The Irishman I was sitting next to on the way into Shannon told me that the distance to Cork from Shannon is supposed to take 2 hours by car. However, we were blessed with the most inept bus driver ever known to man. While the speed limit was 100 km/hr, there is no way he went more than 60. The bus also leaked gas fumes into the back where we sat. When we got into Cork, he circled through the city centre (NOT the way to get to the airport), and when we got to the airport, he circled through it once before actually stopping to let us off. The 3 1/2 hour ride could have been awful, but we fortunately developed a good comradely with the other people on the b
us and had a great time. By the time we finally got to Cork and got to walk around there, we had been traveling for 10 hours: left home 2:30 a.m. to get to the bus which left at 3:30 to get to the airplane that left at 6:30 that was supposed to arrive at 8:10 but we didn't make our appearance in Cork until noon-ish. WOAH.That day we mostly wandered around Cork and experienced it. A friend of mine from KU is studying there this semester, so I called him and he met up with us in one of the pubs. And of course, we enjoyed some Guinness. Since we had been traveling so long and in the past 48 hours I had about 1 1/2 hours of sleep, I called it an early night.
The next day we went to Blarney to kiss the infamous Blarney stone and be endowed with the gift of gab. Reaching the Blarney stone is quite the feat. You have to travel to the top of a giant fortress atop a hill. When you finally get to the all in which the stone rests, you have to lay on your back, ho
ld two bars attached to the while and bend over backwards while someone holds your feet so you don't fall. Yes, it is actually as scary as it sounds. So technically, I'm now supposed to have the gift of gab. I'm not sure exactly how long it takes for one to be endowed with the gift, but I'm not sure that I have attained it yet.After kissing the stone, we got to wander around the grounds of the Blarney Castle for a bit. It is at this point that I fell in love with Ireland. The country is amazing. The scenery is fantastic and plush and green and just wonderful. Words cannot adequately describe how beau
tiful the country is, so I'm not even going to try. Pictures don't really do it justice either. (see...no gab yet.)That night we came back into Cork and found a traditional Irish pub with some traditional music. Apparently traditional music includes some guy playing the spoons. There were some Irish guys there celebrating a part of a stag (bachelor) party who were very nice and spoke with Irish accents that brought the whole traditional Irish eve to a head. They invited us to go to another pub with them after the one that we were at where they sang traditional Irish songs and such. After my prior expereince with British boys and feeling a little uncomfortable about what was going on for a variety of reasons, I decided to meet up with my friend again. My roommates went however, and said it was an expereince I shouldn't have missed. I still think it was the right decision for me not to go, but hearing their experiences made me glad they got to go.
Yesterday, we visited Kinsale, a little town on the coast. Although I haven't been to a small east coast port town, Kinsale resembled what I think a small east coast port town would look like. Oh yeah, except that it's
in the Irish countryside and has the same type of scenery as Blarney. We just walked around and saw the scenery and explored the town, but it was great. We finally got back into London last night at about 1, but it was an absolutely fantastic trip and well worth the sleep deprivation.I've figured out how to make easy slide shows (including music!) with my computer, so I put one together of my Ireland pictures. I hope you enjoy.
