Day Five - 15/9/2012 - Dublin to Cork

     Had the last free breakfast in the Hilton in Dublin before heading off to Cork.  We decided as a group to take the Aircoach bus, which had a direct service to Cork for €15.  We split taxis to the bus stop on Westmoreland street, where we caught the 13.00 bus.
     The ride to Cork was on a relatively large highway, but the countryside was full of rolling green hills, separated by farmland, sheep, and cows.  Every 15km there was a dilapidated castle or an aging turret, and the entire 3 hour journey looked like the picturesque scenes one imagines the Irish countryside to be.  After 100km of the most green countryside imaginable, it got a little ridiculous.  We finally arrived in Cork, dropped off in St. Patrick's Quay (a quay was an old mooring post for the boats that used to frequent the river) on the River Lee.  After some confusion, which was eventually solved by giving up and willing to pay taxi fare, I made it to my future home on the North Mall.  The Accommodations Manager was there to meet us and told us about the residence.  The property was built in the 1700s, and most of the original building still stands.  We entered the inner courtyard through the old servant entrance (which is a very short doorway) from the front house, which was part of the original building.  There are three houses, the front house and the adjacent one which are connected partially by a second storey bridge, and a building in the back of the property, which used to be the servant's quarters, but has since been torn down and rebuilt.  The archways in the entry and the gate (which has been motorized) are also original.  The man who owns the property is an architect, and restoring it has become one of his hobbies.
     My room was not yet ready, so I am currently staying in the adjacent house, in part of the original building.  Meng is staying in the newer building (which is where I will move once my room is ready), and has a view of the neighboring properties that could have come out of the 1800s.  The background picture on this blog is a view from the entry, with my house on the left and the newer house in the background.  The servant entry is the door on the right.

     Now in the city of Cork, we set out to the streets to explore.  We wandered up and down North Main Street, a street which marked the border of the old city.  The old city was bounded by North Main, South Main, and the two tributaries of the River Lee, which splits just west of the city centre (and literally on the grounds of University College Cork) and forms again east of South Main.  We bought bedding and the like from Dunnes Stores, and made our way to Sober Lane, a pub on Sullivan's Quay, on the south tributary, for dinner.  Meng got barbecue wings, which for €9 came as a huge serving, at least 20 wings in a bowl with a bucket of chips (or fries).  I got my first Irish hamburger, which was pretty good.  We got parsnip chips out of curiosity, which were actually quite tasty.
     Cork is like a small version of Dublin, with the benefits of a large city, but without the detriments of a large city.  The people here are much friendlier (and much more Irish) and the countryside is only a 30 minute walk away.  In Dublin, half the people you met were Irish and the other half were tourists.  In Cork, half the people you meet are Irish and the other half you can't tell, because they have the Cork accent.