This past weekend: Cork.
We left really early Friday morning and arrived in Cork via bus. We checked into our hostel, Sheila's, and threw our bags into the luggage closet since we couldn't get into our room yet. Then we went to explore the city.
Cork is a beautiful city. There's tons of shopping and things to do. The English Market is amazing. It's huge and has so many different things: Cheese, fish, chicken, beef, pasteries, chocolates, clothing, jewelry, jams, sauces....and its all really cheap. And everything looks amazing. I, of course, bought some chocolate. Amazing by the way. We headed to a pretty church and walked in and a mass was going on, so I didn't take any pictures, but it was gorgeous inside. After some more exploration, we had to get dinner for the night...that was a quest in itself because we went into the one Dunne's store in Ireland that doesn't have a market inside...Eventually we got frozen pizzas and salad to make at the hostel. Later in the night we walked into the city again and walked around to find a relaxed pub to sit in for a while. Two incredibly nice and cute old ladies gave us directions to the perfect place. It was lovely.
The hostel itself was incredibly nice. It was pretty clean, we had a shower and toilet and sinks all in our room so we didn't have to use the communal one downstairs. It had a kitchen to cook in, however, the oven was apparently the first one ever made, so it took us about 2 hours to cook 6 frozen pizzas. They were soggy to say the least.
The enxt day we set out to the Blarney Castle. It was gorgeous grounds. So green and pretty. WE were lucky to get such a beautiful sunny day to see it. We went to the castle...Anyone who knows me well enough knows that I'm terrified of heights and that climbing up to high places is not my favorite past time. This being said, guess what I had to do to get the the Blarney stone? Climb lots of tiny little stone stairs to the very tippy top of Blarney castle. Apparently the Irish were very tiny back in the day, leprachauns if you will... The story just gets better from here. The Irish clearly couldn't have made this for anyone to kiss the stone. No, you have to lay down, hang over the side of the castle upside down and backwards, and kiss the stone. Again, not one of my favorite things to do. BUTTTT after much deliberation (and peer pressure since EVERYBODY was doing it), I gave in and did it. I definatley would've regretted not doing it. Now I can check off my list "kissed the blarney stone". The rest of the grounds are beautiful. There's some little cave type things to crawl around in, although if you're claustrophobic I wouldn't suggest it since they were making even me a little nervous. Theres so much to see there. If anybody goes, take the time to look around. Some of the signs say 1- 1/2 walk, but it doesn't really take too long. Its completely worth it. Also, don't wear nice shoes or pants, because if you do go crawling around, you will get very muddy. My jeans and sneakers will never be the same...
After almost missing the bus back to Cork, we went to dinner. I had salmon, fresh from the English Market, and it was amazing. One of the best meals I've had here (because I didn't have to cook it). Later we went out at night. Cork is very different at night. Weird people are out at night and they aren't nice. They wear really strange outfits too...and by outfits I mean peices of cloth that don't cover ANYTHING....However, it was still a fun night. I meant a few nice guys from New Zealand and from Cork, and we had a friend that we met in Limerick who showed us around.
Cork was fantastic. I'm actually sad I didn't go to University College Cork for school because the area was just so nice. But I can't wait to go back when my family gets here because there's still a lot I want to see: the campus of UCC, there's a historical prison, back to Blarney to see some of the grounds I didn't get to see, and the cathedral. I really just want an excuse to go back there.
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