| Islands of Song |
| We awoke early Friday morning and had a not-so-hot breakfast at the hotel restaurant, deciding that Irish breakfasts are not for us. After we ate, we went for a walk by the river. There was a tall ship docked at the Michael Collins bridge. Her name is the Jeanie Johnston and Vic already knew about her. Last year, a Coast Guard auxiliarist had gone on a North American voyage with her. While taking photos on the bridge, we were approached by a man who introduced himself as Leo O'Sullivan. A local man, he asked Vic what you call the figure on the front of the sailing vessel. A figurehead, Vic told him. We had a pleasant conversation with Leo. He welcomed us to Cork and apologized for the gray weather. "No worries," I told him, "It's far warmer than it is at home." |
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| On the way to and from the river Lee, we passed by the fine puppies at the Cork SPCA. What you don't see, is the little Jack Russell Terrier who was literally jumping up and down for our attention while we were taking this shot. He reminded me of the obsessive-compulsive dog in the modern Doctor Doolittle movie with Eddie Murphy. I petted the ones I could and tried not to think about them too much. If this were home, I'd be walking out with one, I suppose. |
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| As we walked back to the Clarion, we met Paul, one of the Belfast clowns, who was dressing to go perform. He did this several times a day every day we were there. Moray had arranged for many different kinds of street performers for the week and was busy each day, checking to see they were where they needed to be. It was nice to see performers from the Northern Ireland (Belfast) coming down to delight the crowds. The lobby was an interesting place to hang out watching the various clowns coming down in their dress and their "street clothes." The dead guy passed thru the lobby many times a day, each time coughing into his hand and blowing out "ashes." The flamenco dancer clowns floated out frequently but I never caught their performance. Dolly Parton and her manager were hilarious, complete with the required southern accents. And it was funny to see Jim's reaction toward sharing a light with someone who was a good 5 feet taller than he outside the hotel door. |
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| She was built as a replica of a boat that was used to take Irish immigrants to the New World during the Irish Famine years. She made many voyages and never lost a passenger or crew member, which was no mean feat in those days. The voyages generally lasted about 50 days and the accommodations were...shall we say, cozy. With 5 to a bunk, we might expect quite a few birth 7 months later, huh? The account of her Ireland to US and Canada voyage is here. And the official Jeanie Johnston website is here And here is a nice tour of her while she was in the port of Philadelphia in 2003. Little did we realize when we flew to Cork, that we'd meet the Jeanie Johnston in person. I wish we had been able to go back and tour her. Maybe next time. |
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| More sightseeing - guns! |
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