Carrigaline Court Hotel Cork

During a chance telephone conversation with my life long friend Donal McClement, he told me that the recession in Ireland was not doing much for his sales as a yacht broker and that he was going away next year for up to six months with Cork architect Stephen Hyde on his beautiful Oyster 56 yacht 'A Lady' to participate in part of the World ARC (Atlantic Rally for Cruisers).

I knew Stephen quite well ...

... very big but is known for a few monuments that were recognizable such as St. Anne Shandon Cathedral. Not too far away is Blarney which contains the Blarney Castle and the Blarney Stone. We took yet again another bus into Blarney and hiked up to the Castle. This was the first castle I have seen so it was pretty amazing that something that grand could still be standing and everything in tact. It looked out over fields and fields of green ...

... the graveyard and sketched it while the sun went down. creepy? alex thought so, i wasn't as creeped out. for dinner that night we went to the grocery store and took advantage of the kitchen kinlay house had and made some sweet dinner...noodles and tofuuu. a nice relaxing day and getting some sketch on after a pretty unproductive dublin.

... music going but there were a couple of stag parties so there was a lot of funny drunk people singing to the music. We stayed until close to closing time and then walked the dark road home to our room.

The next day, thinking that we were going to be sore just thought we would just relax but surprisingly we were just a little worn out. Our legs or butts didn't hurt at all. Maybe it is because we had already prepared them when we went to the Aran Islands. We decided to take it easy ...

... was of course right, as we were both so knackered after a few hours of driving around the up and down narrow little coast roads it was time to call it quits and head to Cork. I managed to drive 182 km's though which wasn't a bad effort I thought and saw some spectacular scenery. Unfortunately poor Clare saw hardly any as her eyes were shut and her head bobbing up and down to the bumps. We stopped in a few cute towns, had breakie, and took a few shots all along the ...

... important note! Cork does not accept 100 dollar bills. Apparently there was a rash of counterfitting and 100 dollar bills have become worthless. Cork does have excellent coffee though. We stayed at a really nice B&B called Windsor house. After camping and hiking for three days any room with a roof would seem nice. The place is run by two brothers who were both very cool and helpful. For a ...

... his new boyfriend, who was afraid of Smitty
Mini rioting in streets
-scattered fight, lost primarily by Chelsea supporters
-chanting for days, led by people on and in the fountain
-Hillbillies Chicken

Heineken Cup at John O's
Munster 16 - Toulouse 13
"birds"

... on a bus to Dublin. We had a few hours there and then went to the airport. We spent the night at the airport to be up for check in at 4AM. Flew home the next day to Carcassone and caught a train to Montpellier. I got back around 2PM yesterday. I loved Ireland's scenery. I fell in love with it stepping off the plane from London, and continued to do so as we ...

... a pub but that's where our night ended, and so the crawl continues... Alright so that was night one, this weekend we had a proper pub crawl, attempting 7 pubs and succesfully hitting 4. Stop one was the THIRSTY SCHOLAR, a really nice bar for a quiet game of cards or the like with friends. For a glass of Bulmer's Cider it was 2.30 euro, and a pint is about twice that. Secondly came the WASHINGTON STREET INN, a great place, much busier ...

... Last night was surprisingly subdued and the nightlife here in Cork is nothing to rave about. I met a couple of friendly Irish people... they like to take the micky out of Aussies but all in good humour. One guy I met could recall more Aussie shows than I could... talking of which, I caught a glimpse into my favourite tv show back home... All Saints. And it was the first episode of this year... when Nelson physically attacked the guy who ...