October 18th
It's time to head to Cork. We start out with a slightly early wake-up call in order to give us all time to shower and breakfast before heading for the train. We're trying to catch a 0905 train to Cork, and the gal at the front desk said that a half-hour would be plenty of time to get to Heuston Railway Station. It turns out this was pretty optimistic given morning rush-hour conditions. Our taxi (which we'd reserved for 0830) arrived at 0845, and when we told the driver we needed to catch a 9:05 train he said "Taxi drivers around the world have a bad reputation, and I'm about to live up to every bit of it." As it was, by taking a lot of small side-streets (some might have been alleys, but there's less of a distinction in Dublin than there is in the US) and taking a few liberties with the traffic laws, we made it to the station by 8:52, which left us plenty of time to call my friend Turly in Cork and get on the train. I couldn't tell him our exact arrival time since I'd been a bit overzealous in packing the night before, and my timetable for the train was jammed somewhere in the luggage.
On the way to the station, the taxi driver gave us a running commentary. Turns out the station was built as the terminus of a rail line leading to the west of Ireland (to Galway, I think). Queen Victoria was to visit, and it was basically because of her that it was built. People died building the railway and station, and when it was finally completed, Victoria came to Ireland, took the train to the west, looked at the coast and said "Lovely" and then returned to England. Our taxi driver didn't seem especially enamored of the old gal.
The ride to Cork was fairly uneventful. We read The Irish Times and look out the (dirty) train windows at the scenery. We don't have sunshine today, so the greens are muted, and we don't take any pictures. There's a large harp on the hillside just south of Limerick Junction that looked neat, but we all failed to take pictures of it.
|
Auburn House |
(40K) |
|
The Beamish & Crawford Brewery |
(35K) |
When we arrive in Cork, Turly meets us at the train station. We walk to Auburn House, the B&B where we'll be staying. After navigating the extremely steep hill (I have to get in better shape. I can't even walk a block up a hill this steep while carrying my luggage), Turly leaves us there while he goes to find Jim a taxi to his B&B. We're going to meet up again in a while and have a late lunch. Brian, Turly and I stop for a beer, figuring that it'll take Jim a while, but for once the bus connection is good, and he's waiting for us at the bus-stop. Off to lunch (passing Beamish & Crawford on the way), and then it's back into tourist mode.
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St. Fin Barre's Cathedral (more construction) |
(74K) |
|
The Front of St. Fin Barre's |
(86K) |
|
"Goldie" |
(3K) |
|
From the Churchyard |
(60K) |
The first stop is St. Fin Barre's Cathedral. It's the one bit of world-class architecture in Cork
so of course we have to see it. Many pictures are taken.
|
St. Vincent's |
(11K) |
After the cathedral, we walk through University College Cork. The most notable thing is the Boole Library, which is named after that Boolean logic guy. Being good nerds, we have to take a look. Heading back into the city centre, we see St. Vincent's across the river. It's big.
Time for some drink and food. We end up eating at a Mexican restaurant that's actually got spicy
food. This is something of a surprise after our experience with spice (or the lack thereof) in
Dublin on Sunday. Somewhere along the way, Jim needs to find an ATM, and Turly explains that
the first ATMs in Cork were all formally named BankLink which led to them being called
DrinkLink by the locals, since they're such a convenient way to get money for more beer.
After the food, we do a bit of a pub crawl (the details of which seem to be a bit fuzzy ![[Footnote29]](images/foot.gif){kind=small}
),
and then it's back to Auburn House for some sleep.
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