Ellen and Ken on a bridge over the River Lee, or is it the canal?
Cork is a lovely city, with the central business district on an island in the Lee River. While standing looking at the waterway, I was given directions to turn around and go until I got to the river, then turn right to get to the theatre. It seems that one channel is called the river and the other is the canal, though they look the same. An Irish joke to confuse the tourists?
The downtown is pleasantly walkable once you learn the way, but the main street meanders, so you have to know where you are in order to know where you are going. There are several streets and alleys devoted to pedestrians during the day. The Old English Market is like having the Granville Island Public Market in the center of town, but with 75% of the stalls being butchers or fishmongers. Quite the experience.
The street signs, when you could find them, were in English and Gaelic, as were the signs on many public buildings. All commercial signs were in English. We did hear Gaelic spoken on the street and in the pubs though, and Irish TV had a mostly Gaelic language station. We could watch the World Cup soccer games in Gaelic or English.
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