Yesterday I started out returning the rental, which was a crazy adventure. First, it's really scary to be driving on the wrong side of the road. Especially turning. I didn't go on the wrong side of the road, except when I was pulling into the gas station (I pulled in on the side I normally do...except there was a car who thought I was being very rude. I waved apologetically).
Also there are TONS of roundabouts, which aren't bad except that you have to merge lanes and I was sitting on the wrong side of the car. (driver's seat is on the right). I am not ashamed to admit that I went around more than once on some of them....it was better than getting off at the wrong road! Oh, and there's not many street signs, either. I only hit the curb once (it's hard to tell how far you are from the left side curb when you're essentially u-turning), and had to turn around once. But I made it to the airport. Barely.
I took the bus back to downtown Cork and wandered around St Patrick's Street, the "main drag."
I thought this was a really pretty door (actually 3 doors). Mostly because...
it was in the middle of a random alley. How cool is that?
A side street off St. Patrick's
I love that you can turn a corner down a street and see a huge church.
This is St. Patrick's Street
For lunch I went to Abrakabobra. I figured 1. I like kabobs and 2. the name amused me. Well, not a good choice. The kabob was actual something like a pita pocket (I've seen it in other places, too, apparently kabobs are not on sticks here) and it was basically a mediocre fast food chain. Live and learn.
Last night we went to the Cathedral of St. Finbarr (the patron saint of Cork). It was very pretty lit up at night, we plan to go back at some point to go inside.
Then for dinner we went to a place called SoHo. The food was good, not amazing, but good. It was pretty, though:
Obviously the candle was not food...but it was still pretty
Today I went to UCC (University of County Cork). It's a very pretty campus and the River Lee flows through the lower end of campus, making for a very pretty walk. It was voting day on campus, so there were lots of people out and eager to talk. Met some nice people. I read in the student center for a while sitting in a window. I must've looked like a student because I actually had someone ask me for directions.
This random girl had a Cal sweatshirt on! She didn't want me to take
her picture because she didn't have on makeup, but relented.
The chapel
The whole floor was mosaic
These stones are the first known Irish writings. They're names,
probably gravestones or boundary markers.
They're called ogham stones, I think.
The notches symbolize different letters. Read from the bottom up, clockwise.
Math geek alert: George Boole (founder of Boolean logic
in mathematics, which is the foundation of digital computer
logic) was a professor at UCC back when it was Queen's College.
This was a tshirt in the visitor's center.
I came back to the hotel for a little while and then headed back to St. Patrick's Street. This time I stuck to the back streets (which are still filled with shops, but more along the lines of family owned places instead of Waterford Crystal).
Lunch was much much better today. I got a sandwich from a natural foods store (tiny little shop) with brie cheese, sprouts, sundried tomatoes, lettuce, and balsamic. Sooo good. Then I went to O'Conaill's Chocolate shop for their hot chocolate. Best. Hot chocolate. Ever. They actually melt chunks of chocolate into the hot milk. Here's their menu for hot chocolate:
Did you read that? A hot chocolate menu.
They have a regular menu with cakes and cookies, too.
This was mine: a praline milk and white. And they give
you a little cup of chocolate chips, too. Dark, milk, and white.
And yes, that is chocolate shavings on the top.
Uh-may-zing.
Then back to the room!
Our hotel
Our room
Cheers!
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