On our last day in Ireland we stayed in Dublin and did some souvenir shopping. In the afternoon we went to the Guinness Factory to see how their beer is made. It was all pretty cool.

 

 

 

 

 

After this we said bye to Meagan and Kelly and made our way to another pub. (All we pretty much do abroad is go to Irish pubs so why not go to as much legitimate pubs in Ireland as we can?) We went back to the pub we went to one of the other nights and ate our food while listening to two cute old Irish men playing instruments and singing.

 

 

  

Once we finished eating we made our way to the airport to go back to London. The next time I fly back to London is to take my Virgin Atlantic flight to JFK. What an extremely bittersweet thought. Fun fact: While on my flight from Dublin to London I sat in row 12 and row 14 was right behind me, meaning there was no row 13. I'm willing to bet they did they because 13 (or ter-teen as the Irish would say) is the infamous unlucky number. Interesting.

On my way home I thought about how I helped convince a lady who nearly backed out of kissing the Blarney Stone, since it was so high up and she was scared of heights, to just go for it. Also, on our way to the airport the man across from me dropped his phone and didn't notice until I told him. He was pretty grateful too. This makes me wonder why people aren't just nice to each other all the time. Maybe I'm being an idealist but in my point of view the human race makes things infinitely harder for themselves for no reason. Come on people, help each other out.

The Cloch na Blarnan and the Gift of the Gab

Happy Easter! Today was another great day in good old Ireland. We took another day trip and went to Cork and to Blarney Castle to give a little peck to the famous Blarney Stone. First of all, we did not expect the area of the castle to be as gorgeous as it was and we were once again pleasantly surprised. So we climbed the steep steps to the top of the castle and kissed the Blarney Stone and are now bestowed with the gift of eloquence!

One red hair... my Irish transformation

 

Blarney Castle

The line

 

 

While reading one of the information signs there I found out that the possible origin of the stone was from something called Lia Fail and was used to sort out Scottish and Irish kings. (If you click the name it'll bring you to the Blarney Stone website that has information about it.) I'm so proud of my little name! Thanks Mom and Dad!

Later we went to Cork City and ate our Easter meal at a hotel restaurant. I guess a tuna sandwich and seafood chowder isn't very Easter-y but it was still good. To celebrate Easter some more we got some jelly beans on our way home. We would have waited but apparently the Easter bunny doesn't bring candy to hostels. This was really the first holiday I haven't been home for and that was a little sad but I'm going home so soon that I can't even be homesick!