The Day of Farewells and New Starts

 Today we farewelled both our wonderful friends from Yorkshire, and the vibrant city of Dublin. 

While Mark and Julie went off to the fantastic Irish Emigration Museum we had visited yesterday, the rest of us took another walk in Phoenix Park, this time visiting the Tea Rooms for a coffee and cake before our midday checkout from the Ashling Hotel. 

Back at the hotel we met up with Mark and Julie and said our fond farewells to David and Carolyn. We then walked the short distance across the Liffey to Heuston Station, where we grabbed some food for the train trip and waited expectantly to learn which platform our train to Cork would depart from. 

We enjoyed a smooth 2.5 hour journey, watching the green countryside pass by and arrived into Cork at about 15:30. Unfortunately we had an unpleasant encounter with the taxi driver from the station. Not only did he spray the car with air freshener while we were in it, on arriving at the very expansive complex of buildings that house our apartment, when we asked which building it might be, he glibly said we would have to work it out ourselves. 

Finally having found our block, and dragged our luggage up the several flights of stairs (the lift is unreliable), we took some time to settle in and make the apartment our home for the next 4 weeks, before we set off to find dinner and do some grocery shopping. 

Quite by accident, after a lengthy walk followed by a short hop on the bus, we stumbled across the award winning Cork restaurant called Cornstore. With its garden to plate ethos, friendly staff and professional service, not to mention the delicious food, it was an excellent choice for travel weary tourists. It was wonderful to enjoy a meal full of delicious fresh vegetables and not a ‘mushy pea’ in sight.  

Tomorrow we plan to do a bit more exploration of the local area to get our bearings and discover what the city of Cork has to offer. 









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