I’m coming to realize the deep tradition of storytelling in Ireland. There are so many great stories and tales. Some of them are fun but many of them are dark, bitter and extremely violent. I think Ireland strikes a balance between that in their stories and I’m starting to appreciate that most about the country.

One of the most popular tourist spots is Blarney Castle where you can get the gift of gab by kissing the Blarney Stone. You climb a steep set of stairs and wait in line to kiss the stone. In reality, the wait and the setup was a bit of a buzz kill. A great historic site and place to visit, but I don’t think it’s on the top of my lists for Ireland (that post will follow).

Now the days have become a blurr which is why I am blogging before I forget. I’m pretty excited about the number of castles in Ireland. There are some that are in rough shape and other ones that have held up or have been semi-restored beautifully. The latter is Ross Castle in a national park in Killarney. The view from the water makes you think immediately of summer and I know we’ve been spoiled with good weather since we’ve arrived.

We walked through a gorgeous meadow to get to it. There were deer in the distance and just acres of tall grass and blue skies. It was a 5km walk roundtrip altogether and so nice to finally stretch our legs after being on a bus all day. Sylvia and I even stopped and sat down on a bench to stare at the meadow in awe and chat for a while. I make it a point now to stop when I am in a beautiful space to take it all in. You never know if that moment will ever come again.