full day and a half in Cork. arrived earlier than expected day before last on a bus from Dublin, after one from Belfast. spent Sunday afternoon walking around the city — Beamish Distillery, St. Fin Barre’s cathedral, City Hall, Patrick Street and around. finally sorted meeting up with Nicolette & Kelly (they actually came down from Belfast by train yesterday, rather than Sunday), and had an amazing night’s sleep at the hostel in MacCurtain Street.
yesterday more walking around Cork City — the weather has been fantastic thus far! and then i took a bus out to Midelton to see the Jameson Distillery and the kitchy ‘Jameson Experience Midleton’. the distillery bit is quite interesting, but the tour is somewhat perfunctory, seems like it’s designed for the tourist who doesn’t much care about the history of the company or who has a limited understanding of the English language. the facility we toured, however, was in constant use from the time the complex was built in the 1840s (?) until 1975. the process has now been moved to a newer complex on the same sight, where all whiskey (except for that produced by Bushmills) is produced.
back in Cork, we went out for dinner at a restaurant down the road with a waterfall in the courtyard. very posh compared to where/what i’ve been eating so far! after sitting for a bit, we went to explore the city centre and ended up having some pints and participating in a pub quiz. (and ran into about a dozen students from USD, who are attending the University of Cork … wait, i thought i was in Ireland … ?)
today, picking up the car and heading north.
How's the beer?