Travelodge Cork Airport Hotel

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 ...

... action and by this point we realized that we were very tired and it seemed better to rest at this point. A few of us spent the night researching for the trip ahead. We used the Let's Go Europe 2009 book and I would highly recommend this to anyone who is even thinking about traveling. It is so helpful and points you to all of the things you would want to see and how to get to all of the spots in the most budget and time efficient manner.

... 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.

... etc, pack bags and then time to head off. Of course, the kids then had to get back out of the car to go back and say good-bye to the hotel cat, a lovely three-legged black cat.

(BTW - the hotel was LOVELY! And it appeared to be a favourite with families. One group we ran into in the hall, on their way to the pool, had 6 kids in their group of 2 families, and this wasn't their first visit. And we couldn't complain - it was a lovely room with ...

... I was right. The hill lasted for about a mile, but it was a mile at a 60 degree angle. Even being a Cross Country runner, I was spent once we finally reached the top. Then we couldn't find our B&B. Mom's knee was hurting so I told her that I would go up ahead and come and get her when I found it. So I went down the other side of the hill and a lady told me to turn right and go up the hill. So I made a complete circle back to where mom was ...

... 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 St. Patrick's Street (Cork's "main drag", if you will) so you could sample some of Cork's fine cuisine. The parade was not on a grand scale like those back home, it was only about a half hour long and was not very "Irish" at all. The majority of the parade consisted of international groups celebrating their Irish heritage, which is what I guess St. Patrick's Day is really all about. Made sense. We had a ...

... I finally made it to the top of the tower and laid down and leaned upside down so that I was able to kiss the Blarney Stone. #127 crossed off :) Surrounding Blarney Castle was a lake, various gardens, and the Blarney House. I toured through the rock gardens where I stopped to enjoy my lunch. Each rock represented a different thing and had it's own personal story. My favorite was this series of wishing steps enclosed in a small tunnel that went up the side ...

... apartment area. He's probably 60 something but I see him every morning on my way to the bus stop. On Thursday (my day of troubles) I cheeringly said good morning to him and before I knew it we were chatting away and he was offering me a ride into town as he goes through it on the way into work. I now feel like I know Fergus quite well, born in Ireland but having lived most of his life in South Africa, he's lived in more countries than I can count on my hands, has quite a few ...

... to blend in for once. Nobody stares at us here. On the 13th we left Ballina heading south and stopped at Bunratty Castle and folkpark. We headed back to Cork but because of roadwork it took much longer than expected (3 hours to go 60 miles) and my plan to arrive at the airport 2 1/2 hours before our flight ended in another missed flight and another night on an airport floor. Actually that had been the plan anyway we had just planned on sleeping in Gatwick instead of Cork. Now London...