Unusual Experiences - Dinner in an Irish Castle
As soon as I could read I embraced it as a portal through which I could envision a life radically different from what I experienced as one of nine children living on what was referred to as a “dirt” farm, an apt description as there was no grass, or flowers or even much of a crop.
One of the alternate lives I conceived as I read was what it would be like to live in a castle. So when we planned our trip to Ireland in 1988, I asked the tour agent to schedule an overnight stay in a castle.
The castle (I can’t remember the name) was located on expansive acreage with the greenest lawn and numerous flowers. My childhood vision of the inside of a castle was far more luxuriant than the interior of the castle we visited; the room was no different than that of any hotel room.
Seated in the cozy dining room, we ordered our dinner and requested our usual cup of coffee with our meal. The waiter, in a somewhat “snooty” voice said, “Coffee is served in the lounge after dinner.”
A few years after our trip, I was with a group of members of Pen, a nationwide organization for writers. We were in a car on our way to visit the castle near Castle Rock, CO. I was telling about our visit to the Irish castle and was nearing the snide comment, when one of the members said, “My brother is half owner of that castle.”
For once, I zipped my lip!
Wilma Gundy
Wilma, I thought of you many times as I climbed the circular stone staircase all the way to the top of Blarney Castle. From the top one could look out across the verdant green fields of County Cork. The entire island of Ireland. to me at least, is a place of natural and unnatural beauty. The natural beauty I see as views of a living, breathing, green and lush, peaceful landscape, such as the one I saw from the top of the Blarney Castle.
Perhaps the unnatural beauty of Irelands rugged cliffs, the huge tossed stones of the Giant Causeway, and even the standing stones left by prehistoric peoples, belong with the kissing of the Blarney Stone. I did …