[said on overhead speaker] "For the New Yorkers, this is where you get off."

Yes, this is a tad late. My bad. It's been sitting in my drafts and I forgot to publish it.

Friday, 2-5-10:
Hopped a bus to Cork. I really like night bus rides. But what really needs to be said is the following:
Dear Kwells,
You.Are.The.Best. I love you. I love you. I LOVE YOU!!!!
Love,
Me
(Kwells would be the motion sickness medicine that I now won't let out of my sight. Brilliant medicine. Simply amazing).

Anyways, rolled in to the bus station in Cork. Immediately was greeted by a stray dog. Said dog got lots of love and attention from us. (For those of you who ever met the two labs I used to have, this dog was literally Tinker Belle reincarnated. Sweetest personality ever.) This stray actually followed us all the way to our hostel (about a ten minute walk up a hill) and in to said hostel (Shelia's Hostel to be exact) where the lady at reception was like 'Um, yours?' and we were like 'Nope, followed us'. Thankfully this woman was simply grand and promised to call someone to take care of the pup for us.

So we got checked in and went up to our room. Bunk beds!!! The room was just one long, narrow space with two sets of beds on one wall, then the bathroom on that wall, and then two more beds in a back area. Interesting set-up, but it held it's own. We acted silly and got a bit settled in before setting off to explore Cork.

We began to walk along the river towards the city centre. I'm just walking along next to Kate when suddenly she screams and jumps around a bit. I feel something on my foot. I look down and a freaking RAT is running across my feet. I screamed and ran with Kate a few steps a head of me. Everyone else just laughed. Apparently she had felt it and kicked it right in to me. Ew street rat (not the same as Jezebel by any means). Definitely skeeved out by it.

Anyways, walked about the city for a bit seeing what stores they had and such. Lots and lots of stores, be they food, clothing, or anything in-between. There's the main road and tons of side-street/allies along the way with even more places along them. It's truly amazing how many buildings there are. Mostly all were closed being that it was like 11PM on a Friday night. Found an outside restaurant area down one alley that had a WATERFALL. Wicked awesome. We went to McD's for a late night bite before heading over to Shelbourne Bar where we given 15% off drinks through a deal with the hostel we were staying at. Due to the motion sickness meds I couldn't drink and that was totally fine by me.

After they had a round we headed back to the hostel being wiped out and needing to get sleep for the following day.

Saturday, 2-6-10:
Woke up decently early. Everyone got up and around and dressed. Headed down to the bus station only to find out the bus we needed to Blarney wouldn't be there for approximately another hour. (This is where I should probably mention I really should stop being the one looking up buses as I'm not exactly batting 100 on them.)

To kill time we headed back to a bakery we had passed the night before. When they eventually opened we went in. Kate was the most excited for it and got some type of bread. Jenn got this garlic&cheese bap which I said reminded me of the taste of the clam sauce when my grandma makes spaghetti & clam sauce. They did not like this description nor did anyone agree with it. Whatever. It was delicious and I was happy to help her eat it.

So the one guy working in said bakery turned to us after hearing us talk and goes 'So you're all from New York?'. We all literally went 'Uh...whoa...yea'. Turns out his family is from Buffalo, as in his grandmother lives right near Ralph Wilson Stadium. WTF??? How do we keep finding people from back home in these random Irish cities?? He was pretty cool and we enjoyed chatting with him for a bit.

It is truly, without a doubt, a small world.

After we ate we headed back to the bus stop and got on our bus to go to Blarney. Wasn't a long ride until we pulled in to a quaint little town. A few steps away and we were on the Castle grounds.

Instead of going right to the Castle we decided to go see other sights on the grounds. These included Dolmen, Wishing Steps, Witches Kitchen, Druids Circle, Sacrificial Alter, and Fairy Glade. They are all these places where this or that is to be believed happened in the past. All pretty cool. We spent a good time doing this, just enjoying the grounds. It was in fact a gorgeous day and all the greenery and trees was really nice to be around.

Next we headed to the Castle itself. Kate and I ended up split from Garrett and Elizabeth (we had lost Jenn much earlier in the excursion) so her and I began to climb up the 100 stairs to the top.

So I should probably note I'm a bit scared of heights, but I never let myself not do something because of this. I do get a fast heart rate and a bit shaky, but I have never backed out of anything because I'm a tad scared.

That being said, Blarney Castle, you almost got one on me.

The staircase you went up was very, very narrow. It was a spiral, stone staircase the whole way up. It was beyond old looking. And something that should be noted about all these old buildings we've explored; the stairs are ridiculously thin. Like, a few inches thick. I have NO IDEA how they have held up over time.

I eventually made it to the top with Kate. I proceeded to have the most ridiculous grip ever on the metal railing that went along the inside of the Castle, so much so that I actually cut off circulation at one point to my own hand. If you could see the pictures you'd understand why. It was uneven, old, and only a couple foot wide walkway around the very, very open center.

We made our way to the actual Blarney Stone where another group clearly of friends were just doing the kissing thing. Two of the girls were pretty freaked out doing it. You have to lay on your back and a nice man named Dennis holds your midsection while sliding you backwards. You bend backwards over the edge, holding two railings, and you see all the way down to the ground while trying to kiss a stone in front of you.

No thanks.

Kate did in fact brave it and kiss the stone. Hilarious pictures from this as she was a tad freaked hanging over the edge herself. They tried to talk me in to it but I got out of it pretty easily. Thank God. At least some people understand peer pressure isn't cool.

We heard Garrett and Elizabeth beneath us so we opted to wait for them to get to the top. Kate was really enjoying being up so high and the view it provided. I did too, but only looking straight out across. I was not looking down to the ground below. Eventually I got tired of waiting for Garrett and Elizabeth to make their way around (they were stopping to read each info plaque which is good but I was not OK being up so high) so Kate and I went down.

Going down was much better than going up, if only because the staircase didn't seem as deteriorated as the other one.

When we made it back to the lobby we found Jenn. We did a little souvenir shopping before going back out on to the grounds. We walked around a bit more, exploring a cave, a dungeon, and the area around the Castle. Finally after a bit we decided to head out.

We stopped for lunch at a little cafe in town. I got a really good toasted sandwich (ham, cheese, tomatoes, onions) and the others got other really good foods. It was a nice little place and it was good food for cheap. After eating we got back on the bus and headed back to Cork City Centre.

Decided to do a bit of shopping. Kate and Jenn got split from Garrett, Elizabeth, and myself. The three of us ended up exploring the entire city it seemed. We went in to a ton of different stores, walked a farmer's market of sorts, went in to the free Crawford Art Gallery (where an exhibition called 'Terror and the Sublime: Art in an Age of Anxiety' was being put on), and just generally explored the area. It's a really pretty place; gorgeous buildings and no limit on things to go in to. I found a chocolate store and got the most amazing hot chocolate, truffle, and tiramisu EVER. Freaking amazing on all levels. We finished the night by sitting and listening to the best street musicians of the day; a guitar, a violin, and some singing. Beautiful.

My favorite pictures I took are from this night. City views as night falls. I can't wait to share them (hopefully sooner rather than later).

Headed back to the hostel to get ready to go out to dinner and such. Stopped to talk to the receptionist about the pup that followed us back. Turns out she took it home with her. Apparently the pound destroys dogs if they're not claimed in 5 days and this one was just way too sweet to let that happen. Her own dog, a big ol' Sheepdog, was a bit weary of the new dog at first but she said they ended up sleeping together and her dog would bring toys to the new dog trying to engage it in play. Too precious.

When we got back to our room we were informed someone else was staying with us. We had booked a six person room and we figured we wouldn't have anyone staying in the sixth bed. We figured wrong. Apparently a French boy was going to be stuck with us. He apparently came in while Kate was sleeping and an awkward/hilarious situation ensued of 'WTF? Who are you?' and realization a stranger was sleeping with us.

After lounging around a bit and getting pretty we headed out to dinner. Split the group once again with Kate & I going for Chinese and the rest going to a modern restaurant we had found earlier in the day. Kate and I split sweet & sour chicken and I got a side of fried rice as well. It was so good. A big difference between here and home is the lack of grease used in cooking food. It makes the other flavors come out that much more. It was a tad pricey but for a good Chinese meal (my first here) I was willing to spend it.

Ended up finishing before the others so we went over to their restaurant and met them there while they finished up. Sat outside for a bit while they finished their drinks and had a smoke. Took pictures that looked wicked cool due to the glow of the heat lamps (something all bars seem to have on their small outdoor patio areas. How nice of them!). Apparently some people Jenn met had mentioned a couple good bars so off we went.

First stop was Old Oak Bar. It was apparently the place to be. Upon getting our drinks and walking to the back we realized why. The bar is HUGE. As in, there's actually like 3 or 4 actual bars in the entire place. It just keeps going and going. We had a couple drinks (they had a couple, I only had 1) and talked for a bit. It became rather apparent that the bar crowd was more late 20s, early 30s; not exactly our scene. So we left.

Kate and I decided to head back to the hostel and the Jenn, Elizabeth, and Garrett headed off to another bar. Back at the hostel we got ready for bed and eventually fell asleep. I think the others got back like 230AM or so.

Sunday, 2-7-09:
Got up and got ready for the day. Checked out of the hostel and we headed off to the bus station. By asking other drivers we found out what bus we needed to get to the old Cork City Gaol (that's said jail by the way). The actual driver of the bus that went towards the Gaol was wicked, wicked helpful. He at first was a little confused by where we wanted to go but eventually understood and took us on. When it came time for our stop he went on the bus' overhead speaker to tell us (hence the title of this entry). Super hilarious.

We had been told the Cork Gaol would be just up the hill. Um, try like three hills. My legs were unamused. But eventually, a good 20 minute walk later, we reached the old, imposing building.

It wasn't what we thought it would be but was fun all the same. Only one wing was open to us. They gave you a tape player and headphones to listen to a tour explaining the history of the gaol as well as about different people that inhabited it. This went along with the various wax figures they had set-up throughout supposedly being these people. We spent maybe a couple hours at most wandering around and such.

Headed back to the bus terminal in Cork City. There we hopped the bus that was meant to take us back to Waterford. Elizabeth talked with the driver and got him to agree to let us off in Midleton (even though he wasn't supposed to). So Garrett, Elizabeth, and myself got off in Midleton while Kate and Jenn headed back to Waterford.

Upon getting off the bus I discovered a Polish store across the street. Um, yea, I might have gotten a tad too excited. After their cigarette break, they indulged me and let me go over. I found pierogi (pierogi z mięsem pilzneńskie to be exact)!!! Like, legit, real, true Polish pierogi!! Of course I bought some! (I ate those morsels of meaty goodness within three days. I wish I could find good meat pierogis in America.)

Then it was off to the real reason we were in Midleton: The Jameson Distillery. We got to take a tour of the grounds, which is actually the old distillery. They no longer produce any of the liquor there, but instead in a new distillery just beside the old grounds. It was pretty cool though going through the old buildings and having the whiskey process explained to us while looking at real equipment used.

At the end the tour guide asked for volunteers for a taste testing. Originally we believed Elizabeth, myself, and Garrett had all been chosen but someone went up that shouldn't have and thus Garrett got left out. Totally unfair and crappy. But off we went back to the bar.

Everyone was given a ticket for a free Jameson drink so he went and got his while we sat at a table with a few other people. In front of us were three small shots of Scotch, American Whiskey (Jack Daniel's, obviously), and Irish Whiskey (Jameson, obviously). Scotch does in fact have a camp fire taste to it. Did not like, at all. Jack Daniels will always have a little extra 'wha-bam!' on my taste buds (don't ask me why).

I liked the Jameson the best. Yea, I'll say it again: Jameson is better than Jack Daniel's!!! In fact, my Jameson and Coke was so smooth I could have drank them all night. Too bad Jameson is a tad expensive in the USA or it'd become my new favorite drink of all time.

After drinks we headed in to the gift shop. I ended up calling Dave to see what he'd rather get for a birthday present and picked that up, as well as a gift for Al. I also got myself a new hoodie (black and super soft on the inside). I wear it too much already. Probably the best souvenir I've gotten thus far to be honest.

We left the Distillery, sad to say goodbye. However, because it was only 5:30 we went back in to the Polish store so I could get a drink. I got apple juice which actually has a bit of a candy cane taste to it. Garrett and Elizabeth didn't quite know what to make of it, but I chugged it down happily.

Hopped back on the bus and headed home. G & E fell asleep in the back row, all sprawled out while I cat-napped in my seat with my headphones in. Arrived back in Waterford feeling happy and successful over our weekend adventure to Cork.