Ireland Day One

The beds at the Cork Clarion were just like sleeping on a board.  We tried to go to bed early, but after tossing and turning for a couple hours we both sat up and looked at each other.  I asked Robyn if she could sleep and she said, "No!"  I told her my bed was like a rock,  She said her was too!  About 3 AM after much talk and discomfort, I had the idea to sleep on top of our down comforters.  That did enough that we finally fell asleep.  We slept in that morning until about 11:00am.  We got up and got ready to find the Red Bus!  We were going on a tour of the city! 

 

 

The Bus picked us up right outside of our hotel.  That was convenient.

 The weather was sunny and cool.  It was perfect weather for riding around the city.

 

The streets of down town.

 

This was the street they called their little San Francisco.

 

There were beautiful, old churches/cathedrals, all over this small city.

 

This was the train station.

 

                                                               Shandon Bells

The Church of St Anne is famous for it's eight bells, which first rang on December 7, 1752

This was the church with a giant fish on top of the steeple.  People could climb up the steeple and play a song on the bells, but we chose to look and listen.

 

 

 

 

 Cork City Gaol

 

Opened in 1824 and closed in 1923. Often referred to as the "Womens Gaol", a spectacular escape was made from here in November 1923.

 

The 3 replaced stones in the picture below used to house the rings that they hung the prisoners from.

The river runs all the way to the ocean, but it was pretty polluted still.

 

City Hall

 

The City Hall was opened in 1936 and replaced the previous structure that was burned down on 11 September 1920. It's six limestone Tuscan pillars and copper-domed clock tower are particularly impressive by night.

 

 

 

Here is our very lovely Cork Clarion Hotel.

 

In doing a little bit of shopping I found the price of almost 9 Euros for a box of Lucky Charms Cereal.  I didn't buy them.

 

We found a little shop that made fresh crepes for a late lunch.  They were good and we enjoyed watching so many people enjoying the beautiful weather.  It seemed like the entire city was outside.