Cork uncorked! (Episode 3: Fota!)

Previously on emerald_away: Adventures in Blarney on Saturday. Today's episode is the conclusion to this 3-part epic post on Cork.

On Sunday, after a disappointing breakfast (we had wanted to go to Quay Co-Op again, but it was closed, so we went somewhere else) we found the train station and just barely caught the train to Fota. I say "barely" because it involved us yelling at the automatic ticket machines to hurry up, and then running down the platform and jumping on the train just before it left. Because it was Sunday, we would have had to wait more than an hour for the next train if we had missed that one. But we made it. Hooray! We were going to Fota to see the Fota Wildlife Park. It's like a zoo, but with almost no fences. The monkeys all live on islands, and don't seem interested in leaving them, the non-predatory animals are behind small fences, but most of them can just step over, so you see animals just wandering around on the paths. The only animals in real zoo-like cages are the cheetahs (there must have been close to 20 of them) and the eagle. It was super cool. I've never been that close to some of those animals before. Here's some highlights:

As we came into the park, there was this mother capybara and her baby just chilling out near the picnic area. I've never seen these up close before. I didn't realize they were so huge. It's the world's largest rodent. It looks like a guinea pig, but it's the size of a sheep. Crazy.



Pelicans! Kalen had never seen pelicans up close before. She didn't think they would be that big.



Leapin' Lemurs! (Sorry, just taking a time warp back to the Kratt Brothers...remember them? Anyone? Just me? Okay.) Anyways, These lemurs were actually in the lemur area, but there seemed to be random lemurs all over the place.



This monkey kept posing for the camera. It was pretty funny. Actually, it kind of takes me back to the days of wee Ian's "sweetie pie" face.



A whole family of monkeys!



A gibbon chillaxin' in the sun.



It's like a little person! Look at his little hand! And his little Beatles haircut! Crazy.



This baby gibbon was very silly.







The family of gibbons put on quite a spectacular show for us. They were singing. It was so neat, because when they were all sinigng together, it was like they were harmonizing.



"Ooohhh Danny Boooooy!" (Don't they look like they're singing bar songs? See how they've got their arms around each other? Too cute.)



Look how close these wallabies were to the fence! We were about 6 inches away from them!



This monkey does not look amused. I'm kind of glad this one was on an island.



A black swan! Super cool!



Awww...the cheetahs love each other! <3



Heeeeere zebra, zebra, zebra!



With some of the animals, I was wishing that they would come just a little closer...



...others were already too close for comfort.



Much better. Just stay over there, Mr. Ostrich. Don't come over here again, please.



The giraffes finally came closer.



They brought their baby!



This one came really close! I'd like to point out that it was not necessary to use the zoom on my camera for this picture. She was about 6 feet away from us. It was amazing.



There were some llamas (or maybe they're alpacas) hanging out on the path. Either way, I wanted to run over and shave them so I could make yarn. :D



A baby bison! Awww. Just like home!



An oryx. These guys have crazy horns. They look pretty lethal.



We saw some ugly, ugly emus.



And a very pretty duck.



And a heron.



And a PENGUIN! This seemed very strange at first, but I suppose if they can live in New Zealand and South America, then they can live here. This one seemed very confused, though. He was trying to build a nest. I didn't think penguins normally did that.





I <3 peacocks. I chased this one around for about 5 minutes trying to get some good shots.







And so concludes our trip to Cork. Basically, it was awesome.

The end.

Cork uncorked! (Episode 2: Blarney)

Previously on emerald_away: Kalen and I had left St. Finbarre's Cathedral, and had an awesome organic vegan lunch, and hopped on the bus headed for Blarney.

Today's episode: Blarney.

We went to Blarney to see Blarney castle, and of course kiss the Blarney Stone, because we're lame tourists sometimes. Blarney is my new favourite place ever. Let me show you why.

We arrived in the town and walked over to the castle grounds. (Ooh, scenic!)



They had lots of really lovely flowers blooming all over the place.



There's the castle!



Getting closer...



Crossing the bridge...



Right up close.



Apparently they couldn't decide on just one type of window.



The castle wall.



There's a cave underneath the castle wall. Apparently it used to connect to a series of underground passages that led all over Ireland, but they're lost now. How cool is that?



The part of the cave that still exists is open for people to walk through. So we did. We can't resist a good cave.



It was not nearly as tourist-y as Dunmore Cave, so it was very very dark. Hooray for my ridiculously bright camera flash!



It was pretty treacherous. We just about fell in some pits. So we decided to head back out to where we could see again.



Then we took the path around and up onto the castle wall.



Peek!



Looking over the wall. There were some convenient steps built into the side of the wall so short people like me could see over...if I stood on my toes. (Auntie Jane understands!)



We walked along the wall until we got to the castle. The Blarney Stone is at the top of this tower (in the middle where those metal bars are). This is the part when I started having second thoughts. I don't like heights. "Wait, you want me to climb up where?? And then hang upside down?? Are you sure?"



Alright. *deep breath* Let's do it. Going up...



By the way, these are the stairs we were climbing. Spirally. They were very very narrow. Towards the top, they got narrower, and it was a challenge to get through with my backpack on. They were also very very steep. Needless to say, I felt a little less than safe.



But we made it to the top! Alive! (Bonus!)





Then we both hung upside down and kissed the stone, but you'll just have to take my word for it, as there are no pictures. They make more money if they say you can't take your own pictures, but have to purchase one the horrid ones they take for €10. They were really unflattering, and certainly not worth €10, so we didn't buy them.

The stairs going back down were much wider and less steep, so we made it down just fine. Hooray! Then we walked over to Rock Close, which is a wooded area on the castle grounds which was used centuries ago by the Pagans. (Starting to see why this is my favourite place ever?)

We couldn't resist climbing a tree or two.



I'd just like to point out that European robins look very different from the North American ones, and are about a quarter of the size.



Here's Kalen in the Druid's Cave.



This is the Witch's Kitchen.



There's a little hearth inside the cave. I brought home a little piece of her fire wood. I'm sure she won't mind.



The Witch's Kitchen is underneath the coolest tree ever.



And here is the Witches Stone. Do you see her face?



This is the Druid's Circle. It was used for all sorts of special rituals. The great big stone at the back (to the left) was a sacrificial altar.



I climbed up and sat on the altar to look down on the circle.



Walking round the woods.



This part of the woods is the Faery Glade. I'm a big fan of anywhere that has faeries.



Waterfalls!



This is the Dolmen. It's an ancient tomb portal. No one knows how that giant rock got there. (Oooh, mysterious!)



Kalen walking through the portal. There's not a lot of space.



The top of the Wishing Steps. The legend is that if you walk down and back up the steps with your eyes closed, thinking only of your wish, then the Witch will grant your wish within a year.



We tried it! Kalen's coming down!



There's a disclaimer near the steps saying that Blarney Castle is not responsible for people injuring themselves on the steps. We thought this was funny. Until I fell down the steps. But I'm okay!

And that was our trip to Blarney. When we got back to Cork we were exhausted and starving from walking around all day, and we really really wanted fish and chips. We walked around Cork City for like half an hour trying to find fish and chips. We went into this one pub and asked if they had it, and he said that he can't think of anywhere in Cork City that would serve it. SRSLY?? Since when can you not get fish and chips in Ireland?? That's just nutty! I was so frustrated. Anyways, we finally found some here:



It was a very strange little diner. The people working there had very thick Cork accents, which were difficult to understand. But the important part is that we got our plates of deep-fried goodness. And all was well.

That night we went to a free comedy show at a bar near our hostel. It was pretty good. I really got a kick out of the name of the show...The Craichouse. (In Irish, "craic" means "fun" and is pronounced like "crack". Get it? Crack house? Tee hee!)

Tune in tomorrow for the thrilling conclusion of this epic 3-part series!