The castle grounds are quite extensive and offer alot more than just touring a 600 year castle. But the castle is the biggest draw and we had to see what that Blarney Stone is all about. The interior is a little cramped. I doubt it was designed with 6′ 4″ Americans in mind.

Once you get to the top the views are spectacular. I love heights, so this was a thrill for me. Look how small the trees look from up here.

Here is a view from the opposite side. The clouds follow us everywhere.

A lot of the interior is missing. This is also best viewed from the top.

None of us kissed the Blarney Stone. How many mouths have been on that thing? Here is a little description of what is involved.

Once upon a time, visitors had to be held by the ankles and lowered head first over the battlements. Today, we are rather more cautious of the safety of our visitors. The Stone itself is still set in the wall below the battlements. To kiss it, one has to lean backwards (holding on to an iron railing) from the parapet walk. The prize is a real one as once kissed the stone bestows the gift of eloquence.

I don’t have a picture of it because photos are not allowed.

Next we headed into the gardens called Rock Close.

There are all kinds of Druid artifacts here ranging from caves to sacrificial altars to wishing stairs.

Legend has it that if you walk the steps backwards, both up and down, with your eyes closed, whatever you wish for will come true. It was fun watching the tourists give it a try.

The trees are interesting too. I love how the shallow roots grow over the rocks.

Next we headed into town to the Blarney Woolen Mills. For more pictures from Blarney Castle click here.

She was born in 1987, in Toledo, Ohio. She then headed to Southside. My dad purchased her in June of `93 to replace the `83 Buick Electra I was driving at UNCW. The last three years of college we spent a fair amount of time fishing and digging up the beaches at Fort Fisher and Carolina Beach. How she made it through college is a testimony to Jeep engineering.

I was able to call her my own in 1998, having purchased her for the grand sum of $1. Below is a picture of Chris and me at my house in Spotsylvania. I imagine this photo is circa 1998, which would put Chris around 2 years old.

The last few weeks she developed a massive oil hemorrhage due to blow-by. We’ve been through a lot together, but it was time to let her go. She went to the Kidney Cars program, helping the National Kidney Foundation.

Lunch was from Baja Fresh. Mmm…tasty. The activities included:

• taco eating contest
• hot sauce eating contest
• chocolate dessert competition
• cupid’s archery competition

The taco eating contest was won by Nick. His brother Matt won the hot sauce eating contest. Matt was literally squeezing hot sauce packets into a cup and guzzling it. Way to commit!

Below is a picture of me in the Cupid Archery Competition. Check out that form! I made it to the finals even though I haven’t shot archery since middle school.

I finished 2nd in the finals behind Lyle. The target, shown below, is a blown up image of TJ dressed like Keith, our Chief Operations Officer.

Susan whipped up some of her magic brownies for the chocolate dessert competition. Sadly we didn’t even place. I think if I made the presentation a little nicer it would have fared better. Maybe next year.

These photos are of roughly the same view from my hotel room. I though to myself, it’s a rental…what’s the worst that could happen?

Here’s a tip: when you’re on the Autobahn in a small rental car pay attention to the blurs coming up behind you. ‘S Class’ Mercedes and Audi A8s can really shake you loose when you’re cruising at 150 and they blow past you doing 200+. Fog lights are also a necessity! In Germany, turning on the fog lights also illuminates the driver’s side brake light. Now that S Class moving at 200 kph can see you before he turns you into compost.

My first stop was the Schloss Heidelberg, seen atop the hill in the photo below.

I took around 100 pictures while wandering the castle grounds and gardens. I even went to the German Museum of Pharmacy. I’ll cover those in another blog entry.

After the castle tour I wandered around the Hauptstraß, which is supposedly the largest pedestrian mall in Europe.

A short walk down the Hauptstraß is an old cathedral that has free organ concerts all day.

I went in and listened for awhile. The organist was great and had no problem filling the hall. At times it was deafening, especially during Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor. Holy Cow!

I ate dinner at the Löwenbräu (loo-ven-bro). I chose the meatloaf and potato salad and let the waitress choose a beer for me.

It was pretty darn tasty, but not like Mom’s meatloaf. Nope, this was a large slice of pressed meat, visually similar to Spam, but with much less grease as well as a different taste. Can’t really put my finger on the taste but I’d guess it was pork.

Leaving the Löwenbräu I quickly remembered how ridiculously cold it was and that I still had about a half mile trek back to the car. Dang, I’d never have survived the trip without a scarf.

More photos may be found here.

OK, no big deal. If I can a drive stick shift car on the wrong side of the road I think I can handle this. After a quick lesson we head out with our guides down the road toward the water.

As you can see the beach is very rocky. I wondered if the horses would slip, but they knew what they were doing. I guess they’ve been there before.

Then we picked the pace up and headed into the hills.

Here is the view from atop my trusty stead. You can see the beach where we rode below.

The only casualty from this adventure was a new pair of khakis that simply wouldn’t come clean. That is some tenacious Irish mud. If only I had a taller horse. A shire horse would have done splendidly…

For more pictures from our horseback adventure click here.

This is one of the largest and finest stone forts in Ireland and was probably built in the early centuries before Christianity came to Ireland. It must have been the home of a very wealthy landowner of chieftain who had a great need for security.

A wall up to six meters high and four meters thick - built entirely without mortar - encloses an area thirty meters in diameter. Several near vertical masonry joints are visible in the wall, and these may indicate that the fort was built in stages rather than in one continuous operation. The fort was entered through a narrow lintel covered passage in the wall.

The modern stacked bricks help keep out the myriad sheep.

The fort was the home of the chieftain’s family, guards and servants, and would have been full of houses, out-buildings, and possibly tents or other temporary structures. No buildings survive today, though two small chambers are contained within the walls.

The top of the wall was reached by a series of steps which criss cross against the inside of the wall. An earthen bank and ditch around the fort gave further protection.

Click here for more photos from the Staigue Fort.

I don’t like the Christmas holiday because we’ve ruined it with good old American capitalism. Forget about the birth of Jesus, we want gaudy lawn displays and big sales after Thanksgiving. At any rate I’m posting my Christmas list so the family knows what I want.

• Lodge Logic 5 Quart Cast Iron Dutch Oven
• 1970 Chevy C/10 Steering Wheel [PN: 34-0399-BL]
• 1970 Chevy C/10 Horn Button Cap [PN: 34-0401-BL]
• iTunes gift card
• 6 Gun Handgun Rack

Don’t forget about my wishlist on Amazon.

[10 Dec 2007]

I found a few more things to add…

• Edelbrock Crankcase Ventilation Connector [PN: edl-1205]
• RAZR cell phone battery

Bah humbug.

We stayed at a nice B in downtown Augusta. I would call it a B&B but the second B was down the street at the Sunrise Grill. They served good southern chow: grits, eggs and bacon; all the while classic rock played in the background. Breakfast isn’t complete without hearing Free Bird.

We’re in Susan’s old stompin’ ground, lovingly refered to as Disgusta, so she’ll be our tour guide. The first stop is Sacred Heart, the site of her high school graduation.

The cathedral ceiling is breathtaking. Susan is up front to give you a sense of scale. This photo was taken about 20 feet up from the choir loft.

All the pews were removed many decades ago for use in another Catholic Church in Augusta. Renovations were done after much vandalism but the pews were never replaced.

Later we toured Enterprise Mill located on the Augusta Canal.

The mill’s museum was completely overrun by school children. I did manage to get a few photos without the screaming kids, or the worthless chaperons.

Back in my day we had chaperons that actually kept us brats in line. Those parents ought to be ashamed of themselves. But I digress…

During this trip I finally managed to score a trip to Sconyers! This has eluded me on my previous trips because they’re only open about 3 days a week.

I must say it was worth the wait. The BBQ Pork Plate is enough to feed about 3 adults. I got through about half of it before I had to quit. I recommend you get the small.

We never saw that quaint little golf course they have because GOLF SUCKS!

The home is now part of Derrynane National Park, 320 acres of beauty on the coast of the Iveragh Peninsula in County Kerry.

Here is Daniel’s backyard, which backs up to the beach. Not too bad, huh?

Notice the tracks crossing the beach from left to right.

Horseback riding is a popular tourist activity in Ireland. What better way to see the sites? We’ll be riding later in the day.

While wandering the grounds we stumbled on some interesting outbuildings.

This is a photo of the floor. Quite an interesting and aesthetic way to add a nonslip surface. This is a necessity, as everything stays wet in Ireland.

You can see more pictures in the photo gallery.

Kenmare really caters to tourism as it is lies on the Ring of Kerry and the Ring of Beara. It is because of this convenience that we’re calling it our base camp for the next few days.

We explored Bantry House in the previous entry. Later that same day we visited the Kenmare Stone Circle.

The Kenmare Stone Circle is reported to be the biggest in the south west of Ireland. Stone Circles were built during the Bronze Age (2,200-500 B.C) for ritual and ceremonial purposes. They were often orientated on certain solar and lunar events , such as the position of the sun on the horizon on a solstice. The Kenmare example may be orientated on the setting sun. In the center of the circle is a Boulder Dolmen, which is rather unique. Dolmens often marked the burial place of someone important.

The photo above was created by pasting two images together. My lens just wouldn’t go wide enough.

As we ventured back to base camp we realized we hadn’t done any laundry in the 10 days we’ve been here. (I think I’m running out of clean boxers) Our next stop was the local laundry mat. After laundry we headed to my favorite event of the day - Pub Dining!

More pictures from Kenmare can be found in the Photo Gallery.

The next day’s activities included a tour of Derrynane House, the Staige Castle, and horseback riding. Onward!