Rest day in Cork May 31, 2016

Today was a rest day so it was a day to sleep in, and sleep in we did.  At 9;30 we realized that breakfast was only served until 10:00 am so it was hurry up and get dressed and hurry over to breakfast. 

The breakfast menu chooses for the Garnish House were phenomenal. There was at least 4 different omelets, full Irish breakfast, half Irish breakfast, several different kinds of pancakes, waffles, French toast,  and all kinds of different egg and toast combinations.  I choose an omelet and it was great.  The Garnish House isn’t true b&B as breakfast is not included but at 10Euros for anything on the menu it is the best deal in Cork. 

After breakfast there was no doubt that we were headed into the main shopping area to find a bike shop and an Irish bike jersey.  On our way we walked through the Cork English Market which was originally a meat market.  It still has a lot of different butcher shops in it but there are all kind of other shops offering fancy pastries, chocolates, vegetables, and lots of other exotic foods and spices.  Ths smells were wonderful.  I loved walking through the market and day dreaming about all the different chops, steaks ribs and sausages. It would be so much fun picking out something different every day for your supper. 

After the market we came to a bike shop and they had a good selection of very nice jerseys in  Irish green with beautiful Gaelic designs.   I think they must have all been racer cut as I tried on a XL and it was skin tight so I would up in a XXL.  It is a beauty and will make an excellent addition to the jersey collection.

After the bike shop Ken and Sally and Agnes and I opted to do a “Hop on Hop Off” bus tour of cork.  They have these open top double decker buses and it was great fun sitting way up top in the bright sun.  Yes it was 23 C and bright blue skies.  The bus wound around downtown which is built on an island in the river Lee.  There are a huge number of bridges on the island most of which were constructed in the early 1800’s.  The route took us down to the south past a number of beautiful cathedrals and finally up the north side.  How the bus got down some of the little tiny streets on what must have been 30% grades is a total mystery.  One of the stops was at the old city jail.  So we jumped off and took a tour through the jail.  It was pretty brutal and not only that people were imprisoned for totally minor crimes.  A month for stealing a napkin. There was one story of a young boy who was imprisoned for five years for stealing two brass clocks. 

After the bus tour we headed back to the hotel to clean bikes, rider meeting and get ready for tomorrows ride down to Skibereen. 

There are two major climbs tomorrow and I am going to try and retain the King of the Mountain jersey, however I have been warned there are three other riders lining up to take it.

Terry