my mother's name) were originally from the name O'Floinn - which later morphed into several variations and landed on Flynn, for us anyway.

I believe "Solicitors" are Lawyers here but I could be wrong.

Cork English Market. A real thriving farmer's market - sort of like Pike Place in Seattle but a little more British. =) The Queen visited this market on her trip to Cork in 2011.

(photographs copyright Maxwells Photography)

http://www.englishmarket.ie/historygallery/gallery/todaysmarket/distinguishedvisitorstothemarket/hmqueenelizabethii/

Here's a blurb from their website:

"The foundation for the Market was formally laid on September 29^th, 1786 and work proceeded throughout the next two years. Several stalls were completed in July 1788 and offered for rent, paid weekly, for one year (it was specified that they were for the sale of meat only).
The grand opening took place on 1^st August 1788. The newly emerging United States of America had not yet elected it’s first President, George Washington. And just months previously the first vessels of the “First Fleet”, under Captain James Cook, had arrived in a far foreign land. These vessels carried the convicts and marines who are now acknowledged as being the “Founders of Australia”."
 

We ate at the Farmgate Cafe upstairs and it was phenomenal.

Cork Nun, Cork Nun (this picture is meant to be of the hillside behind her but she snuck in)

Norah in the front row on Bus Eireann on our way to Blarney Castle

Ready to run

First glimpse of the castle as we walked in through the park

Obligatory shots. =)

This one's for Norah's life-scrapbook. 1 year old - Blarney Castle - check!

"Yes, I am very happy to be in this tiny dungeon, thank you"

The staircase on the far right is the one that you take to get up to the top, and the one closest is the 'down' staircase. Well, let me just tell you that NO ONE prepares you for the fact that you just might DIE on your way up to kiss the Blarney Stone. That winding staircase was literally one of the scariest things I've ever done. (Right next to rapelling off a 75 foot cliff in Australia). This is 10 stories up, and it's so narrow that there's only a rope fastened to the inside of the spiral for you to hang on to. (no room for a railing of any kind). And it's so steep that your chest is nearly against the next stairs as you curve up the spiral. It took everything in me, I kid you not, just to make it up that staircase.  So, anyway, keep that in mind when we get to Wayne's picture of the Blarney Stone. =)  

Really?! THIS is the "artist's impression" of what the kitchen might have looked like?! They couldn't have hired a better artist?

The two attendants who help you kiss the stone. Nice guys.

But....you'll notice here, he's sitting over 100, one hundred, feet in the air and you're expected to lean yourself upside down and backwards, over this hole, to kiss the stone.  You'll notice in my pictures later on, I won't even take my hand off the railing to take a picture, let alone to lay on the ground and lean, not only backwards, but upside down, over a death-hole. I don't know about you but my balance is not best in either of those positions.

I'm very proud to say, though, that my husband is not afraid of heights and he DID kiss the Blarney Stone! (I love how the guy's gripping his shirt as if that's going to help if he slips through) I told my sisters that I wasn't going to kiss it because 'they' say people spit/pee on the Blarney Stone but really I don't believe that after being up there. Maybe some A-holes do that but, honestly, that'd be the very least of my worries if I was hanging over that edge. I'm proud to say, my reasoning for not kissing the Stone was not of my normal "OCD"-germophobic nature but purely of my completely debilitating and irrational fear of heights. Tonight, I can sleep.

(Holdin' on tight for good measure)

I've rotated here but still holding on, ever so slightly.

Dang that tin roof on that pillar. That would've been an amazing picture. =)

This is the *wide* staircase. The wide one. Even this one was so narrow that my backpack would get stuck as I rotated down. Not awesome for my still debilitating fear of heights. Ugh...it still gives me shivers just looking at it. (Needless to say, Wayne was carrying Norah in the Ergo carrier as I could barely keep myself together) =)

I did stop for a picture though - (while holding on to the railing, extra tight).

Yep, "The Murder Hole". I could say something inappropriate here but I am a pillar of self-restraint.

Wayne, as calm as could be on the death-staircases, holding Norah who appears to be wearing a "baby toupee".

Yes, right this way.

The Druuuuuidddssss

Someone acccttually lives here. The gate said "Private Residence, Do Not Enter". So, of course we just walked around their lawn taking pictures.

That top, gaping-hole, is the Blarney Stone.

Up close. It's the stone on the bottom, held by the two parallel bars.

Slight bit of scale here (Wayne in bottom corner). I couldn't even fit the entire height in but you get the idea.

Luckily Norah was asleep in the carrier or this could've been a stressful walk. "No Norah, don't lick that Hemlock!"

Pretty Incredible Quote here from Dr. King:

"In this period of social transition, history will have to record not the strident clamor of the bad people but the appalling silence of the good people" - Martin Luther King Jr.  

"Occupy Cork" from a distance.

 St. Finbarre's Cathedral, Cork City

 The above gargoyle up close. Loses some of its power when you see its actual expression. =)

 In ancient lore about this site, this golden angel is believed to blow her horns when the end of the world will begin. Sure don't want to hear that sound.

 Thought this was interesting.

 "...Who fought and died in the Wars of Ireland to recover her sovereign independence and to inspire the youth of our country to follow in their patriotic footsteps and imitate their heroic example. And Righteous men will make ours A nation once again"  

 I swear, all of the Irish countryside is meant to inspire paintings. It's like the entire country should be on canvas.

Sadly, on our way back into Dublin on the train, we heard a loud noise and then crashing below the train. It sounded like we ran over a pile of wood. Well, the train stops and the conducter (driver?) gets on to say that we hit a cow (correction, Wayne says it was a deer). Isn't that the worst thing ever? Poor thing. Why was it on the train tracks? Why didn't it move? Who knows. But, after they cleared that wreckage, we made our merry way into the Dublin station.  The end.