"There is a stone there,/That whoever kisses,/Oh! He never misses,/To grow eloquent/'Tis he may clamber/To a lady's chamber,/Or become a member/Of Parliament." - Francis Sylvester Mahony
Lately I've been doing some research on traveling to Ireland. After the husband accepted this new job and his mostly office bound position, events like a real vacation for the family became a possibility. In the past, vacations could not really be planned in advance as we never knew when something would come up that required the husband to be available.
I have purchased a good travel guide written by a travel authority I trust. Good reading and dreaming there. Last weekend our local PBS station was begging for bucks as it was pledge week so they included in the lineup a show on traveling to Ireland with a travel show host. One segment dealt with the Blarney Stone. Who hasn't heard of the Blarney Stone, right? I was totally taken aback, though, to learn that in order to kiss the stone, one has to be do it while laying on his/her back and upside down. Oh dear. That pretty much sealed the decision for me.
I was willing to deal with the germ accumulation factor in such an activity. However, the thought of laying down on my back and someone holding my legs securely to the ground while I go head first, upside down, to kiss the stone? Well, forget it.
Back in 1998 I broke my tibia. It was a nasty break, requiring surgery and a steel rod and bolts. The leg healed quite well but since then I am very protective, so to speak, of the leg. I walk just fine. I don't, however, get down on the ground much. Or, for that matter, allow any grabbing of the leg. I have to baby the knee as it is prone to have a problem with the kneecap popping out of place if it is stressed by jerky moves and such. Nice,huh? I take an over the counter supplement to counter the arthritis pain and I am usually pain free so that's not a problem. Just some stiffness.
It's the price I pay for being a klutz.
I will plan to visit Blarney Castle if we get to Cork. My guys can kiss the stone!
7 comments:
On the other hand, Karen, maybe you'll have Good Luck and it will be completely healed?
Maybe not.
Just pat the old thing a time or two.
I want to go with! I have found that my old Priest friend is still offering tours. I put a link just now in my today's post. There are some travel tips that might be of interest to you, even if the tour seems too populated.
I think that same travel guide was on PBS last night. I watched it but not the whole thing -- missed the Blarney Stone, but got in on Limerick, Loughrea, Gort, Coole Park. Was that the same? I woke this morning dying to go over. DYING TO GO.
I'm sure Mr. Blarney would allow you to cheat... as long as the stone got his kiss.
Ireland? When do you plan to do this? Summer? There are college visits to consider as well this summer. Nyssa is worrying about the GRE and grad school. Worry, worry, worry.... I need to sleep.
I had no idea about the contortions required to kiss the sacred Blarney Stone. Good grief! Perhaps that's why the brand of Irish luck I'm most familiar with seems built around Murphy's law. You think?
:-)
Good luck, I hope you get to go. I hope to get my arse to Italy someday! I found a great little travel blog about Italy, I'm sure they have it for Ireland as well. It's regular people like you and me traveling and blogging - would make for a great travel guide, I would think, in getting to the out of the way places. Ya know?
http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Ireland/
I chose not to kiss it. I'm still to traumatized by my Uncle Bernard who used to hang us over the upstairs railing. Can you believe when I read poetry on St. Patrick's Day night that I wore the sweater I got when I was in Ireland 19 years ago and when I looked at the label, I saw the word BLARNEY in big letters?
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