Visit from home & Blarney Castle

Good Monday morning, dear friends.

Last week went by incredibly fast. Time always flies by when you're enjoying yourself or, in my case, spending time with loved ones. My mom and dad visited me in Ireland :) Since they arrived very late on Tuesday, there's nothing exciting to tell about that day (except that an Aperol Spritz at the River Lee Hotel costs €9.50 - Austria, I miss your Aperol Spritz!)

On Wednesday, I showed them around campus and the university, and after lunch, we went into town and up to St. Anne's Church Shandon. On the first floor, you can ring the bells yourself - or like my dad, use the songbook to know which bell to ring to play 'Amazing Grace.' From the tower, you have a beautiful view over the city - unless your hair keeps blowing in your face, it's very windy up there :D

I didn't see much :D

After that, we explored the city and followed a recommendation from my parents' landlord. The Italian restaurant Milanos is said to have the best pizza in Cork City. Tested and approved. Mhhhhhhm delicious!!

The next afternoon, we took the bus to Blarney. There you'll find Blarney Castle, one of the top attractions in Cork. When you google 'Cork' and 'attractions,' the castle is among the first results. Now I know why. The castle, the house, the gardens, and the whole property are absolutely beautiful!!

At the top of the tower is the Blarney Stone. You have to kiss it to receive the 'Gift of eloquence' - if you kiss this stone, you're supposed to be particularly articulate and persuasive for the next 7 years. We'll see if that's true, I obviously tried it :) As you can see in the picture, it's not an easy task to get to this stone.

The Blarney Lake

A small part of the map of the property. You can easily spend a whole day inside, it's truly beautiful and worth recommending!

This is my personal favorite photo from that day. I don't know why, but this picture, the gate, and the field behind it match exactly my vision of an Irish field.

Before leaving the property, we went to the left from the entrance, where the witches and druids were at home. The 'Wishing Steps' next to the waterfalls originally had to do with witches as well. If you walk up the stairs with your eyes closed and think about a special wish, it will come true in one year. I'll keep you posted :)

And so this beautiful day in Blarney came to an end. On the way back, we found a great restaurant where we were served by a waitress who had lived in Berlin for a year - finally ordering food in German again, hurray :) Of course, I won't withhold pictures of the food from you. Really delicious, really filling, and really affordable for Cork standards.

Of course, that wasn't all I experienced this week, but the rest deserves its own blog post, which I will write and post right after this.

See you soon

xxxx

Danni