What you say? Bullshit...

Check out today was at noon so we took our sweet time. Nathan took MM down for breakfast while I caught a few more Zzz. Once we got going, it was a quick drive over to Blarney & the castle. We got in and wandered around the lower parts of the castle & surrounding an gardens. We made our way up to the top of the castle. I'd forgotten how steep and narrow those stairs are! So round & round we went, stopping to check out the rooms off the stairs along the way. We finally got up top and walked over to where the Blarney Stone is set. There were a few people kissing the stone so Nathan got to see what he was in for (I've done it before so wasn't going to again, plus I was wearing MM so I didn't want to worry about taking her off and containing her).  He almost chickened out but we convinced him (the guy who guides you along & I). He did it and lived to tell the tale! We have a pic to prove it too. We wandered around the grounds a bit more. I think MM maybe claustrophobic cause part of the way up and on the way down she was making these weird grunting noises. Then as we were going thru this covered walk way he FREAKED out! She was also sleepy, so that could've been part of it. After making a wish on the wishing steps & checking out the witches kitchen, we decided to head out to Killarney so MM could nap.

Once we got loaded in the car & started down the road, I noticed a ruckus in the back & a flitting in the rear view mirror. I turned around and there was a little bird flitting around. Apparently rain isn't you only worry when leaving your car window cracked in Ireland. It was on the back window, so Nathan went & opened the hatch. It flitted into the middle of the car and over on MM's side. She cried for a minute and I got out to help. It was stuck in the corner of the seat & MM's car seat. I thought it had knocked itself dead and went to get it out when it freaked out and went flitting right in front of MM's face. Talk about freaking out! We weren't sure where it went so Nathan opened the other door, moved the diaper bag and it flew again, this time out the door! Thank goodness. MM was pretty inconsolable for a bit. In need of a nap, plus a bird attack is enough to freak anyone out to the point of tears. She finally konked out and we had an uneventful ride into Killarney.

We got to Killarney and I had to parallel park. Um, I can barely parallel park on the side of the road & car I'm used to in a car I'm used to driving. Luckily a horse carriage driver helped guide me into the spot. After checking in and getting our luggage up, we utilized the horse carriage tour services Martin & his horse Jesse showed us around the big park in Killatney, down to Ross Castle and back. They've had a lot of rain recently and some of the roads were still flooded.

Apparently the 2nd part of the blog went missing.

After the jaunty tour, we did a bit of shopping and then grabbed dinner at a Chinese restaurant, Golden Chopsticks. We wandered some more after dinner but most places had closed already.

Ps. To kiss the Blarney Stone is to be blessed with the gift of gab, to be able to bullshit. Blarney loosely translated is bullshit.