Co Cork, Ireland

Been a while since I posted- turns out it's hard to cram events into a
busy life and then find time to write about them as well. Go figure.
It's not like our lives are any busier than normal, or busier than
yours.

Anyway, we're on a train back from Cork right now, and I found out I
can post to the blog by emailing it, so there you have it.

This weekend, on the advice of an Irish coworker of mine, Michelle and
I took a trip to Cork. This weekend was the Cork Jazz Festival, and
we had a wonderful time. Two days of, essentially, pub hopping,
listening to some great bands all for mostly free, and we cut a wide
swath of various jazz-ish genres.

Last night we saw Milk and Jade open for Imelda May. I highly highly
recommend Milk and Jade- they were the highlight of the weekend and
put on a great show. Awesome fused mix of hip hop and jazz, great
musicality and very skilled artists. I think they are from Brooklyn.

Today we went to the Cork City Gaol (Jail) in a "just visiting" sense.  It has mostly been preserved as-is since it closed in 1923 and it was a historical, if a little kitschy at times, tour.  Bleak is an understatement.

After that we took the bus out to Blarney Castle and had a wonderful time traipsing the grounds.  They pretty much give you the run of the place, and I was glad it didn't rain today- not so much because the castle is roofless but because that stone would have been immensely more treacherous had it been wet.  The American in me was both shocked and awed by the seeming lack of safety checks put in place.  If the castle were in America they'd be so worried about lawsuit that the place would have been boarded up long ago.  Here they just put up a sign, something to the effect of "we want the castle to remain authentic; therefore if you step beyond this point you absolve the castle of any fault for any injury or death whatsoever."

The lawyers over here haven't really gotten their game face on yet; clearly we Americans can teach them a thing or two.

Also, something I knew but love experiencing... Train travel is an incredibly convenient and peaceful way to travel, though I wouldn't want it to be very crowded.  We're just about to hit Dublin... Jiggity jig.