2014 Around Again: 15th July

Cobh (Cork) Cloudy but dry Temp19c

We were a little late arriving this morning because we heard we had a medical emergence last night which caused us to be late leaving Dublin. All Aboard time is now 4.30pm instead of 3.30pm. The Harbour where we were docked is the biggest one in the Europe area. Our tour started at 9.30am. and started with a guided drive alongside the River Lee which flows in two main channels around Cork. We passed by farmland, crossing small stone bridges and onto the 18^th century village of Blarney. On the way we did catch glimpses of Blarney Castle which of course houses the Blarney Stone. A visit was not on our tour however we did find out that if you kiss the Blarney Stone it is said that you will have the gift of the Gab but if you kiss someone who has kissed the stone you to will also get the gift of the Gab. I discovered that Bev had kissed the Stone before so I immediately kissed her and have not stopped talking since. In Blarney Village is the Blarney Woolen Mill shop which is said to be the largest Irish shop in the world and it certainly is big and full of high quality knitwear, Irish linens, Donegal tweeds and Waterford Crystal. Needless to say Betty now has 2 new garments. Part of the tour was to have an Irish Coffee and they were served at the Woolen Mill Coffee Shop. Although they were mass produced to cater for about 6 coaches we found them pretty good. After being suitably refreshed we drove back to the ship through more lovely Irish countryside. We had a late lunch and then went down to the quayside where there is a substantial terminal where I got my frig magnet but no free WiFi. Never mind Princess Cruises have given us another 1000 minutes of their slow WiFi so we will make do with that. There was a full crew for dinner tonight as we sailed at 4-30pm. and are now on our way to Boston with 5 sea days. Coral will be an expert Bridge player by the time we reach the US as she is having lessons. The entertainment tonight was Nolan Dean & Emmanuelle Adda a husband and wife team. He is English and she is half French & half Pilipino. They sang, he told jokes, she danced and she played a ukulele. They are very good but unfortunately that was their only performance. One joke I can share with you. As Nolan travels around a lot he was not home for his Mum’s birthday so he thought he would send her a bunch of flowers. He saw a shop with flowers in the window and went in asking the owner would they please send a bunch of flowers to his Mum in London. No came the reply we do Vasectomies. “But you have flowers in your window” said Nolan. “Well what would you put in there” was the reply. Another Hot Chocolate in the Atrium and we are off to bed. Our clocks went back another hour tonight so we had extra reading time before we are rocked to sleep by the waves.(in the Atlantic now). Just a bit of trivia I just thought of. The first language in Ireland is Gaelic and bh is pronounced as a v so Cobh becomes Cove. Also the Titanic left here for the US just like us and hit an………..we are not talking about that. Our sail a way was the best one yet. Cobh made today Australia Day and they all turned out to send us off with lots of Ozzie flags and a brass band. I'll put the photo on tomorrow.