Top of the morning (cont)

I'm back from the Emerald Isle! (Honestly, I've been back a while but just haven't had the time to blog about it, sorry!) And what a lovely trip it was too (minus the weather). Ok, so as Irish Summers are famous for rain, rain and more rain we weren't expecting anything less and seeing as our own weather here in the UK has been nothing short of abysmal, it didn't really matter. The truth of the matter is that regardless of the poor weather, Ireland really is a beautiful country and if you haven't been I would strongly recommend it.

We started off our trip in Cork and straight from arriving to our hotel I was taken to Blarney Castle. Looks like I wasn't getting out of kissing this stone that easy. It was hands down, the scariest thing I have ever done. If you don't know, the Blarney Stone is situated on the underside wall of the very top of the castle, and to kiss it you have to lie down and be lowered backwards off the side. Well, I don't know about the gift of the gab but I do know how to say "f*****g hell" in several different ways now! Ha ha!

A trip to the Curraheen Park for a spot of dog racing was next on the agenda. Now apart from the odd game of poker for a fiver and the Grand National, I'm not really a gambling person but the night at the Curraheen was fantastic (despite not winning on a single race). I have to say I did get a bit of a cob on, but I'm a sore loser, it's who I am, and having my brother and mum rub in my face all off their winnings only fuelled the bad mood. I soon snapped out of it the next day by bagging myself the Urban Decay new "Smoked" eyeshadow pallette though. I do have to say Cork was almost an identical if smaller version of Dublin for me.

From Cork we drove through to Killarney and took a trip on a jaunting car through Killarney National Park to Ross Castle. The park is amazingly beautiful and our tour guide was extremely knowledgable about the history surrounding the area, including showing us where some films had been shot! On the way back, the heavens opened and we all got soaked so there was only one thing for it to warm us back up - a good old Irish pub crawl starting with a very strong and very delicious Irish coffee. I got fairly well acquainted with Bulmers cider whilst I was over there, but I've found it just doesn't taste the same back home.

After a couple of pubs we found the Danny Mann, a traditional Irish pub showing live music later on that night, so after our meal back at the hotel we headed back there that evening. The band playing were called the "Molly Maguires" and kept us singing late into the night, classics such as "Wild Rover", "Black Velvet Band", "Molly Malone" and not forgetting my own personal favourite "Galway Girl". We had a great time. I wouldn't hesitate going back to Ireland, in fact I'd be over there in a flash if I could, the people are so friendly and the scenery so beautiful  it's just perfect!