Kissing a Stone I Couldn't Find...Cork

Our next day trip was to the small Irish city of Cork. We wanted to kiss the famous Blarney stone, which legend states gives great eloquence to those who kiss it. Well of course, I want elegance, so kiss it, I must.

I remember the first time I heard about the Blarney Stone and Blarney Castle. It was in second grade: we were spending an entire week celebrating St. Patrick's day, and on one of the days of this special week, we learned about the stone and even got to kiss it...well, a makeshift that is. My teacher set up a chair and a piece of paper representing the stone, and we had to lean backwards over the side of the chair to kiss the paper. I never really thought that I would make it to the real stone...and there I was...at Blarney Castle.

Blarney Castle. Literally everything is so green I love it.

As I said...really green. The Blarney grounds are beautiful.

We decided to go into the "dungeons". I don't really think this was allowed, but of course I was all for it. They were so small, like little caves! Of course, being one of the shortest people, you would think that I wouldn't hit my head...I did. Multiple times. Of course.

View of the grounds from one of the small windows inside the castle

How the stairs were throughout the castle. A little narrow don'tcha think?

I loved how the moss covered the walls of the castle. I couldn't believe how bright of a green it was.

The castle was something out of a storybook--

Kissing the stone! Listen closely, you'll hear the man tell me to kiss the stone and I have a brilliant response...

Did you hear it? Hence the name of this post--I would be the one person who couldn't find a stone that was directly in front of my face...

After kissing the stone and seeing the castle, we decided to explore the grounds a little bit. We had no idea what to expect, but we came to find that Blarney Castle and grounds looked like something of fantasy. Something you could only imagine in your dreams or in a fairy tale.

This just appeared out of nowhere with a tiny path leading to it...

Blarney Mansion. Nothing at all like the castle: It's so detailed and ornate. I love the different colors of stone and how they contrast each other.

Playing with the macro function on my camera-- everywhere you looked there was something new to take in; something beautiful.

An old kiln and stairs leading down from the castle.

All in all, I loved Ireland. The people were amazing, and everywhere we went was picture-perfect, even in the not so perfect weather. Next stop--Edinburgh, Scotland.