Paddywagon Day 6

We left Killarney bright and early the next morning, leaving most of us with less than 4 or 5 hours of sleep. Today we had to book it back to Dublin, so we spent most of the day on the bus, dozing. But we did stop off around 9:30 AM at the Blarney Castle to kiss the Blarney Stone. Legend has it that kissing the Blarney Stone will give you 7 years of good luck and the 'gift of the gab', or eloquence. It has been 8 years since I first kissed the Blarney Stone when on a Spring Break tour with my high school junior year, so I was due for another smooch. You have to bend over backwards over a 5-storey dropoff to reach the smooth surface of the special stone at the top of the castle ruins. The castle grounds are lovely and I walked around them for a bit that morning with Anna and Penny.

We finally arrived back in Dublin just before 4 PM. It was strange to say good-bye to people I'd only know for a week, but felt close to nonetheless. I hope to see many people again in London or traveling somewhere on a weekend before I return to the US.