Today we started the day in Killarney by getting into a horse and cart, called a jaunting cars. Our horse's name was Tom, and our drivers name was Jerry. They're supposed to be really good storytellers, but our guy didn't tell us much about the area... Nikki (the Geelong girl) was riding up the front with him, and he was about 80%252525252525252525 creepy, 20%252525252525252525 funny... He started the ride by saying he was looking for a wife, and Nikki said she was looking for a husband and it just went on from there... It got a little creepy and disturbing... We had a nice trot around the national park though, which was quite pretty. When we got back to the hostel, we paid the driver (not worth it really, in my opinion...) and got on the bus. We arrived in Blarney, and went in to the grounds of Blarney Castle. The gardens were very green, lots of ravens around too. We went up to the castle and got in line to kiss the Blarney Stone. Legend has it that whoever kisses the Blarney Stone at the top of the castle will have the gift of the gab for the next 7 years. Although its a lot easier now, all you have to do is wait in queue, rather than scaling the sheer castle walls!! It took us about 40 minutes to get to the top, but there was a big group of us off the bus all together, so we just made our own fun. (Really wish we had a guitar though, the acoustics are great in there!!) At the top of the castle we had a great view of the rest of the grounds (including the poison gardens, where things like wolfsbane and other things I thought were made up for the Harry Potter books are grown...) We finally got to the front of the line, and had to lay on our backs, hold onto the hand rails, and lean over the side of the building while someone held our legs so we could kiss the stone! (So if I talk too much for the next 7 years, I'm sorry!) After we left the castle, the line was about twice as long as when we started, so lucky we went there when we did! We left the grounds and went out to the Blarney Hotel for lunch. We had a quick lunch (I had these field mushrooms with caramelized onion, spinach and goats cheese, which were amazing!) then headed back to the bus. The bus wasn't there yet so we went into a shop which was claimed to be "the largest Irish shop in the world". it was pretty massive, but I don't know whether I believe it's the largest, because it said 'blarney' next to it with an arrow pointing to it, which has come to be known as a word kind of meaning bullsh*t... (But not rude!) "That's blarney!" We got back on the bus and our next stop was a little town called Cobh, which was the last port that the Titanic picked up passengers before it sailed. We had a while there and didn't really know what to do with ourselves, so a bunch of us just went for a walk up and down the streets. It was really quiet, a little ghost-town-ish... We finally found what looked like a main street and found a little pub there. They had a special on bulmers (3 for €5), so our table kept getting those! (I was having an alcohol-free-day though, so I just enjoyed the company!!) After a few rounds there, and a few photos (they even let Darren behind the bar for a photo!), we headed back to the bus and made our way to Cork. When we got there, we checked into the hostel (a 4 bed dorm this time, with us and Stephan, from South Africa), and went for a quick walk to see if we could find a music store. We found a couple, but didn't find a left-handed mandolin! I think that mission may be QUITE a mission! On the way back we went to the off-license and grabbed a couple of drinks (or at least Darren and Lyle did! I'm still on an AFD!), and headed back to the hostel. We hung out there for a little bit then met everyone else in the reception and went to go for dinner. We walked down the street and along the river to the restaurant called Bodega. They had some really good 2for1 kind of deals and we ate so much food we could hardly walk!! The dishes were huge! After dinner we all headed down to a ten pin bowling place. We got in, and were trying to figure out how to work it all out, when Mark (the tour guide) was told that Ian wasn't allowed in! He's probably 11 or 12, and he was with his parents, but they still wouldn't let him stay! It was so ridiculous. So the three of them had to leave. The poor kid was shattered too, he had really been looking forward to bowling! We had an hour of bowling (our lane didn't quite finish our game) and Lyle won the whole thing. After we finished we stayed on and played some pool for a while, then me, Darren, Duane and Stephan (both from South Africa) went back to the hostel, via a very pretty view of Cork at night from a bridge over the river. On the stairs out the front of the hostel, we met the French Canadian girls from the other tour and went back to their room to hang out for a while (except Stephan, who went to bed). They were once again, loud and drunk and crazy! We only stayed for a little while, and Darren got a random slap on the face for no reason... Weird... Then we went to bed.