(We woke up in Cork in our lovely downtown apartment and walked across the quay to the museum (need name of museum in Cork). I walked around the museum and really enjoyed it - there was a few more Harry Clarke stainglasses which I enjoyed. Jared and my mom went to the cafe and drank tea and Jared has what he thought was awesome French toast. Yum. I walked around the shopping district in Cork and went to Penney’s, some really fancy shop and Dunnes. Of the three I like Dunnes the best. I went to collect Jared and Mom and they liked the French toast so much that they wanted to stay in the cafe for lunch - which we did. I ate a wonderful, wonderful “mushroom, spinach pancake” - which I called the Platonic form of a mushroom spinach pancake. It was amazing. Mom had a leek quiche and Jared had a curry spice soup. I then took my Mom to Dunnes where I bought a sweater for 10 euros and she bought some pants. The store was nice and cheap (I thought Penney’s was cheap but not as nice).
We then drove from Cork to Kenmare - or I should say Jared drove from Cork to Kenmare. On the way we stopped at Blarney. We got the disabled friends and family rate so we only spent 14 euros for the three of us - which my mom loved (Jared gets in free, I get in free as his companion, and my mom got in for the senior’s rate). Mom couldn’t wall up the castle so she sat down and had an ice cream while Jared and I walked up the scary treacherous stairs to the top of the castle. I really liked Blarney - the grounds were very well manicured and beautiful. The castle was well maintained as a ruin - not over conserved, just preserved.
Jared and I got to the top - Jared had to hop on one leg and one stick to get up to the top because the spiral stairs were so narrow. Once we got to the top, we almost had the place to ourselves. This is the benefit of touring off season. We saw the signs which read, ‘From here a 90 minute wait to kiss the Blarney stone,” but we didn’t have to wait at all. Which made the decision to kiss the stone easy - if it had been a long wait I might have wimped out - bending backward and being hoisted down a straight drop was terrifying. Jared and I both kissed the stone and Jared kept telling the helpers - ”Remember I’m top heavy - I only have one leg so I’m top heavy. Remember I’m top heavy...” but they assured him he’d be fine and he was. We got a great photo of us laughing afterward because of how unexpectedly scary it was.
After kissing the stone we walked around the grounds before getting back into the car and driving to Kenmare.
We had some problems finding the 19th century cottage in Kenmare in the rain but after stopping off to get a whiskey and teas at a local bar, we were able to find the place. The place we got teas / drinks had this really adorable older lady at the front, talking with all of the folks walking in. As we walked out she said, “God bless you all,” and I believe she meant it. It was the sort of thing you’d see in a movie - almost unreal. Blarney was the same way - it looked like an idealized verzion of a castle in the Irish country side but it was real.
The cottage was adorable. We read the book about how it was restored, which was fascinating. It was from the 1890s and was found in ruins. Two cottages were turned into one. The place we stayed was comfortable for three - but in the early part of the 20th century, two families (of probably 6 kids) would live in there. The heat was fantastic in the house so we stayed in and cozied up - Jared was also sick of driving. The roads are not motorways. We figured out L stands for a lane where it is ONE SMALL ROAD which is supposed to be two ways. R is road, where there is barely enough room for two cars to cross. Mom and I walked to the local 7-11 a block away and I ordered pizza from a local Apache pizza. We then stayed in and watched “Waking Ned Divine.” It was fun and relaxing. We went to bed to wake up at 9 am - so we could be out of the cute restored Georgian Irish cottage by 10 am.
