WEATHER: The sun was out (for a little while) but I would have to say 16C
HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: Our visit to the Titanic Museum in Cove
BUMMER OF THE DAY: Group is getting on my nerves
BUYS OF THE DAY: A bunch of Jameson souvenirs
WORD OF THE DAY: - AFD = Alcohol Free Day
It’s a shame that we didn’t get to see too much of Cork, but we departed at 8.45am. These later starts are just awesome! We had a 30 minute drive to get us to Cove aka Cobh aka Queenstown. On 11 April 1912 Queenstown aka Cove was the final port of call for the RMS Titanic as she set out across the Atlantic on her ill-fated maiden voyage. Local lore has it that a Titanic crew member John Coffey, a native of Queenstown, jumped ship although there is no record of him on the crew list. 123 passengers boarded in all; only 44 survived the sinking. We got to go into this great museum that had some Titanic displays and also historical information on the immigration of approximately 2.5 million people of the 6 million that emigrated in the 1900’s during the Potato Famine, and they passed through Cove. Due to its naturally protected harbour Cobh has historically been important as a tactical base for naval military bases through time also. But the museum was pretty cool.
From Cove we drove another 30 minutes to Middleton where we got a chance to go to the Jameson Irish Whiskey’s home. I would call it the birth place, but originally it was located in Dublin, but moved in the early 1900’s to Middleton. Even though it is spelt differently from my surname (missing an i) it is pronounced the same way. Jameson Irish Whiskey is distilled three times to deliver exceptional smoothness. Triple distillation is what makes the Irish whiskey unique to American Whiskeys, which are typically only distilled once, and Scotch whiskies, which are usually distilled twice.
The tradition began in 1780 with the Great Master Distiller John Jameson, who worked out that three distillations was best for his Jameson Irish Whiskey. They roast the barley clean (no fossil fuels like Scottish whiskeys) and they distill the whiskey in casks that they buy from the USA that have previously had sherry and bourbon in them which also helps with the taste of the whiskeys. A whiskey cannot be called ‘Whiskey’ until it has been distilled for 3 years by law; Jameson’s minimum distillation is 4 years. The tour was really quite interesting and at the end, like any other grog tour, a free sample. I am NOT a whiskey drinker, but as it was free and also my name sake I went for a whisky and cranberry and it was actually quite nice. It still had a subtle whisky kick, but I think it maybe something I could get used to. I think I will buy one while I am out tomorrow night and just see how it goes down. If I’m not going to drink Guinness ( I am drinking Smithwicks beer which is Irish also ) but I may as well try and get into some whiskey while I am here!
Back in the bus and on the road again – we drove to our next stop which was The Rock of Cashel. It was the traditional seat of the kings of Munster for several hundred years prior to the Norman invasion. Cashel is reputed to be the site of the conversion of the King of Munster by St. Patrick in the 5th century. So we were all pretty looking forward to getting into the castle – BUT when we got there, there were a lot of police around and barricades around. You know what is coming right? The bloody QUEEN was coming tomorrow, and they have closed the castle for security reasons. Bloody Hell!!! We got our group photo taken here (some nice police were happy to get into the photo) and I also got the group to do the Bernstar jump. They were so enthusiastic – NOT – but thanks Dave for forcing the point, as I was about to tell them all to not worry. So it turned into a photo stop only from the base of the castle and then back in the coach for the remainder of the 2 hours to Kilkenny.
I have been to Kilkenny before, but it was quite a long time ago, and I don’t really remember much of it from then. We had a walking tour that went for 1.5 hours around the old town and Kilkenny is home to the Smithwicks (pronounced Smitticks) and also the Kikenny brew.
Dinner was at the hotel, and I have decided to have an AFD. ALCOHOL FREE DAY. I am feeling quite despondent with the group and I am really just looking forward for the tour to end. Not in the socializing mood, so as soon as dinner was finished, I escaped to my room to catch up on more office work, blog, diary and FB. The upside is that I save money, my liver gets a night off and I get more than 6 hours sleep tonight – depending on how much work I need to do. I want to make use of the free Wi-Fi (and it is fast) while I can.
I was on the verge of cancelling my seat on the final dinner tomorrow night – but I am going to suck it up. Besides already paying for it and it’s not refundable, there is no point in losing 43EUR. There are a few people, not many, that I would like to say good-bye to, so hopefully I will be able to get to sit with them tomorrow night.
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