This morning we had a very early start; wakeup call at 6 AM, checkout and quick breakfast, and we were on our way by 8. A quick drive through the streets of Dublin one last time (for this trip at least). Bye-bye Dublin.
Today we were traveling south-west. The queen messed up with our plans again. We were originally supported to go to the Rock of Cashel, but since she is going there today or tomorrow, they canceled us. So, instead, we went south, near Cork to the Cahir Castle. The nice thing about Ireland is that it is small to travel around, the roads are good, and there are castles pretty much in every town. This castle is on a river-island site, with massive walls and towers. Cahir Castle is one of the Ireland’s largest. It was founded in 1142 by Conor O’Brien. 
We had a nice guided tour, took lots of pictures and climbed many stairs. In one of the rooms, where they had swallows circling the entire time the tour guide was explaining, we decided to do some singing. There was always a plan to sing at a castle, but just the venue changed. This room had a nice acoustics, and we just stood in a big circle and sang 5-6 songs acapela. The tour guide had her walkie-talkie on, so our song was broadcasted throughout the castle for other visitors to hear. Few of them stepped into the room only to be amazed! I loved this experience. It is a totally different level of enjoying the music than performing at a concert. And again, the songs of peace and soul longing for God moved me to tears.
Afterwards walked over to have lunch in Cahir, and most of the group loaded into one restaurant. I felt like separating from the crowd a bit, since we had an hour and I wasn’t yet hungry for a super large lunch, and walked around a bit. I found myself a nice little coffee place and had a first real coffee of the day, cappuccino there, outside on the porch, relaxing and people watching. We departed Cahir and were on our way to a new place on our itinerary: Whisky Distillery! It was not planned to go there, but since we had to change plans and fill time, and Michael expressed interest, we went there.
Old Jameson Distillery, near Midleton, is 200 years old. Jameson Whisky is today made in a modern factory in Cork. I am not a Whisky, or any hard-liquor for that matter, person, but from what I could understand the main difference between Irish and Scottish Whiskey is that Irish and distilled 3 times, and Scottish only 2 times. That supposedly makes it more purified. There was a 15 minute nice video presentation and then a very knowledgeable young man gave us a guided tour through all the buildings and many different processes it takes to make whisky. In one of the courtyards we saw some Irish actors filming another video production for the distillery, dressed in clothes from the old era and with appropriate background. At the last building we saw colors of whisky at its different stages of aging, from almost neutral color to dark copper (18+ years old) in oak barrels with glass tops. They picked 4 man and 4 ladies to do a testing or Irish, Scottish, and American whiskey (again, not my fancy). The rest of us got to sample a 5 year whiskey with our choice of additive; I choose Schwaps. It was a fun experience all in all, and I got me a small whiskey bottle to take home. 
I kind of didn’t feel myself on the ride, and asked to sit in the front. My stomach was kind of on the edge of nausea, my throat was dry, and I felt a bit claustrophobic sitting in the middle of the bus by the window. The sad Irish songs playing on the CD, and the beauty of the nature around me put me in some sort of a mellow mood and I just felt very emotional. I was glad Michael started talking to me about his extremely complex and adventurous life story to get my mind refocused. I kind of like hanging out with that front of the bus crowd. Much more so than the half-of-the-bus-load of kids who started singing from top of their lungs after tasting some whiskey.
Next stop was another gorgeous place, Blarney Castle. Like I said, there is no shortage of castles in Ireland. This one is the home of the (apparently) famous Blarney Stone of eloquence. The park around it is just absolutely magnificent. Soft English grass, with tall, lushes trees, benches, little babbling brook with bridges, beautiful flower gardens, cheerful bird chirpings in the air, and amazing scenery all around in the distance. 
The castle is supposedly the most popular tourist stop in Ireland, where people stop to kiss the Blarney Stone. The stone is perched at the top of the 15th century castle, reached by a steep climb up slippery spiral staircases. Once you reached to very top, to kiss the stone, you have to lay down with top of your body hanging above a very, very, very deep drop (an attendant is there to hold you), then you band backwards, hold on to rails on the vertical wall behind you, and kiss the wall some 2 feet below the level of your body. All who could climb the steps from our group did it, so did I. When in Rome, do like the Romans thing, but it was pretty stupid in my humble opinion. 
The view from top of the castle was breathtaking. I wish we had more time to explore the gardens around, as well. It was just so peaceful, and I think I was craving a little bit of that. But alas, it’s a short tour of the country, and we want to see as much as possible. So we continued our ride westward toward Killarney. 
I again got to enjoy the company of the front of the bus folks. 
We arrived at our hotel in Killarney just in time for dinner. It’s a fancy little hotel, with another group from the US I think already there. The dinner was again 3-course, and it was all very good food. I had breaded chicken with Whiskey sauce – to stick with today’s theme. I am still not used to sun being up so late, so when we finished with dinner at 8.30 PM it still felt like it was 5 because it was so bright outside. We quickly moved our bags to our rooms and few of us met downstairs to explore the town. 
From where the hotel is, it was hard to tell we were in a town. I guess there is a wooded hill blocking the view of the little village, which is just 5 minutes walk away. It seems like a wealthy place, and it reminded me a bit of a ski resort. We stopped at a pub recommended to us at the hotel. They had 3 man in a corner playing Irish music on fiddle, mandolin, and guitar, and then an older man, a local it seemed, just joined in on the wood floor with the traditional Irish tap dance. He had a lot of energy for his age, and was very amusing to watch. I tried an Irish lager, Harp I think it’s called. It was good, but a bit too light for me. The atmosphere was great, just a pub should be, and I really enjoyed our company. After half an hour we got a table, so we could actually talk without people bumping into us all the time. There was another music/dance next door, but they had cover charge, so we had music coming from two directions. The place was packed, and when we left just after 11 another live bend was coming in to play (which is when this pub started charging the cover).Oh, I can’t believe we did all that in one day. Whew!
I am so blessed!
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