Ireland, day 9

The weather was beautiful and perfect today! It would have been great if we had this kind of weather yesterday.  We spent most of the day in the bus traveling from west to east Ireland with a few pit stops along the way. 

Our first pit stop was to Cork to visit the blarney castle!  They weren't planning to stop there but since a lot of us wanted to stop there, they made some adjustments.  We were going to drive past the city anyways, why not stop there!  Who thinks its a good idea to go to Ireland and not see the Blarney Stone. Anyways, we got to kiss the Blarney Stone! Yes, even Abby! 

Tree cosies

Castle

There was a bunch of huge dandelion looking flowers in front of the castle. I thought it was a cool picture 

Yikes!

One of the windows 

View from the top of the castle 

Other side 

Grate covering ledge.  A bit scary to think what would happen if it broke... 

There is a grate covering the area where we had to lean down backwards to kiss the stone.  It wasn't too bad leaning back down but when we got up, we got a little dizzy and felt a bit tickle in my tummy. 

After we kissed the stone, we walked back to the bus and found a garden so we decided to go in.  

Huge leaves 

One of two waterfalls 

Second waterfall

Walkway with pompoms in trees

Walking backwards down the steps with my eyes closed while thinking of a wish... 

Final look at the castle 

We waited in the line to go in.  It took about 1 hour to get from bottom to the top, and then we explored the garden so we didn't really have time to get lunch so I got a bowl of ice cream.  We had about a hour before we would reach the next destination so I spent that hour sleeping! 

Our next stop was to Waterford, home of the famous Warerford Crystals.  Since Abby and I didn't have a chance to grab something to eat at the castle, we opted to get some food instead.  We both ordered a baked potato with cheese and bacon.  It took them 45 minutes to make it, leaving us only 10 minutes to gobble it up and meet the bus.   

We drove through Wexford and reached our destination for the day.  Abby and I had to hurry to go to the pharmacy so she could get her prescription filled before it closed at 6.  We reached there at around 5:45. The lady was not too happy about the last minute request.  Oh well! After getting her prescription filled, we walked back to the hotel and walked through Main Street in town.  We enjoyed window shopping since everything was closed. 

Back at the hotel, I thought I would take advantage of the hot tub.  There was a tub, but the water wasn't hot.  It was more like lukewarm tub.  Even the pool felt warmer than the "hot tub"!  

Today is our last day in Ireland.  Tomorrow we travel to Wales and closer to our final destination, Reading!  It's been good hanging out with the codas on this trip.