Yes, kissing the Blarney Stone is totally touristy, but if you are standing next to the famed slab of bluestone high in the tower at Blarney Castle and someone says, "Would like to kiss it and be given the gift of gab?" I dare you to say, "No, that's too passe' for this worldly traveler." You'd do it, you know you would.
There is someone there to help you as you lay backwards and lean your shoulders and head out over a open expanse over 90 feet above the ground and stretch your pucker to place your lips where millions of germy lips have been before you. (The photo here is hubby, my photo was mostly me clawing at the guard's arm... I'm a bit phobic about heights... and germs!) Someone snaps your photos and is willing to charge you a lot of money for a copy... but since they aren't officially part of the Castle staff, they are just locals from Cork looking to pick up a bit of pocket change, they are pretty quiet about it. For a buck, they will take the picture with your camera instead of theirs. I expect they earn enough to pay for their pints at the Old Mill Pub just down the road a wee bit.
The grounds surrounding the castle are beautiful and practically deserted when we were there. It was entirely possible to wander the grounds and the ancient stone buildings pretending you are the princess who lives there. Not that I, a responsible mature adult, would take to pretending I was royalty. I'm just saying it's possible to do that without people rushing to have you restrained and removed from the premises (as happens in other places!)
I have no idea if I'm any gabbier than I was before, not sure if that is even possible, but it was certainly something to cross of The List.
The grounds surrounding the castle are beautiful and practically deserted when we were there. It was entirely possible to wander the grounds and the ancient stone buildings pretending you are the princess who lives there. Not that I, a responsible mature adult, would take to pretending I was royalty. I'm just saying it's possible to do that without people rushing to have you restrained and removed from the premises (as happens in other places!)
2 comments:
Curt and I kissed it too, thought I was going to pass out and had to close my eyes to kiss it, it's a long way down! We have beautiful pictures from there, love, love, love Ireland!
I was none too thrilled with the hanging out over the edge thing, but I guess if it was easy to kis the darned stone, it wouldn't be such a big deal.
I have so many pictures too. I'll post a piece on our visit to Dingle and other parts of Ireland later. Thanks for commenting! Always helps my Google ratings!
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