Cork

Well, we left Dublin today and spent all day on the coach bus. (I'm GLAD I brought some Dramanine on this trip.) We went to the coastal town of Cobh, which was previously called Cove and Queenstown, and was the last port call stop of the Titanic before it set sail, and also where the survivors of the Lucitania were taken. It was also the port that tons and tons of ships set sail from to take Irish immigrants to other countries during the famine, and to take convicts to Austrailia and Britian. The place we went to there was called the Cobh Heritage Center. Pretty interesting. The coast was gorgeous. Yesterday we went to Glendalough and saw the ruins of an old monastery. It was absolutely amazing. It was in a valley in the Wicklow Mountains and there were two lakes. It was one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen in my life. We've also been to two gaols (jails): Wicklow Gaol (not that impressive) and Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin, which is where all the rebels associated with the 1916 Easter Rising were executed. It was really awesome, if a little depressing. Now we're at our hotel in Cork. It's really nice! As you can tell, I've been learning a lot. Hard to believe the trip is half over.