It takes about two and a half hours to drive from Doolin to Cork, Ireland’s 2nd largest city in the country’s Southwest—most of the route winds through cows and sheep and countryside. We had been making similar drives for days, and I had relaxed into my role as chief navigator. (Yes. GPS works perfectly in Ireland.) My fists were slightly less clenched, having grown accustomed to the proximity of shrubbery and stone walls right outside my door. Our drives — the getting from point A to point B — were moments to take in a bit of the journey. They were times to reflect on where we had been and where we were going. Digesting it all happened in fits and starts as we made sure not to miss turns while we dodged speeding locals. Sometimes silence hovered with its whisper.

We arrived at The River Lee Hotel in the early afternoon. The hotel stands next to a canal about 10 minutes from St. Patrick’s Street and Cork’s City Centre. I was immediately struck by its modern architecture — lots of steel, glass, and edge. The elegant grays warmed the space. Staff greeted us and explained the logistics of finding the complementary parking garage, the location of our room and other amenities, and where to get something to eat if we were hungry. We made our way to our room (with fewer bags because we had reorganized our ridiculous load before we left Doolin and left two of our three suitcases in the car). We found our room and immediately saw our quintessential Cork canal view. (We also noticed the entire trip’s first stand-alone shower — one not part of a bathtub.) We threw our stuff down and headed out to see Cork.

Greg had researched Cork’s pubs and mapped our route. Our first stop was Costigan’s. (Established in 1827, it fit right in to our well-established precedent of having a pint at the older pubs wherever we were.) I tried my first Beamish Stout, talked with an expat from DC who had recently relocated to Cork, and found out a little about what people in Cork feel about Dublin. (There is a quiet back-and-forth between the two cities. It sits somewhere between pride, competition, and disinterest.)

We then ventured to The Oval and Mutton Lane, sharing a pint.

We headed back to The River Lee for dinner at The Grill Room. The entire experience at the Grill Room was incredible. It was not hard to immediately relax into the meal. We were treated with attention and care the minute we entered the dining room. We shared a half-dozen Ballycotton oysters served in ponzu dressing, harissa gambas pil pil, grilled Dover sole served in citrus caper butter and grilled asparagus, and the Ballycotton market fish of the day — grilled Hake. For dessert, we shared dark chocolate and yuzu tart.