Friday, March 14, 2008

Blarney & More

A trip to Ireland is not complete unless a visit to the Blarney Castle is on the schedule . . .


Photo by Sassy, Fashions by Asta
Back Row l-r: Stanley, Roscoe, Karl, Charlie, Socks & Opus
Front Row l-r: Emil, Asta, Momo, Charbdis, Scylla, Pinot, Socks, Momo, Sassy & Mrs. Oz.

The gang at the Blarney Castle.

. . . the Blarney Castle was originally a timber hunting lodge built in the 10th century, which was replaced by a stone castle in 1210. The present day construction was completed in 1446 and was in the family of McCarthy until the arrival of Oliver Cromwell in 1646. Fifteen years later King Charles II on the English throne gave the castle back to the McCarthys. The McCarthys were forced to leave the castle after a battle in 1690. The castle was sold to Sir James Jefferyes, Governor of Cork in 1703. The Castle is now owned and managed by the Trustees of the Blarney Castle Estate.


Photo by Karl

Karl holds Ruis as he kisses the Blarney Stone.

Hanging upside-down is the only way to kiss the Blarney Stone. The famous Blarney Stone has been kissed by millions of people. The stone is high up in the battlements of the castle. Going up several long stone spiral staircases up to the top of the castle you will find a line of tourists waiting their turn to kiss the Blarney Stone. While at the top of the castle you can enjoy the spectacular views of the Irish countryside, Blarney House and The Village of Blarney. The stone is believed to be half of the Stone of Scone which originally belonged to Scotland. Scottish Kings were crowned over the stone, because it was believed to have special powers. The stone was given to Cormac McCarthy by Robert the Bruce in 1314 in return for his support in the Battle of Bannockburn. Queen Elizabeth the first wanted Irish chiefs to agree to occupy their own lands under title from her. Cormac Teige McCarthy promised loyalty to the Queen without "giving in". Elizabeth proclaimed that McCarthy was giving her "a lot of Blarney".


Photographers Asta & Sassy

Taking a little break in our day of site-seeing we all headed to a local pub to enjoy some refreshments.

Later in the evening we all headed to The Pointe Theatre where Opus and Roscoe would be holding a special performance. This was requested by the Michael Flately of Lord of the Dance. When Mr. Flately heard that the Italians would be in Ireland we wanted them to show their stuff to the dance troupe and the residences of Ireland.


Photographers Opus & Roscoe, & Momo Kitty
l-r: Mrs. Oz, Momo Doggie, Momo Kitty, Asta, Roscoe, Scylla, Charlie, Sassy & Charybdis

Roscoe takes center stage with the his female troupe of Lord of the Dance.

Photo by Opus & Roscoe
l-r: Pinot, Opus, Socks, Roscoe, Karl, Ruis, Stanley & Emil

The male dancers go toe to toe with Rosco during their evening performance.


Opus is ready to strut his stuff with Michael Flately's Lord of the Dance.

Ready to show them how it is done Roscoe is ready to take command the stage.

From the moment Opus and Roscoe took the stage, the lights went down, to the last encore the audience was spellbound by a masterfully orchestrated combination of precision dancing, state of the art lighting and pyrotechnics. The performance witnessed tonight left no soul untouched!

Photo by Opus and Roscoe
l-r: Roscoe, Sassy & Opus
After the magnificant performance by Opus and Roscoe I went back to their dressing room to congratulate them on their A one dancing and left several gifts for them.

Tomorrow's day will also be filled with a full day for Momo Opus & Roscoe, Karl, Emil, & Mrs. Oz, Ruis, Asta, Stanley, Momo & Pinot, Charlie, Socks, Scylla & Charybdis. Stay tuned

11 comments:

Angel MoMo and Charlotte said...

Hi Sis, Blogger is not being very helpful this afternoon. I am having trouble with loading my pics.

What fun we had at the Dance performance. The boys were just so good! No wonder Michael Flately sent them the special invitation to be star guest performers

Cat Naps in Italy said...

What a wonderful day that was! Sorry that Roscoe stole the show. You know he has used all of his 15 minutes of fame and THEN SOME! hehehehehe!

Thank you for the wonderful posters you made us. Did you see the photo we posted of the three of us in our dressing room?

Tomorrow is another big day. Better get some rest!
Love,
Opus O'Tinytail and Lord of the Dance

Alastriona, The Cats and Dogs said...

Thanks for telling us more about the Blarney Stone.

Blogger was naughty to us too. Perhaps us cats should take over and fix it. Mommy says it has bugs in it. I bet we could hunt those bugs down and dispose of them right away.

~Scylla, Charybdis & Socks

Jan Price said...

We can see you are having a wonderful time and are too busy - way too busy! - to send postcards. :)

Blogger has been mean to all of us lately. Maybe we should all put the bitey on it.

JFF

Gemini and Ichiro said...

I bet that was a performance to remember.

Anonymous said...

What a great time we have, Sassy! The dance show was FANTASTIC!! Those Italian boys are so talented!

By the way, you also looked very pretty with the blond curly wig! :-)

~Karl & Ruis

Angel MoMo and Charlotte said...

Love that pic of yours with the boys. I am going to download it and show it to my gran.

Asta said...

Sassy
You awe the bestest plannew..I didn't want to go back stage, thewe was such a cwush to get to those two staws, wewen't they fabulous, I'm in awe!!!
I had a pawticoolawly tiwing day with wunning to Sing-a-Paw in the middle, but now I'm back and welaxing, and weady fow anothew gweat day tomowwow!
I'm so glad you like Stan..he weally is a sweetie,I'm sowwy his Giwl is unable to wite and do stuff wight now, but I'm taking cawe of his end, he is having a wondewful time..he loves catses..he has a cat bwuvvewMerv! so he knows how to behave
get some west
smoochie kisses,Asta siss

Sassy Kat said...

Momo-Sorry many are having blogger problems, nothing fun about that. And speaking of fun this Ireland trip is the best. Glad you liked the photo of the boys, too much fun that we have.

Opus & Roscoe-You two were wonderful with your dancing performance last night. Bravo!!

Socks, Scylla & Charybdis-I try and have important fact information about the things we visit while on our tour. Glad you found that interesting.

Jan-Yes, we are having such a good time. I have heard that blogger is being mean, what's with that?

Cheysuli & Gemini-You two should have been there. Maybe we can get Opus and Roscoe to perform again.

Ruis & Karl-Yes, yes, yes!!!! Wonderful dance by the Italian kitties. What a wonderful trip we are having.

Asta-The boys would have like it if you had gone backstage. You are one of their favorite doggies. It was a wonderful performance. Each day we are in Ireland brings us so much fun!!

admin said...

aloha Sassy....waow, so hillarious you've got there in your adventure!

perhaps one day a travel visit to Indonesia, we'd luv to show you all around:)

hav a great week-end guyz,
Meaouwy Troops

ps. we had the same technical problem too with blogger yesterday, couldnt posting anything:( but now glad to be back check upon you guyz! dun forget to drop by at mommie's blog too, we wanna share love around cyberkatz...

Jan Price said...

Hey, Sassy,

We don't know what's with Blogger. Wish we did. It's frustrating every kitty and doggy and even humans.

Glad you're having such a great time with your friends. Everyone needs a little breather from the everyday.

JFF

 

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