Photos: Glendalough, Cork, Cobh and Blarney (Ireland)

More photos! The days straight after my viva, I decided to travel to some of the well-known sights of Ireland.

Glendalough, Co. Wicklow

An extremely peaceful and beautiful place. There are two lakes in Glendalough, the one in the photo is of the larger lake. It's a rather nice walk from one end to the other, which brings you to a waterfall behind some mining ruins.

Middleton, Co. Cork

Myself and Debbie (pale pink top) went to Cork to visit our friend, Flo (blue top). It was sort of an "end-of-Ph.D." get-together, since all three of us started the same year and also ended the same year! The first three photos were taken outside Flo's house. The third photo was taken when we discovered that Flo's car had a leak and wouldn't start! Haha, what a way to start the holiday - definitely interesting! And finally, the last photo was taken at the studio of Flo's fiance, Blessing - sculptor extraordinaire! I gave my mum one of his art pieces for her 60th birthday last year.

Cobh, Co. Cork

This is famous for the fact that it was the last port where the Titanic docked at before it sailed for New York. Not sure which church is in the first photo, but I thought it looked amazing. You can actually see where Flo's green car (yeah, we managed to get it fixed!) was parked! The two other photos were of a statue of Ann Moore and her brothers (she was the first person to be admitted to the US through the new immigration centre at Ellis Island, New York on 01.01.1892 - she wasn't on the Titanic!!!). The statue marks the location from which the Titanic sailed from.

Blarney, Co. Cork

Finally, we went to Blarney, famous for the Blarney stone, which upon kissing it, one would receive what is called "the gift of the gab", haha. In other words, you'd be very good at telling stories. The stone is located at the very top of Blarney Castle (first photo) and I have to tell you, climbing the narrow staircase was pretty nerve-racking for me! The second photo is of us after we've kissed the stone, haha! Wonder if it worked? I thought the shadows looked cool in the stream, so I decided to take a photo of it.

That's it! I have to say, I have been living in Ireland for almost 10 years, and this is the first time that I've visited these places! City girl, through and through, that's me, haha!