Ireland Day 2
I booked a 3 day tour with Rail tours Ireland so I had to be
at the Heuston station at 6:35am. There
were lots of people going on different tours so at each train stop a guide got
off with certain people. I rode the
train all the way to Cork. I sat with a
girl named Tracy from Oregon who was here visiting a friend (He is an American
teaching in Kuwait and had her meet him here on his layover on his way home. )
I asked what kind of job she had. None
now – Her father had several strokes and has been in a care facility for 10
years, her brother is bi-polar and a drug addict. Her mother died last year and she is taking
care of the family now and just couldn’t handle the commute. She’s been out of work for 6 weeks she said
once she sells her mom’s house and finishes some legal stuff she’ll go back to
work. Whew! You never know what other people have to deal
with! The ride to Cork was almost 3
hours. We got on a bus and went to
Blarney to see the castle. It was built
in 1446 for Dermot McCarthy. There are
127 steps up to the top where the stone is.
The stairway is ridiculously steep and narrow! It took forever because when people kiss the
stone, they have to take off all their jackets, glasses, hats etc because they
have to bend over backwards to do it.
There is a guy that helps people get down and up – what a horribly
boring job! I went up to the top to see
the view, but did not kiss the stone. I
already have the gift of eloquence J The grounds were amazingly beautiful – lots
of trees and grass. Besides the castle
there is Blarney House – A Scottish baronial mansion and the residence of the
Colthurst family since the 18th century. There is a “poison garden” behind the
castle. It’s an “educational collection
of poisonous plants from around the world including ones from Harry Potter
likes the Wolfsbane and the Mandrake. I
had lunch at the mill – a “bacon and egg pie” yummy!
We left at 1:30 and took a short tour of Cork in the
bus. It has a population of 140,000
which is the 3rd largest in the country (Dublin and Belfast are
bigger and Belfast isn’t part of the Republic anyway) After Cork we stopped at
Clommel (Old Church) Cemetery. There
were incredibly old graves there including mass graves from the Lusitania.
Next we went to Cobh – pronounced Cove. It used to be called
Queenstown and was the last port of call for the Titanic. The White Star Line office is now a
museum. There are still remains of the
dock that people boarded the titanic from.
A lot of people Emigrated from Ireland especially during the potato
famine. 3 million people left from this
spot. There are more people with Irish
ancestery in the US than in Ireland. J The population of Ireland decreased
drastically during the famine and never recovered. There are less people living in Ireland now
than before the famine! There is a
memorial set up for Anne Moore – the first Irish person to register as a
immigrant at Ellis Island (there is a statue there too) She was 17 and went
with her two younger brothers to meet their parents – she received a$10 as a
reward for being the first through Ellis Island. Cobh is the home of the Irish Navy – there
are only 15,000 people serving in the Navy.
We visited St. Colman’s Cathedral which was pretty astounding and there
were some really cool houses nearby that the locals call “the deck of cards”
We caught the train at 4:15 and went to Mallow, then
switched trains and went to Killarney. I
sat with Ed and Marie – a couple from Bolingsgreen KY. He is a professor there but took a year
sabbatical and has been studying in the UK – they have two weeks left before
they have to move back to the US. His
arm is in a sling because he fell 3 MONTHS ago down some stairs - they are staying in a gatehouse of a castle or mansion or something.
A van picked us up to take us to our B and Bs or
hotels. Killarney is adorable! I am staying at Noraville B and B run by a
guy named Eugene. I have a cute little
room with a bathroom. I walked to
Killarney National park – it was gorgeous!
I walked for 5 or 6 miles and visited a castle in there called Ross
Castle. It was closed but I wandered
around. I walked back to Killarney city
center and it was deceptively late –aabout 9pm and a lot of the restaurants
stopped serving food. After another
place told me they were not serving food she suggested I go to Burger
King. Augh! But it was 100% Irish Beef and the fries were
Irish potatoes so does that count as an Irish meal?! I had asked Ed and Marie on the train if I
could eat with them but we got separated at the B and Bs – maybe tomorrow I can
eat with someone. I did listen to some
live Irish music in the courtyards. I
got back to the B and B at 10:15 and it was still light out. I can hear rain falling and I am exhausted. Going to call it a night and get ready for
another adventure tomorrow.
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