A couple of days exploring Cork

Cork is a great relaxed city that has a very centrally located and compact shopping centre at its heart.  There are lots of rivers flowing through it, lots of parks and trees and cute houses.......it is interesting as what makes these houses stand out for me is that they are all painted different colours although they are joined - it makes them look cool!  In New Zealand this could be done with some of our appartments or Housing New Zealand houses and would make them feel more individual and increase a sense of belonging or ownership I think...................

On Monday Karl headed off to work and we headed off to town.  We had a hire car and I was an identified driver this time however Cork is a labyrinth of one way streets and quite busy and I was actually feeling nervous about driving even though they drive on the left side like u, so we were having a walking day.  It was cold and rain threatened but we took the chance and headed to town as I had a parcel to pick up at a store called Debenhams.  We found town easy-peasy and it was only a 20 minute walk away.  Got my parcel and did some more shopping; checked out the famous English market which was full of yummy things and generally hung out in town for most of the day.

 On our return home we decided to walk through and explore the University of City Cork (UCC) with its spectacular building and immense history.  We found the Glucksman art gallery which was closed today however next to it was a large green space and so the boys were off with Lachlan teaching Connor some tackling techniques.   Glucksman was an American man who gave lots of money to Ireland and spent much of his older years in the country and the city of Cork.

 Later in the day Connor and I went for a walk and we found a cool playground near our apartment and so we went back and got Karl and Loki and headed out for a play - the playground was great and again there were great big green spaces for some soccer to be played! Great fun.  At this playground there was a council security guard that hung around making sure playground users were under 12.  There was a group of teens that arrived that were quickly moved on -

After our play we went home and chilled out and headed off for dinner about 8pm to a little noodle house that we found up the road.  It was delish and we all ate our fill! The best thing thou, according to the kids that you got an ice-cream cone as part of your meal and there was a ice-cream machine that you could make you own as many times as you liked - heaven!!!!!! Making your own ice-cream is not as easy as it looks................

On Tuesday I decided that I would flag driving and we would walk again around the city.  There was a city jail that did tours that was not too far away and so we headed off, first to the park and then to the jail.  The kids had a great play at the park meeting up with some other kids and then we headed across a cool walk bridge to head toward the jail.  Lachlan, while looking down from the top of the bridge managed to loose his glasses as they fell off the top off his head into the water......and while we could see them - we could not reach them.....of well cest-la-vie!

 Lachlan trying to get his glasses back.............................

Next we were off to the jail - a tour was just about to start and so we jumped on in - and it was great.  
Stepping inside we were taken back in time to the 19^th century. Wandering through the wings of the Gaol, the atmosphere suggests you are accompanied by the shuffling feet of inmates, each representing their particular period in Irish history from pre –famine times to the foundation of the state. The cells are furnished with amazingly life like wax figures; original graffiti on cell walls tell the innermost feelings of some inmates while a very spectacular audio visual tells the social history and contrasting lifestyles of the 19^th century Cork and why some people turned to crime, and some ended up in Australia

We all really enjoyed the tour and the kids hooked up with some other kids from the US so enjoyed it even more...................we then headed back to the park and off to Subway for some lunch before heading back to the Glucksman park for more rugby!  We then headed back to the university to meet Karl after work to drive back to Dublin to be ready for our 5.50am flight back to Marseille and Connors birthday.