Well, I called it "Dublin, Ireland Day 2", but we really only woke up and went to sleep in Dublin. The rest of the day was spent traveling to Cork and then on to Blarney Castle and Cobh. On our way to Cork, we stopped in Cashel to use the facilities and get food if we would like. There was, of course, a McDonalds, and they were advertising the shamrock shake. Oh happy day! I have missed three St. Patty's Days in the US. The kids didn't even remember what a shamrock shake was! Geesh! As he started to make our shakes, he turned around and said, "Oh sorry….we're out." I swore. I didn't mean to. I was THAT disappointed…..vanilla would have to do…..
We had a very brief stop in Cork to pick up other passengers. By brief I mean 25 minutes. That was just enough time for Chris to find a pub and guzzle a Murphy's.
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| Cork is home to Murphy's…the sweeter version of Guinness. |
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| Cork, Ireland was just as I remembered it…a bit lame. |
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| I had to add a pic of our sweet ride. Very subtle! |
After picking up our other passengers, we were off to Blarney Castle.
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| It's really old! This was not the first castle on this site, but this castle dates back to 1446. |
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| Some funnies inside the castle. |
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| Almost our turn! |
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| You have to lie down on your back and kiss the stone upside down. Thomas was first! |
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| Next up was Allison. |
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| My turn! I gave it a big 'ol smooch. |
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| …..and finally Dad. Can you see how far down it is. It's a little crazy seeing how far down it is when you are upside down. And, now that we have kissed the stone, we have the gift of the gab. |
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| Views from the top. Miles of green! |
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| Checking things out on the way back down. |
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| That seems like a logical garden to have next to a castle where people bring their children. Really stellar idea! |
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| Chris Barney, this is for you. See! I don't always get good pictures. Hahaha! |
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| We had lunch and did some shopping at the Blarney Woollen Mills. Last time I was there, I bought a sweater that literally went to my knees. Why was that ever in style??? |
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| As we traveled to our next destination, Allison read Divergent. She couldn't put it down. She read more than half the book and finished it on the bus trip. |
Our next stop was Cobh (pronounced KOHV and formerly known as Queenstown from 1850-1920,) and it was the last port for the Titanic before it set sail on it's maiden and final voyage.
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| A gorgeous port town! |
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| For our nephew, Ryan! |
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| We decided to take part in the Titanic Experience. |
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| This is the actual ticket office for the White Star Line where the passengers purchased their tickets for the Titanic and boarded. |
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| Standing in the ticket office as Titanic passengers and waiting for our tour to start. |
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| We were taken out to the deck where the 1st class passengers stood and waited. The second and third class passengers waited below. |
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| Passengers were loaded onto smaller boats here. The Titanic was much too large to port in this harbor. Beyond the island, the Titanic was about 2.5 miles from the shore. When passengers were leaving the port, they didn't even know what the Titanic looked like until they were much closer to the ship. |
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| We were able to see recreations of the staterooms for the first class and third class passengers (no photos please.) Thomas liked the replica of the Titanic. |
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| At the end of the tour, we found out if the passenger we had the ticket for lived or died on the Titanic. Allison was the only passenger who survived. She was a third class girl. I'm sure it made a difference that she was a girl. Most of the passengers who left Queenstown were third class passengers. |
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| This is a photo that was captured before boarding. Do you see the man in the hat next to the arched window on the upper deck? That is where we were standing. |
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| Holding their passenger tickets |
We arrived back in Dublin around 9:00 pm to pouring rain. We really hadn't had much to eat, so we picked up Quiznos and KFC (two things we do not have in Brussels.) And, then we walked by Hard Rock Cafe…darn it! I would have eaten there. Everyone knows we eat there in every city! Oh well. We'll be back hopefully sooner than later.
And, that concludes our short trip to Ireland. There is so much more to see, and we look forward to going again. I'll leave you with another photo I found of Thomas…drinking.
Until next time,
Wendy
