Europe - Trip 3

Day 3 - January 28, 2002

Todd wanted to take one of these signs home

This morning we decided that we’d had enough of Cork so packed our stuff and left. Before we actually caught the train we hit the Murphy’s brewery, the home of a very fine brew – and a significant contributor to the reason why we flew into Cork as opposed to other places that cheap airlines fly. We expected a fancy tour or at least the chance to buy some swag from the brewery propaganda shop but were sorely disappointed – no tours, nor store, only a slightly grumpy 60 year old guy at reception who finally gave us some Murphy’s postcards after a bit of badgering.

Spooky going through the bars to get a keg

Non-plussed and seriously depressed at this point we walked the last mile to the train station and headed west to Tralee and the coast. The mid 19th century train was quaint and got us there in time for dinner. We found a nice budget accommodation place that seemingly catered to students at the local business school (we learned later) and which cost significantly less than anywhere else we’d stayed to date. Small clean room with a firm bed, our own bath (with solid water pressure) and a view of a car park.

Bullshit corner at the Abbey bar

We wandered through town back to train station to see what the bus to Dingle looked like. Figured it out and headed back to near where we were staying and picked a pub almost at random (though people tend to underestimate the existence of serendipity within a random sample) – a place called the Abbey bar, a converted Abbey with a long bar and rooms available for the night. Settled in a bit more when we saw that it was a Murphy’s place…

Spooky back in his element

The proprietor was a fabulous older gent who smiled the entire night and hung around with a group at one end of the bar who all seemed to know each other quite well. He came and sat at our position and asked us where we were from and we chatted for a few minutes. It got around to beer and Murphy’s and the bad start to the day and he was really sympathetic – mentioning that he’d have a word with the Murphy’s rep that was due in the bar in about 5 minutes. Our sob story ended up touching the heart of the man from Murphy’s so much that he bought us each 2 pints during the evening. Not the same as a tour and sweatshirt, but it helped sooth us.

We proceeded to eat our dinner and trade comments with the crew at the end of the bar – they asked us a few questions and we them. Over the course of the night we watched Friends, Father Ted (a part of the Irish culture we were told), a reality TV program where two ex-cons are followed around, and a pleasantly crude show with a couple of twisted puppets narrating a story. One of the guys of the “bullshit corner” crew, Stephen, proceeded to give us some tips about Dingle and the coast nearby after the evening was winding down for us. We closed the night out after a fabulous evening and toddled off to bed so that we could actually get out Dingle the next morning.

The weather was inconsequential as we found a place to hang out indoors...