Kissing a Legend

Today Kayla, Montana, and I hopped a bus to Blarney to visit the Blarney Castle.  It was actually a pretty quick and pretty trip there.

Blarney Castle

After a quick stop to get snacks it was a full day of exploring ahead of us.  Blarney Castle is home to the Blarney Stone.  As the legend goes, by kissing the stone one gets the Gift of Gab so that one will always speak eloquently and become a member of parliament (or find one's way into a lady's chambers, or so the signs said).

I was so Grateful for that Guy

The castle itself was incredibly beautiful and captivating.  We took the time to explore as much of it as we could, but mostly on the way down as I was kind of in a rush to get to the Blarney Stone.  Kissing the stone was actually a bit more terrifying than I had imagined as it sort of involves partially hanging upside down out of very tall castle, but still it was a lot of fun.

Scones with Cream and Jam

After the castle we took a quick break to have scones and cream which Kayla has been raving about, and now I can see why.  It was delicious!  Although the bees definitely took away from the experience of eating in what was once horse stables.

Seems like a Bit of a Poor Plan

Then we took time to explore the grounds including the Poison Garden.  That was probably one of the most interesting spots to me although I am not quite sure why someone would have such a garden...but it definitely scared me off of trying any random plants (or smelling them...that was a scary one).

Blarney Grounds

The grounds themselves are amazingly beautiful and I'm tempted to go back to do one of the long paths.  There were also a ton of interesting things throughout them like the Fern Garden, Horse Cemetery, Limekiln, Druid's Cave, Druid's Circle, and Faerie Ring.

The Witches Stone

There seems to be a lot of witch lore regarding the area.  There is a supposed Blarney Witch who steals firewood, but also grants witches.  I would actually be curious to learn more about her, but the Witches Stone was one of the many places that people left coins throughout the area so it seems that the superstitions live on.

Blarney Woollen Mills

When we'd finally tired our feet enough of walking around, we went to the gift store and then to Blarney Woollen Mills.  It is one of the most overwhelming shopping experiences of my life.  There were so many amazing things in that store, but by the end of the day I've definitely checked some names off of my gift list.