Feeling of Being home in Cork

When I arrived in Cork my mood got immediately up. Even it was raining this town has something what still attracts me and makes me feel home. In addition there was nothing to see anymore from the flooding a few days ago.

I have been in Cork in 2009 but just for one day. But even it was just for one day I still remember it very well.

Let me feel home: Muenster and Cork

For me it's like a great mixture of Irish culture, the size of my hometown Muenster, hence not that anonymous and the alternative atmosphere like Hamburg city.

Moreover, I got the proof that I made the right decision to leave Tralee when I went to my hostel and opened the door to my 4 bed room.

Brave and self-confident girl from Switzerland

A hostel is a great place to meet different people from all over the world. Therefore I prefer a dorm instead of single room. But sometimes I like to be on my own as well. 

I opened the door to my dorm and there was another girl collecting her staff together. I thought that she was really beautiful and had friendly and interesting charisma. I liked that she had some tattoos on her arm and a great hairstyle.

I asked her: "Where are you come from?" "I'm from Switzerland." "Ah I'm from Germany." "Ja, dann können wir auch eigentlich Deutsch sprechen...". She introduced herself as Tamara. After a small chat I knew she spent the last two weeks in Kinsale by Workaway and she'll begin an Au-pair job in Dublin where she found a nice family.

Tamara asked me if I want to come with her because she'll catch up with an Irish guy she met last week in Kinsale where she attended a drum circle with her host. She told me that Kinsale is lovely, very alternative and the drum cirlce was an amazing experience. 

Wow! I was looking forward to coming to Kinsale and I was happy to meet Tamara after my strange experience in Tralee.

So we went out and caught up with her Irish friend Declan in the bar of the hostel...

Well, I think Declan was a bit disappointed that another person joined his date... I'm not quite sure about it. Anyway, when he asked me what I'll do in Kinsale and I told him about the hostel where I'll work he said it would be a worst place and he preferred to sleep in his van instead... Nice!

I felt a bit provoked... Tamara quickly said it might be another place which he experienced and if I really don't like it, I could change it. Well, that's right.

When we went to the first pub Tamara told us that she liked the Murphys more than the Guinness and that she had learnt it was more the Dublin way. Declan ordered a Guinness instead and I told him that I had learnt from real Irish guys that Guinness is either for old people or tourists...
He looked a bit confused and I ordered a pint Murphys... Touché ;-). I know it's a kind of childish but I couldn't resist.

But Declan turned out to be really a nice guy.

He told us that he spent his last years in New Zealand and Australia and now his is back in Ireland and quite happy about it. He loved to go surfing and traveling in his van. In addition he told us that he was very shortsighted and without contact lenses he was almost blind.

Murphys for real Dubliners :-)

On the whole it was really a great evening and it was very nice to talk to Tamara. We switched between German and English. Sometimes we even didn't realise that we talked in English to each other :-). She gave me some advice what I could do in Kinsale and Cork. I became aware we had a lot of things in common.

By the way she reminded me a bit of my friend Marion from Austria. She could be her younger sister because they really resemble each other. That reminds me that I still have to write to Marion... I'll do it in next two days. I promise!

In the mornings Tamara took the train to Dublin to her host-family. We exchanged our contact dates and I'm still in touch with her.

I'm still impressed about her mindset and therefore she is very young she is really open minded, brave and knows pretty well what she wants. That proves it doesn't matter how old or young you're. The only thing what counts is how experienced and open minded you're and your way to use it.

My catwalk through Cork

When Tamara departed I went on my catwalk through Cork. I was lucky because the rain stopped.

Some impressions from Cork on my catwalk

I could still see the signs from the flooding few days before due to the sand sacks. But the water was already gone.

Some signs from the flooding.

After I bought some new batteries for my chip-TAN generator and changed them in the shop where I bought them, I made a nice stroll through the city centre and headed to the English Market. 

There is such a lovely atmosphere as you can see in the following pictures.

Welcome to the English Market -great offers since 1788

Nice staff there - I hadn't no clue at all what to do with the flowers but watching...

A bit of Hamburg city feeling

Oysters

Having a break and eating crispy rice cake and drinking tea - what do I need more...

Superfruit... Hmmm. From Nederlands?

The fountain at the English Market from above -  near the fountain the Queen unveiled in 2011 a commemorative plaque.

Coming closer...

I took Tamara's advice and visited the Crawford Municipal Art Gallery which has free admission. But that was not the only reason. Even in my hometown in Muenster I like to visit the museum.

I like the silence there. You can walk around and just enjoy the displays without thinking about time and set your mind free.

The Crawford Municipal Art Gallery - worth to visit and get some silence

It's never to late for a lovely piercing as you can see the old lady who is reading a journal :-). Maybe she is looking for a new tattoo...

It's true! And where is Johnny?  I'm still searching for the golden ticket which will bring me to him...

Great fish and chips at The Fish Wife...  by the way I took the pic of the fish at a pet shop of course :-) but I like the pic and it matches very well here.

Further more lovely impressions from Cork - these mixtures of different places and possibilities are the reason why I love the city. For the people there is Cork the real capital city. I absolutely agree...

Hostel conversation

In the hostel I could listen to a funny conversation about the broken TV and I could learn again some useful expressions...

I was sitting in the living room when a girl came in and tried to turn on the TV. A guy - I supposed he worked there - just said: "It doesn't working. Someone fucked it up..." 

Aha, 'to fuck something up' is also possible to use for a destroyed TV... First I heard this from Derek about his mobile phone. Good to know ;-).

Here comes the rain again... Some alternative activities when it's raining

Trying different clothes and posing in the fitting room - well, I took some more pictures with really strange clothes but I don't want to make you think I got mad or anything... But if I see some weird clothes, and they have a lot there, then I must try it. Have you ever seen a jumpsuit which looks like a costume of a unicorn? Me neither... So I couldn't resist to try it. But this is really too much to publish it :-). Maybe next time.

Reading - An older gentleman in the hostel suggested me this book - it was one of his books which he left there. I saw a lot of book exchanges since my arrival. That's really a nice way.