Cork to Killarney

After breakfast, we went to load up the van. We, obviously, had to stop for a photo op with the concierge in the top hat.

Once that was done, we got in the van and headed back to Cove or Cobh (the Irish way of saying it). There we went to the Cobh Heritage Center/Emigration Museum. After my great-great grandmother died, my great-great grandfather packed up his stuff and his 5 kids (one of them being by great-grandfather), walked the 61 miles from their village to Cobh to get on a ship bound for America. So to be standing in the place where they stood 125 years ago was a pretty cool experience.

Dad & I with some belongings

The Museum walks you through the experience/daily life people would've had on the ships that crossed the Atlantic. Basically, it sucked. That's pretty much what I got out of it. It was either really hot or really cold, the seas where rough, people were sick, there were rats and not enough food. Says something about the home country if you're willing to go through all of that just to not be there anymore. The ships were actually called "Coffin Ships" because there were very little survivors when they finally reached their destination.

Me, and my friends, ready to go to America

Reading about the crappy conditions on the ships

After you walk through the first part, it takes you into Titanic stuff. Cobh was Titanic's last stop before that fateful collision with the iceberg. The experience walks you through the building of the Titanic, the living quarters (first class where living the life, third class not so much), etc.

About to get on board the Titanic...

Haha, my mom is crazy :)

After the Titanic portion, it then walks you through Lusitania disaster. It was torpedoed by a German submarine. It happened about 10 minutes off the coast of Cobh, over 1,000 people were killed and just over 700 were rescued. The survivors went to Cobh afterwards.

An  old wheelchair, I tried to sit in it. Mom yelled at me...some things never change.

Posing on a bench from the 1st class Library

Mom, pretending to buy a ticket from the creepy mannequin

Side story: in our family it's a running joke that no matter where we go, my dad knows someone. We were walking out of the museum and my dad goes "Hey, I know him!" It happened to be Conor, his driver from the last time he went to Ireland in 2008. Conor recognized him & asked about my Uncle Gavin (who he also drove around). So another example to add to my theory of my dad knows everyone.

After touring the museum, we got back in the van to start our trip to Killarney. Our first stop along the way was Kinsale. It's a quaint little fishing town. We stopped long enough for a photo op and then to grab some "to-go" fish and chips, which were absolutely awesome.

With Kinsale in the background

After grabbing lunch, we continued to make the drive through the Irish countryside. After this trip, I have seen enough sheep to last me a lifetime. But here's a close up of one, the farmers spray paint them as a way to designate which sheep are who's.

Family picture with the Irish countryside

So, Mel shared with us little Irish folklore/traditions along the way. Did you know that if a bush or tree is growing by itself in the middle of a field, no one will touch it? The farmer will plant around it, they even built a highway around one instead of taking it down. It's said to be a "meeting place of the little people" meaning fairies or leprechaun's and cutting it down will bring the person bad luck. It makes me feel better about my superstitions about wearing a lucky jersey...

Leprechaun Crossing

We stopped in Kenmare for a cup of tea, and to walk around the shops there. They are known for their "woolen mills" where you can get Irish linen as well as sweaters.

After our shopping excursion, we got back in the car and headed to Torc Waterfall. It was beautiful and peaceful.

Mom & Dad with the Waterfall

Me & Mom with the waterfall

After the waterfall, we headed to our hotel The Europe Hotel. It was an absolutely beautiful hotel with breathtaking views of the lakes.

My parents! My mom is learning how to do the self shot :)

After unpacking and getting situated, we headed down to the restaurant bistro from some dinner. And my mom continued to snap pictures...

This is my "really mom?!" face

And as before, for the visual people, here's a map of our day's journey.

Dublin to Cork

After an early wakeup and breakfast at the hotel, we did some last minute touristy pictures.

The King & Queen of the castle

Let's take a picture with the fireplace and this giant bird! - I mean...what?

The outside of the hotel

Dad and Mel (our driver).

Family photo in front of the hotel

Once the photoshoot was over, we packed in the van and started driving. The plan was to drive to Cork that day, with some stops on the way.

Mel drove us through the family home of the Fitzgerald's back in the day. I don't remember the name of it, and I'm not even sure he told us. It's a hotel now - but that's how people identify things there - family name homes.

After that, we headed to The K Club Golf Resort. My dad was absolutely giddy. Apparently this is where they played the Ryder Cup (a big deal in Golf). So we got out, walked around and went into the pro shop. I got a sweater there for Kenny to wear when he plays golf in the chilly weather (so, not in Jacksonville) and my dad picked up some stuff for himself and his bff's that he plays golf with.

In front of the K Club

After that, we hopped back in the van and went to The Irish National Stud. You might have thought there would have been some fine looking men there...and I guess in away, you'd be right. It's where they breed horses. We got to go on a tour of the facilities, and meet the horses as well as some other animals.

This horse costs $60,000 - if you want him to erhm...hop on your female horse.

Oh hai friend!

The miniature horses - these are here as a conservation project. No one pays money for their...services.

Thank goodness the horse didn't take this moment to do something inappropriate.

After touring the facilities and seeing the animals, we decided to walk through the Japanese garden they had set up there. It was set up like the "Path of Life" and you had to go through things like you would in life.

The first one being "the cave of birth." This is my "here I am, hi Mom!" birth face.

Walking the "perilous path."

You have to walk through the Tunnel of Ignorance. And rude, dad, very rude.

And as you can see, we veered off course from there. Instead of following the numbers numerically - we jumped around from 3 to 10 and back to another number. I some how wound up walking over the bridge of marriage before I even encountered the path of engagement. Who knows how that happens...

But here I am, overtaking the hill of ambition

My parents, at the Chair of Old Age...

And then lastly, the hill of mourning

A lot like real life, we O'Brien's went down our own path, but we made it to the end eventually and on our own time :)

After that, we stopped in the cafeteria there for some food for "carry out." They were perplexed by the word "to go." I asked them if they did "to go" and you would've thought I had an arm coming out of my head. Once the slang was figured out, food was ordered and we hopped back in the van to see more sights along the way.

The next stop was Cahir Castle, it was built by an O'Brien in 1142. Good looking out great grandpa O'Brien ;) We only stopped a minute to get out and take pictures. Cause it's not everyday you see something that's thousands of years old.

Mom & I with Cahir Castle

Mom  & Dad with Cahir Castle

After that, it was back in the car to head to Blarney. This was something on my bucket list - I wanted to kiss the Blarney Stone. Rumor has it, if you kiss it, you're blessed with Blarney. What's Blarney you ask? I saw a sign that explained it like this: The difference between baloney and blarney. Baloney is telling a 50 year old lady she looks 25. Blarney is asking her what age she is, cause you want to know what age to look forward to when you're at your most beautiful. Well, if you know me, you know I don't really need help with my BSing skills...but it was on my bucket list.

Mel, our driver, gave me crap (lightheartedly and friendly) the whole way there about going so far to "kiss a damn stone." Apparently the local Irish don't get it.

We made it there in time to walk through the grounds leisurely while on our way to Blarney Castle.

Dad & I with Blarney Castle behind us.

The stairs to the top of the castle were those spiral straight up stairs. For a girl who's not too keen on heights, it wasn't all that fun. The least fun was getting to the top of the castle and seeing the line...

We waited patiently and I finally got my turn to kiss the stone (and contract some disease from all the other people who kissed it before me.)

Kissing the Blarney Stone.

They've so nicely added those bars under me, so now you can't fall to your death. What a lovely memento that would've been...

After kissing the stone, walking back down the steps, and buying my picture (uh, duh.), we made our way to the Poison Garden, where they keep the Poisonous plants. I still didn't manage to figure out why they do that...but whatever suits your fancy.

I'm a huge Harry Potter nerd, so I may or may not have been like "ZOMG MANDRAKES!" In Harry Potter, they look like this:

So I was slightly disappointed to see this:

Whomp, whomp, whooooomp

And then I saw "Wolfsbane" - another HP reference.

Not Poisonous Plants, just my parents :)

After Blarney, we were dropped off at our hotel for the night Hayfield Manor. We unpacked and got settled for a little bit and then took a walk around the grounds before heading to dinner.

My parents, 2 little lovebugs.

After dinner, my mom headed to their room to take a bath in the HUGE bathtub. I stayed up with my Dad and we headed to the bar for some father/daughter bonding time as well as Jameson (of course).

My and my dad <3

And for those visual people out there following along, here's a little map of our day's journey:

Tomorrow: Cork to Killarney.

The Navy/Notre Dame Game

Again, we were up and at 'em bright and early. Showered, got ready and headed down to breakfast. After breakfast, Mel picked us up and we headed to the "Navy headquarters" hotel which was right near the stadium. We had gotten tickets for a tailgater that the Alumni association put on. The band, cheerleaders and the Navy Mascot (Bill the Goat) showed up for some pepping up. We got to eat free food and drink free beer while enjoying the entertainment.

Astrix to the food comment I made earlier, the Irish hot dogs were AWFUL. But that might be because they were less like a hot dog and more like a Bratwurst, which I don't enjoy. So, I guess to each his own.

Family at the Tailgate

Me & Bill the Goat

My parents :)

We decided to make our way into the stadium around noon, thinking that march on was at 1pm. (It was actually @ 1:30), so once again we were freakishly early.

Aviva Stadium is really awesome. It's closed in on all sides so the noise level could get pretty loud. I can only imagine the noise level if Virginia Tech played a home game in there ;)

The Stadium

So since we got into the stadium so early, we enjoyed our club level/VIP seats and obviously took lots of pictures.

Uncle John & Jenny

Passing the time by looking at pictures I had already taken

My pretty momma :)

 

It was a "Home" Game for Navy - only a couple thousands of miles away from Annapolis

 

 

 

 

 

 

Me and my dad

Finally it was march on time. Not all the Brigade of Midshipmen (all the students at the Naval Academy came) but enough of them to do a march on came. They are broken up into 'companies' which are effectively little units within the brigade. That's how they march in, with their companies. They turn towards the opponents side of the field, do a little cheer, in this case it was "I-R-I-S-H, go Irish!" and then they tip their hats. They then turn around toward their side of the field and say "N-A-V-Y, Gooooo Navy!"

The Brigade

So the game went well for about 5 minutes, and then it was all down hill from there. I tried to amuse myself by reading this in the program, it was "What is American Football?" The first line says "American football can be very confusing," it then goes onto explain the rules of football. I never really thought about it cause I grew up around football, but I guess there are a lot of rules and confusing things.

 Also what kept me amused? This guy in his green leotard, leather choker and hat. I mean, whaaaa? Also, he might have wanted to get that leotard in a size up...there are things that were seen that can't be unseen :/

After the debacle of a game, we met Mel at the end of the main road, where he had parked the car and he drove us to our new hotel for the night, Clontarf Castle.

Since we were originally supposed to stay there the other 2 nights, but had gotten kicked out due to the Notre Dame football team staying there, we moved all our bags in and then went to the hotel pub for dinner. We watched Rugby on the TV and my dad tried to explain the rules to me, and you thought football was confusing...?

After dinner, we decided to take a walk around the neighborhood that surrounded the hotel. As we were walking out of the hotel, the Notre Dame football team were walking out to their buses to go to dinner. I made my parents stand in front of the door so I could compare myself to the guys to see how massive they were. And they were HUGE. We also watched as some crazy drunk Irish ladies asked to take pictures with the team and were fawning over them, kissing them, etc. I was laughing, but also saved a rather large lineman from getting hit by a car - he had obviously forgot they drive on the other side of the road. I pulled a Dane Cook "You are about to be struck by a motor vehicle!" The guy looked at me, smiled and then looked at the size of the car. It was a typical small European one. My dad was like "I think you would've broken the car." He smiled and was like "Probably."

Dad and I in front of the entrance to the Hotel

After that encounter, we made our way through the neighborhood, hoping to hit the "main" street. We actually turned around cause it didn't look like it was going to happen. But a couple walking by told us "You look lost" and then gave us directions to the main street.

Walking through the neighborhood

 As we were walking, we noticed the team buses leaving the hotel. This is my dad, flicking off the team buses. You know, where the 6'7" 350 lb man couldn't see him doing it ;)

That was our last night in Dublin. The next morning, it was rise & shine time for a driving tour of Ireland while on our way to our next destination.