Sunshine!

Kissing the Blarney Stone! You won't be able to shut us up now.
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We woke up to a beautiful sunrise in Cobh. Can you believe it! It didn't stop shining for 3 days too, and thats probably it for the rest of the trip - its raining again now.

From Cobh we headed up to Blarney Castle, where we kissed the stone. Story goes that now we'll have the gift of the gab. Don't know if its worked yet.

What a beautiful spot - the gardens were just gorgeous, with the trees changing colour and lush green lawns.

From there we went up to the Mitchelstown Caves - limestone caves that were created thousands and thousands of years ago. What an amazing place! We had our own private tour guide who was the most passionate person when it comes to caves. Stalligmites and stalligtites (hope thats right lol) galore.

The Rock of Cashel.
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We then headed up to Cashel, where the Rock of Cashel is. They are so creative with their names. Its a big castle on top of a rock. Try and say "Cashel Castle" and that would explain why they called it the Rock of Cashel. Stayed there the night in a cute little B&B - very friendly owners who had obviously kissed the Blarney stone once or twice.

The next morning we drove to the Waterford Crystal Factory where we spent 2 and a half hours touring the factory and spending up big. What an awesome place! The work that goes into making that stuff is unbelievable. 900 people work there, and it takes 10 years of apprenticeship to become a master engraver. They're the ones that make all the famous trophies, which they all had copies of on display.

From left to right: Kevin, Mairin, Maura, Brendan, Gez, Carmel and Tony.
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Continued up to Wicklow town where we stayed for the night, pretty uneventful really except for the fact we got Hemi the blood drop pissed in the pub. Click on "hemicue" in our favourite persons list to find out more.

Now we're in Meath with the Quinns, recovering from the big party last night... We celebrated Tony's 50th (which isnt for another month he'll let you know pretty quickly) and the reunion of cousins from England, Australia and America.

What a night! Bloody freezing cold weather, so cold that they chilled the drinks outside. Who needs fridges when you're in one?! And boy do they know how to drink... and sing... and dance!

From left to right, top then bottom: Pauric, Phillip (Carmels sons), Maura, Kevin, Carmel, Brendan, Bernie (Tonys wife), Tony, Patrick (Tonys son), Ellen, Mairin, Rachael (Tony's daughter) and Gez.
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Us young ones headed off to the local nightclub for a bit of a boogie, which was quite interesting in itself - 14 year olds in mini skirts and singlet tops (when its 2 degrees outside, silly girls...) so drunk they can't see straight. And bad music. The 70's and irish traditional singalong was much more entertaining :)

Had an early one at 4:30am, and spent today recovering. Not really much else to do when its so windy and cold outside!