The Busy Little City of Cork

After spending 2 days in London and pretty much not doing anything except hanging out with some friends I met at the hostel, I hopped on a plane to Ireland this morning. On the plane ride the captain said it had been snowing in Cork this morning, so I was hoping I would still be able to explore. I got here and the weather wasn’t bad except a bit colder than in London. Cork is a relatively small city, even though it’s the 3rd largest in Ireland. I began walking around after grabbing some lunch and about 5 minutes later it started to rain. This was fine and I still explored, but after about an hour and a half I was pretty wet so I decided to go back. Even though Cork is kind of small, I was surprised how busy it was and how many people were walking around in the middle of the afternoon. There’s a river dividing the city into a northern and southern half and it goes pretty far.

Another thing I thought was weird was the street parking. People park in opposite directions on the same side of the street. It was really strange.

Now I have a decision to make. I met a girl at the mall who was from Cork and told her I was planning to go to Dublin for St. Patricks Day in a couple weeks. She told me that St. Pattys Day is way crazier in Cork than it is in Dublin because in Cork everyone is actually Irish, where Dublin is mostly continental Europeans. So I have a decision to make. Tomorrow, off to Blarney to kiss the Blarney Stone and get the “gift of gab.”