Had a wonderful breakfast at Tina's B&B in Portmagee. She actually visited with us for quite sometime while we had breakfast. She shared info about her family and we told her about ours. We also mentioned that since my name is Kerry and we are in Kerry County, we wanted to try to find a shirt with the words "Kerry" on it, but no luck yet.  

As we were getting ready to leave, she brought me a gift . She knew she had a Kerry flag somewhere, found it and wanted me to have it. What a wonderful surprise and such a thoughtful and caring lady Tina is. She thought it a small gesture, but not to me. It meant so much that she wanted to do this for me. I will always remember that. 

We left Portmagee and headed to Blarney Castle to kiss the Blarney Stone. In order to kiss the Stone, you need to lie on your back, hold onto 2 polls (you are leaning over an opening), put your head back a far as you can in order to be able to kiss the Stone that millions of others put there lips on too...hmmmm. I tried 1st but when I had to lean my head back I felt very scared and nauseous and couldn't do it. So, when Dave did, he kissed it twice. Awwww...he got others germs twice...

From there headed to a good size town called Kinsale that is very quaint with lots of shops and rest/bars. The roads are cobblestone as many of the quaint towns are. We had a yummy pizza at an Italian restaurant..complete with wine and dessert. 

Next morning we headed to Cobh. Cobh was called Queenstown around the early 1900's. I (Kerry) have an ancestor who boarded a ship for America from this town in the early 1900's. I had a photo of the row houses he might have stayed at before boarding the ship. Dave and I found the same row houses and of course took tons of photos . It was emotional to know that I was walking the same streets, looking at the same buildings and seeing where the Atlantic Ocean would take my relative to America 100 years earlier. 

We also found out that this town (named Cobh now but was named Queenstown earlier) was the last port of call for the Titanic before it sailed out to the Atlantic bound for America. It picked up passengers in this town. We had mixed emotions this day. 

We then headed back to Dublin and on the way there we stopped at Cahir Castle that had some movies filmed there. Not a huge castle...but a very old and impressive castle nonetheless.  

Got back to Dublin to spend the night. Catching a ferry back to Holyhead, England tomorrow and a train back to London to spend the night there. The next day, Sunday, we will be taking the Eurostar train under the English Channel to take us to Paris.

Ireland....you were everything and more that I expected. I loved all the uniqueness and quaintness of all the villages, the amazing Cliffs along the Atlantic, the wonderful, salt of the earth Irish people we met (especially Maureen, her son James, Tina and all the others that took the time to talk with us). I loved driving on the right side of the car and the left side of the road (it was great) and the beautiful countrysides of Ireland. We will be back...that is an Irish promise.