08/22/08-The Blarney Stone

More on Today (08/22/08)
This morning we got up, went down the stairs of the b&b we were staying at (btw, the woman who ran it's name was Mrs. Murphy-a very popular name because of the Murphy bars), ate with the nice Irish man and his lovely wife, ran to the library to try and get some schoolwork done, and then headed out to Blarney to kiss the Blarney stone.

On the way to Blarney I read as much as I could without getting carsick, wrote as much as I could, and in general tried hard to get some more schoolwork done. I don't think I missed too much along the way. The road we were traveling on looked quite similar to the roads back home, particularly scenic drive. Most of the time we were quite literally in a tunnel of trees. Even though it was about midday and the sun was out part of the day it was nice and dark under the leaves (not too dark for reading though).

I read all the way to Blarney, and then whenever we got close to the town I was needed for locating the Blarney Castle. Funnily enough I was the one to point out which direction we had to go, and I turned out to be right (I saw the castle over the rooftops).

We navigated through the small town of Blarney, making a mental note of where the woolen company was for later shopping and also making a mental note of where the food was. Once we reached the entrance to Blarney castle we had a good time getting ourselves together (looked like it was going to rain-which it did sprinkle). We headed in and took a nice walk through the gardens (which btw were mostly shrubs and trees-not many flowers there) as we walked towards the Blarney Castle, where at the top the most famous stone in Ireland resides. Yes, we went to kiss the Blarney Stone. Irish folklore has it that if you kiss the Blarney stone you'll get the gift of gab, or in the tours words “the gift of eloquence”.


Personally, I wasn't sure I was going to even bother kissing the stone, I was more interested in the castle. There are three things I'd like to say about the castle: 1. it's seen some interesting things, 2. the staircase up to the top is very steep and treacherous, and 3. that the layout is confusing. On the first floor, the floor we walked in to, they had the storage units where they kept all the grain and such. On the next floor they had the duke’s room right next to the staircase (why would the duke sleep that close to the entrance?). The third floor had the daughters’ rooms that were under the priests room. After that we entered the “family room” which had a giganjo fireplace (yes, favorite fake-word is giganjo) where I could've stretched out on the fire. The next floor had the great hall and the kitchen next to it (yeah... they had to carry all of the kitchen supplies up all of those stairs so that they wouldn't run the risk of catching the whole building on fire-plus they could take the boiling oil and dump it on attacking armies right then and there-very convenient). After that there were at least three different rooms that weren't labeled, one we're absolutely certain was the toilet-had a nice seat-like thing where you could squat, and also had a nice-sized hole: there was a risk of falling, bad thing about the arrangement was poo would've slid down the outer castle walls. Some of the interesting things the castle has seen are: millions of people coming to kiss the stone, royal families living in it, and a more recent royal family moving next door and “remodeling” a bit.

On to the treacherous staircase. Since the gift of gab or eloquence (not the same thing btw) is such a popular trait, many people have come from far and wide to kiss the Blarney Stone. Many, many, many years of people climbing up and down these already narrow stairs has left it's mark on them. The stair were narrow, they were slick, and they were worn. The people who grabbed the stairs with their hands and climbed up left their mark by leaving hand oils on the stairs-the stairs are shiny from it. The people who stomp up them cause them to be worn down, leaving some of the stairs to be slightly slanted. In short, I was really really grateful to have the rope to cling to on my way up, and I was even more grateful for the rooms that I was able to duck in to pause for a moment.

At the very top of the castle was the lookout, and along one side, where they would've dumped some more boiling oil, was the Blarney Stone. In the past tourists have kissed the wrong stone because the tour guides didn't want to have to bother with the real one. I must say that I can see why. The “real” Blarney stone is located along the wall. If someone wanted to kiss it in the past they would've held you by your ankles, put you out over the edge, and have you kiss the stone. Some people in the past were dropped. Nowadays it's slightly safer. Before I tell you how it works nowadays I must tell you were the Blarney stone is located. I've said before that it's located in one of the areas they would've dumped boiling oil, well I want to be more specific. The “railing” that's on the top of the castle has openings at the floor along the edge. The Blarney Stone opening also has a piece of the floor missing out of it, so that it would've been quite easy for a person to fit through there and fall to the ground which is at least 6 stories below. Now the hole has four or five bars that cover it up so that if a person were to have their foot slip they'd only get a small scare (unless they were a teeny tiny kid then there's a possibility that they'd fall). To kiss the stone you're required to sit on the floor with your butt close to the edge of this hole. Behind you on the stone wall there are two black bars, you grab a hold of these bars with both of your hands and you allow the tour guide to hold your back up while you lean back to kiss the Blarney Stone (which I checked out before I pecked it: it's shiny like the staircase, it's seen quite a lot of lips).

When I first looked at the Blarney Stone and people kissing it I said to myself, “ This has got to be the most profitable lie I've ever laid eyes on.... So many people have paid to come and kiss that stone, whenever it's just that: a stone. Why do I want to kiss that? Why do I want to kiss the stone that sooo many other lips have kissed? That's really kinda gross!” Then I noticed how the people were being held to kiss it, how dangerous it was (if they slipped they would've at least hit their head on the bars), and I thought, “That's very very dangerous, and considering everything else I've thought so far... Why would I stick my neck out for it?” Then I realized that I'd already stuck my neck out REALLY far by climbing those steps and that those steps were worse than the stone. I decided to go ahead and kiss the Blarney stone, just in case it wasn't just a really profitable lie. Poppy was the one who didn't kiss it, he had a good time taking pictures of Ahmee and me.

After kissing the Blarney stone we went and looked in a small garden. There were so many different plants in there that I know I'd seen before in books, the name is still nagging at me to come forward. I think I might just have to ask Momma what those large things are called. The garden also has a lot of really cool trees (looked like Halloween trees). We didn't stay very long in this garden though, Poppy and I started getting hungry and so we headed into town to grab a bite to eat.

After we got done eating we ran over to the woolen company. This building didn't just sell wool, they had all sorts of things in there. They had: waterford crystal, a wool store, a book store, an Irish tourist store (things tourist buy... what are they called...), and a linen store. The most interesting thing that I found in there was a rack full of name-cards. On the name-cards they had the meaning of the names and they also gave a kind of name “horoscope”. These cards were one and half pounds each. Since I'm saving my money for later whenever I can see if I can afford to get some sort of device for this computer so that it'll have internet pretty much anywhere I didn't buy the cards. It's ok though. I don't think I'll break down and cry over the cards I didn't get in Blarney, Ireland. Do I sound mean or critical? If I do, I blame it on being tired lol! I'm getting very sleepy now. I wish I could email Iain, or call him, but internet doesn't work here, and our cell costs a lot (a dollar a minute). I'll write more tomorrow.

Rachel XD