Cork, part II

This morning I was awakened at some indeterminate hour by one of the women in my room, who had set an alarm.  Actually, I was wakened at several indeterminate hours by various of the women in my room as they snored, came in late, snored more, etc., but on this latest occasion I was unable to fall back asleep, especially because the other women also began to wake up.  Eventually I bestirred myself to dress and gather my things.  The hostel was charging three euros for breakfast, which seemed not a very good price for tea, whole milk, and dry cereal.  Instead I went to a coffee shop I sighted yesterday, which I anticipated would be worth visiting - in fact they were; they had filter coffee - a true rarity at coffee shops in Europe.  I also had a scone, in fact my first-ever British (ish) scone, with butter and jam, and it was quite excellent.

Thus fortified, I took the bus to Blarney to visit Blarney Castle.  My guidebook considers it an overrated tourist attraction, and perhaps as ancient castles go it is ordinary, but I am not a connoisseur of ancient castles so I thought it was pretty cool.  I took many, many pictures of the castle and grounds (you can see them in the album I linked to yesterday, if you are so inclined).  I also visited a few of the touristy stores in Blarney carrying wool, linen, lace, etc. while I waited for the next bus back to Cork.  Shortly before the bus came it started to rain, and the rest of the day was rainy, windy, cold, etc. - typical Irish summer weather, I'm told.

One of the first things that happened when I got back to Cork is that I stumbled upon one of the two modestly-priced restaurants recommended by my guidebook, Idaho.  There I ordered coffee (no such thing as too much coffee) and something called a "potato bake" - baked potato covered with cheese and topped with bacon.  This is exactly as rich and hearty and perfect for a cold afternoon as it sounds, and while it is not exactly a subtle dish, it was quite good.  According to my guidebook the place is "tiny" and diners are "packed in like sardines", but I found it quite cozy.  Also, my meal came with a side salad, which gave a whiff of nutrition to the comfort food.

After lunch, I walked around the downtown for a bit.  I intended to work my way westward and end up at the Cork Public Museum, but I got a bit sidetracked and ended up visiting the southern third of the city, which I hadn't been before.  I saw one of the major churches and some of the University College Cork campus (one very nice building in every single architectural style of the last three hundred years).  Then I went into the park (the museum is kept inside the park, supposedly), but apparently the wrong park, or I went the wrong way in it, because I ended up on a path by the river with a wooded area on the other side and absolutely no turnoffs, and when I came out I found myself nowhere near where the museum was meant to be, and also on an entirely different river than I  had meant to be on.  After a somewhat extended detour in search of a restroom (they do not have them in most restaurants, or pay toilets as they used to in London) I climbed the hill on the northern side of the history to visit the other major church, and discovered that the Butter Museum was nearby, so I visited that as well.  I concluded my day with a trip to Vibes and Scribes, a chain of bookstores (that are in some places combined with record stores or craft stores or some other type of stores).

It was a good day.  Turns out, lunch - both the sitting-down and the fueling-up components - is helpful for having energy in the afternoon.  Tomorrow I will spend the morning traveling to Killarney.