We got up nice and early to catch our bus here to Cork. Today marked a momentous day for a much bigger reason though – today was the first time in our whole trip that we've seen rain. Fortunately it wasn't torrential, just that annoying misty stuff that saturates you without really trying. It was also pretty windy, but not all that cold, which was good. We checked into our hostel (Sheila's) and went on a bit of a walk through Cork. It feels like a seaside town, with the river running through the middle of it, the grey skies and windy climate, lots of industrial and converted industrial buildings, but it has a cool vibe. There are lots of pubs and shops, though not as many as Dublin, and some really nice cobbled streets. We spent ages looking for the Butter Museum, which we thought would be really interesting and different, but when we finally found it we discovered it was closed until March. Dejected, we went south of the river to find the English market. We did eventually stumble on a pretty large food market, where we got some really good food deals. Anyway, it was really good value and we got a whole cooked chicken for €3 and some really nice bread for the next couple of days. We'll have to keep our eyes out for markets like this because it will make the trip that much better value.
We retreated back to our hostel with our food and checked the place out. It is one of the best hostels we've stayed in so far, its only downfall being that you have to buy breakfast rather than being provided. There is a really big commercial-style kitchen, free internet, clean showers, and… a sauna. That's right, we had a sauna this arvo for €2 (pretty cheap we thought). It was good to just relax after a fair bit of hectic travelling the last few days. I'd never had a sauna before and found it a bit uncomfortable, given it was so humid and around 55°C-65°C. It did give us a taste of what our families must be sweating through back home, but at least we could walk out of ours. Tonight we also had dinner with Johanna, Keeley's German exchange student from way back who is in Cork as a nanny for some rich people's kids. We went to a Chinese restaurant and ate lots, then went to a pub for a pint. It was good for Keeley to see her, but the conversation was a bit stilted (I suppose that happens when you haven't seen someone for three years). We'll see if the time with my exchange students works out like that.
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