Let's wander around Cork in a sleep deprived haze

On Sunday morning I woke feeling tired and groggy despite only having three drinks the night before but I think lack of sleep and too much coffee was starting to catch up with me. I  got up early to take advantage of the free breakfast our hostel was providing but it turns out that was only toast, not much good to me so we headed back to bed for a bit before packing our stuff and checking out. We went searching for food in the city and it was Sunday morning before 11 so most places were closed but we eventually found a place that was open and had porridge and coffee so I was happy. 

After breakfast we took off looking for St Finbarr's Cathedral as Stephen wanted some pictures of it and we had time to kill. Once we arrived, I tried to find a corner to read my book ( ideally I'd have been lying on a bed but with our early checkout time, that was not possible) and Stephen kept asking me to be the focal point in his photos. As you might be able to tell, I usually do a terrible job of posing naturally as I get a bit uncomfortable with a camera pointed at me so I usually look a bit stilted or bored. I stood in front of the Cathedral while he worked out the best angle for his photo in order to capture as much of the building as possible and eventually it was decided that if he was to lie down in the car park he could fit it all in. I stood watching and trying not to laugh.

After we finished up there we made our way to Fitzgerald park. I would have loved to be curled up in an armchair indoors but it was not to be. If I felt too tired for walking then you can imagine how I felt about the prospect of a two hour drive home. We found the park and I tried to sneak myself onto a park bench with my book in hand but I would usually get a few pages before I was moved on to the next part of the park. Stephen tried to coax me to climb a tree so he could get a photo of me in it but the tree already had a child in it so I insisted it would look weird if I was to climb up beside her. 

We headed back to the city after this taking a long walk down by the river to get there so at least I can tell my mother I got a decent walk in over the weekend. We got back to the city and I finally got to go into the health food shop that's billed itself as Ireland's biggest health food store, now I don't know for certain if that claim is true but it was pretty big all the same and I did come away with organic shampoo and shower gel which made me very happy indeed.
We had no real plans for the rest of the day so we were going to head for lunch and then drive back to Waterford, I had a voucher for Milano's pizza that needed to be used but then Stephen saw a burrito place and had a sudden craving and we decided we'd hang on a little while longer. Naturally I did not eat a burrito because they look rank and aren't exactly vegetarian friendly but I found a crepe place down the street that used buckwheat so I got myself a delicious  and very cheesy crepe and no one got hurt by a hangry Laura.

So here we were in Cork both fed but with no money for shopping or actual plans other than staying around long enough to be hungry for Milano's so we headed to a pub showing a match that also had comfy seats and I got to curl up in a corner with my book while Stephen watched the TV. After that we headed to another pub that was supposed to be playing trad music but the internet lied to us so we sat in there for an hour anyway out of sheer laziness and because they sold nice beer. Eventually we felt hungry enough to go in search of food so we made our way to Milano's for some delicious and almost free ( with my voucher) pizza.
The pizza was delicious as always, maybe more so because we were so tired and hungry. There was a slight mix up with my order and I was brought a plain margherita instead of one with spinach but I was happy to eat the pizza they had brought me. The waiter noticed and had them cook me another with spinach and then insisted I bring it home with me.  We left the restaurant to an almighty downpour and by the time we got back to the car, I could hardly see with the rain. I think that's probably where it all started going wrong. Visibility was poor and we were leaving the city a different way so I ended up taking a wrong turn not once but twice and both time the detours took us ages to get back on to the road we should be on. I did eventually make it home just in time to discover that while cold pizza might be tolerable but cooked spinach gone cold is actually the most disgusting substance in the world.