This past weekend Morgan and I took my mother's advice to "explore your own city" and explored a bit more of Cork! The night before, Morgan asked if I wanted to go to the city prison. I looked it up and saw a cement building and news articles of the different crimes committed. I looked at her very confused. Turns out she meant the Cork Jail museum called the Goal (say it out loud in a Gru voice from Despicable Me cause that's what I did all day).
It was really beautiful (on the outside) and very sobering on the inside. The pamphlet did a really good job explaining different types of people throughout the centuries that would be placed here and what their crimes were. They even had children as young as 10 at one point for stealing. It's good to see how far our prison system has come and the different punishment techniques that have drastically become more humane over the years.
The top floor of the jail is also a radio museum. We didn't learn as much, but I had a good laugh listening to the radio and sending some Morse code messages. As you'll notice, I like to really place myself inside the world that is being present at museums.
Next we made our way to the bus stop for the 202 to Black Rock Castle on the edge of town. I ate my salmon and polenta lunch while Morgan gagged. That castle is now a science museum and observatory. It passed through many hands over the years in ownership. Apparently wealthy people used it as a party venue for awhile but damaged it a bit when they shot it with a cannon. Were they drunk? doubtful. We realized once inside, this was definitely a museum made for little kids. The planetarium I swore was a bouncy house.
This is the view from the top of the castle looking out over the River Lee toward City Center. Morgan kept swearing we could see our apartment from the castle, we could not. Our tour guide told us not to "throw rocks, throw rocks at each other, or throw ourselves off". Of course, once we got up, people starting throwing rocks off the edge. I mean literally everyone. It still makes me laughing writing it out now. Morgan and I talked about throwing a few kids off, but we never ended up getting around to it.
Here's a shot of the Lee walking home that night!
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