I'm supposed to be eloquent now

We had our first major change of plans as we discovered that it would be much much easier to see the Blarney Stone if we went to Cork instead of Galway. So here I am sitting in an internet cafe that smells like a locker room because 50 guys have been playing World of Warcraft since the morning. It's important that you take in all the sights, sounds, and smells I'm experiencing.

Yesterday, we flew to Dublin on ryanair. If you've taken a ryanair flight already, you have learned to realize that southwest is a luxurious airline. We were able to land seats in the emergency exit rows which saved our knees from being pressed up against our foreheads. The pilot was able to provide us with an hour's worth of entertainment when he informed us after waiting on the tarmac for 20 minutes (in an outrageous french accent of course) that, "As you can see, the plane, it has not moved. We should move soon, yes?" It's no big deal that snacks and drinks, including water, are not free, I can live with that, rather, I appreciate the fact that US discount airliners don't try and sell you company lottery tickets during your flight. To top it off, cheesy advertisements play throughout the flight culminating with orchestral music and canned applause celebrating your touchdown at your destination. My relief was quite sincere.

Dublin is fantastic. Unfortunately, we came in at 9am so our hostel room wasn't ready. Most of the shops were also closed as it was Sunday and nothing opened until noon. We eventually ponied up more money for a private room in the hostel and the weary travelers slept. This postponed the eventual guinness factory tour for Tuesday.



Who drinks Coors Light in Dublin?

After a late-ish night (as you might infer from the above picture), we took the bus for Cork this morning. I'm sure you can imagine all the picturesque scenes of rural Ireland; I was asleep for nearly the whole ride, but the others assure me it was fantastic and you should see it immediately.





Blarney Castle and its surroundings are amazingly beautiful. We hiked up to the top of the castle and contorted ourselves to kiss a little rock in the wall. Kissing the stone is much more difficult than you might think, some disgruntled Irish guy yells, "Next!", and you have to lean over like so:



Kissing the stone supposedly gives you the gift of eloquence. As you know by reading this entry, I must have done something wrong. We think it actually gives you the chance to kiss the 235098125897 people who have kissed it before you and take in their germs.