Day Ten - 20/9/2012 - Cork

     Orientation day two was at 9:30, and upon arriving late, I realized that the school clock was 15 minutes late (I had been introduced to Irish Standard Time) and felt much better about things.  After a long and thorough explanation of how to sign up for classes, some of the UC students headed off to get coffee.  We stopped at Cafe Serendipity on Western road.  I got a double macchiato with seafood chowder.  I was amazed at how much seafood was in my chowder.  There was at least half of a salmon and half of some whitefish, 4 mussels, and squid, along with a creamy soup.  I will most likely return.

     We headed off to the English Market next.  The English Market in Cork is a large, enclosed farmer's market of sorts with multiple entrances and individual stands within.  It was established in 1788 by Protestants, lending it the "English" designation.  An Irish market arose in 1840, St. Peter's Market, when the Catholic majority took over the city government.  The Irish market is now the Bodega Bar on Cornmarket Street.  It had burned down in 1980, and was rebuilt around the now central fountain.  I bought some sausages, scones, and a sourdough baguette.
     After picking up some Guinness Extra Stout and Italian pinot grigio, I stopped at a haircut place to finally tame my mane.  One of the maintenance guys at my apartment commented on my haircut, seemingly afraid that he had offended me by earlier calling me "Ronald MacDonald".  He recognized from my hair colour that I was Scottish, informing me of the association of Scottish people with tough, bitter fighters.  (This stereotype did explain some of the looks I've been getting).  Noticing the six-pack of Guinness Extra Stout in my hand, he told me to drink the lot of them and I would wake up in the morning ready to take on anything.  I decided not to heed his advice.
     Later that evening, Meng and I walked north to Dominick Street to visit the Butter Museum, but it had closed for the day.  Instead we did a walking tour of the area of the city just north of us.  We walked to St. Anne's Cathedral, home to a lofty bell tower with four clock faces.  There is a weather vane atop the bell tower that features a golden fish, called the "goldie fish" by locals.  Behind St. Anne's is St. Anne's Park, graveyard to some of the founders of the church.  Wandering the streets nearby, we happened upon some buildings that I had later realized were part of a complex of buildings related to St. Anne's.  The buildilngs, including St. Anne's, were all Protestant charitable institutions built in the 18th Century.  We saw Skiddy's Almshouse, which has residents today, an infirmary made of yellow brick, and the site of Greencoat School, which was demolished and Kinlay House was built over it, open now as a hostel.