How many ways are there to have whiskey in Ireland?

I feel like this is Tour de Whiskey the past few days! Where I left off in my blog, I was in Cashel at a hostel where there were half dozen workers from Northern Ireland staying and they were in the kitchen drinking and listening to music and chatting... what you might expect is the stereotypical Irish evening but it was true. I went in and they invited me to sit down and one guy made me a drink but wouldn't tell me what it was. All I knew was whiskey. I later found out it was a Hot Toddy (medicine) with about two parts hot water, some sugar stirred in, then one part whiskey (it was Scotch whiskey though- shame). It was really good. They were chatty, but I was a sentence behind in deciphering their accent so it was hard to keep up.

The next day I went to explore Hore Abbey (yes, pronounced "whore") which is the abbey ruins and no entry gate or anything... you just have to walk through a cow pasture and avoid manure on the path to get to it. It has a great view of the Rock of Cashel, which was my next stop.

The Rock of Cashel is very cool- up on a hill in the town of Cashel and it's also an abbey ruin but they have tours and it's easier to see and understand than the abbey was. I met a gal from Saskatchewan and then found two people from Wisconsin from the hostel. There was a tour starting just after I got there and went I went to the meeting point, I saw three Rick Steves' Ireland books open and I just laughed because I hadn't seen any yet and now I saw three at once! I took the tour then went into town with the girls from Wisconsin. We found a €6 lunch and then a €40 sweater for one of the gals who was quite cold. A good souvenir I think. I went back to the hostel to check email and sort out couches and hostels for the next week or so and then went to top up my phone (add minutes to it) and catch the bus to Cork.

The bus was late by twenty minutes but I got to Cork and was greeted by my host, Bryan. I'm his first couchsurfer and it's a lot of fun here. He's in a house with three other people and we went to a house party at his friends last night... it was great. There, the girls were drinking Jameson and coke and Jameson and 7-up. After a beer, I joined in the Jameson and 7-up. It was good. I'm on to tea and juice now as I think most people are today after last night (I left before they went into town so I can only imagine how they're feeling).

Today is a relax day. Nice to be online again and do some researching for my next few weeks. As of yesterday I hadn't had anything planned for couches or hostels beyond Cork so now at least I know of youth hostels and have sent out couch requests for the next week in Killarney, Dingle and Doolin.

Today I go to Corine's house for the next two nights and on Sunday Eleanore, one of Bryan's friends, said she could take me to Kinsale which is a small harbour town that I was going to do by bus, but by car would be far better. Hmmm.... maybe she'd even let me drive part way... that would be exciting!