Tuesday, March 17, 2009

A Little Blarney for St. Patrick's Day

A highlight of our trip to Ireland was going to Blarney Castle. It was a long bus ride from Dublin, but totally worth it. And we were happy not to be driving on all those roundabouts.

Approaching the castle.



The white stuff on the ground?



Frost. Lots of it. It was COLD!




Wow.



You don't say:




Yep, all the way up there:



There was a warning...something about falling rocks. We didn't care.



The stairs going up were very narrow.
The handrail was a vertical rope.
Thank goodness for the rope.


The view from the top was incredible.


A good view of the frost from up here.



The Handy Husband made it too, even though he doesn't like heights.
He doesn't look too disturbed.



OK, here we go.



I assume the position.



And voila, I have kissed the Blarney Stone!
The Handy Husband chose not to.
I don't think he would have enjoyed hanging upside down like that.



The stairs down were bigger, and had a real handrail.



And of course, there was a pub to warm up in afterwards.


12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great pictures. Lucky you!

jenn said...

Wow, beautiful pictures! That looks like so much fun. I hope to get there one day.

Anonymous said...

Wait? You have to hang UPSIDE DOWN to kiss the Blarney Stone? Really? You do realize that would never ever happen in the U.S. for fear of potential litigation?

Flutterby said...

Do they sanitize that thing? ugh.

Jen said...

I've done that too! And then after (you always find these things out after) learned that the locals like to pee on the Blarney stone. I scrubbed my lips after that.

smalltownme said...

I assure everyone, they were cleaning the stone after every kiss!

Flutterby said...

But... do they clean it *before* the FIRST one of the day?

Minnesota Matron said...

These are amazing!

Minnesota Matron said...

These are amazing!

Nora said...

Great photos, though those stairs make me nervous. I don't like heights either.

Vanessa said...

That sounds like a dangerous position to kiss the stone!

Anonymous said...

We loved your pictures of the castle - amazing. Heidi you have a lot of courage to kiss the stone. I believe in keeping my feet firmly on the ground and my body right side up. I don't think that I would have enough nerve to kiss the stone. You go girl!