Wednesday the 2nd

Shandon Bells tower

Our Lady of the Peace church

Inside St. Mary's Cathedral

Ceiling of St. Mary's Cathedral

Stove at hostel that made me very, very angry

I didn't really do much today because I had to check out of the hostel early in the morning so I could fly back to Dublin, plus it was pouring the entire day. I started off with another lovely breakfast of toast (I'm pretty sure that after this trip, it will be a long time before I eat toast for breakfast).

I still explored a little bit, though, and did a bit of unintentional "church-hopping". I left the hostel because I wanted to check out some nearby cathedrals that I hadn't seen yet and look at the Butter Museum.

First I went to Our Lady of the Peace church near the hostel and attended their 10 a.m. service because I got there right at 10. It was a beautiful church, and it was interesting to listen how services are different here than in the States. The major difference I saw was that mass is only half an hour and there is no communal wine.

After that, I walked to see the Church of Saint Anne, which houses the Shandon bells. This is one of the most famous churches in Cork, and the tower of the spire can be seen throughout most of the city.

After this I decided to check out St. Mary's Cathedral, which was built in 1808 and is right on the River Lee. I got here a little before 11, which was right when their service started, so I attended it and then took some pictures. The focus of this mass was on St. Joseph, a topic which I've never heard preached about, so it was an interesting sermon.

After this I was soaked so I went back to the hostel and cooked some pasta from the free cupboard. Unfortunately, the stove's burner fire went out about every 30 seconds, so I had to keep lighting it in order to cook. It took me over half an hour to cook a bowlful of pasta, so I was really frustrated before my flight back to Dublin. I was also really warm because in an effort to get the weight of my luggage down (on the previous flight I had to pay an extra 15 euros--which is almost $25--because of it), I was wearing eight layers of shirts and a jacket to boot.