This morning I woke up and realised I was 26 today. I had already received my birthday present in Paris (white gold bracelet) and breakfast in bed was not really feasible, so it was a day like most others. We went down for our buffet breakfast, checked out and made our way downtown to The Blarney Castle. We drove past the pub we'd visited the night before. The Blarney Castle was grand and spectacular. There were many levels and a long winding staircase to get to the top. There was a group of American tourists who were on a bus tour but apart from that, it wasn't really busy. We made our way to the top and lined up to kiss the famous Stone of Elequence. There is a man who helps you. He tells you to lie down on your back, facing outwards of the Castle. You lie on a piece of plastic matt. He then pulls you down until your head is hanging over the edge, then tells you to kiss the stone of the castle. Once you kiss the stone, he pulls you back in and the next person has a turn. The whole process takes about a minute. It was fun! We had a bit of a look around on the different castle floors, and spoke to an American couple, who took a photo of us with our camera and we returned the favour. Afterwards we bought a few souvenirs in the gift shop, including a green cap for Dad. We arrived at Cork and had a look around. We went into a well-known pub and had some lunch. The pub was bigger than the one we went to in Blarney but with similar decorations such as posters. I could imagine it would get quite lively at night. Afterwards we had a bit more of a wander around then drove to the rental car drop-off point. As it was a weekend, the drop-off point had been changed to the airport (the same place where we'd picked up the car). Luckily there was a man there who told us this information. We drove to Cork airport and dropped the car keys off, then went inside and waited till we could check in. I had some Krispy Kreme donuts and Andrew had a coffee. The airport was very small and not busy. The flight was short (about one hour) and we arrived at Stanstead in the early evening. Our hotel, the Radisson Blue, was walking distance away which was handy. It was a nice, flashy hotel, with hundreds of rooms and chandeliers. Andrew had booked it especially for my birthday. Once we had checked in and settled into our room, we decided to walk back to the airport to get some dinner. We had Burger King and were shocked that it cost AUD$30! After that we went back to our room and went to bed at about midnight.
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