A Return to Ireland - Chapter one (Chapter 2 to follow in hopefully less than 5 months!!)

I realize I left those of you who follow my life journeys hanging for a long time there (in fact I know one of my 'follower' left completely!). We did survive Ireland and the crazy skinny, super fast roads!! By the time we left I felt like I could take on race car driving and that our wide, flat, straight, Canadian road would never look the same to me!

It really was the trip of a lifetime and both of us would go back in a heartbeat!!

I abandoned blogging in favor if editing and posting the 1300 photos I took! I also had less alone time to write with my traveling partner along. (You'd never believe it, but we got along the entire the time, laughing most of the way!!)

So! In Ireland I left you in Blarney. Allow me now to continue our journey as I look back fondly after all these months!

Barney, Co. Cork

My Ma and I wondered around after dinner chatting, wondering where the castle itself was. It was a nice evening and although it would have been nice to stop for a drink, the only pub we found was filled to the roof with loud twenty-somethings (those crazy young'ins!) so we headed back to our fancy hotel built into an old woolen mill and our cozy separate rooms (hey, we love each other, but need to build in breathing space so we can continue to love each other!!)

The next morning we headed off to find this castle. You would never believe it, but this huge castle was a five minute walk from our hotel! It is magically nestled into the trees and is not even noticeable from town square! As you head along the manicured lawn with it's little creek, flowers and big green trees, it emerges as if out of nowhere.

We ended up following a terrified woman up the tiny steps to the top of the castle cheering her on the whole way, stopping to indulge the curious child longing to explore the rooms and hiding places. It seemed as though any of the monuments that were being preserved as historical sites lacked a sense of magic that the more abandoned sited held, but between the grounds and story behind this castle it still managed to capture the heart the same way.

The Blarney Stone itself was hidden at the top of the castle along the top wall, in such a place that those wishing to kiss it and receive it's promise of the gift of eloquence are forced to lay on their backs and lower themselves with the help of a spotter to lift their lips of it. It is said that an old witch that lived in the forest around the castle reveled the secret of the hiding spot of this famous stone, sought after by many. We

made the climb and although Mom did lower herself down there to blow the stone a kiss, I was content to simply wave. I figure I am eloquent enough already ;)

The grounds themselves were a great adventure to explore! In fact there was one point when I was a little ahead on the path and

stopped to take a picture and Mom, enamored with all she was seeing smashed right into me! The path was even several feet wide! I know this does not seem like a terribly humorous tale but I guarantee when Mom reads this post she will fall over laughing all over again!!

This is the type of land that I an sure inspired the tales of Merlin and King Arthur! It has caves and crevices that it is believed that druids and ancient Celts worshiped and performed ceremonies. It has enormous plants, waterfalls and wildly gnarly trees that inspire imaginations! It was definitely one of my favorite places on our trip!

Cobh

After we pulled ourselves away from the castle we decided to take a 'short' drive (make that a frustrating and difficult) drive through (the busy and frustrating traffic) of Cork to the port city of Cobh, known for a while as Queensland.

This would have been the port our (and everyone else's) relatives departed from. We barely snuck into the interruptive center before it closed, which turned out to be mostly a disappointment. One thing that sticks out for me is how it tells of the Titanic departing from it's shores and that there was a great tragedy, but fails to mention what actually happened!! We were able to understand better the reasons behind people's choices to leave this beautiful land. Between 1848 and 1950 2.5 million of the six million Irish people who emigrated to North America departed from this port. My ancestors were amongst the first to leave around 1850 with approximately 1000 others. Their journey would have taken nine months and they were required to bring their own food.

Remember that in those days there are no stabilization mechanisms on these boats. It would have been a long, very difficult voyage! As we flew home in our (in comparison) cozy airliner, with (in comparison) warm, catered meals we reminded ourselves of what our ancestors had to endure so we could grow up in North America!

Cobh was a beautiful place with it's brightly colored houses and huge cathedral style church, but we were tired and hungry so we found a place to eat (which was always a challenge in Ireland with my food issues!!) and pushed to get back to Blarney without having to conquer the roads in the dark (I allowed Mom to drive ;) She did great!)