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Continuing.... I didn't know if there was a length limit with LJ regarding post length.
Day Six- Sunday, June 20
Paul made a command decision and took us to Cobh (pronounced Cove) on Sunday rather than Monday like planned. Cobh was a large port during the whole period of Irish immigration, during the Famine and whatnot. It was also the last place the Titanic stopped before she crashed into that blasted iceberg. It had all kinds of artifacts from the ship and stuff, lots of information. It was interesting, for the most part.
At the gift shop, though, I discovered the meaning of my name. Pure sheep. My first name means sheep and my middle name means pure. So I am pure sheep. Oy
We did Blarney Castle and it was really cool. I was surprised, I guess. I generally don't like really touristy places/attractions, but I enjoyed the Blarney thing. The castle itself is gorgeous. I don't know how old it is, but it's complete and non-broken. It's amazing to think about how much work went into making those huge buildings. People today, Americans especially, just don't have that work ethic.
Nana, Sheila, Carmine and I climbed all the way to the top of the castle to kiss the Blarney Stone. It's like 200 steps or something which, in and of itself, isn't bad, but when they're really, really narrow, and really slippery, it kind of presents a problem. We eventually made it to the top. The view was spectacular. The weather was perfect, so we could see half of Ireland, I think.
Kissing the stone itself was a bit anti-climatic. It was very quick, they really rushed you out of there. It was easier than I expected, too. You just lay down off the castle wall and kiss the stone. I kind of hit it with my nose. lol.
We ate and then we shopped. A lot of the trip was spent eating and shopping, come to think of it.
The cabaret show was that nigh, so as soon as we got the hotel, I went up to the piano room to practice with Cahal. We had literally five mintues to practice since he had to set up all the sound equiptment, and meet his parents who he hadn't seen in a year, and we had to eat, etc. So we basically figured out a key that I would sing in and that was about it. To top it off, it was a different key than I learned the song in. The lower parts were lower and the higher parts were higher. I could deal with the high stuff, but I knew I'd have a problem with the low stuff.
We went to dinner. I didn't eat anything. I never do before I sing. Plus, I was majorly nervous and I just would have ended up throwing it up anyway. I skipped from dinner early to go warm up. It didn't really do much. The piano was horribly out of tune. Seriously, bad. Oy.
People started pouring into the room so I stopped singing and took a seat alone in the back. I helped Cahal set up a couple of tables for his family and then I sat back down. I was seriously shaking. I think the lack of preparation time and the fact that I hadn't sung the song in like a year really freaked me out. Kathleen noticed too, and approacted me and asked what was wrong. I told her that I was nervous and she calmed me down a little. Not much, but more than I'd been able to accomplish on my own. I settled in to watch the show.
Cahal sang a couple of songs. He's very good, very talented, and very much a performer. I don't know if I mentioned it, but Cahal is an entertainer by profession. He has CD's and everything. He won a huge contest in Ireland a couple of years back, beating out Colm Wilkenson, which I thought was cool. He then went on to compete in Eurovision, representing Ireland. He didn't win, but his single sold like 500,000 copies which, in 1981, was a big deal. He's so good. It was really nice to see him perform for us. He's obviously trained very hard.
Then he brought his friend Sean O'Shay up to sing. This was the guy who had the top single on the Irish pop charts at the time. I was like "wow." I mean, singing in the company of someone so successful is a litte intimidating. Very intimidating, actually.
My own singing went better than I had thought. I nailed all the high stuff, but I was quite pitchy on the low parts, like I knew I would be. But, it could have been worse. The audience seemed to like it. I got people telling me for days how much they loved it and I was asked to sing again, but I declined. I just figured that most of them were half deaf anyway so they couldn't tell that my pitch was off at parts.
When I was walking back to my seat, Kathleen patted the chair next to her and motioned for me to sit down. She said she admired my courage. She loves to sing and has a beautiful voice, but she said she breaks out in hives if she has to sing in front of people. That made me feel better, knowing that I wasn't the only person who got nervous.
We watched Paul O'Leary, another one of Cahal's friend, perform. He's an incredible tenor. Beautiful voice. He was a bit of an asshole, though. But, a talented asshole.
Day Seven- Monday, June 21
We had a free day in Kinsale. Nana and I went into Kinsale and shopped a little bit. We came to the pub for lunch. After lunch, I went down and spent a good three hours in the hottup dangling my feein while I read my book. It was nice, relaxing. I think I really needed a quiet day to myself at that point. The whole "on the bus, off the bus" thing was getting a little monotonous. Plus, it was nice to have some "me time" for a change. Throughout the trip, Nana was kind of smothery... I mean, I dealt with it, but I really got tired of being babied after a while. That got old really fast. She didn't seem to understand that I can take care of myself and that I'm not ten years old.
After dinner I went down the hotel pub to watch the soccer game with Cahal, Kathleen, and Ryan. Nana wasn't happy. She didn't like the idea of me being in a bar because I'm underage. Even though I didn't drink anything, she didn't think it was appropriate because it was "a place for adults." But the thing was, she was the only one who really saw me as a child. I got along great with the other adults, and they treated me like an adult. Oy.
Anyway, when the game was over, (England won. Yay.) Ryan and Cahal went out somewhere and Kathleen and I stayed in the bar and talked for like twenty mintues before I had to be up in bed. We have a lot in common, I think. She knows a lot about what I'm going through with Mum and all the responsibility that I have at home. She said she pretty much raised her six younger siblings when she was my age. I can't imagine having that many brothers. But I coudl still identify. It was nice to get to know her a little bit.
Day Eight- Tuesday, June 22
I ate breakfast again with Cahal and Kathleen. I really felt comfortable with them. From this point on, I would continue to eat with them in the morning. It was always fun. We crack each other up.
It was raining cats and dogs, and we got lucky that most of the day was spent driving around in the bus. We stopped in the little town of Kenmare for lunch. We were looking for a restaurant in the pouring rain, and I found one with a menu posted on the door. As soon as I saw the word "hamburger" I was in that door, no looking back. The gourmet food we'd been eating was wonderful, but I really needed some good, old fashioned American junk food. It was great. It was heaven. And Ryan was majorly jealous.
We made our way around the Ring of Kerry. It was beautiful. We were on top of this mountain just looked down at the cliffs and the hills and even in the rain, it was magical. Almost more so, since we saw some of the legendary Irish mist.
Poor Ceil, though, she was terrified. She hates heights. I felt bad that she coudln't really appreciate the scenery. That must be a tough frea to have, so limiting.
We made our way into Killarny and to the Great Southern Hotel which is, I think, my favorite hotel of the entire trip. It was huge and absolutely gorgeous. The ceilings were plated with gold, the floors were marble with big marble columns. The room was large and it looked out on a small, picturesque little fountain. There was a pool, and a hottub, so I was a happy girl.
Before dinner, I went into teh lobby to read my book and I ran into Bonnie and her husband Flip, two of the other people on the tour. We talked for like an hour. They're nice people, I like them.
At dinner, Cahal, Kathleen, and Ryan sat with us. It was nice, although poor Cahal was asked so many questions he was barely allowed to eat. And boy, can he eat. You'd never know it to look at him, but the man eats like a friggin horse. He must have one amazing metabolism.
After we finished, we walked down to Laurel's Singing Pub for some entertainment. The singer was good. Not great, but okay. They got Chala up to sing and he was, again, wonderful. Personally, though, I think his storytelling ablilites outweight his vocal skill. The overall package is excellent.
Tom, the other bus driver, got up and sang a little too. He was funny. He taught us a song called "Who the Hell is Alice?" Is that a great title or what?
Will write a little more later. The brother wants to steal the computer.