Cork, County Cork, Ireland
Cork city is actually quite an ugly place and I don't much like it. It has two postively filthy rivers running through it (even grosser than the Detroit River) that have discarded garbage and shopping carts in them. The city itself is run down in a lot of places and just not nice to look at. Our hostel room looks out over the most decrepit graveyard I have ever seen and it is generally full of punky teenagers going through a complicated and disgusting mating ritual. The police had to come the other night because they were having a bonfire that was sending up a spire of black smoke over twenty feet high at least. Today we were warned not to go out because the place is being overrun by gypsies. Weird. The only good thing is that Cork turned out to have two yarn stores so I was able to get a replacement cable needle and buttons for my Aran sweater. I have completed the back and half a sleeve so far but it doesn't look like it will be done by the time I get home.
Yesterday we took a day trip to Blarney and Kinsale which was a lot of fun. I stood in line for over an hour but got to kiss the Blarney Stone. This involves lying on your back, bending over backwards, and holding onto two metal poles to keep you from falling. A little old man, who wouldn't have been able to save a falling infant, was there to weakly grasp your shirt while you did this for a little added security. I don't see how he could have supported me if I had fallen, but luckily I didn't. I had about three seconds of glory kissing the cold stone and then I was whisked away with the other tourists. I was then taken for fifteen euros to get copies of my souvenir, kissing the blarney stone pictures. It was worth it though I suppose, and besides which the Bank of Ireland paid for it anyway. When Neil went to cash some travellers cheques they accidently gave him an extra hundred euros. Figuring that we had already done our good deed by handing in the lost wallet full of cash we found in Edinburgh, we kept the money. Yay, extra cash. I don't really feel too bad about stealing from a multi-million dollar banking corporation, who no doubt make a living from screwing people over anyway. So I got my lame souvenir pictures with no damage to my own budget and even bought ice-cream later--yes it was a glorious day of splurging.
Sadly I don't seem to be any more eloquent than before kissing the stone, but I do seem to have a big of a cold. Maybe once the cough and runny nose passes, the eloquence will kick in. It was really funny watching people sanitize their lips with wet naps after kissing the stone. Our bus driver told us that the guards pee on it at night, so maybe I should have had my wet naps handy as well. I haven't died yet, though so I assume I'm okay.
I'm actually really looking forward to coming home. The trip has been fantastic but I miss everyone. It keeps hitting me that I only have three weeks at home before I head out to the vast foreign land of Vancouver (although I'm pretty sure I've met every resident of Vancouver travelling through the UK, so the people should be fairly familiar. Vancouver and Australia must both be empty right now, because all the people from there are in the UK and Ireland right now!). With such a short amount of time left to be at home at all I'm becoming more and more homesick by the day. Travelling does get tiring after awhile and I'm definitely tired. I'm yearning for my own bed that doesn't have sketchy sheets, and my own room that won't have other people barging into it at all hours of the night. I've had a good vacation but I'm certainly ready for it to be over now.
I'll see everyone in about 12 days! Though I'm not looking forward to the Windsor heat. It reached 28 here yesterday and everyone was saying it was the most brutally hot day of the year. Actually, compared to Windsor it was quite cool. It was still glorious and breezy in the shade so I kept laughing at all the people complaining. Mom, stock up on popsicles for when I come home because I think I forget what real heat is like. I'll probably have to hide in the air conditioning for the rest of the summer.
Yesterday we took a day trip to Blarney and Kinsale which was a lot of fun. I stood in line for over an hour but got to kiss the Blarney Stone. This involves lying on your back, bending over backwards, and holding onto two metal poles to keep you from falling. A little old man, who wouldn't have been able to save a falling infant, was there to weakly grasp your shirt while you did this for a little added security. I don't see how he could have supported me if I had fallen, but luckily I didn't. I had about three seconds of glory kissing the cold stone and then I was whisked away with the other tourists. I was then taken for fifteen euros to get copies of my souvenir, kissing the blarney stone pictures. It was worth it though I suppose, and besides which the Bank of Ireland paid for it anyway. When Neil went to cash some travellers cheques they accidently gave him an extra hundred euros. Figuring that we had already done our good deed by handing in the lost wallet full of cash we found in Edinburgh, we kept the money. Yay, extra cash. I don't really feel too bad about stealing from a multi-million dollar banking corporation, who no doubt make a living from screwing people over anyway. So I got my lame souvenir pictures with no damage to my own budget and even bought ice-cream later--yes it was a glorious day of splurging.
Sadly I don't seem to be any more eloquent than before kissing the stone, but I do seem to have a big of a cold. Maybe once the cough and runny nose passes, the eloquence will kick in. It was really funny watching people sanitize their lips with wet naps after kissing the stone. Our bus driver told us that the guards pee on it at night, so maybe I should have had my wet naps handy as well. I haven't died yet, though so I assume I'm okay.
I'm actually really looking forward to coming home. The trip has been fantastic but I miss everyone. It keeps hitting me that I only have three weeks at home before I head out to the vast foreign land of Vancouver (although I'm pretty sure I've met every resident of Vancouver travelling through the UK, so the people should be fairly familiar. Vancouver and Australia must both be empty right now, because all the people from there are in the UK and Ireland right now!). With such a short amount of time left to be at home at all I'm becoming more and more homesick by the day. Travelling does get tiring after awhile and I'm definitely tired. I'm yearning for my own bed that doesn't have sketchy sheets, and my own room that won't have other people barging into it at all hours of the night. I've had a good vacation but I'm certainly ready for it to be over now.
I'll see everyone in about 12 days! Though I'm not looking forward to the Windsor heat. It reached 28 here yesterday and everyone was saying it was the most brutally hot day of the year. Actually, compared to Windsor it was quite cool. It was still glorious and breezy in the shade so I kept laughing at all the people complaining. Mom, stock up on popsicles for when I come home because I think I forget what real heat is like. I'll probably have to hide in the air conditioning for the rest of the summer.