Into the Past in Cobh

Last night was a lot of fun. We went to three different pubs, and also to a dance club in downtown Cork. All of us laughed, danced, and had an excellent time! After we were exhausted, we made a stop at Hillbilly's (a fast food chipper that serves chicken - much like Cane's, but peppery - which was excellent) before hailing cabs to take us back to the house. Once there, I watched some of the guys play poker for a bit before, exhausted, heading upstairs to go to bed on the comfy couch. Dani and I stayed up for a while talking before falling asleep.

The next morning, I figured out times for trains out to Cobh (pronounced 'Cove'). It's a little historic harbor town suggested by my guide where half of the Irish immigrants to America left during the potato famine. It's also the last place the Titanic stopped before it hit the iceberg, as well as a spot where many survivors of the torpedoing of the Lusitania were brought for treatment. Everyone decided to come along on our trip, so we caught the first bus into town and walked to the train station. From there, we got our tickets and boarded for a short ride into Cobh.



The whole trip we wound along the coastline, which was pretty nice. Finally, we stopped at Cobh and looked out onto the harbor and land across it. It's a gorgeous place, and peaceful too! Sarah came with me to the museum in the city, which houses the Heritage Center as well as exhibits on all the things that have happened to Cobh over the years. This is where I thought I'd be able to check out my family's histories and find ancestors and such, but it seems to be just a place to pick up the forms to order them. Oh well. The exhibit was interesting, but lacking in information and photos and not worth the entrance fee.

The town itself, though, was lovely. We all walked around it for the next hour or so before we had to get the train back. It's right on the sea, built on a hill, so the town's all stretched about it leading down to the water. There was a huge church we saw at the top of the hill - the town's cathedral - that we decided to walk up to. It was gorgeous inside! And massive! And in this tiny little seaside town in Ireland! I was really impressed with it. Sarah, Dani, Josh, and I walked back to the train station together, making a stop at a convenience store for ice cream, then a candy store to stock up on snacks for the bus trip back to Galway.


The rest of the day's pictures can be seen here.

When we arrived back in town with the others, we picked up the luggage we'd left at the bus station and then left the rest of our group so we could catch our 6:00 bus back (their bus, with a different company, wasn't until 6:30). First, though, we stopped in the shopping center for food. We made the mistake of going to Quizno's, which was out of nearly everything - including lettuce - and had pretty bad service. Oh well...it was food.

The bus trip home was quiet enough. I just slept and listened to my iPod. When we made it
back to town, we took a cab back to Corrib Village and relaxed. Always nice after a busy weekend. Tomorrow I've got to hang out with Shelby and the other LSU kids, since they leave for Cork (the irony, eh?) on Tuesday.

And it does not feel like July already!