Blackrock Castle, Irish Soccer, and and More

We went to another castle last week, Blackrock castle. It looks like something out of a Hollywood movie set! It sits on the edge of a river point that empties into the ocean. The outside was really cool, but the inside was really modern. Its been turned into a space a science museum that has some really interesting displays, but it wasn't quite what I wanted to see as a tourist. It was really cool as far as space and science museums go, but I was looking for something a little more middle ages.
Whats a visit to Europe without taking in a soccer game! As yes, they call it soccer here. Really only in Ireland because they also have a sport called Gaelic Football and they don't want to confuse it with soccer. Anyway, Cork City F.C was playing Halka out of Finland for the first round of the UEFA cup. They ended up tying 2-2 so Cork has to travel to Finland to play a deciding game.

Check out this video, Paul McAdams captured a goal with his camera. Its about 30 seconds long, but worth it!


This picture just really made me smile! Check out that belly!

Then the hooligans go nuts after a save from the Cork Goal Keeper. It interesting here, in America, when a referee makes a bad call the crowd goes ape and its hard to pick out anything but obscenities and most of the chants from the crowd are pretty offensive. In Ireland, after each bad call, the crowd would chant "YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOUR DOING!!!" over and over again. It was pretty tame by comparison. The only other insult I heard yelled at the refs was "You must have been born in Dublin!".

This is Mervyn Murphy, he came to the law school program also, but lives in Cork. He never takes off the doo rag and looks like a menacing soccer hooligan, but he's a pretty cool guy. Explaining the various Irish sports, he said:

Crickett: A game for gentlemen, played by gentlemen

Rugby: A game for gentlemen, played by tugs (thugs)

Soccer: A game for tugs, played by gentlemen

Gaelic Football: A game for tugs, played by tugs, And I play Gaelic Football!

At halftime, I say this sign and had a little laugh. Double what? Concessions here could really use an American overhaul!

I just had to take a picture of the Dreadlock Mullet!

We found a little taste of home and had to go in for a bite. This was the nicest Pizza Hut I have ever seen. It like fine dining out here.