Oh Blarney! Day 3

The castle originally dates from before AD 1200, when a wooden structure was believed to have been built on the site, although no evidence remains of this. Around 1210 A.D. this was replaced by a stone fortification. It was destroyed in 1446, but subsequently rebuilt by Cormac Laidir MacCarthy, Lord of Muscry.

An early story involves the goddess Clíodhna. Cormac Laidir MacCarthy, the builder of Blarney Castle,being involved in a lawsuit, appealed to Clíodhna for her assistance. She told MacCarthy to kiss the first stone he found in the morning on his way to court, and he did so, with the result that he pleaded his case with great eloquence and won. Thus the Blarney Stone is said to impart "the ability to deceive without offending." MacCarthy then incorporated it into the parapet of the castle.

The ritual of kissing the Blarney Stone, according to the castle's proprietors, has been performed by "millions of people", including "world statesmen, literary giants [and] legends of the silver screen". The kiss, however, is not casually achieved. To touch the stone with one's lips, the participant must ascend to the castle's peak, then lean over backwards on the parapet's edge. This is traditionally achieved with the help of an assistant. Although the parapet is now fitted with wrought-iron guide rails and protective crossbars, the ritual can still trigger attacks of acrophobia, an extreme or irrational fear of heights.
In 2009, Tripadvisor.com ranked the Blarney Stone as the most unhygienic tourist attraction in the world ..yuck.

To improve tourism around the castle they have created these beautiful gardens to walk around in and take pictures. There are little mystical plaques everywhere telling you about my mysterious witch in the area.

Awww I love my mom!!! :)))

Day 2 The Dingle

My mom hates the fact that I call The Dingle Peninsula just "The Dingle" But. all locals call it the dingle also. and frankly.. its so much more fun to say! I wish i could find more of my pictures I took here, but alas. I cant. :)

 It was super foggy and pouring rain. We went through this beautiful back country road that I absolutely loved! The only problem was that it was a one lane road and it was scary at times trying to pass other cars!

 Yes. there are palm trees in Ireland!!! This made me oh so happy...I wish that it hadn't been winter season there. Apparently farther down from this palm tree is a fort from 400 AD. Which would have been rockin to see!

 Gaelic writing. My name is Gaelic...I find it completely fascinating :)

This was a really fun beautiful day. We had delicious fish and chips in a little restaurant while it down poured outside! I highly recommend anyone going to Ireland visit "The Dingle" :)

I am a horrible person. Sorry for not updating!! P.S. This is IRELAND Day 1

Day 1- The Cliffs of Moher

Yes these cliffs are incredibly beautiful to look at. 

The cliffs take their name from an old fort that once stood on Hag's Head, the most southern point of the Cliffs.

The cliffs consist mainly of beds of Namurian shale and sandstone with the oldest rocks being found at the bottom of the cliffs. It is possible to see 300 million year-old river channels cutting through, forming unconformities at the base of the cliffs

My mom and I may have trespassed at one point....crawling over a giant wall...onto farmers land...hiking through the mud and water that settled in puddles....but dont worry. We didnt end up in the police car in Ireland!

The Cliffs of Moher have been featured on film numerous times, including in Leap Year (2010), The Princess Bride (1987), Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)

AND. A man threw himself off the cliffs the day before we got there...after he tied his wife to their bed and left her for three days.. awesome.

I flew all the way to Europe....to go to a Asian Market!!

Czech Republic!! YAY

Ok. So today I went with my friend Sabrina to Czech to an Asian market. Weird right?lol I'm used to all the asians in New York speaking funny English, but here its funny German. AND. Well. I'm not good at German. AT ALL. So it was pretty funny. :) Good thing we had calculators to type in the prices they wanted me to pay and me to negotiate my way down!! :)

 YAY Czech! We stopped on a busy road and ran over to take this picture! The stars represent the European Union. Honestly. I am so not a fan of it. Wanna know why?? I have been in 4 different countries now...and only have ONE passport stamp!!!

 The many faces of me eating this amazing hazelnut wafer!! It was completely yummy!!

 The rest of these pictures are just so you all know how vain I can be about them....yep. I took a billion pictures of my very first bite!!

 Sabrina took me to this perfect German restaurant and I had my first schnitzle! It was pretty good! For 6,80 Euro I got a salad, potato salad, a drink and my schnitzle....and I ordered the small schnitzle...it was literally as big as the laptop I am typing on right now!! I'm thinking that's an amazing deal!!

 Unfortunately, I didnt take a picture of my food....I felt like a dumb American tourist doing that...And. I'm obviously not an American tourist or something if I dont act like one! :)

Budapest

Budapest

Did you know that Buda and Pest were actually two different cities on opposite sides of the river?? The Buda side is hilly with lots of trees and the Pest side has more of the housing and company development areas.

Buda is on the left and  Pest is on the right!

All the girls that dont actually have any kids draggin the kids around town!! :) Too bad David and Lincoln aren't in there too :))) 

I loved this...I think its called Hero Square. Behind is statues of all kinds of famous Hungarian Heroes :)

Completely random Hungarian takeout from down the street!!! It was like a big fish patty on the bottom with a chicken dish on top. The chicken tasted a little bit like Chinese! It was so odd. But I didn't hate it :)

Vien Pitstop :)

Welcome to Osterreich!!

This is where we bought our Vignette to drive through Austria on our way to and back.

So on our way to Budapest, we followed the girls in the car ahead.....may not have been the best idea since we ended up going through down town Vienna cause they totally missed our exit...BUT. It was super fun!!!!

City Center

Isn't that a super fun building?? :)

Beautiful castle somewhere in Austria, from the freeway.

My first Nuremburger!

German Food Is YUMMY.

These little potato things were soo delicious. They were crunchy like a tater tot on the outide...and soft and squishy like mashed potatoes on the inside!! Oh MY. SOOO GOOD!!  I LOVED THEM!

Yep, dinner was a little silly and a lot fun that night!!! These two girls are so funny!! It was very entertaining to watch them be goofy!

mmmmm Nuremburgers....Apparently every area here has their own type of sausages. SO. I'll be posting every time I try a new kind!! 

Look how tiny they are!! They are so cute! I had heard how good these were and they really were delish with a little bit of ketchup and mustard!!

Flying to my new home!

I suggest you fly British Airways....even in the states!

I know you are all very excited to hear about my airport experiences! So I get on my first flight, from Baltimore to London. and wow. British Airways is awesome. My first bag checked was free. Then, i got on the plane and all the new movies I wanted to watch were free. THEN I got a meal. Yes. A real delicious meal! Chicken Curry, Salad, Roll, Water, and Banana Cake. YUM!  Once I got to London I  was there for about four and a half hours....and it said you couldn't be at your gate any later than 20 minutes before take off...they didn't even post where my flight was leaving from until 20 minutes before! It was soo nerve wracking. BUT it all worked out (obviously, i made it)! I got nervous cause they spoke all German on the plane!!! Luckily most Germans speak English too!!

So glad that this was translated into English also!!

The man said he was giving me his heart as he gave me the "Air Berlin's chocolate heart logo" as i got off the plane. Too bad he was too old for me ;)