April 26, 2019 Serenade TA - Is it LIVE, or is it Memorex🤔

[John&LaLa]

Outside the castle

 

 

 

The tower I kept seeing headed down from the top

 

 

Dungeon and battlements

 

Late morning lines to start the climb

 

Good overall picture of the castle

 

The down staircase is on the right, and those are the windows toward the tower I mentioned earlier

 

 

[John&LaLa]

6 minutes ago, singinalot said:

let’s talk about the stairs to get to the top 🤣😱

 

Human centipede, but not the kinky kind😉

[John&LaLa]

The poison garden was fun

 

Laura was taking notes on her phone

 

Wormwood just sounds nasty

 

I was just looking for the Cannabis plant

 

There it is, under the jungle gym thingy

 

I've been known to call my Granddaughter this💩 

She's three

 

Enjoying the gardens

 

She's still #1

 

Edited May 7, 2020 by John&LaLa

[John&LaLa]

A few miscellaneous shots with the family 

 

 

This is a fun perspective

 

The dude behind the camera

 

Hurry up. Let's go shopping

[Tee & Chilli]

Very nice pictures of the castle and the family.

[John&LaLa]

When in Rome.

 

While Laura went shopping in the Blarney Woolen Mills next door, Pat and I tipped a few pints.

 

It will be a recurring theme on this trip I do believe

 

And then we headed back to Cobh

 

Pat was our 'mule'

 

He did take pictures, I really need to ask him about that

 

Irish Fast Food was not what I expected

 

And we're back

 

The lovely Serenade of the Seas

 

We'll have to talk about Cobh tomorrow.

Luckily it's a sea day and not much else going on as we head to France.

 

Goodnight

 

[Coralc]

Maybe the Lookout Tower was like the security guard house? They sent a pigeon down or something when invaders were spotted? 

 

I wouldn't be kissing the Blarney Stone either. Similarly, I would have a difficult time getting down and up. 

[bobmacliberty]

Nice pictures.  Are they from your phone or your camera?  And what's the legend about kissing the stone that makes people want to bend over backwards to do so?  Is it the gift of gab?

[Biker19]

8 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

There is a guy there to help, and they take pictures

I guess that guy will be unemployed for a while.

[John&LaLa]

1 hour ago, bobmacliberty said:

Nice pictures.  Are they from your phone or your camera?  And what's the legend about kissing the stone that makes people want to bend over backwards to do so?  Is it the gift of gab?

 

This entire trip is my phone, left the big girl home

 

Yes, gift of eloquence 

Edited May 7, 2020 by John&LaLa

[L454S]

John, did you get the fish and chips at Dino's? They were great last spring.......

[John&LaLa]

2 minutes ago, L454S said:

John, did you get the fish and chips at Dino's? They were great last spring.......

 

No, just saw it in Cork while heading back to ship

[John&LaLa]

1 hour ago, Biker19 said:

I guess that guy will be unemployed for a while.

 

I think it's Mr Blarney

[John&LaLa]

Had a quick bite in the Jammer and then Pat and I explored Cobh

 

Of course 'explore' is Dad speak for getting lost😉

 

Luckily, the Cathedral was usually visible from anywhere

 

It was a nice day though

 

Should have stopped here, but we carried on

 

This place was closed, but we liked the sign

Pat is a big Bulldog fan

 

Edited May 7, 2020 by John&LaLa

[Sea Dog]

Blarney Castle looks very cool. Making note of this so we may visit in the future.

[John&LaLa]

So, the new plan is to find the Cathedral entrance, take a few pictures, then regroup

We took a clockwise path from the pier and ended up here

 

Walked up that street where the yellow car is parked

 

Hey, there is the ship, I wonder if Laura is looking at us right now

 

 

Almost there, I struggle to keep up with the youth

 

Look a map, now we can find a different way back

 

[John&LaLa]

6 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

Blarney Castle looks very cool. Making note of this so we may visit in the future.

 

It was more fun than the tower in Pisa

[John&LaLa]

Cobh Cathedral

 

All I have is outside shots, once again Pat didn't seem interested in going inside

Next time I'll just leave his butt outside

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 7, 2020 by John&LaLa

[Sea Dog]

14 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

It was more fun than the tower in Pisa

I don’t know if my back would allow me to get in that position to kiss the stone. Might have to pass on that part 😄

[John&LaLa]

Time to head back down. 

 

Truthfully going down is harder for me that going up

 

Like I said earlier, you see the spire from everywhere

 

About halfway down the long street

 

 

Lots of little things to see

 

This was one of my favorites

 

Back at the square

 

 

Edited May 7, 2020 by John&LaLa

[John&LaLa]

Venni, Vedi, Vici 😎

 

Now Cobh is known as the only port the ill fated Titanic stopped at.

Apparently they picked up a few 'lucky' passengers after leaving Southampton

A few got off as well. Good move.

There are walking tours, re enactment folks, museums, and plaques everywhere

 

Here are a couple

 

 

There's a plaque

 

It is also the final resting place of many Lusitania victims

 

Here is a memorial to them

 

 

 

 

Edited May 7, 2020 by John&LaLa

[kastke]

17 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

We had the Blarney Castle excursion through the ship

Obviously, this was a morning excursion, and it was still chilly

Admission to the site was included in the excursion, but we had to wait for the site to open

It opened at 9am

 

 

We did the Blarney Castle excursion also, but with a private tour. We must have arrived there shortly before you, as I see myself in the picture of the other line (right hand side). My red hair is usually an easy telltale mark! It was great getting to the Castle before the lines, and thoroughly enjoyed our time exploring the gardens. I did kiss the stone, but Bill did not - he wouldn’t have been able to get up easily either. 
 

We had lunch in Kinsale, then had the driver drop us off at the Church in Cobh,  explored the area, and walked back down to the port, saw the Titanic Memorials and Museum. It was just a great day all the way around. 
 

Dorothy 

[John&LaLa]

Did I forget to mention that Laura called on the way down the hill and asked us to find her a sweater.😱

Apparently she wasn't happy with the sweaters in Blarney

This is never a good idea. Luckily I was able to browse, send pictures back, and use my excellent taste. 😁

 

Found a nice little boutique next to one of the Titanic exhibits. 

This was the winner, I had a lot more pics, but deleted them a while ago.

The sales lady had fun with me posing all the choices. Well she seemed to. 

 

And then there was the VAT. 

I opted to forego it, and was given a form to fill out when I got home.

I forgot and they billed me around $40 a few months later. Oh well.

 

Laura modeling it with a lovely bokeh effect

 

Full Frontal with Cobh in the background

 

And that concludes our Irish adventure.

We will definitely come back

 

 

 

[John&LaLa]

One last story.

 

Leslie and Shelton did a private tour to Cork and picked up a Starbucks Mug

She brought it to Trivia that afternoon

 

Oops, I never found one.

We collect them and I was really jealous

 

Anyway, Leslie ended up giving it to Laura, I think tomorrow, but that's in the future. 😉

We really appreciated the generosity. 😍

 

No towel animals, no food pics, no recollection of the evening activities.  

 

We did do a nighttime pizza run to Park Cafe though

 

[John&LaLa]

Cruise Compass Day 12 - At Sea again