Yesterday I took the train to Cobh, about 20 minutes south of Cork. It's pronounced "cove," which was actually the original spelling of the name. After a visit from a queen, it was renamed Queenstown, and then Ireland gained it's independence, the name changed back to a more Irish spelling of "cove," cobh. Queenstown was where the majority of immigrants left Ireland from, as well as the final port of call for many ships, including the Lusitania and the Titanic.
I was trying to plan out my day in the hotel room (where there's internet), and looked up the train schedules. They left once an hour, and the station was about 35 minutes away. According to my quick glance at google maps, it was a 30 minute walk from the hotel. Thinking I could make up an extra 5 minutes by walking fast, I grabbed my stuff and left. I thought I knew where I was going... but I missed a turn.
For the first time in the week I've been here, most of which has been wandering around alone, I did not feel entirely safe. I ended up basically walking along a highway. There was a big stone wall on my left, and then a highway with cars driving very fast, and the river with the port on my right. And no one else around. No one. Except the cars flying by really quickly, kicking up dirt that was getting in my eyes. Oh, did I mention it was very windy and raining off and on? And then there was this wire flying around loose from a telephone pole. I could see little wires sticking out the end and had no idea if it was live or not. I had to time when the wind was blowing to try to get around it. Stephen says I should play frogger more to prepare myself for that kind of situation. And then the train that I was trying to catch (which I had obviously missed going about a mile out of my way), went over my head. *sigh*
So I sat in the train station for an hour. Luckily I had the iPad and read, but unfortunately no internet.
Cobh was very nice. Warmer than Cork (which is strange because it's on the coast), not raining, even sunny.
There are several memorials along the main road. This first is for the Lusitania, whose last port of call was Queenstown (aka Cobh). The two men represent the many people who made countless trips to the site of the wreck trying to rescue survivors and retrieve bodies. It was because of their heroics that so many people were able to survive the wrecks and the families of those killed were able to bury their loved one.
The sculptor did an amazing job portraying the agony
and sheer exhaustion the men faced.
This is the cathedral, which was huge.
There are some crazy steep hills in Cobh, I tried to get some pictures of how the town just goes up the hill, but couldn't get a very good angle.
The Titanic memorial
I thought the curve of this building was interesting.
The park, again.
One of the museums is called the Queenstown Story. This is the entrance, which has the cafe and souvenir shop. It's a replica station with a "first class lounge." I think people still use this as somewhere to sit and wait for the trains still since it is attached to the current railway station.
The museum itself was okay. Parts of it were very well done, a lot of it was just reading information on signs. In an age when we have the internet and access to a lot of written information from home, I was hoping for more tangible artifacts and recreations. But they did some of that.
Here's a line of "immigrants" waiting to board a ship to America:
Life was pretty miserable aboard the early immigrant ships. You brought your own food and there were not many places to cook. Seasickness and other sickness were rampant.
Conditions were even worse aboard ships taking criminals to Australia. The word "criminal" could be anything from petty theft to political rebel to murderer. Many were kept chained throughout the entire journey and the ships became known as "coffin" ships. There were instances of rebellion on the ship occasionally, but it was usually between one prisoner group to another prisoner group (like gang warfare).
This may be too small to read, but I thought it was interesting that America sent a relief ship of food during the potato famine in the 1840s.
A man overlooking the "shipping yard"
Annie Moore was the first immigrant processed
through Ellis Island. She immigrated from Ireland
with her two brothers.
Bigger and faster ships were built and the living conditions on board improved significantly. People no longer had to bring their own food and staterooms were much nicer. This is a replica from around the 1950s.
There was an area dedicated to the Lusitania sinking. Not only did the men of Cobh rescue and recover people and bodies, but the town of Cobh rallied with food, clothing, and places to stay. People opened their homes and hotels were filled to the brim with survivors.
The body of an American killed when the ship sunk.
There was another area dedicated to the "unsinkable" Titanic.
I thought this was an eerie picture.
What a story he could have told.
The train back to Cork
I think this dog is waiting for his owner. He'd met my train when it came in, and then I saw him several times running around in town. Somehow he knew the next train was due and came running back into the train station. He ran as far down as he could when he saw the train and then ran full speed alongside it as it pulled into the station. He went weaving through the people occasionally taking an extra sniff at a person. I don't think his owner was on this train, but I hope he/she came soon. The dog was wagging his tail the whole time and was obviously well fed, so I assume this is a daily ritual.
Some views from the train on the way home:
A rainbow as I was walking back to the hotel in Cork.
These are from our hotel window as the sun was setting. There was some interesting light contrasts that I couldn't really capture on film, but at least it was something.
We had dinner with a bunch of people from Apple, a farewell to Mark and Claude who flew out early this morning. We ate at Electric, a newer restaurant and bar on the River Lee. Stephen and I both had a steak, mine came with this really good garlic butter. (Stephen had peppercorn sauce, yuck). The cheesecake was good, but very different than what I expected. It was almost custard like, very light.
Walking back with Stephen, Mark, Claude, and Britta, I apparently decided I needed at least one injury on the trip and took a pretty nasty fall into the street. Luckily there were no cars coming, but I banged myself up pretty good. For those of you who have known me for any length of time, you know my history with ankle injuries. I think all the walking I've done the last week has made my ankles weaker than normal and when I hit an uneven grate, down I went. My knee got torn up and is going to have a nasty bruise, one elbow, the palm of one hand, and one of my ankles is twisted. My adrenaline was going and I almost felt like I was going pass out. Everyone was very nice about it, but I hate falling. Especially in front of people I don't know very well. This morning only my knee and ankle are sore, so I guess it's a good thing we go home tomorrow. We're hoping to be able to go out to Blarney Castle today (they were closed Sunday when we were sightseeing), but Stephen's in a "mission control" with the launch of the new iPad, so he may or may not be able to get away. It looks like this probably won't be his last trip to Cork, so we may have other opportunities to see the castle if we don't see it today.
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