We got ready and went downstairs for food at the breakfast nook. Ben ordered a full breakfast of the menu, and I had the continental breakfast. It had the usual English breakfast plus other goodies. We talked about altering our day due to the rain. We decided we were going to drive into Cohb and do the Titanic exhibit first, then the Blarney Castle tour later once the rain lets up. I was not happy that we had to change our plans and there could be a possibility of not being able to go see the castle.
We got ready to go and headed out. We aren't sure why the GPS took us on some really sketchy, narrow and water filled back rural roads. We just went with it and trusted that it got us there at the correct time. Along the way, we saw a lot of the hustle and bustle of a Saturday morning in Ireland.
We got into Cobh and thankfully found some parking along the street. We had less than 15 minutes to check in with our tour, but we made it. I couldn't believe I was going into a building, that still stands today, that all of the passengers who boarded Titanic walked through. The history geek in me was nerding out hard!
We checked in and they each handed us a card, a replica of what the tickets would have looked like, and I was a first-class passenger, and he was a third-class passenger.
Our tour promptly started at 11 a.m. and it was us and a family of 8. Our tour guide, Sofie, was doing her first tour. I loved her accent too. This Titanic tour specifically told the stories of the 123 passengers who left the Queenstown Port. Back then, Cobh was known as Queenstown because Queen Victoria visited in 1849. This port was the luxury liner's final stop on its maiden journey, before setting sail on the longest leg of the voyage to New York City and ultimately its sinking into the icy Atlantic.
Sofie took us around the historic White Star Line Building retracing the footsteps of the Queenstown passengers. From purchasing the tickets, to boarding the Titanic - they had to be ferried to the moored vessel because it was too large for the harbor - to their experiences on the Titanic to fighting for their lives one of the world's most tragic maritime disasters. I was in complete awe that this was the same building these passengers walked through.
After our guided tour, we were able to walk around the museum part learning about the ship, the passengers, the timeline of the sinking, looking at various artifacts, historical data, photos, diagrams, etc. All of it was exciting to me and I knew most of this stuff already. At the end, we both found out our passengers survived. I took various photos and we even purchased a few items from the gift shop. I asked Ben what he wanted to do afterwards and he said, walk around the town for a bit.
We spent about an hour walking around Cobh. We walked along the coastline towards the train station/boat terminal to go grab a cache on the dock. Welcome/Welcome Back (GC9RHJX) was a magnetic micro and it was easy to find. I let Ben grab it from its hiding spot. We got our names on it, took a few pictures and put it back. No one was around which was nice.
We walked back towards town and stopped inside the Cobh Heritage Centre to check out what was inside. There was a restaurant, a shop, public bathrooms and a museum that showcases the history of the area from when it was Cobh, Queenstown and Cobh again. There was some stuff about the Titanic as well. We quickly used the restrooms while we had a chance to and then went into the shop to look around. I ended up buying some Claddagh rings (friendship rings) for my Mom and Rhonda and I bought a Celtic knot ring for myself. The lady was very knowledgeable and even told us how we could get our taxes back when we went home on the goods that we bought in Ireland. We thanked her and we walked back towards the car. But first, we went into a candy store across the street from where we parked. We bought a few things including some Irish cream fudge.
We drove back to Blarney only to discover that the castle was closed for the day due to the rain. That meant, no tours whatsoever. It would have been nice to know it was closed especially since we ordered the tickets in advance, why didn't they send us an email or call or something? We wasted so many hours driving back to Blarney when we could have just moved on to the next part of our trip. It definitely affected the rest of our day. Oh well. We walked around the Woolen Mills store for a while. Then we left for the Copper Coast.
We followed the GPS and these roads are so narrow, and we got stuck behind several vehicles along the way. The it was difficult trying to pass them too. We were sad we didn't get to the Copper Coast UNSECO Global Geopark before it closed. We just moved on and tried finding a pullout or a viewpoint to stop and see the Irish Sea. We stopped at two different viewpoints. The first stop was a view of the sea. You could walk up and touch the ocean, which I did, just to say I did, but you had a hard time walking around because it was so windy. I almost slammed myself in the car door.
The second location was an overlook, and it had a geocache! We enjoyed the cliffs and I walked over to Ice, Fire and Water (GC4ZB3H) to grab the hidden container. It was checked on by the cache owner in September. It was next to a sculpture that looked like a colored razor clam. I barely made it back into the car. I thought I was going to fly away. It was getting dark and decided we should drive to our hotel in Kilkenny and forgo Waterford. It was about a two-and-a-half-hour drive to the hotel. We listened to music and talked about random things.
We got into Kilkenny and made our way to the hotel's address. It took us down a skinny one-way street to a covered parking garage. Of course, we had to pay for parking. We grabbed a few things and walked across the street to check in. Once we found out where our room was, we went back out to the car, grabbed our stuff and walked up to our room. Our room was actually pretty cool. We got settled in and went downstairs for dinner.
The restaurant inside the hotel was called Embers. I ordered half a chicken, potatoes and salad (it actually came with Ranch dressing) and Ben got the surf and turf. I got a beer and he ordered a double shot of whiskey. The food was delicious. After dinner, we went back upstairs and chilled for about an hour. I wrote in my journal and did my daily Facebook post.
We went back downstairs to the bar to listen to live Irish music and drank another pint of beer. I really didn't need another beer because I was super full from dinner but drank it anyway. We stayed for about an hour and the went back up to the room to get cleaned up and relax.
I went to bed around 11:30-midnight because I was tired and Ben ended up taking the bed apart because it wasn't comfortable. I had to get up twice because I was so full and had to pee a bunch of times. I felt blah but eventually fell asleep.
Next Adventure: Honeymoon: Euro Trip - Day 11
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