Saturday May 21st, 2011

To kiss the Blarney Stone or not to kiss the Blarney Stone...that was the question of the day. It took us about 1.5 hours to get over to the Blarney Castle from Killarney. The Castle entrance is along the banks of the River Martin. The world famous Blarney Stone is at the top of the tower. We climbed 100 narrow circular steps to reach our destination. The legend goes, if you kiss the stone, you will have the gift of eloquence bestowed upon you. Most everyone kissed the Blarney Stone which entailed laying on your back, bending backward, upside down and reaching your lips to the stone and giving it a smack. As allied health professionals a natural discussion about germs and transmission arose. The Castle also had a mystical Rock Close and water garden. Hidden behind the Castle battlements, we found the Poison Garden. This educational collection of poisonous plants contained interesting plants from around the world including ones from Harry Potter like the Wolfsbane and the Mandrake. The castle also boasted many dungeons and caves. Some students braved the darkness.
On our travels back we watched a documentary that our tour guide Dan Casey wrote, called, "The Green Square Mile". The documentary described the immigration of the Irish into the Charlestown area. Charlestown is one of Boston's oldest ethnic communities and the Irish presence in Charlestown spans nearly three centuries and reflects the dreams and aspirations of a resilient immigrant population and their descendants, who endured incredible hardship to survive as a distinct subculture in 21st century America. The history of Charlestown's Irish community has never been documented or recorded.
Once back into Killarney we watched our first ever Gaelic Football game. It was a battle of the beaten with the home team Fossa (0-3) taking on the (0-4) Brosna team. We must have been good luck seeing the home team won 14-8. After the game, the coach came out to great us and to thank us for coming. Seeing we doubled their normal attendance, we created quite a scene! Off to Dublin tomorrow. The local newspaper photographer took a picture of us for the paper. We are hoping to get some copies. On to Dublin tomorrow.