Kissing the Blarney, a Lot of Balony- But a Great Day

We left Dublin and headed SSW through the midlands of Ireland, heading for the Rock of Cashel located in County Tipperary in the island of Ireland.

Our Dublin hotel- The Royal Marine

The complex has a character of its own and is one of the most remarkable collections of Celtic art and medieval architecture found anywhere in Europe.

Rock of Cashel castle

While few remnants of the early structures survive; the majority of buildings on the current site date from the 12th and 13th centuries.

Having tea and scones at the farmhouse

We toured the existing structures, then boarded our buses and headed for a working sheep farm for a sheep dog demonstration.

We arrived at the farm and were invited into the farmhouse for tea and scones which were absolutely delicious.

The dogs doing their job

The farmhouse, built in 1790, was akin to an English manor style home situated on a large farm. It was a very quaint and beautiful home and one we definitely enjoyed visiting,

All herded up

We then headed outside to watch some sheep dogs, or border collies, demonstrate their herding abilities. We spoke with the farm owner who provided a lot of information about raising his sheep herds which were not raised for their wool, but rather for their meat.

Wondering why they were chased

We very much enjoyed this stop and the hospitality of the hosts, even though they were very likely paid by the tour company to provide this event.

We left the farm and returned to the motorway heading for Cork, Ireland, where the Blarney Castle is located.

The Blarney Castle

The castle dates from before 1200 and is home to the famous Blarney Stone. The castle is now a partial ruin and at the very top lies the Stone of Eloquence or the Blarney Stone. We had to climb a narrow staircase to get to the top of the castle.

Tower by the castlke

The climb took almost an hour due to the number of tourists and the time-consuming process of kissing the stone. Tourists visiting Blarney Castle have to hang upside-down over a sheer drop to kiss the stone, which is said to give the gift of eloquence.

Looking for the enemy

The positioning for most tourists is a real struggle. We finally made it to the stone where Frank, Jane, and Capt. Larry successfully kissed the stone, but Carol Ann, due to the unnerving position one had to assume to carry out the procedure, elected to blow it a kiss and move on.

Shot from atop the castle

After kissing the stone, we overheard some people talking about staff members peeing on the stone after hours when the tourists are gone! We certainly hope that is not true, but it really doesn’t matter much.

Looking down from the top

Everyone’s picture is taken while they are kissing the stone, and these pictures are available for purchase. We descended to the gift shop, and Jane decided that she had to buy her pictures.

Blarney Castle from the top

As she was checking out, Capt. Larry felt a hand grip his arm and a female voice say, “Larry?” He turned to find Sue and Jim Birke in the crowd. Jim was the Chief of the Physical Therapy Department and worked with Capt. Larry at the National Hansen’s Disease Center. They would run together at noon on a daily basis and were much more than casual acquaintances.

Jane kisses the stone!

To run into each other at the Blarney Castle was a distant long shot to say the least. We caught up with each other for about 20 minutes until the damned bus schedules dictate that we go our separate ways.

Amazing encounter!

We did, however, learn that their tour was taking them to Killarney which was where we were headed, so it might be possible to run into them again. After we left Jim and Sue, we toured the castle gardens with Frank and Carol Ann, before boarding our bus.

We arrived to our hotel, the Killarney Avenue Hotel, and got checked in. We met up with Frank and Carol Ann for a mini-happy hour and browsed through some nearby woolen mill shops. Capt. Larry found a really neat Irish woven sweater that we figure is the McHugh Clan weave (each clan has a distinctive weave). We had dinner with Frank and Carol Ann at an Italian restaurant, and we ended up at a singing Irish pub which we left to singing "When the Saints Go Marching In." We retired to our room where Jane took a Jacuzzi bath while Capt. Larry had a couple of drinks while recording his blog notes for the day. It was an interesting day to say the least.

We Go to College, Visit a Library, Learn to Drink Beer, Visit a Yacht Club, and Cruise a Canal- WHEW!

We arose to our second day in Dublin, a little later than on the days that we travel. We had breakfast and then boarded our bus and headed to Dublin’s central district for a city tour.

Taxation according to window size

Our tour guide was very informative on landmarks, buildings, and history of Dublin. We found it interesting that the Irish government previously levied property taxes according to the size and number of windows the occupants had.

Gate to Trinity College

Since the most desirable apartments were on the first floor and were occupied the more well to do tenets, they could afford the taxes that came with larger windows which let in more light (obviously this was before electric lights). The windows became successively smaller with the higher floors. This taxation system also gave rise to the windowless Dutch door which would allow more light to enter the house, while keeping a barricade in place and avoiding taxes altogether.

Trinity College Tower

We stopped at the renowned Trinity College campus for a guided walk through the campus. The college was founded in 1592, and is the second oldest European university, with Oxford being first.

An art display

We were probably given more information about the college and its distinguished history than we needed, but the guide was enthusiastic and liked to hear himself talk.

After seeing the major buildings, statues, and outdoor art displays that typify most college campuses, we were taken to the Old Library to view the Book of Kells.

Example of a manuscript

We were told that the Old Library housed the largest collection of manuscripts in the world and holds 200,000 of the library’s oldest books in its Long Room.

Old Library and manuscripts

Lots of manuscripts

These manuscripts and books are used by researchers worldwide. The Book of Kells is an illustrated Latin manuscript of containing the four Gospels of the New Testement with various other texts and tables.

Library Long Room

It is believed to have been created in a Columban monastery in either Britain or Ireland around 800 A.D. We waited in a really long line for our tour to begin, and finally entered the building.

Trinity College Law building

The wait was worth it. The manuscripts are encased in environmentally controlled viewing cases and we were awed by the extravagance and complexity found in the illustrations and ornamentation. Figures of humans, animals and mythical beasts, together with Celtic knots and motifs in vibrant colors enliven the manuscript's pages. We weren't allowed to take pictures of the Book of Kells, but you can get an idea of its intricate artwork presented by the images at this link: Book of Kells After finishing the exhibit we wandered through the Old Library and viewed some more manuscript displays, before finally stopping at the Library’s gift shop where Capt. Larry bought another hat and lost his credit card. Fortunately he noticed the loss and went back into the gift shop where he found it on the floor by the checkout register.

Statue commemorating Potato Famine

St. Jame's Gate

Our bus continued the city tour by taking use through Dublin’s central business district which also housed government offices. Our last stop on our city tour was at the St. Jame’s Gate Guinness Storehouse.

Happy to be here

Now we’re talking. Although we were at a storehouse and not an actual brewery, we were given a guided tour that took us through exhibits that explained the brewing process for Guinness ale.

Water to brew the stout

Barrel exhibit

The Guinness Brewery is now the largest brewer of stout in the world (damn, those Irish are thirsty beasts!) with an annual output of 1.2 million barrels. The company pioneered several quality control efforts. The brewery hired the statistician William Sealy Gosset in 1899, who achieved lasting fame under the pseudonym "Student" for techniques developed for Guinness, particularly Student's t-distribution and the even more commonly known Student's t-test (as a statistician, Capt. Larry had to include this notation on the origin of probably the most commonly applied statistical test).

The graduates Carol Ann, Frank & Jane

During the tour we attended “Drinking University,” where we were taught the proper way to order and drink a Guinness draught. Jane was so excited she actually started liking the stuff!

Guinness harp and Irish symbol

Waiting for the stout to settle

After we finished our tour, we were treated to a pint of Guinness draught in the brewery’s Gravity bar which provides a 360° panoramic view of Dublin.

At the Gravity Bar practicing

We would have loved to have spent several hours in the bar, but the damned bus schedule demanded that we “hurry our pint,” and we were literally running to catch our bus. In the rain.

Dublin view from Gravity Bar

One thing about sightseeing in Ireland is that one has to be prepared for an abrupt change in the weather, as rain can break out at any time.

Our bus driver drove us to the Dublin harbor and back to a shopping area, where we were given the choice of getting off to shop and being picked up a couple of hours later, or returning back to the hotel.

Signing the yacht club's register

We elected to go back to the hotel as we were already running low on souvenir space in our luggage.

Frank, bartender Irvin & Capt. Larry

Back at the hotel, Frank and Capt. Larry decided that they needed to find a liquor store which was conveniently located a couple of blocks away. That necessity taken care, Frank and Carol Ann, who are members of a yacht club in Ocean Springs, MS, had pre-arranged a letter of introduction and burgee exchange to the Dublin Yacht Club.

Yacht club bar

They invited us to attend this event, and we presented ourselves and had drinks and snacks while we met other yacht club members who were very gracious. Amazingly, some of the members were knowledgeable of the Great Loop that Jane and Capt. Larry completed and were quite impressed. It was a grand afternoon and the membership was very entertaining. We signed the guest book as we left and returned to our hotel.

Boarding the barge

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We had a short nap and happy hour before we boarded our bus which took us to a canal barge for a canal dinner cruise. The boat was formerly a Guinness barge which had been converted to a floating restaurant, and now cruised a canal through central Dublin.

We're ready to EAT!

The cruise feature traditional Irish music and great Irish food, but Capt. Larry was more fascinated with the handling of the barge, as the captain was the sole hand responsible for locking us through the four locks we passed.

The captain locks through a pretty good drop

Down to the next level

We ended up in a basin in the heart of the city with waterways that led to the sea. It was a very enjoyable evening and an experience we will remember. We returned to our hotel and, as Jane would say, “slept hard,” after a very busy day.