Post-Cork
(pictures should be up tomorrow...when they are this post will tell you that)
First off, my sincerest condolences to the Libsack family and all of those who knew and loved Adam. I personally did not know him that well, but he seemed like a great guy and it is always a tragedy when something like this happens.
Cork turned out to be a great time. The Hostel I stayed at (which I happened to find by total luck after leaving the bus station on Monday night) was "Shiela's Hostel," up on a hill. My first impression of Cork (aside from the tight architecture) was "finally! A city with topographic relief!" Cork is situated in a valley, so part of the city is built on a hill, and when I put my pictures online (tomorrow, probably) you will see what I'm talking about. Anyway, the Hostel is halfway up one of these hills and it's in a prime location for a budget price. The other nice thing about hostels is that you meet the most random people. I think about half of the people staying at the Hostel were from the states and probably %90 were my age or 3 to 4 years older/younger. The rest were from all over, primarily Europe (Germany, Holland, Spain to name a few.) After falling asleep in a room with 8 beds (four bunk units) I woke up pretty early and started on my epic quest to Blarney to go see the famous Blarney Castle/stone. I went with some new friends I met from Georgia and we had a grand ol' time. I was immediately impressed with the castle. It's huge, and on a stone base. Most of the castles I've seen in Ireland I haven't been too impressed with, but this one was different. I could almost imagine being some peasant and approaching the walls, looking up going "Hmm, guess someone important lives there." I also have a new picture to add to my "Nate: in front of famous buildings" set, which will hopefully keep growing. Maybe when I'm an old man I'll be able to look back and go "I remember that."
Anyway, next to the Castle they had a completely touristy "Druid's forest" thing. The forest was cool, but the signs for "fairy's glen" and "witches kitchen" were a little too over the top (they were obviously named those things so we'd go "really?") Right, anywho we ended up back in Cork after a lovely lunch in Blarney and I acidentally discovered my bed and fell asleep. Afterwards I did a nice little trek around Cork City well into the evening and found a charming little take out place where I had a double cheese burger and frieds...with peas on them. Weird huh? I'm starting to really enjoy fries with salt and vinegar, which is how I consumed these things. The cool thing about this place was it has been open since 1940 and is family run. They still use the same old cash register from when the shop first opened up, and locals kept entering and exiting while the guy behind the counter (in his 60s at least) was talking football (yes, the kicking kind) smack to a little kid and knew all of his customers by name. Even though the place was dark and "dodgy," it oozed charm and I left full and proud of myself for one of those "cheap food, good company" finds. I'd have another one the following day thanks to Frommers. I then treked back to the hostel where I met some girls from Linfield also studying in Galway and found out we had a mutual acquaintance from some friends in Juneau. Small world.
This morning I woke up and hopped on the bus for Kinsale. This place turned out to be awesome, and oozing with history and the smell of the sea. The town is situated on a bay and this is where the epic "Battle of Kinsale" in 1601 took place. This was Ireland's best chance at independence when a Spanish force was sent up and garrisoned in the town. Hugh O'Neill, the rebelling Earl of Tyrone managed to get his army clear from Nothern Ireland to Kinsale to attempt to relieve pressure off the Spanish and beat the English. Unfortunately, the English knew Hugh was coming and planned accordingly. The Irish troops did well in guerrilla warfare, but not in traditional warfare, and were crushed. Historians say that if Hugh had just waited awhile once he was in Kinsale, the battle would've been his because the British troops were dying in droves due to Typhus. Makes you wonder what would've happened if Ireland were a Spanish protectorate. Maybe Ireland would've been an American protectorate after the Spanish American war? Spooky.
I got to Kinsale and made friends with a couple of Northwestern Grads who were taking some vacation time. We walked about a mile out of town to an old star-shaped fort built in the late 1600's called Fort Charles and did the tour. Once again, pictures were taken. This fort was beautiful too, and the site of many famous battles during the Jacobite and Williamite wars. I then took a nice seaside path back to a pub I read about in my Ireland guide (thanks mom!), the Spaniard, where I had some micro-brew (Kinsale Ale) and seafood and fries. I also made friends with some older local guys and we talked about the merits of a stricter gun-control policy in the US (we all just found out about the school shootings in Minnesota.) They then gave me a ride down to the Bus-station, but I left my camera in the truck and was about to call the pub to see how I could contact them when one of the guys returned with my camera. I love this country!
The rest was one big, long bus ride as I got back to Cork and then hopped on the 5-hour bus ride from Cork to Galway. Just check this same post tomorrow and it'll tell you if there are new pictures up. I have some doozies. Hope all is well.
-Nate
"Beyond the ledge lies cold. How can I change your mind?"-Perry and Matt, "Friend of Mine"
Website of the Day: http://www.askmen.com/fashion/travel_top_ten/18_travel_top_ten.html Top theme parks! yay!
First off, my sincerest condolences to the Libsack family and all of those who knew and loved Adam. I personally did not know him that well, but he seemed like a great guy and it is always a tragedy when something like this happens.
Cork turned out to be a great time. The Hostel I stayed at (which I happened to find by total luck after leaving the bus station on Monday night) was "Shiela's Hostel," up on a hill. My first impression of Cork (aside from the tight architecture) was "finally! A city with topographic relief!" Cork is situated in a valley, so part of the city is built on a hill, and when I put my pictures online (tomorrow, probably) you will see what I'm talking about. Anyway, the Hostel is halfway up one of these hills and it's in a prime location for a budget price. The other nice thing about hostels is that you meet the most random people. I think about half of the people staying at the Hostel were from the states and probably %90 were my age or 3 to 4 years older/younger. The rest were from all over, primarily Europe (Germany, Holland, Spain to name a few.) After falling asleep in a room with 8 beds (four bunk units) I woke up pretty early and started on my epic quest to Blarney to go see the famous Blarney Castle/stone. I went with some new friends I met from Georgia and we had a grand ol' time. I was immediately impressed with the castle. It's huge, and on a stone base. Most of the castles I've seen in Ireland I haven't been too impressed with, but this one was different. I could almost imagine being some peasant and approaching the walls, looking up going "Hmm, guess someone important lives there." I also have a new picture to add to my "Nate: in front of famous buildings" set, which will hopefully keep growing. Maybe when I'm an old man I'll be able to look back and go "I remember that."
Anyway, next to the Castle they had a completely touristy "Druid's forest" thing. The forest was cool, but the signs for "fairy's glen" and "witches kitchen" were a little too over the top (they were obviously named those things so we'd go "really?") Right, anywho we ended up back in Cork after a lovely lunch in Blarney and I acidentally discovered my bed and fell asleep. Afterwards I did a nice little trek around Cork City well into the evening and found a charming little take out place where I had a double cheese burger and frieds...with peas on them. Weird huh? I'm starting to really enjoy fries with salt and vinegar, which is how I consumed these things. The cool thing about this place was it has been open since 1940 and is family run. They still use the same old cash register from when the shop first opened up, and locals kept entering and exiting while the guy behind the counter (in his 60s at least) was talking football (yes, the kicking kind) smack to a little kid and knew all of his customers by name. Even though the place was dark and "dodgy," it oozed charm and I left full and proud of myself for one of those "cheap food, good company" finds. I'd have another one the following day thanks to Frommers. I then treked back to the hostel where I met some girls from Linfield also studying in Galway and found out we had a mutual acquaintance from some friends in Juneau. Small world.
This morning I woke up and hopped on the bus for Kinsale. This place turned out to be awesome, and oozing with history and the smell of the sea. The town is situated on a bay and this is where the epic "Battle of Kinsale" in 1601 took place. This was Ireland's best chance at independence when a Spanish force was sent up and garrisoned in the town. Hugh O'Neill, the rebelling Earl of Tyrone managed to get his army clear from Nothern Ireland to Kinsale to attempt to relieve pressure off the Spanish and beat the English. Unfortunately, the English knew Hugh was coming and planned accordingly. The Irish troops did well in guerrilla warfare, but not in traditional warfare, and were crushed. Historians say that if Hugh had just waited awhile once he was in Kinsale, the battle would've been his because the British troops were dying in droves due to Typhus. Makes you wonder what would've happened if Ireland were a Spanish protectorate. Maybe Ireland would've been an American protectorate after the Spanish American war? Spooky.
I got to Kinsale and made friends with a couple of Northwestern Grads who were taking some vacation time. We walked about a mile out of town to an old star-shaped fort built in the late 1600's called Fort Charles and did the tour. Once again, pictures were taken. This fort was beautiful too, and the site of many famous battles during the Jacobite and Williamite wars. I then took a nice seaside path back to a pub I read about in my Ireland guide (thanks mom!), the Spaniard, where I had some micro-brew (Kinsale Ale) and seafood and fries. I also made friends with some older local guys and we talked about the merits of a stricter gun-control policy in the US (we all just found out about the school shootings in Minnesota.) They then gave me a ride down to the Bus-station, but I left my camera in the truck and was about to call the pub to see how I could contact them when one of the guys returned with my camera. I love this country!
The rest was one big, long bus ride as I got back to Cork and then hopped on the 5-hour bus ride from Cork to Galway. Just check this same post tomorrow and it'll tell you if there are new pictures up. I have some doozies. Hope all is well.
-Nate
"Beyond the ledge lies cold. How can I change your mind?"-Perry and Matt, "Friend of Mine"
Website of the Day: http://www.askmen.com/fashion/travel_top_ten/18_travel_top_ten.html Top theme parks! yay!
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3:18 PM
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