Rick was Right Again...On To Kinsale and Our Escape

In our travels we have learned to trust the travel guide Rick Steves.  We usually grab one of his books for wherever we are headed.  As we planned our final day I had looked at Cork which was fairly close to where we were staying.  I read about a few places to visit there but when I looked for a list in Rick's book, he had no mention of Cork.

Once we got there, we figured out why...it was just a big city, lots of shops, etc, but it wasn't really exuding the charm we were looking for.

So we visited the City Jail which was supposed to be a good stop with kids.  (and our kids loved it) I could not get out of there fast enough, I really don't like visiting jails and prisons...I've been to Alcatraz, one in Johannesburg, SA, and now this one, and I think I'd be happy to never see another one!

Greg locked us in a cell & took this...Kelly's friends will love this one!

Charlie trying to get us out!

Funny what you learn about your family...sorry Dad!  The story on this kid was he was a pickpocket..

We made a beeline for the town of Kinsale, which was highly recommended by the book and our local friends from dinner the night before.  We were so happy that we did not miss this beautiful place!

The town itself was charming, unless you are Charlie and the waitress forgets to bring your chicken nuggets right before they close the kitchen...so you have to zip yourself in your sweatshirt along with your tears!

His sisters show some solidarity and Katie ends up going to the neighboring restaurant to reorder some nuggets!

We loved wandering around the shops in the little downtown...

Then we headed for the old Charles Fort and lighthouse by the sea. 

It was such a beautiful spot, sadly some of the best views were on top of the forts walls, in some of the inside parts you couldn't see out!

Sisters!

Using the self timer on the phone!

If we had more time I would have wanted to do the Scilly Walk on the signpost below...

We even got to stop by the water near this charming pub before we headed out, Charlie said he had to touch the water!

Rock skippers!

Another of Greg's favorite things when we travel is using the navigation app called Waze (or Google Maps). On this trip, it totally saved the day, by telling us the fastest route back to our town was by a ferry!  It saved us a longer drive around the peninsula and we had a short, beautiful boat ride.

Our ferry!

We finished off our day with a trip to the Cobh Escape Room which was set in an old bank vault.  Before the building had been a bank it was the headquarters for the Cunard Lines...here is the sign from the front...

Pretty impressive sign, huh?

Heading in...

Here we are in the vault after we have escaped in under an hour. (with some help and hints along the way).  This was Charlie's favorite escape room of the three we have done.  He was quite proud of his contribution, finding a needed key in a planter!

Money is all fake of course....and at one point the girls had to do a conversion of its value into Euro!  Smoke was coming out of their ears!

We finished off our great day with some live music in the pub, the one we liked best was just a group of musicians sitting around playing random instruments and singing together.  The highlight was a big old dog wearing hearing protection and sleeping under the table in the pub, sorry no photo!