Ireland: Food is Love

This morning, we woke up at seven and took showers before heading down to the continental breakfast. I had cereal (rice krispies, which they called rice bubbles) and sweet, homemade Irish bread. We packed up after breakfast and headed to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. It was a long walk and we ended up just wandering around the church once we got there.

After we were done at the church, we walked over to Dublin Castle to see the free sand sculptures. The castle was pretty, but we couldn’t go inside because we didn’t have time for a guided tour. We took some pictures and moved on to the Christ Church Cathedral, which was the same boring experience. However, when we asked where the bathroom facilties were, we were directed to the crypt. I got to pee and then nap in a crypt :p

When we went back upstairs to explore, they told us we were in time for the peace prayer, so we had to sit down for a few minutes and listen with our heads bowed. I fell asleep.

Once it was over, we went out to get lunch. We stopped in a tourist store on the way and I tried on a boa in the colors of Ireland. It was cute but expensive, so I just took a picture. We walked across the street for lunch at Café Werburgh. I got chocolate ice cream, a chocolate chip muffin, and a tortilla wrap with Cajun chicken and swiss cheese. It was an amazing meal for less than seven euros. We took our lunch to a park so that we could eat with pretty scenery. I would have been fine eating in the café though. It was very cute in design and had authentic customers.

The quirky cafe

Cajun Chicken Tortilla Wrap

Pretty park in the business district

We set off on a long walk after to head to Kilmainham Gaol Museum but once we got there we found out we had to wait an hour for a tour, so we walked to the park across the street and took naps. We walked back to gaol when it was finally time for our tours.

The guy took us around the gaol and told us all about Irish history. I was disappointed that he didn’t tell us more about the gaol itself like they did at the gaol in Cork.

A car that we passed on the way to the gaol... quite an interesting garden

After the tour, we broke into dinner groups. Some of the group decided they wanted to go see an Irish dance performance, but I didn’t want to stay out that late or sit through the performance and fancy dinner, so we formed a seperate group. We went to small touristy store where I was able to find a white zip-up sports coat and an adorable sheep umbrella. After leaving the store, we headed back to the Temple Bar area in order to find a restaurant to dine at.

After looking at a couple of menus, we decided to go to a quiet place called O’Shea’s. I ordered a southern fried chicken with chips and a side order of bread. It was actually quite good and I walked away stuffed.

On the way back to the hostel, we stopped in a small market and I bought a package of penguin bars. They were really good at the camp, so I thought I would take some home. I’m running short on money, so my purchases from now on will be solely food, hopefully.

Well, I’m ready to crash early tonight so I can enjoy my last day in Ireland.

Ireland: Cobh = new favorite city

I fell asleep last night shortly after we ate dinner. Then I proceeded to wake up at 6:45 this morning to take a shower. When I was finished, we went down to breakfast, but the hostel’s kitchen was still locked, so we had to eat at a picnic table outside. I just had a few slices of bread.

The Cork hostel

As we finished, our taxi pulled up and it took us to a train station on the other side of Cork. The other taxi was delayed because the driver accidentally took them to the airport, but they figured it out.

We took a thirty minute train ride, it was more like an aboveground subway, to Cobh. Once we got there, we wandered around the streets until we discovered St. Coleman’s Cathedral at the top of a hill. I felt like I was having somewhat of a spiritual experience while sitting in the pew, but not enough to make me religious, just meditative.

On the train to Cobh



St. Coleman's towers over Cobh

We walked back down to a park near the train station that overlooked the water and took some pictures. Then we headed across the street to go on a Titanic Walking Tour. The tour itself was kind of boring – just a lot of landmarks and statues related to the Titanic and Lucitania – but we were able to see a lot of the town. At the end of the tour, our guide took us to a pub called Jack Doyle’s. They served us lemonade, but it was orange and tasted like a sort of orange pop. While we were enjoying our juice, the tour guide talked to us about the Irish dialect of English. He said that craic (pronounced crack) means that something is fun or cool.

Our "lemonade"

On our way back to the train station, we tried to stop at a few places to shops, but most of the places were closed because today is a bank holiday to celebrate the beginning of summer. The only thing open was souvenir shops and I managed to find a cute bag that says Ireland on it, maybe I can use it as a school bag.

After taking the train back to Cork, we walked to the butter museum and looked at the exhibits. It was lame, but we all managed to get a nice nap in while watching a movie on the history of butter making.

A butter churn at the butter museum

Once we left, we started walking back to the hostel. We stopped in a shop called The Funky Skunk and looked around. It turned out to be a head shop, which mostly sold bongs and pipes. I didn’t buy anything and we continued to walk before stopping in T.K. Maxx. It was like a clothing store that we would have back in the States. They didn’t have anything cheap though, so we headed back to the hostel and made dinner. Tonight was spaghetti, so I actually had something to eat. I feel like I didn’t really help with the cooking though since I didn’t know how. I cut up the bread and figured out how to start the stoves because they weren’t automatic, but that’s all that I could do. It turned out okay though.

Amanda cooking meat for the spaghetti on the non-automatic gas stoves. I had to use a match to light the gas - not exactly the sign of a very modern hostel.

Ireland: Hamburger Helper

The Air Canada plane ride to Ireland was really peculiar. I couldn’t bring myself to fall asleep on the plane, but that’s okay because they served us a meal midflight. The dinner consisted of a fruit cup, brownie, noodles, chicken, and a roll. The food was actually really good!

After dinner, they came around to offer all of the passengers nightcaps. I was surprised when the flight attendant offered me wine, but I declined. It didn't sound like it would be the best idea if we hit any turbulence. I read for most of the plane ride and then they gave us banana muffins and orange juice in the morning.

We waited forever in the customs line, to the point where I noticed their exit signs are a lot different here. We decided to pose underneath a sign for a picture. It’s going to be our thing while we’re here.

Our exit sign pose

After leaving the airport, we got on a bus headed toward Cork. I fell asleep almost immediately and didn’t wake up until we stopped for lunch. I tried a chargrilled chicken pita with chips from the Burger Bar. The chicken was good but I didn’t realize the pita was going to come with a ton of stuff on it. The bread wasn’t very thick either, which was a bummer. I tried the chips with vinegar and salt, but it wasn’t very good and neither was their tomato ketchup, so I just ate them plain. Our bus trip continued until we arrived at the hostel, which is actually quite nice.

My Chargrilled Chicken Pita from the Burger Bar

After dropping off our luggage, we went to explore St. Fin Barre’s Cathedral. It was really boring, but pretty to take pictures of outside. I bought two postcards of Cork while we were there. We stopped at a park near the hostel on our way and were able to take some really scenic pictures. Afterward, my travel group broke off to buy some groceries for the hostel, but we ended up getting lost and wandering around the city.

A peculiar tree found in the park.

The University of Cork, right near our hostel

St. Fin Barre's Cathedral

We carried the groceries back and the other group had dinner ready. It was hamburger helper – the most disgusting thing that I’ve ever eaten. Needless to say, I’m still hungry.