if we leave tonight, then we leave it all behind.

Fionn Regan - Abacus

I'm in Cork now, after spending a few days in Dublin and Kilkenny.

Dublin consisted of wandering around, checking out the National History Museum, which had these awesome bodies from the middle ages preserved in bogs. The so-called "dead zoo" museum in Dublin was closed for renovations. That sucked. I went to the Chester Beatty Library. He was this rich guy who went around the world 'collecting' books and rare items. Annoyingly imperialistic, but still cool to see pages from the 800's. The Gallery of Photography was closed; they were preparing for a new show. The National Photographic Archives was tiny. It was basically one room with maybe 20 pieces on the walls. I checked out Trinity College, but didn't see the Book of Kells. Didn't feel like paying money to see that.

I went out to Temple Bar with 2 Canadian girls and an Aussie girl. One of the Canadians goes to Ottawa U. Temple Bar was fun but incredibly touristy.

I then hopped on a bus to Kilkenny and spend 2 days there, seeing the castle and cathedrals, and walking the medieval streets. Not a bad little town, but not a whole lot to do. I had a very interesting sleeping experience with 2 gay Italian boys.... fun. The hostel I stayed at (Mac Gabhainns) was fantastic, apart from that. Run by a really cool guy, and really homey, with a fantastic shower. I really hate the showers over here, with basically one temperature setting: hot. Kilkenny's nightlife is a bit lacking, though.

I'm now travelling around with the Aussie girl. This is our second day in Cork. Its not a bad town, just not a whole lot to do and we're both burnt out. We did the Blarney stone yesterday and walked around this morning. We were supposed to be in Killarney today but everything is booked for Saturday night. So we'll go there tomorrow night, stay for a couple of days, and then its off to either Doolin or Galway to check out the Burren, the Cliffs of Moher and the Aran Islands. That should be fun.