Cork City

This last weekend we were blessed with the ability to do a little traveling.  Monday was a bank holiday which meant Paul was off of work.  With three free days on our agenda we decided to make our first travel day in Cork City.
Entering Cork you first see water.  The River Lee goes right through the city which makes it feel a little bit like Dublin.  The city is a major Irish seaport. 

 Since the day was filled with dark clouds and rain much of our day was spent in the shops.  All of the photos you will see were taken in the car or very quickly before the next shower hit. 

A little Shopping

Some Pubs

A common scene here is old houses.  It constantly amazes me that people actually live in them.  Many do not look fit for living in.

It is amazing to see what the Irish can fit into a small space! 

Below is a typical city street.  You can see just how narrow it is.  I had posted one similar when I blogged about Dublin.  Since this was worse I thought I would show it as well.

And some shots of just a few of the buildings there.

One of many statues in the cities here.

This man was playing his guitar for change.  It was so much fun watching him.  As people would pass he would play a song that he thought matched the person.  For instance when a child would pass he would play a song for them.  They were always common ones that most children would recognize, like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  We stayed and watched for a while.  It was interesting to see what song he thought matched the person.  For some people he would play a real heavy fast song and others would get slow ones.  As soon as the person was no longer in front of him he would move on to the next.  I was blessed to be able to get this shot since the streets were so busy that day.

Another common site in Ireland is Ale.  This glass was sitting with no one around.  I am guessing it's owner must have had one-too-many. 

These men caught a whole lot of attention.  It was more interesting watching the looks on people's faces around us then to watch them singing.  There was more of them then what you see here.  They were walking through the streets playing some sort of instrument (drums being the most common) singing hail Krishnah.

The River Lee is very dark.  I have heard about the dark waters of Ireland and now I know what they are talking about.  In some places the rivers look black.