The view from my window this morning was not very inspiring because it was a view of the golf club buildings, BORing. And there is sooooo much more to see here so I'll show you pics of the interesting grounds instead.
This is just part of the entryway for the Castlemartyr Hotel, which is massive and surrounded by beautiful grounds and, yes you guessed it ... a castle ruin.
It was hard to tear ourselves away, but Blarney Castle was our destination and I was excited so that got us going!
And Blarney Castle did not disappoint.
We enjoyed such a pleasant walk in the wendyweather through a huge park.
Building on this site dates from before 1200, the stone fortification was built 1446.
Someone bought it in the 1800s (I think) and built a comfy extension to live in, there's not much left but that round tower is part of what remains of it.
Joy of joy someone has yarnbombed Blarney castle! I thought this was just delightful. MGM, on the other hand, said that yarn is not at all defensive, offers no protection no matter how much you add 'bombing' into the term and it is not at all manly or soldiery.
This was a fascinating experience.
The stairs are those tight medieval spiral ones built logically enough for tiny medieval people, not 6 feet tall MGMs of tourists with cameras. MGM took this photo over my head and you can see that I was hampered by Dennis (my camera) hanging around my neck so I couldn't see my feet! there's rooms off the stairwell which you can wander around as you please and I was pleased to see them all, of course! exploring castles is awesome fun.
We looked at the famous stone
Which is actually a machicolation, a floor opening between the supports of a battlement, through which stones or other material, e.g. boiling liquids, could be deposited on unsuspecting heads of attackers at the base of a defensive wall. We did not kiss it because ewwww, and you have to lie down on your back on that mat (also ewwww) lean over a gap through which I'm told I could not fall but my vertigo tells me otherwise and kissing the thing is supposed to give you the gift of the gab - MGM reckons I don't need any more of that. So basically and all round resounding no, not doing that. I've seen it and that makes me happy.
We drove on then to Kilarny, the idea being that we had such a big day yesterday we needed to arrive at the hotel in the daytime and rest up a bit. We did get here in the day time but we didn't really rest much. It's soup weather so we went in search of and were successful in finding deliciously warming soups - vegie for me, chowder for MGM. I did a wee bit of shopping then, which was not nearly as much fun without Wendy B, and enjoyed the Christmassy streets, they really do Christmas so well over here.
Then I retrieved MGM from our swanky hotel, whence he had scurried off to when I mentioned the s word.
and we launched off to dine in an Irish pub where I was schooled in pub etiquette. It is not okay to take photos of your food, or the surroundings, or the people. It is not okay to stand just anywhere because you are probably blocking the view of the game. It is okay for patrons to get quite handsey to remove you out of their line of sight of the game. It is okay to be very very loud so long as you're saying the right thing - don't call the game on the tv ruggers, or football. And it is not okay to order a girly drink. Beer in a very big glass is okay, even if it is not black but a Brandy Alexander is right out. My glass of not-beer order was okay because it was Jamesons, which was also the cheapest thing on our bill. Yet one more reason to love Ireland.
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