Claire’s post below covers the highlights of our trip to the Black Rock Castle observatory and science yesterday. We took advantage of some relative sunshine (only one hail storm!) and walked 4 miles up the Old Black Rock Road (formerly Black Road Road, now Black Rock Road; Irish street names being somewhat arbitrary) to the Castle.
Old (new?) Black Rock Road
It’s at least a two, possibly 3, convent walk.
And, as on our walk down to Douglas, once you get out of the city center and into the detached housing portion of the program, pretty much every house has its own name.
Some come with a sense of humor, and some should be invited to Durham for the Beaver Queen Pageant.
The Black Rock Road also passes through the old village of Ballintemple, now a suburb of Cork, before ending at the pier of Black Rock. The Castle Road takes you the rest of the way there.
There’s a pretty good view of the port from the Castle Road.
The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.
And of course, a pretty good view of the castle.
Yonder lies . . . oh, hell, never mind.
Our tour guide gave us a pretty good sense of the history of the castle. It was never really intended to be a fortification for defense of the city. More built in the early 1600s to scare pirates away. The British turned it for a time into an actual battlement, but for most of its existence, it was a party room for Cork’s elite trading families. Accordingly, it was burned down a couple of times in drunken revelry, fell into disrepair, and ended up in the city’s hands around the beginning of the 21st century. The Cork Institute of Technology’s proposal to turn it into a science center was selected for implementation, and it opened a little over a decade ago.
The bottom portion is the oldest, and is maintained to show its original function.
Yesterday we walked four miles east and a bit south of the city to the Blackrock Castle Observatory. There was a clear blue sky when we left, within 10 blocks there was a few minutes of sleet, then it was lovely enough to remove our coats, and by the time we arrived at the castle there were gale force gusts of wind. The walk took us through some of the more posh residential neighborhoods than we’ve seen thus far, as well as a couple of small villages/neighborhoods, and a stretch along the Lee River.
Blackrock pier
The base of the castle — the squarish part below the towers — was built in the late 16th century to intimidate pirates who were sailing upriver and wreaking havoc. Later, when England was at war with Spain and the fighting spilled over into Ireland, the towers were built, although the war ended without the fort ever being used in battle. It went through a number of uses in the ensuing centuries, primarily as a sort of country club for the wealthier citizens. There were a couple of fires that destroyed any of the furnishings and tapestries that we normally associate with castle life. By the end of the 20th century it was a restaurant and event center. In 2007, the Cork Institute of Technology had the winning proposal of what to do with the property, and along with the City of Cork turned it into the science center it is now.
View from below the castle. The circular display in the foreground is for spotting landmarks on the view of the river.It gets bit windy up there.
This is not just a science museum for kids, but also a working observatory. While we were getting the tour, a young scientist worked his way through the crowd and into the lab that we were viewing through glass doors. They have a telescope, but the Irish climate does not allow for a lot of clear skies for viewing. So the scientists there focus on software development that they share with other observatories.
It isn’t as big as other kid-oriented science museums that I’ve seen, but the kids who were there were clearly enjoying themselves. In addition to the few exhibits, interactive and otherwise, there is the planetarium.
I’ve been to planetariums (planetaria?) in New York and San Francisco, and even the one in Chapel Hill is a sizable auditorium with the sort of show that evokes Ooohs and Ahhhs.
The planetarium at Blackrock Castle was nothing like those.
Inside a room in the castle stood a dome made out of fabric: the inflatable igloo. You enter through a rather, um, evocative slit between two inflated tubes, into a small chamber no bigger than a person, then through another slit. The room inside is maybe 15′-20′ in diameter; there were roughly 10 adults and 8 kids at our show. In the center is the planetarium apparatus; the audience sits on the floor in a single row around the edge of the circle. The presenter sits on the floor, too.
The show itself was very basic: what’s in the sky tonight, when is the best time of day or year to view various planets, a bit about some constellations. The presenter runs the show from a tablet, and she seemed to be fairly new to it as there were a few Ooopsies as she sped through months instead of hours, or couldn’t get the button to work to highlight Ursa Major.
But it was utterly charming. Unlike auditorium shows where everyone is suitably hushed, this was more of a conversation, with kids shouting out comments or questions, smaller ones squirming in their parents’ laps. It may not be Hayden planetarium, but it was a hit with the kids, and families were lined up for the next show.
We took the bus back into town, our first foray by (double decker!) bus. The castle is also the starting point for a greenway that extends several miles south along the river, so we will likely take the bus out there again at some point and enjoy the walk.
View of the greenway along the Lee River from the castle roof. We were on the roof of the fort portion of the castle. They were not taking visitors to the tower roof because there had been gale force gusts that day!
Photos from the past 10 days. All from various parts of Cork City, except the butterfly mural, which is near the Cobh train station, and the soldiers mural, which is near Cobh town center.
Another winter storm (Dennis) is sweeping through Cork today. Lots of wind and sideways rain blowing in from the west. Here’s some more photos of our walk up the hills on the south side of the city the other day.
Front and rear views of the cathedral. The sky was changing rapidly that day.
Some details of the cathedral
Dead peopleOld Beamish brewery. The goldfish weathervane echoes the one above the Shandon Bells on the north side of the cityI felt like i could live in this neighborhood, but the real estate market is so hot here, that almost everything is sold before it’s listed. As outsiders, we’re not privy to those kinds of sales, and it will be difficult to get to that point in any reasonable period of time. Wonder Woman as Kali, i guess
Yesterday’s adventures featured a lengthy stroll through The Lough neighborhood, on the south bank of the River Lee. Featured attractions are St. Fin Barre’s (Finbar) Cathedral, and the 400 year old Elizabeth Fort. We also had our first group social event, meeting up with a few SF aficionados to discuss Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone’s recent novel This is How You Lose the Time War. The event was a success, not only because of the good company and lively, free-ranging conversation, but it was also the first appearance of Toto’s Africa on this trip, making it an official Barry holiday.
Some photos of the Fort below. Additional photos of the walkabout to follow.
St. Fin Barre’s, from the Fort.
Arrow slit, or loop hole, looking onto the Labyrinth at St. Fin Barre’s
It has not been a surprise to us that the weather in February in Ireland has been chilly and wet. That said, it has actually been quite variable. The old saying that I’ve heard about many places in the U.S., “If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes” holds true here.
Most days we’ve walked extensively, and even if caught in a bit of rain, the rain has been not much more than a drizzle, enough to splatter the eyeglasses but otherwise not much of a bother. But then there will be a brilliant blue sky, until the next cloud rolls through. The temperature is fairly predictable, ranging mostly from low 40s to high 40s. Without looking at the day’s forecast, a guess of 45 degrees with a 50% chance of rain has a good chance of being accurate. And 45 degrees is actually not a bad temp for some vigorous walking.
The last few days have been a bit more severe. Storm Ciara (rhymes with tiara, with a hard “c”) swept through over the weekend, with wind-lashed rains loud enough to wake us up in the middle of the night. There were reports of power outages throughout Ireland and the UK, as well as some snow at higher elevations. The storm left a cold patch in its wake, so in the past 24 hours we’ve seen a spattering of hail and sleet.
But poor weather just means different opportunities. Yesterday, as Barry noted in his post, we ducked into a café for a cup of tea as weather threatened, and when it later started to rain in earnest, ducked into the Crawford Gallery of Art, a free museum which was on my list to see anyway. A perfect rainy day activity!
Today was colder than usual…the high of the day barely scraped 40. So we took the opportunity to check out the Tabletop Café, around the corner, where we had some noshes and played a game called Unearth most of the afternoon. Had a nice time chatting with Chris, the owner, and Tom, a regular patron. I could see us returning on another cold or rainy day, especially so that I can have a rematch with Barry, who won both games.
Yesterday was blustery, and rainy in patches. We decided to explore the east side of town across the river, past the first (last) bridge where the big ships are still able to dock.
I believe the buildings on the right are part of the bonded warehouses.
There’s a fair bit of new construction in the area, hundreds of thousands of square feet of “a new kind of work space for a new kind of work,” or some such nonsense. I suppose it will be interesting to see how that turns out in 4 years or so.
Continuing a few blocks east, we found ourselves at the train station. We plan on taking the train to Cobh and Midleton over the next few weeks, so we spent some time there.
Got into a long talk with one of the senior attendants at the station, a man roughly my age. I guess he was looking for a break, without seeming to be taking one. He showed us some of the less obvious historical features of the station. He also had some interesting ideas about the US Civil War, about which i’ll ruminate later in this post.
After the station, we decided to walk up the hill to the neighborhood called St. Luke’s Cross. The steeple of the namesake church is the most prominent landmark of the neighborhood, though it can’t be seen from our apartment. We made our way there. The neighborhood gets posher the higher up the hill you get.
We kept popping in and out of rain squalls, so we ended up ducking into a coffee shop across the street called Rant. First time i’ve seen people i’d describe as old hippies in Ireland, and a little research helps to understand why.
We walked back into town along the Lower Glanmire Road, till it connected to Summer Hill, and then into the Victorian Quarter. It’s a bit of a high street along that stretch.
Afterwards, we ducked out of yet another squall and into the Crawford Art Gallery, the municipal museum in the heart of town. It’s located in the old Custom House, from when the docks extended further upriver. I was pleased to discover there are Pastafarians in Ireland.
But i had mentioned earlier a conversation in the train station. A couple of weeks back, on our way down to Cork from Athlone, we stopped in Cashel, to visit the Rock of Cashel, which isn’t really a rock. We ended up walking through a private “museum” of sorts. Basically, just a collection of random artifacts down the hill from the castle, organized into a semblance of a narrative of Irish history over the past couple of hundred years. The proprietor expressed some dissatisfaction with the stories from the States about Confederate statues being removed from the public square, because, you know, history. I was kinda caught out, not expecting to have these conversations here, so i basically disagreed with him, and changed the subject back to Irish history. But i made some mental notes about my response if i encountered that again.
And sure enough, the guy in the train station made almost exactly the same comment. Apparently, the rebel nature of the Confederacy appeals to some segment of the population here, who also consider themselves rebels and the children of rebels.
And it occurs to me that the great con of the Confederacy is claiming the mantle of rebellion for itself. If the Confederacy was about anything, it was about maintaining the status quo of the elites of the day in the face of the mounting anti-slavery rebellion. Slavery had been enshrined in the new country from its founding. The anti-slavery movement began immediately. It represented the change. The reactionaries were pro-slavery. John Brown represented the rebellion. Harriet Tubman represented the rebellion. Sojourner Truth represented the rebellion. In Star Wars terms, Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee were the Emperor and Darth Vader.
And how they’ve managed to portray themselves, over 150 years after their deaths, as rebels to a people 4000 miles away remains one of life’s mysteries. But if we do settle here, i know what one of my tasks will be.
We left the apartment early, discovered the local farmers market on our side of the river, and spent a few hours exploring Shandon and its surroundings.
Farmers Market, Merchant’s Quay
This one will definitely also make an appearance in the next street art post.
One thing i’ve noticed about Cork is that there’s not really much in the way of dedicated green space. You just have to find nature where you can.
Learned that Mother Jones was born here 183 years ago. We could use her now, no?
Today’s Election Day in Ireland. I wonder if Senator Googly Eyes will retain his seat?
And just a few more pics of our little walkabout.
Left, gravestone at St. Anne’s; Right, the 4 clocks on the tower at St. Anne’s are known locally (and, i would guess, affectionately) as the Four Liars, as they are never in agreement as to the time.
I found my peeps, though.
Heineken has a brewery on the edge of the district. Don’t know if they give tours, but it explains why the brand is so prevalent in this city.
It’s been fun running around the city with Barry all week, but truth be told, I’ve also been looking forward to spending a day on my own, popping into whatever stores caught my eye and spending as much time as I wanted without worrying that Barry was bored hanging out in the schmuck chair*.
Today I got my chance; he needed a day of rest, so I got to explore the city on my own. I’m not much of a shopper, but I was curious to see the stores here, from Marks & Spencer (which I’ve wanted to see ever since reading the Bridget Jones books) to Brown Thomas (which, according to the Ask Audrey column in the Irish Examiner is where the posh people shop). I also popped into Debenham’s, Dunnes, and several smaller shops that caught my eye.
It’s easy to get turned around in Cork City Centre, but difficult to get lost. Streets curve around, there are several enclosed shopping centers with entrances on multiple streets, and the major roads are crisscrossed by alleys: some are mere service alleys, some are wide enough to have one narrow lane of traffic, and others are pedestrian only, often lined with sidewalk café seating.
I simply wandered from store to alley to street, occasionally popping into a shopping center and coming out another side, walking in one direction and discovering I was heading the opposite way I thought I’d been going. The reason it’s difficult to get lost, though, is that the city centre is on a small island, so you can’t go too many blocks before you run into the River Lee. The north branch of the river is wider, with a steep hill opposite (our apartment view); the other is narrower and the opposite bank is flat. So you really can’t walk too far without the river to reorient you.
I also ran into a demonstration, from what group specifically I could not say, but they were young and enthusiastic and happy to be banging drums and talking to people about world we are leaving to our children and grandchildren. I also chatted with someone raising funds for a homeless shelter; yesterday I chatted with someone from the Irish Cancer Society, and with a big election coming up tomorrow, we’ve also had conversations with some campaign volunteers. All conversations I would likely avoid in the states, but here, I’m motivated to talk to whoever will talk to me, about whatever!
On the way home I passed this lovely building, where, yesterday afternoon, I got a wonderful massage and had a bit of a conversation about politics with the masseuse (she’s voting Sinn Féin).
*The term “schmuck chair” was coined by my friend Glenn for the chair where a husband sits looking bored while his wife shops. It’s not really gender-specific, though, as I have appreciated many fine schmuck chairs in record stores. Sometimes, if you’re really lucky, there’s an entire schmuck living room with a coffee table and magazines.
Before we arrived in Ireland last week, we had done a little advance scouting on things we might like to do. One of them was the Chinese New Year celebration at Nano Nagle Place, about a mile from our apartment. Neither of us knew anything about the site, its history, or why they’d be celebrating the lunar new year.
The actual celebration was, umm, earnest, if a little underdone. A team of 5 dragon dancers ran around the gardens a couple of times, while a couple drummers beat an interesting Sino-Celtic rhythm.
A number of young persons dance troupes also performed at a separate, indoor event. Seating for that was limited, so we skipped it and just wandered around the grounds a bit before heading home.
Nano Nagle crypt with St. Brigid’s cross
The site served as a learning center for Catholic children in the 18th century, at a time when the English Penal Laws forbade educating Catholics, as well as a convent for the Ursuline Sisters.
Cork Spring 