Tribe of the Ring Fort: January 14 in Cork City

We went to Cork on the weekend of January 14, because Susannah had Friday off from school (teacher in-service). Had an absolutely amazing Indian dinner, a very nice Italian dinner, and took Susannah to the Fota Animal Park, which is a well-kept zoo with some of the animals roaming free. The cheetahs do NOT roam free, but when Susannah ran by the cheetah enclosure, one of the cheetahs started hunting her - running along side of her - INSIDE the very high fence of course - and looking like it thought Sus would make a perfect snack. The day was sunny, but on the cold side for Ireland so we didn't see as many animals out and about as the last time we were there. But we had fun. Barry found a bar that got American football, but the Patriots game was on too late here. They lost, so I guess he doesn't care much until next fall. We were in a pub for lunch on last Sunday, and there was a rugby game on the tv. Wow. I mean, have you ever seen rugby? The guys have thighs like tree trunks. Very thick, muddy, tree trunks.

Cork was PACKED with shoppers. The January sales here are a big deal, which kind of worked out well for us buying a few things for the house. We're being pretty stingy, though, until we get jobs and also because we just bought a car. We've acquired a Mazda station wagon, which Susannah likes because it's bright red. It's much nicer than the cars we got rid of in
Vermont. Now we have to deal with getting provisional driving licenses, and then full licenses. I'll write more about the process of acquiring licenses when we're further into the process. I'm sure it will be another bureaucratic laff riot.

Here are some pictures from Cork, although I didn't really take any shots of the city itself.

Susannah liked the hotel because there was an indoor pool.