“Gift of the Gab”

Yesterday I visited Blarney Castle. It reminded me of some of the other castles that I had visited in other places. There wasn’t anything really special about it except that they have the Blarney Stone. It took a while to go up the long circular staircase to the top of the castle, but once we made it up there was a great view. In order to kiss the stone, you have to lie on your back off the edge of the roof while a guy holds your legs. He keeps telling you to slide farther and farther off the castle in order to kiss the stone from the bottom. It’s pretty scary if you look down, but they do have a couple of metal bars that you would bang your head on if you fell. A lot of people wouldn’t do it for fear they would fall. I did it though, especially after all those steps to the top.

Once you kiss the stone you are supposed the “gift of the gab,” which is the gift of eloquence of speech. I talked a lot before, so I’m not sure if this made any difference or not. After kissing the stone, we made our way back down the castle and I found a couple of amusing things. First, this sign that was hanging was pretty funny. I have to keep this in mind next time I go to the bar!

Somehow I also managed to get trapped in the dungeon of the castle. After that, we hopped on the bus back to Cork for a night at the hostel bar.