High Speed Mass in Cork

This morning we had to get up criminally early for a vacation so that we could get on the bus by 8:00. You'd think I'd be used to getting up early from going to UGGH Club... We had put in a wakeup call the day before with the same hotel and just got a phone call, but this morning, in a creepy Orwellian twist, the TV in our room switched on, started beeping loudly, and displayed a message along the lines of: "Welcome Travalon!"

Our first stop this morning was a farmhouse in Kilkenny County, where we had scones and tea and learned about life on an Irish farm. For example, Irish farmers do not get up at 4:00 am and they don't understand why American farmers do. They get up between 6:30 and 7:00, which is much less painful. We drove through the ancient city of Kilkenny ("kill" in Gaelic place names just means "church") and saw the beautiful old castle and a café called the Blah Blah Blah Café, but we didn't get a picture of that. Then we drove to Waterford and toured the famous crystal factory. We had a very long drive from there to Cork, but the scenery was lovely; it was an overcast day, so clouds were drifting down off the mountains in the distance. Plus everything is in bloom here, including the palm trees, most of which are actually dracaenas but so big that they look like trees.

I am not clear about whether the Hat clan came from the city of Cork or the county by that name, since it is the largest county in Ireland. Cork City does have lots of intriguing stores, like one painted with flames and named "Fred Zepplin." (Travalon did get a picture of that.) Unfortunately, just like in Dublin, all the really beautiful old churches were long ago taken over by The Church of Ireland, which is apparently some branch of Anglicanism. So I wonder if anyone goes to those churches, since 90% of the population is Roman Catholic. We had a walking tour of Cork but fortunately got done in time to go to Mass at 6 pm at a church called - you guessed it - St. Patrick's. It was the fastest Sunday Mass I've ever attended because they skipped the sign of the peace and recited the Gloria, though they did sing the Our Father... in Gaelic. The rest of the Mass was in English, and we didn't feel underdressed because everyone wore jeans. They knelt during the times when we stand, unlike the Mass we attended in Cobh, which was basically like an American Mass except that they received communion while kneeling, which they actually did not do here in Cork. Because Mass was so speedy, we got back to the hotel just in time to join our group for dinner, and our table had a toast for Travalon and me to congratulate us on our recent marriage. Now we are at an internet café with very slow speed, which just seems wrong when you have to pay for it. Oh well, it's only three euros for the two of us.

Famous Hat