Cork, Ireland

On Friday February 8th, I left on the Iarnrod Eireann on my way to Cork, Ireland. I left Dublin at noon and arrived at around 3 at the Kent Station in the city center of Cork. My friend Karin has been studying at University College Cork and she was nice enough to let me stay with her this weekend and show me around her city. She lives right by the Lee River and the Beamish (beer) Factory. She picked me up at the station and we walked to her apartment. After dropping my stuff off we made our way up to St. Fin Barre's Church which was beautiful. We were lucky enough to get in without having to pay the fee and we though the church was really stunning. We also walked around the grounds and then made our way to the UCC campus where she goes to school. Her campus is a lot like Hogwarts which was really fun!

After walking around the town we went back to her apartment, made some pizza, and watched a movie. When we were done relaxing and eating we made our way to An Brog (the shoe, in Irish) which is the UCC pub. We just hung out with some of Karin's friends and some Irish students from UCC. We had some Bulmers and had a great night.

On Saturday we woke up early and took a bus out to Bishopstown, which is essentially a suburb of Cork, to watch a rugby game. Along the way to the bus stop we walked through the English Market which is a huge indoor market that runs 6 days a week. They had everything from bakery, fish, meat, fruit, chocolate, and souvenirs. I really want to try and find a place like this in Dublin, but I'm sure it would be difficult to buy groceries due to how far out of the city I live. Anyway, we didn't know exactly where the fields were or what to expect from the UCC rugby team, but it turned out to be more of a practice or scrimmage rather than a game so we took the bus back rather quickly to the city center. After failing at watching a real rugby game we walked over to the Cork City Gaol, which was pretty creepy. There were wax figures everywhere which was amusing, but the Gaol had a lot of history which was interesting. (there's Karin with one of the creepy wax wardens off to the left...) The Gaol opened in the early 1800's and held both male and female inmates who mainly were convicted of petty crimes through that century. In the 1920's it was over capacity with republican fighters who opposed the treaty of 1921. At this point it was dirty, disease ridden, and inhabitable and it was closed soon after. The historical society then fixed it up and now has a nice tour and audio-visual show. I'd say it was worth visiting and now I'm pretty excited to see Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin which is supposed to be even better.

After the City Gaol we stopped at the sports pavilion where we saw a girls Hurling match going on. After being disappointed with our rugby game we decided to watch the match and it turned out to be really fun. It was a lot more low key compared to the men's hurling I've seen on tv, but it still was a good time and a nice way to sit and relax in the middle of a busy sightseeing day. After we watched the UCC team lose we left for Fitzgerald Park which has a museum and a lot of artwork. We saw a lot of great murals, some flowers blooming which was exciting, and a lot of green all around. The museum was a history of Ireland and of Cork more specifically. There was a great photography display upstairs which was actually on it's last day at the museum. Here we got to see black and white photos from all over Ireland and it was a great way to see the natural beauty from all the different counties. I really enjoyed the museum and the park which I found beautiful. After spending some time indoors we were ready to face the dampness outside and we walked to the Thirsty Scholar and watched the beginning of the France-Ireland Rugby game. Ireland was really far behind and made a valiant effort to come back, but just fell short which was sad to see. I can proudly saw that I now know some of the rugby rules and lingo and I do enjoy watching the games.

That night we were both really tired from a day of walking and touring so we just made dinner and watched some movies and went to bed (I know, really thrilling). It was a good thing I got to bed early though, because I woke up at 8 the next morning to catch a bus to Blarney which is an early morning for me! When you go to Cork you have to take the 20 minute bus tour to Blarney, because everyone wants to kiss the Blarney Stone. I actually heard this is one of the 99 things you should do before you die, so I guess I can cross one of those off my list. Blarney is a tiny town of about 2000 people that gets over 200,000 tourists a year. The Blarney Castle itself is really impressive, but I especially enjoyed the grounds around the castle. (a picture which I cannot figure out how to rotate once again is to the left, it really is a pretty castle!) Since, I left so early I got into the grounds right when it opened and basically had the grounds to myself which was amazing! On the grounds I got to see: The Wishing Steps, which had a pretty waterfall by it:

The Dolmen, 1 huge rock balancing on another large boulder:

and the Witch's Face (look at it from the side and you can see the Witch)

After walking around the grounds for about an hour I climbed to the top of the Blarney Castle and kissed the stone- which was pretty germ ridden. The castle had some pretty narrow spiral staircases and a ton of rooms to look at. Some of the rooms were bedrooms, a chapel, a kitchen, a family room, and a dining room. To the right, you can see the Blarney stone and that's where you have to lay down on your back and grab the pole and kiss the stone. It's pretty high up, but the chances of falling are low so I wasn't too afraid. From the top you could also see all the grounds and part of Blarney and it was a great view. The picture to the left is the view of some of the castle ruins from the top of the Blarney Castle.

Overall, I really enjoyed my trip to Cork, Ireland and I would recommend visiting Blarney and Cork if you are ever in Ireland. It was great to see a familiar face and stay with a friend from school and Karin really showed me a great time in Cork. As for this week I'm planning on taking it easy, because I'm coming down with a cold. This weekend I'm staying in Dublin and hoping to see some of the sights around the city. I really want to go to St. Patrick's Cathedral for church on Sunday and on Friday and Saturday I want to see some of the museums and art galleries around the city center. There are still a ton of things I haven't seen in Dublin and this weekend I'm hoping to hit up some of the things I still haven't seen.