Blarney (again), Cobh (again), Fota Island, Kinsale and More Shopping

see all photos »

I met my mom and uncle early at the bus station again and we took the next bus out to Blarney. They really enjoyed the grounds and the castle. They didn't seem to keen on going through the wet caves though. I must not have warned them enough about how narrow the stairs are in the castle, so we all had a fun hike up. I did ge them to kiss the stone. When Mom realized how far the stone was she said, "O my God!" The Irishman working at the time then asked, " Is that what you say every time you kiss?" They both had a good laugh and then we started our trek back down the castle. We walked around the gardens a bit and headed back to go to the Woollen Mill. I did get something and also my uncle got me and Aran sweater. They shopped until we were all so hungry we couldn't take it anymore. We ate at the bar and took the next bus back to Cork City. It poured with rain, so naturally, they wanted to shop again. We had another nice dinner and got ready for the next day. I took the train to the station the next day to meet them, and then we took the train to Cobh. Uncle Jimmy made sure to take many photos of the palm trees. They enjoyed the ocean side, the village and the always beautiful St. Coleman's Cathedral. We walked some more, they shopped again, and we had a nice lunch. We saw the museum and took the next train to the Fota station since the weather was so beautiful. We stopped right next to the wildlife park on Fota to walk around and also see the gardens. The park is pretty cool because many of the animals, not the dangerous ones, are not behind fences or caged away. Mom's allergies flared up a bit, but other than that we had a great time walking. When we decided to leave we didn't realize how far the walk was, about a few miles. We ended up on the other side of the park, which is the opposite side of the island from the hotel. We had to call another cab to get us back. We had some dinner and drinks back at the hotel, and I headed back late that night. The next morning, we met at the bus station again. We took an early bus to Kinsale. The weather was beautiful again. The city is much like Cobh except it does not sit on such a steep hill. We shopped and walked around a bit, had a wonderful breakfast and lunch as well. We took the late afternoon bus back into Cork City and had dinner there as well. As usual, they wanted to shop. You can see a repeating theme here. It was nice to spend time with them no matter what though.