July 26, 2017 Cobh Ireland

We awaken after quite a storm last night to a beautiful green hillside with cute little houses looking at our balcony. Cobh (formerly Queensland) is the last stop of the Titanic before it headed to America. It is the port to Cork but we choose to stay and enjoy this cute little community. We also now are getting a third kind of money, Euros (British Sterling, Guernsey pounds and Euros).

Lilly and I take off toward the Cathedral first- high upon a hill is overlooks everything. Its spire is taller than any in Ireland. It is beautiful inside and its chimes ring on the hour and every 15 minutes. We walk winding streets trying to head down to the shopping- avoiding the dog poop which is everywhere! Watching our step and making a couple wrong turns we finally arrive at the one craft store- not worth going into- and a treasure store- not yet open. We cross the street for coffee and remember we have no Euros. Our waitress makes the coffee and we find an ATM down the street and return. Lilly finds a few more treasures and we head down the hill to the main shopping street. At the second treasure shop I head out on my own. I stop and get scones and tea before checking out the Titanic Experience. Lilly walks the town and heads back up and over the huge hill in search of more treasure and strikes gold bringing home a big bag of goodies.

The Titanic experience is well done and worth the 9 Euros. You are given a boarding card of a real person and find out at the end if they live. The have well done typical rooms and actual photos and stories by survivors. I head next door to a cute little handmade gifts shop and purchase a hat.

I spot Steve and Susan leaving the Commodore Hotel where they caught a walking tour- learning about the titanic and another ship that sunk during the war. Their guide had written a book on it and was a Professor of History- they loved it.

We return to find out our Scone making excursion is cancelled for tomorrow. Looks like a shuttle into town and a short shopping time before we return to the ship. We hear our time is cut by 3 hours due to tides- but that is not logical since ships know tides well in advance- rumor is we are having motor trouble and unable to travel as quickly as needed each day. Something is up as our ports have all been cut short thus far.

Lilly wins the jewerly store drawing, I continue winning in the casino (up to $500) and Steve and Susan were going to the show. The sun did not set until nearly 10 pm - we are getting further north I guess.