Kyra's Blarney about Ireland :D

First of all, "Blarney" is not a word you hear every day (unless you're from Ireland) so let me clarify that it refers to blabbering or talking without point usually in a flattering sort of way- just so we're on the same page :)

I'd like to begin the recollection of my journey with a piece of advice: if you think you're prepared to travel, check again, then double check, and just to be on the safe side check one more time after that.  Kyra and friends learned this the hard way.  Somehow we managed to arrive to the airport in a somewhat timely fashion and leisurely make our way to... the wrong gate. What I mean by the wrong gate is actually a non-existent gate, on the opposite side of the terminal than we needed to be.  This is the part of the movie where they run through the airport frantically and make it to the gate JUST in time to board the plane, and that's precisely what happened.  Minus the "boarding the plane" part.  In our defense, a member of the staff at the airport told us gate 34 (which ended up being gate 84) so we plead not guilty for the catastrophe, HOWEVER it was very much in our power to double check to make sure we were headed the right way.  We might've even been able to read signs and draw the general conclusion that the way in which we were heading led to completely no where.  But not to worry, reader!! I was able to catch the next flight to Dublin an hour later :)

The flight was the fastest one I've ever been on, it took about 50 minutes to fly from London to Dublin.  My amigo's and I caught a bus to our hotel when we got in and we got settled in at about 10:00 a.m.  I am pleased to inform you that we got a hotel (as I've already said) instead of a hostel this time!

 The room was great and we even got T.V. and our own bathroom!  It was conveniently located very near, if not in, the city center of Dublin.  As soon as we got settled in we set out on foot to see what we could find!  We ended up walking for a while before we decided to do one of those cheesy tour guides on the double decker bus without a top.  It was actually a great way to see all the major aspects of the city like the Guinness factory, the Jameson distillery, Temple Bar, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Christ Church Cathedral and MANY other things.  Pictured just below is St. Patrick's Cathedral. (yes THAT St. Patrick =p)

The tour bus had a "hop on hop off" system where you could get off the bus you were on if you wanted to see something in more detail, then catch the next bus that came to that stop and continue the tour.  We stopped at the famous Grafton Street shopping strip and had a look around.  I ended up getting this "Claddagh" ring because I love the beautiful story/tradition behind it-

Sorry it's blurry but I'll explain to you what it means.  As a token of enduring friendship this ring has two hands holding a crowned heart.  The joining of the hands holding the heart and crown represent a perpetual bond of friendship, love and royalty.  It's said that when you wear the ring with the heart facing inward that means that your heart is taken, and when you wear the heart pointing outward (like my ring is) then it shows your heart is open.  All three of us got one of these rings, I really love mine :)

So after a long day of shopping and site seeing we made absolutely sure not to get comfortable in our room because of past said events that involved Scotland and sleep.  Still don't want to talk about it.  Anyway, we were in the capital of Ireland on a Friday night... needless to say we took the liberty of partaking in traditional Irish socializing, it was only logical.  If you've ever seen the film "P.S. I love you" starring Hilary Swank and Gerard Butler (sigh) then you'll remember the scene where Gerry sings the song "Galway Girl" to Holly in the random Irish pub.  Well, that random Irish pub is called Whelan's and I DEFINITELY went there!  The pubs in Dublin are absolutely thrilling, they're everywhere and you can find different places for different people and the possibilities are just endless.  After having drinks at Whelan's and Flannery's and having lots of fun conversation with random Irish people we headed back to the hotel for the night because we had to be up early in the morning to catch a bus to Cork and Blarney!

Having learned our lesson from missing our flight on Friday morning, we were more prepared for our journey the next day.  Unfortunately the bus we took to Cork took four hours to get there then four hours back.  From Cork we took a bus to Blarney where the famous Blarney Castle and Blarney Stone are!  We got to spend a couple hours in Blarney at the castle and getting something to eat at a pub but other than that our bus left too early for us to get to spend some real time in Cork :(  But the Blarney Castle... something I will never forget.

The Blarney Castle (pictured above) is extremely old and kept up just enough to be navigatable.  Getting up to the Blarney stone is actually a scary trek.  You must take a steep stone spiral staircase all the way up and with one slip of the foot....... it could be very dangerous.  Luckily my knack for clumsiness managed cease long enough for me to survive the steps up and down the castle.  The picture below is the final product of the journey-

I made it nice and big so you can see it :) Some of you may know the legend, but for those who do not you're probably wondering why the hell I'm kissing a rock.  There's a lot of history, some questionable and some credible, but the jist of the quest to kiss the stone is the gift of eloquence.  The legend says that one who kisses the stone will gain the ability of powerful and persuasive discourse or way of talking, comparable to charisma.  At this point I'd like to mention that the night before Blarney I was having a conversation with a nice Irish man in the pub and when we talked about kissing the stone he assured me that I already had all the eloquence I needed. :)  From the top of the castle the view was absolutely amazing.  I can only imagine what the Blarney Castle grounds would look like in the summer!

After we got something to eat at a pub in Blarney we headed back to Cork and from there back to Dublin. I won't bore you with my faults, for I did happen to forget my pictures on the bus and realized after it had left... but don't worry, we thankfully got those pictures back with the help of a very, very nice cab driver whom we happened to hitch a ride with two nights in a row!  Did you know that Dublin has like 3 times the amount of cabs that New York City does?  I will absolutely vouch for this because... well, imagine a city filled with taxi's and ONLY taxi's... and thats Dublin on Friday/Saturday night.  They're very expensive though, I'm glad I don't need to take them all the time.  After we made the venture to get our pictures back from the bus station, we figured since we're already out we'll go have one last Irish outing before our departure early the next morning.  We went to a place called O'Neils and I enjoyed it a lot.  We actually spent a good hour or two being entertained by two Irish guys (about 22) and they were soooo funny and fun to talk to!  They tried to get us to stay longer of course, but we tried to keep in mind that we had to be up at 5 a.m. so we said goodbye to Chris and Shane and thanked them for their company.

This morning we got up EXTRA early and actually made our flight back on time.  I really wish I had been able to spend more time in Ireland, but I've got school and silly stuff like that to do otherwise I would have! Dublin is very interesting, busy city with lots to do.  The people of Dublin (and I'm assuming generally in Ireland) are very nice people and love to talk to us as much as we do to them.  Aside from some traveling hiccups and other small complications and situations I'd rather not dwell on, I had an awesome time in Ireland and I plan on going back someday and enjoying it to the fullest.

My roommate Paula took this picture with the River Laffey and the bridges and skirts of Dublin on each side, it's my favorite picture.  Well I think I've pretty much covered my experience!  I hope you enjoyed reading and once again THANK YOU for reading!  I love sharing this stuff and it's nice to get that positive feedback from ya'll :)  Miss you all, I'll try to write again this week (if I have time.)  Till next time!

-KYRA:)