In Ireland, the day after Christmas is celebrated as St Stephen's Day. While the entire country is shut down on Christmas, there's some action on St Stephen's Day: the busses have a limited schedule, the pubs are open for part of the day, etc. Over breakfast at the Kilarney hostel, I was mulling my options. An Australian woman asked me what my plan was, and I confessed I didn't have one. She was headed to Cork, she told me, in search of the Blarney Stone. It was soon arranged that I would tag along. In 20 minutes, I was packed and ready to go, and I met Linda in the lobby to set out for Cork.

We got to Cork without issue, only to find that the hostel we expected to stay at had been closed for a year. We were recommended to another, called Sheila's, up on the hill. We hiked up there and got a room, only to find it a claustrophobic little box, full with two bunkbeds, one of which was occupied by two fellows sleeping off a bender, and smelling like pub and body odor. Urgh. We weren't especially pleased, but we had a date with the Blarney Stone, so we set off without resolving the room situation. A local bus ran up to Blarney, and we soon came within sight of the famous castle.

The Blarney Stone is a stone "from the Holy Land" that supposedly has the power to cure muteness. Children who have speech difficulties or lack the ability to speak are brought to kiss the stone, which magically restores to them the "gift of the gab." Fully-functional adults who kiss it are supposedly granted the right to tell lies for seven years. The Blarney Castle is run as a tourist destination today: you pay an admission fee as you would to see the World's Largest Ball of Yarn, or some such thing. They have a chintzy gift shop, and a jaded bouncer up top guarding the stone and those who would kiss it. In spite of this development and tourism hype, I was genuinely excited to be here. I remember first reading about the Blarney Stone in a storybook by Richard Scarry when I was a toddler. I was giddy to actually be here, and to have arrived by such serendipity by latching on to Linda's plan.

The cynical bouncer up top held tourists as they leaned over backwards to kiss the smooth stone. Right before I tipped upside-down, I asked if it was true that locals peed on the stone. "Oh, yes," he gruffly replied. Oh well; here I was -- no turning back now. I kissed it.

After the stone-kissing, Linda and I wandered around the grounds for a bit, taking in the lush wet scenery. We got a pint in a pub while we waited for the bus, but then the bus didn't show up. Little girls ran into all the pubs with a basket for change, and sang a beseeching song asking for money. We waited and waited for the bus, and then gave up, taking a cab back to Cork instead.

Upon getting dropped off back in Cork, we went off in search of food and stout. We found the first at a fried chicken fast-food place. We found the second at Scotts on Caroline Street. Scotts had a band promised for later in the evening, so we stuck around for a few pints before the Glitterbugs took the stage. They were dressed like the band Kiss, with white-and-black makeup, tight leather pants, and big hair. We had a great time listening to their covers of rock-and-roll classics.

After the Glitterbugs concluded their performance, we headed to An Bohdran, a pub dedicated to traditional Irish music. We had a grand time there, singing along with the clever and talented musicians. Everyone crooned along to "Whiskey in the Jar" and "Fairytale of New York," the latter a Pogues tune that was the most frequently-played radio song I heard in Ireland.

After we arrived at An Bohdran, Linda recognized someone. She works in tourism in Queensland, and she spotted a man she had met at a tourism conference in Australia the previous year. He turned out to be Liam, the owner of Sheila's Hostel, where we were staying. Not knowing this at first, Linda told him about the tiny room. With a deft cellphone text message, Liam upgraded us to a better room, and bought us pint after pint of Guinness for the rest of the night. Back at the hostel at 1am, we were delighted to get a much roomier suite. Thanks, Liam! I slept like a rock, and woke in the morning ready to roll for Galway.