Moby Dick??

Moby Dick? What in the world does that mean? Well, my day in Ireland started in the town of Youghal, pronounced yo'll, with a long 'o'. And it just so happens that Moby Dick was filmed there in 1954, I have pictures to show to prove that! So now on the 'have to see' movie list for the end of this trip, is now Moby Dick, along with My Fair Lady. Those are extremes!

Ireland is beautiful! So green everywhere you look! After a little rain at Youghal and some time to browse through the town, we drove through the countryside, through several little towns that were beautiful! We drove by where Sir Walter Raleigh lived, the town where William Penn came from and the town where the namesake of Berkely University came from. And that is just the people I remember! We ate lunch at a hotel in Cork, having some Irish music and dance to entertain us. It was not my favorite meal, although I will say the salads I've had in each place have been delicious. But the stew was not my favorite meal, by far.

Next we drove to Blarney castle. I have to admit that I did not kiss the Blarney stone, the climb up might have been okay, but lying on my back on metal rails to scoot out and kiss the stone upside down just didn't sound like anything I could do and walk afterwards. Our cute Irish bus driver told us that if we couldn't get up to the top of the castle to do that, we could kiss him and be gifted with eloquence by proxy, I think he was surprised when I decided to do this instead! What a fun man, told me we could go out dancing if I were staying the night, I know I would have laughed a lot with him. I think of what a fellow teacher said on her blog, "Disneyland is not the happiest place on earth, Ireland is" and I believe that is true. However I asked a store clerk why the town was so quiet this morning and she said that it was a Saturday morning in Ireland, NO ONE got up unless they had to go to work! What a lot I've learned!

Shopping at the Blarney Woolen Mills was a delight, so many beautiful things to look at! And I was lucky enough to meet a children's author and got a book autographed by him! What a nice man and he seemed full of Blarney too!

Tomorrow is another day in Ireland, Dublin this time. A year and a half ago the internet didn't work in Dublin so I think this may be the last entry for a couple of days. On Monday we will be in Liverpool and Peter will be meeting Diana, Alec and me at the ship for a fun day of sightseeing with friends. Not sure which places we will go, but wherever will be fun!

Moby Dick...