Third Time's a Charm

Carolyn and I had a lot to do in Cork before we left for Dublin!  There were so many sights I felt were key for her to see during her visit, so there was no time to waste.  We slept in a little bit, and packed up our stuff for Dublin, and we were off to explore to city.

Carolyn is an iced coffee lover, which is not a common thing in Europe (let alone coffee in Ireland, at all).  Thankfully, one of the cafes in the City Centre does in fact make iced coffee, so that was our first stop of the morning.  I think I have mentioned this spot before, the Wholy Grain, it has really good coffee and baked goods.  We restrained ourselves from the baked goods, which was a hard task because they looked so delicious, but, we were on our way to brunch!  After our coffee break, we walked across the street to Liberty Grill.  I have not been back here since one of my first weeks in Cork, so I was very excited.  We did not have to wait long to get in, you unfortunately cannot do reservations, but it is so worth the wait.  To start our brunch, Care and I shared a scone and had some (more) coffee.  As my dad says, the scones in Ireland really are the best.  I think this past week with my family here, I ate enough scones to last me my entire year here.  But, I cannot get enough of them! For breakfast, Care had the vegetarian breakfast, which was two poached eggs with sourdough toast, and your choice of two vegetarian sides.  She had avocado, and Liberty Grill's famous maple fried bananas.  They were out of this world.  I had the breakfast special of the day, Merguez Benedict.  This was like an Eggs Benedict, but instead of ham/bacon, there was Merguez sausage, a spicy lamb sausage.  I have a theory that if an item is a special, the restaurant is using their best ingredients, therefore you have to get the special.  I may sound crazy, but my theory was right for this meal!  It was so yummy!    

After brunch, Care and I headed to the Shandon Bells.  This was my third time going to the bells, and second this week, but I really a cannot get enough of the view.  We weren't going to do this, but,  luckily we had enough time.  I really think it is one of the best spots in Cork.  It did not take us long to get to the top, which I was shocked with Care's broken foot!  She played two song when she rang the bells, Here Comes the Sun, and Freres Jacques.  She sounded like a professional :)  We then headed back towards my apartment to get ready for the train to Dublin.  But, we had to make a pit stop at the English Market, we needed scones for the train ride!  I need my guests to get as many scones as they can while they are here!

We grabbed our bags and went to the bus stop that would bring us to the train station.  While we were waiting for the bus outside UCC, there were people arriving for a wedding in the UCC Honan Chapel.  The bride came in in a white antique car, she looked gorgeous!  It was a prefect ending to Care's time in Cork.

When we got to Dublin, we headed to our hotel to get ready for dinner.  Dad had made a reservation at a place called The Winding Stair.  It was a cute pace that looked like an old book store.  I followed my theory about specials again, I had the chicken special with kale mash potatoes and black pudding.  Once again, my theory worked!  For dessert, we all shared a whiskey bread pudding, so good!

At this point, I was in a food coma and ready to sleep.  We had a big day of exploring on Saturday!

Be back soon!

XO,

Caitlin

Breakfast!

Care at the Shandon Bells.

Care and myself at The Winding Stair.