Ireland South loop

OK, oddly enough its been difficult to find a place to stay that actually has in room wifi and we've gotten in so late, that there wasn't another option to blog. So, here's some catch up info on the trip...

Erin and I got into Ireland on Friday. Long flight, blah blah blah, of course. Once we both landed, we picked up the rental car and headed for cork, stopping in Cashel for dinner. Cashel was a cute little town, typical for Ireland. They all look very similar to some extent, with close connected shops and bars and restaurants and bars and hotels and... oh right, bars... Its funny, its sort of like a strip mall. But each and every shop has its own very Irish looking motif with italic letters (well, Gaelic). Hmmmm, I think as I've described that, I may have to start lobbying for us to do that to all strip malls in the US. It takes a simple set of store fronts and makes it picture worthy instead of like an ugly strip mall.

We learned not so quickly that driving in Ireland takes about twice as long as Google thinks it does. We rolled into Cork around 11pm and were happy to find a b&b that answered the door and had a place for us to stay.

Cork
Cork was realty cute. We walked around and checked out the town and a few shops. We tried to go to the Murphy's brewery, but unfortunately, they were closed because Monday was a bank holiday. I have a bone to pick with that. OK, I get it, plan ahead if you need cash from a bank, cause they have holidays. But to close a brewery because of it that just doesn't sit right with me. :-) so after a bit more walking around and grabbing a fresh squeezed apple juice from a street market, we headed off to blarney stone.

The Blarney Stone
We had great timing with Blarney stone, the line wasn't to terrible when we got there, but was really long by the time we left, with more people pooring in as we headed for the car. Once you get past the gift shop and into the castle, you start climbing to the top of the castle to get to the stone. The steps climb through a very tight spiral stair case with very narrow stone steps and a rope attached straight up the middle of the spiral to give you a hand hold. You climb past all the different rooms in the castle... bedrooms, kitchen, etc... I can't imagine trying to carry any stuff from room to room back when people lived here. Its so narrow that I was glad I didn't have so much as a day pack on my back and the steps aren't really wide enough to get a full sized foot on them (mine barely fit). Its just crazy to think that this was totally normal and even luxurious once upon a time. I'm thinking no queen beds or overstuffed couches. :-) I can't imagine how long and what difficulty it took to build the castle in the first place, out of stone, with no industrial tools.

The Blarney Stone is at the top of the castle, on the roof, where I assume guards were posted with bow and arrow to keep out the riphraph (sp?). The blareny stone was coveted by the king because it supposedly brought good luck or something to that affect. Because of this, they constantly guarded it from would be thieves. To keep it safe, the king had it built in to the side of the castle. Its situated on the inside of the outer stone railing wall, at the very bottom, about a foot below the level of the deck. To give a place for water to drain, I assume, there is about a foot gap between the deck and the outside wall, so its pretty interesting getting in there to kiss the stone. To kiss it, you lay down on your back and hold on to the railings on the wall, then scoot way the heck back and lean down to kiss it upside down. I think its scarier when your short, I leaned back so far that only my legs and ars were still on the deck. Though the scariest part was probably the gamble of how many people kiss the stone in between cleanings. I choose not to think about it. :-)

Back in the car and off to Killarney...

Killarney
We met up with Erin's friend Kevin and his wife and kids. Then we headed into Killarney to their friend's b&b to drop our stuff. After chatting for a bit and trying to decipher English and Irish English, we headed to town with Kevin. W e hung out at a bar called Corkery's and had a few Smithwicks (great beer) and were fairly entertained by the avid soccer fans and a local or two that kevin knew. Oh, and cute bartenders. :-)

Killarney livened up quite a bit at night. There was a rally race near by this weekend and it was a long weekend, so the town was filled with a crazy mess of people and rally cars. Unfortunately, I think everybody was 17 (the drinking age). After corkery's, we stopped for some dinner and then headed to a very Irish bar, the name of which I don't remember. It was off the track of the teens, so it was filled with lots of Irish folks... there was a handful of people playing various instruments at will in the booths, and others just hanging out, having a good time and a few beers. It was a great Irish atmosphere and fun to just hang out, chat and have a few drinks. We closed the place down and snuck out the side entrance, since it was past the actual closing time for bars. Though even with that, there was still a full bar when we left. I guess bar closing time for locals is more of a time to make sure you get in by. :-)

Dingle
Dingle was awesome. The town is this tiny little port town with a few super cute shops and restaurants that are great to take a quick walk by and stop for lunch. After a quick refuel, we drove the loop and checked out all the cliffs, farms and ocean scenery. It was an absolutely beautifal drive and a death defying driving experience. Getting used to driving on the left, in a manual car was pretty fun, but add some wild cliffs and windy narrow roads along with a bunch of crazy tourists & its a recipe for disaster. Luckily, there was no disaster, but the roads require allot more description. There were actually a few roads that actually had enough space for two cars to pass each other without sharing mirrors, but very few. Most of the roads were so tiny, you were hugging the side and had an inch or two to spare on either side. There were a few where it was a small miracle that we made it by. Some of the streets were so tiny that there was no possible way to get two cars by. We got lucky on those and didn't have to reverse out of the way at all, but holy crap. They definitely had a sense of humor though, a few of the roads that weren't wide enough for two, unless you're on a motorcycle, had a center line painted down the middle. This left about 3 feet for each lane. You could see the car in front would be over the center line by at least two feet and have just a few inches on the bushes side. We actually saw a few folks driving campers on the road, which was nuts. Oh, and I forgot to mention... most of the road had a speed limit of 80 or 100k, which is about 45 or 60, respective MPH. NUTS!!!

My favorite add slogan so far...
What happens in huggies, stays in huggies.