Blarney Castle

Blarney Castle was high on my list of places to visit - but not for the usual reasons.  It is one of the places in Ireland where I KNOW my mom has been.  It seemed important to follow in her traveling shoes (hers were Rockports if you recall)  and to see some of the things that she saw years ahead of me.  As we walked up to kiss the Blarney Stone, I could just picture her with her traveling pals walking up each level and taking photos and enjoying the marvelous adventure.  Wish I could have done this with her instead of in her memory, but I am thankful I got to do it at all.

The Blarney Stone itself is at the top of the castle.  In the third picture, you can see the bars across the expanse from the castle wall to the outer wall of the top piece of the castle.  That is where two people  wait for visitors who want to lay back across the bars and kiss the stone that is on the bottom of the outer piece of wall.  The people at the top hold you and it goes quite smoothly and they have lots of funny things to say and are careful to hold you so you aren't afraid.

So I kissed the stone that my mother kissed many years before me and I immediately felt a new eloquence ready to burst forth in all that I would say from that day forward!