Cork Day 2: Kangaroo Court in Kangaroo Cork
Today
has been a great day. Finally, we set aside time to book our flights to Norway and Britain, so we are officially headed off on two extra adventures while we are here! We also took a trip to Saint Fin Barr’s cathedral, the
beautiful University College Cork campus, and then back through town to do some
shopping. Another sunny morning in Ireland turned into a great day of wandering
to see the sights. We are very happy settling in here! Can’t wait to do more
exploring tomorrow.
It’s finally Sunday, and I
couldn’t be happier. A morning of rest was gratefully received this morning,
along with a splendid breakfast at the hotel, looking over the River Lee on a
sunny day. The feast included pan au choclat, poached eggs on toast, pork
sausage, and some wonderful tea. Just the right way to start our day. After
that, we took a short trip to the fancy health club/hotel gym, which was a
much-needed dose of activity other than walking. Biking for a half an hour
really gets the blood pumping, even if it makes you a little shiny!
For a light
lunch, we ate our stolen goods from breakfast. Though I didn’t go as far as
Diana’s salami, egg, and cheese sandwich, I did appreciate the small croissant
and boiled apple that I consumed before walking around Cork. We set off at 1PM
toward Saint Fin Barr’s cathedral, a surreal building about a 20 minutes’ walk
from our hotel. The river was never far from us, as we weaved through the main
streets and crossed bridges the entire way. The smell of water was a nice,
calming edition to our trek. It always makes me feel at home in a city, since
it brings a little bit of nature back into the concrete jungle—even in the
smallest way. Soon, we arrived at the church. The blue sky and clouds made the impressive
structure bounce off the backdrop, making it seem more like a mural amidst the
rest of the residential homes surrounding it. It was truly an amazing sight to
see. We plan to go back when it is open so that we can see the inside of it,
which is sure to be just as beautiful as the outside.
Continuing
on up the perpetual hill that is Cork, we walked through another residential
area lined with townhouses. Eventually, we came upon the campus of University
College Cork (UCC). Forget Hogwarts—this place was magical in its own way. We
got to see a whole display of ancient Celtic runes and walk in and around many
of the buildings on campus. Many of the buildings, including the giant hall
with the exhibit, had an established, old-building feel. They actually looked
like castles, not administrative buildings! But the amazing thing is that they
often combined old with new, so a modern glass front building stands next to an
ancient structure. That is the fascinating part about these universities with
history—everything that is old looks it, but that doesn’t mean that new
buildings cannot be added. I enjoyed walking around the grounds without our big
group, exploring and finding interesting buildings to take pictures of. I
especially liked the old observatory, since it was so small and placed right in
the middle of campus, but hidden away behind a wall of bushes and trees. It was
like a fairy tale house.
After
the campus, we walked back down and followed the river walk the entire way. Our
professors let us loose, so we did a bit of shopping before heading back to the
hotel. We first followed one of our professors to, quote, “the best chocolate
shop”: Butler’s Chocolate Café. The cute yellow building housed some amazing
things, including but not limited to ice cream, self-selection single
chocolates, pre-packaged chocolate bars, hot chocolate, and boxes, and a
full-service hot chocolate and coffee bar. They also had bakery treats like
muffins, squares, and croissants. I will absolutely be going back there to get
some of their hot chocolate—they boil milk and then melt a whole piece of
chocolate in and stir it up to make a thick, rich mixture. Sounds perfect to
me! I would absolutely recommend this shop to any chocolate lover, but especially
enthusiasts like myself. I picked up a 70% dark cocoa bar and a package of dark
chocolate sea salt caramels. I may or may not have sampled both, and they are
delicious.
On our way back to the hotel, we wandered in and out of some more department stores like Brown Thomas and Debenhams. I decided I will be back to a Brown Thomas to purchase a Tom Ford lipstick, since I feel I need at least one to complete my collection!
For dinner, we had a starter of potato and spinach soup, some great cod in pesto sauce, and a fruit bowl for dessert. I did not like either of the dessert options, so they brought me a great selection. For a person who usually goes against mixing fruits together in the same bowl, it was a great way to end my meal. Plus, I feel as though I had already consumed enough chocolate for an entire week, so it all worked out well.
♥
photo credit Diana Cleveland & Katie Walker
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