Cork continued... finally

Sorry for the delay - again, not trying to assume that reading my blog fills up a fun portion of your day - but I have finally returned to finish the saga of Cork. So, we left the little girls behind (judging by their sweatsuits and eye makeup, they were getting ready for/had just come from a cheerleading or dance squad thing), and they, of course, laughed again. By this time we had heard from Shaina and Anne, who were now waiting for their train back on Fota. To wait for them, we decided to hike up to the incredible Cathedral that dominates the skyline of the town. I hope you've seen my pictures (yes, they're all up now), because it was a beautiful beautiful place. Of course, just getting there was a workout. In order to get there, we had to trek a giant hill, using leg muscles we didn't even know we had, wishing for a handrail or, better yet, an escalator system. TOTALLY worth it, because the Cathedral (St. Colman's) was stunning, and the sun came out whilst we stood atop the holy plateau, shimmering over the sea and nearby islands. I took lots of pictures, but you'll forgive me when you understand that we hadn't seen the sun in days - hence the "basking" pictures. Sidenote: I do hope you read the captions on the pictures... they're very edifying. Since a cryptic sign on the front doors falsely led us around to the side, we took a few minutes to simply soak in the vitamin D.

We eventually figured out the sign's instructions (By "please use side doors," it was referring, not to doors on the side of the building, but to the doors flanking the central one. Have I mentioned we hadn't seen the sun in days?) and entered the church, which fairly took one's breath away. I'll direct you to the pictures here, but remember as always that the pictures can never quite capture it. We eventually descended back to Cobh proper, and, after a brief meeting with Shaina and Anne in which they decided to eat and we decided to go to a nearby park, we went again to bask. The park was lovely itself, right on the water with a wonderful huge gazebo and benches, and a statue of a man's torso in a boat, holding a paper (well, metal of course, but you understand) boat in his hands, looking out over the water. He's called "The Navigator," and I was very fond of him. The sun was holding strong, so we remained on the benches there for a while, listening to the wide range of accents and languages being spoken around us by the families strolling through. Swarms of young boys about 10 or 11 (hoodlums, we termed them affectionately) ran through the park, climbing atop my Navigator friend - children here tend to run in large packs far more frequently than they do at home.

After meeting up again with the others, and a bit more wandering, we took the train back past our hut at the Fota station where we had waited in the rain, back past the bridge that had reflected so fetchingly in the river, back to Cork. Some more wandering commenced, some pizza was eaten, and we were lured into the pub a few doors down from our hostel by its sign promising us coffee with Baileys. MMM, delicious. Shaina had her first alcoholic beverage ever (a Guinness), and we all relaxed on the squashy couch near the heater/fireplace thing. The night was actually still young at this point, but we returned to the hostel to spend some quality time in the common room. The highlight of the evening there, I somewhat hesitate to recount, was a series of epic games of "Timberrr" played by Julie and Jaye. Timberrr is the same as Jenga, only more fun because the box told us about the "beautiful hardwood pieces" we would be building with... in reality my old Lincoln Logs were more elegant, but that's neither here nor there.

The next morning we departed early for Blarney. The day remained cold and cloudy, but castles usually look even cooler on a melancholy day, don't you feel? Blarney sits atop a rocky base, which is full of niches, caves, and other fun things. There's a dungeon that you can go a little way through, until your backpacks can fit no further and you're sick to death of water dripping on you. We ascended the narrowest staircase you can imagine, pretty much hauling ourselves up by the rope that hung down through the center of the spiral. When we reached the top floor but one, where the kitchen was, Julie almost had to abandon her backpack because it would no longer fit up the staircase. After much cajoling, she forced her way up, and we reached the turreted roof. The merry men who dangle you upside down over a hole in the floor a long long way from the ground were ready to receive us. One of them, the younger, wore a Yankee hat, so I was reassured. Still, the kissing of the stone went off without a hitch - I was the first to go, and it was easier than expected, and also not scary. The view from the top of the castle (once one was standing, of course) was lovely, stretching away until the mist took the edges of it. When we had finished, we descended the "Down" staircase, which was much more spacious than the "Up," and came out into the park. Once again, we had split earlier into two groups by virtue of the pace at which we wanted to go, etc., so the Js and I moved off to explore the wachtower while Anne and Shaina were still somewhere in the castle. After trying (very unsuccessfully) to climb her way along a series of small niches on the wall of the inside of the tower, Julie settled for climbing the outside. We then explored the "prettyish kind of wilderness" on the side of the castle, which included a super-fun Badger Cave that you could stoop through for quite a ways back into the hill, although Jaye almost lost a foot in the mud. Once we had finished, we went on into the village for some lunch while Shaina and Anne continued their nature rambles. They joined us a bit later in a wonderful cafe before we bussed back to Cork, and thence home to Galway (with a small bag of mini Cadbury eggs each, I might add).

Last weekend I stayed in Galway in an attempt to save money for our trip to Paris next weekend, but Shaina, Kristen, and I went into town to check out the outdoor market, which is very cute and full of fun and delicious things (I got a chocolate-and almond pocket, which means it was all wrapped up in bread with liberal amounts of powdered sugar dusted over). We also did a little shopping (I got some much-needed jeans for the excellent price of 9 Euro, and jeans here fit me better! Huzzah!) and in our travels I THINK I saw the woman who plays Sarah, a character on Ros na Run, which is the Irish-language soap that my Irish class in Pittsburgh (as well as many other people, of course) watches. It was really exciting, but I didn't talk to her. Still, one of these days I plan to go to the village where they film the show (rather nearby) and see if I can get anywhere near the set to check it out. Tomorrow I am fully releasing, unashamedly, my geeky nature and attending an 11-11 Lord of the Rings marathon on campus as a part of Muscailt, a week-long arts/theatre/music festival. Scorn if you like, but I remain undaunted.