Cheerio England, Failte Ireland

Monday Travel Day.  That means tomorrow will be decompression day.  

Our flight to Cork doesn't leave until 6pm, so we take a leisurely tack out of Oxford and then tag along with Ken as he visits outdoor places and talks to people in the industry.  Getting to Heathrow is a breeze, as is the long walk to the Irish terminal.  

Goodbye England.  I like that your news shows have managed to keep separate from the entertainment shows.  I very much enjoyed Top Gear.  Funny blokes, they are.  I like that as the night progresses you don't bleep out curse words on your other tv shows.  You treat adults like adults, and that is refreshing.   

Greetings from Buckingham Palace

Not so sure about the monarchy thing, though.  3 million pounds per year to heat Buckingham palace?  Why not let the poor Queen live elsewhere; hasn't she suffered enough?  Maybe turn the palace into something useful for the whole nation, a college for the middle class and  museum of antiquities, maybe.  I don't like how dingy and depressing so many of your homes and neighborhoods are.  I know you have crappy weather 300 days of the year, but have some pride and fix things up a little.  Take a cue from the Irish and put a coat of paint on or something.   

London, I love that I can walk a block in any direction and have fabulous food from pub fare to Peruvian and Indian.  I love that your population is a huge melting pot of incomes, colors and nationalities.  Chelsea - you look very interesting, I'd like to stay in your part of town the next time I come to London for a visit.


We have our flight instructions in Gaelic, and then proceed to cross the Irish sea.  As soon as we gain altitude, we start to descend. Ireland is the proverbial patchwork of greens and golds, illuminated by a slanting sun.  It looks just like all the coffee table books promised it would, and it is spectacularly beautiful.

Zoomed in

Our view toward Cork from one of the bedrooms

We check into our hotel and proceed with our house keeping.  We will stay here for 5 nights, for each of the next 3 weeks.

View from the living room toward the "burbs"

Riley will spend the next day or so under the weather with a bit of traveler's tummy, and we won't go explore Cork until Wednesday.