Day 5, FINALLY, we go shopping!

Cork proved to be just a stopping point on our way to Blarney Castle today. We were up early, and Eileen death marched us up to the top of the castle so that we could beat all of the morning tour groups. The castle is famous for the Blarney Stone, and for being pretty. The original builder was murdered by his brother, and then his son murdered the brother. Your usual Medieval politics. Most of the castle's floors have fallen in, but the walls are still standing, and there is one very narrow staircase up to the Blarney Stone, and one down. We got up to the top, and ALL FIVE US KISSED THE BLARNEY STONE. Including the noted germaphobes Don and Eileen. When in Ireland, I guess.

Afterwards, we wandered through the grounds, which have a lot of little interesting features and stories. The witches stone, the Druid circle, the faery garden. Tim especially enjoyed the witches kitchen.

From Blarney, we drove to Killarney, which is a cute little town. We had a subpar lunch and then some superior shopping! I got a couple of presents for a couple of people, and a new charm for my charm bracelet. Eileen got a really beautiful pendant with the ancient Celtic writing on it, with a symbol that came from Ardmore. Very cool. The boys mostly stood around and sulked, but it's their fault for getting out the car.

The longest drive of the day was from Killarney to Dingle. It's an incredible pretty drive along the water, and through the mountains. There's a lot of cute little farms, and the hillsides are green and dotted with sheep and cows. We're staying at a bed and breakfast here, and it's very quaint. We have a lot of doileys in our room, suffice to say. We had a really nice dinner at a pub and ordered sticky toffee pie for dinner, then tried to fight off Eileen's attempts to bogart our desserts (get yer own!) Dingle is a lot chillier because it's close to the water, and 90% of the TV channels broadcast in Gaelic (which they just call Irish here.) It sounds much different than I expected to, having seen it spelled out.

Tomorrow we are going to check out the little shops, and drive around the Ring of Dingle (which Jake and I are calling the Ring of Fire.) Jake is actually planning on renting a bike and biking around the ring. Don and Eileen are a little nervous, but I say let the poor kid go - he is probably sick of all of the family time and ready to have some one on one time with his true family - a bicycle seat and set of handlebars. We have one more night in our twee little hotel after tonight. Maybe we will have enough time to see Fungi, the dolphin who continually visits the Dingle harbor!

Tim and I with the castle in the background - it's the most photographed building in Ireland!

Inside the castle, looking towards the Blarney stone.

Eileen on the way back!

GERMS GERMS GERMS... and the gift of gab!

Tim is excited!

You can come out of your room when you've though about what you've done and are ready to be nice!

The area around the castle was very pretty, and very lush.

A shot from the trail. The foliage was so amazing and almost surreal. This tree reminded me of the tree at Tom Sawyers Island in Disneyland. But it's real and it's growing over a little cave that early people lived in.

Now Tim lives in the hole in the ground.

A size comparison. I was standing straight up and my head wasn't even touching the ceiling. Tim was just a leeeetle squished.

Shot of Dingle from our B&B