W have been busy, and have not had much access to the internet, so apologies for the lack of updates
Our last day in Dublin was terrific, we walked to the docklands, a sort of mini darling harbour which was pleasant, and good excercise, then to the national gallery which was unexpectedly terrific, with a great selectin of renaissanace paintings: Bosch, Velasquez, Titian and Caraveggio amongst many others, yet not overwhleming like the Prado or Louvre. Next on the list was a visit to the National Library, and a splendid exhibition of W.B.Yeats manuscripts, photographs, films, and poetry readings. The day finished with a guided Literary Pub Crawl, which was both highly amusing and entertaining, and informative to boot.
Friday saw us driving to Cork, the main attraction being the Cork Jazz Festival. Boronia had amazingly booked us last minute accommodation in the very centre of Cork, it was almost too good to be true, and after an hours fruitless searching, we discovered it was too good to be true, and was in fact in Ballycotton, a mere 42 kms away. In Boronia's defence, the google map on the booking confirmation was highly misleading! Nevertheness, the Bayview Hotel in Ballycotton was four stars, had great views over the bay and the atlantic, a cliff walk and enabled us to explore the surrrounding area and have a great time. Serendipity at work!
We still managed to take in a fair bit of the jazz festival and to explore Cork. The highlights were a concert by the Tord Gustavsen ensemble - I have three CDs, but the live performance was extraordinary. Also a more energetic, but less nuanced concert by the Omar Sosa quartet, afro-latin jazz in extremis! I highly recommend Tord Gustavsen for anyone looking for some laid back and very svelte scandinavian jazz.
We are now heading to Ireland's wild south west. We have only managed an hour's driving before Boronia was diverted by a market day in Kinsale, the gourmet capital of Ireland according tothe various brochures and guide books we have managed to get our hands on. Sounds like a good place for lunch!
So we are surviving! We managed to walk ten kms yesterday, and have done a fair bit of walking around Cork, but the waist lines must be expanding!...the next week should offer plenty of oportunities to remedy this. All I am missing is the New Yorker, a regular hit of Australian newsprint, and my own home made meusli....otherwise, life is perfect! I cant help thinking the good times are bound to end soon!
Top of the day to all our readers
mike
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