Mom Comes to Ireland

Day 2 - Cork, Kinsale, and Blarney

With my moms time in Cork I thought we should go to Blarney Castle which is only about 8 minutes away from Cork city centre and she wanted to go to Kinsale so we made a day out of it. We ventured out from my apartment to the Cork Airport where we rented a car. We both thought it would be more affordable and we could do a lot more with our day. So Hertz gave us a burnt orange Ford CMAX along with a Neverlost. We thought that was necessary to navigate through the crazy road systems here in Ireland. Oh and another minor detail cars drive on the left hand side of the road here, which added some fun to our adventure. Mom was convinced that she could not do it so I was the lucky person that got to drive on the left hand side of the road. This was one of my goals for my time in Ireland. I would say that I was pretty successful in that I only made one minor mistake. When we pulled out from the airport into the round-a-bout going towards the R6005 autoway I took the wrong exit and had to turn around. So all in all it was a good experience but the round-a-bouts can be somewhat confusing. So after picking up the car we took the R6005 to Kinsale, a small beachside village on the County Cork coast about 30 minutes from Cork city. After we arrived to Kinsale we went straight to a restaurant to grab some fish and chips. The restaurant claimed to have the best fish and chips in Ireland, and I must say they were very good. After lunch we hopped on a tram made to look like a train and took a tour of downtown Kinsale and Fort Charles. Interestingly we learned that Kinsale was the sight where the Lusitania, a passanger ship, was sunk during World War I, which caused the United States to enter World War I. After our tour of the picturesque town of Kinsale we were off to Blarney Castle. I really enjoyed seeing another part of Ireland and it was good to see the Atlantic Ocean. But I really enjoyed the Blarney Castle. Both my mom and I climbed the castle through a very small and tight spiral staircase. We saw the main room, the kitchen, the bedrooms, the church etc. After reaching the top it was time to kiss the Blarney stone. So the man sits you down and tells you to lay back and then he hoists you back to kiss the stone. Supposedly the Blarney stone is the dirtiest tour attraction in the world; however after you kiss the stone you receive the gift of eloquence and the skill of flattery. After we went through the castle mom and I toured the blarney premise, which is very peaceful and green. On our way back from the castle we stopped at Tesco, the main Irish grocery store, to pick up some groceries. One of the rule my roommates and I came up with to try and conserve money is that we only buy necessary foods and we try not to buy anything over 1 euro. So my mom wanted to buy us some luxury items like chips, cookies, cereal, popcorn etc. along with some stuff to make tacos, stir-fry, and chicken. As an aside, my roommates and I typically eat a lot of bread, peanut butter, ramen noodles, pasta, potatoes, and meat packs we get from the English Market. Also grocery stores here do not provide bags for your groceries so you have to bring your own bags. After the grocery store we went back to the apartment to get ready for dinner. My mom wanted to take my friends and I out to dinner. So eight of us went to the Market Lane in downtown Cork. The food was amazing, probably the best I have had in Cork so far, and my friends loved the food as well. Everyone absolutely loved my mom and they all say she is welcome back anytime. So thanks mom for everything! After dinner mom took us all out for drinks at a pub, which was a lot of fun. So after a long night of eating and drinking it was time for us all to go to bed seeing as how I had a field trip with my music class to County Kerry the next morning and mom had to catch a 5am train back to Dublin to catch her flight back to the US. I am so grateful that she got to come and see how I will be living for the next couple of months and I wish she could have stayed longer since we didn’t even have time to tour UCC.