Blarney & Cobh

Hello again...

We had a great day today! We started out with a traditional Irish Breakfast at our B&B - the Garnish House. Isn't it adorable?!

Next off, we headed North to Blarney. We did the traditional thing and toured the Castle. Of course, we kissed the Blarney Stone for some good luck. However, we wondered how many other people's lips had been in the same spot as ours... oh well... when in Blarney. After the Castle, we took the Rock Stone walk around the property. This was the best part! It was absolutely beautiful. It was originally inhabited by Druids and has many magical legends around the locale. It reminded me of something out of the Lord of the Rings or Chronicles of Narnia. There is a strong presence of the witch of Blarney who is said to come out every night after dark! We then shopped around a bit in Blarney Woolen Mills. I think we did the right thing and bought rain jackets there. HA! It didn't rain all day! How about that??? Or maybe... it was the stone. Hmmmm....

After Blarney, we headed down to the very small but lively harbour town of Cobh (pronounced Cove). This town was considered Queenstown from 1849 to 1920 in honor of Queen Victoria. When it was known as Queenstown, it was very famous for being the last port of call for the ill-fated Titanic, as well as the Lusitania torpedoed in 1915. We loved this cute little town. It was a treat to not be in such a tourist location for once. We climbed (and I do mean CLIMBED the streets) around town, took in the beautiful sights including St. Colman's Catholic Church. This church seemed as big as the city! The Irish sure love their beautiful churches. We had a couple of beers sitting outside at Kelly's Pub (in honor of our friend Kelly). It was a wonderful afternoon! I learned in a shop how the clerks identify us Americans as we are shopping around. She said it is our rings... that us American ladies have such beautiful rings! HA!! I said - look at mine doesn't it look Irish? She agreed the sides did.... but I think the center stone is what gives us away. I just thought that was interesting!

Another interesting thing that happened in Cobh was that we encountered our first friends from the Midwest. Bryon heckled a man wearing a Brewer's jacket who ended up being from Racine and his daughters from the Chicago area. We must have chatted with them for at least a half hour. The nice thing about meeting all these people as we go along is that they all ask about our adventure, which of course, includes our wedding next week. This means we have even MORE people praying for a couple hours of sunshine for our ceremony. Again...I hope the stone works its magic for that part!!!

Tonight, we'll walk into the city centre and have a couple beers most likely. Tomorrow we are heading moreso along the coast to Kinsale, Clonakilty and Bantry. We were able to get out of our reservation tomorrow night so we are flying by the seat of our pants. I have heard of a B&B in Bantry that the Crowley's run. We are hopeful to get in there! That would be really neat!

Thanks for all of the comments! They make us smile and make us feel like we aren't that out of touch with our loved ones!

Cheers!

XOXOXO

B&T