my Irish love, Cork: Crawford Art Gallery

Happy Monday! It’s hard to believe it’s already the last day of August. How are you doing? Are you taking time to check-in with yourself and give yourself the care, love, and attention you need? If not, it’s perfectly okay to set aside time for yourself to do whatever you want/need to do during ‘me time.’ Maybe your thing is yoga, meditation, running, reading, tending to a pallet garden you built, sewing some pillowcases for your home decor, making a dress to match your homemade mask, paddle boarding, refurbishing furniture, tooling around with some new tools, or even playing animal crossing with family and friends, but whatever you want to do during your assigned ‘me time,’ make sure you’re doing it and giving yourself a break.

If you didn’t get a chance to read Saturday’s post - “100th post of quarantine!” - you can click here to read my list of ‘100 Small Kindnesses to Help You Pay It Forward!’ It’s been surreal to think about Saturday’s post being my 100th post of quarantine since resuming blogging. It’s even crazier to think that in just a couple days my blog will hit 300 unique blog posts total since I started blogging a couple years ago (before taking time off to pursue and obtain my Masters degree!). Whether you’ve been here all along or are a newcomer, thank you for being here. It’s been a fun journey, and I couldn’t be here without you!
Before Saturday’s post, I blogged about having dinner with a close friend of mine at the best Japanese restaurant in Dublin after returning from my mini Eurotrip with my boyfriend. Now that we’ve returned to Ireland, I figured it’d be nice to return to my favorite city since I didn’t fully finish writing about the things I’ve loved about it. So, yes, we’re going back to Cork. If you haven’t caught up on the blog posts from the initial Cork entries, here they are--
plant a smooch for that gift of gab
my Irish love, Cork: hot chocolate
my Irish love, Cork: knit life
my Irish love, Cork: English Market
my Irish love, Cork: Blackrock Castle
As I’ve previously mentioned, I spent many a short getaway taking a train from Dublin to Cork. Besides the delicious treats I’d found at O Conaill Chocolate or the English Market or the sites I saw at Blarney Castle or from the Blackrock Observatory, there were some other experiences that made Cork feel so special.

I spent a fair share of my time in art galleries while living in Europe. And visiting Cork was no different. The Crawford Art Gallery is located right in Cork City Centre at the heart of everything. It’s walkable from the English Market (in case you’re craving some olives, bread, and cheese) and just a minute’s walk to the Cork Opera, and it is a national cultural institution dedicated to the visual arts, both historic and contemporary. When I visited the Crawford Art Gallery, it was a mid-week jaunt well outside of tourist season in Ireland. I saw art that jolted me from its grotesqueness, as well as contemporary pieces of furniture that would make any home decorator swoon. It was a small, clean space, welcoming enough to invite you in but sterile enough to remind you to be quiet. As with many other museums and art galleries I visited while abroad, the admission fee was the best part: free.
If you ever get the chance to visit Cork, the Crawford Art Gallery is a must. Even if you don’t spend hours there (like I did), it is definitely worth a trip. You never know what art will strike you (or, perhaps, remind you of the collage that Leslie Knope & co. tried to make on Parks and Rec). And if you’re as lucky as I was to strike up a chat with the docent upstairs in the film room, you’ll be blown away by the amount of history and knowledge shared in one conversation.
Have you ever stumbled upon an art exhibit that blew you away? Between The Crawford Art Gallery and the Museum der Moderne in Salzburg, I’ve been incredibly fortunate. Let me know! Subscribe in the e-mail submission box below and reach out, follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and reach out to me on the “contact” page. I’m so happy you're here and that I’ve been receiving a lot of really incredible stories, questions, and feedback from a community all over the globe! Other people’s stories that I’ve gotten to read via e-mail, text, tweet, DM, etc. recently bring me such smiles, and I am so grateful for all of it! I hope I get to hear all about whatever stories you’ve been thinking about as we’ve been on this virtual journey together! Also, I've said it before and I'll say it again, if you have any restaurants/eateries/pubs/coffee shops/ice cream joints/theatres/lookout spots you would recommend in other countries or even in your current home town or city, I'm absolutely 100% all ears!! I couldn’t do this without you! So THANK YOU! From the bottom of my heart, truly, thank you.
Sincerely,
Johny
P.S. - If you want to catch up from the beginning on this series of travel adventures, here's a cheat sheet to the posts (in order in which they were published):
2. grateful for starbucks and sandymount strand
3. Once Upon a December in the National Gallery
4. plant a smooch for that gift of gab
5. may the 4th be with you: Dingle style
6. cinco de mayo: the best Mexican food in Dublin
8. mussolini’s window and the philosophers’ metro stop
9. father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife
10. it's the vatican, not the vatican't
11. spoiler alert: i did not lose my hand
12. more pizza and gelato and Neptune, oh my
13. craft beer, romper season, and volcano magic
14. bus singalongs and the okey dokey karaoke origin story
15. the beginning of the journey to the land of outlander
16. the boy who lived and the musical rapper
17. oh i just can't wait to be kingggg
18. fudge and haggis, quite the dynamic duo
19. the banshee labyrinth... or, my first time trying buckfast
20. the world's most magical toilet
21. gwyneth paltrow's (improv) sliding doors
22. scottish sombreros and jam, thank you
23. bob seger, a cèilidh, and arthur's seat
24. the next maxim cover girl!! 25. you can vote now!!
26. kindness at… the airport??
27. conversations with strangers and #basic meals
28. aren't gas stations amazing?!
29. not just mac's... supermac's
30. American vs. European Cell Phone Providers
34. a love of Dublin pizza: Manifesto
35. a love of Dublin pizza: Dublin Pizza Company
36. a love of Dublin pizza: with my dad
37. Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness
39. a love of Dublin pizza: and every other pizza
40. ahh-oooooh werewolves of london
41. a special london edition nerd alert
42. defying gravity is a WICKED good time
44. The Cursed Child at the Palace Theatre
45. LA girls love London green juice
46. Super Bowl LII Champs at Wembley
47. champagne fizz and fruity cocktails
50. juneteenth
55. 13.1 in Dublin
57. every girl likes a bad boy
59. conflict, bias, and propaganda in belfast
62. Maxim Cover Girl Quarter-Finals!
63. gulliver's travels in belfast
64. all aboard the HMS Caroline
65. all aboard the RMS Titanic
66. you know nothing, jon snow
70. the Kingsroad
73. Maxim Cover Girl Semi-Finals!
75. Dear Nana
79. Shane Lowry's Open Championship
80. maxim and Belfast Chinese food
83. my Irish love, Cork: hot chocolate
84. my Irish love, Cork: knit life
85. my Irish love, Cork: English Market
86. my Irish love, Cork: Blackrock Castle
88. pastis and the French Riviera
90. French weddings
91. Saucisson and delicious olives
92. wine and mustard at Château Virant
93. beers, brats, and salt mine showers
94. salted white dresses and blue satin sashes
95. salt mines and bowling alleys
96. science tea and pure comedy
98. youtube, a chalk horse, and stonehenge
99. Yamamori: the best Japanese food in Dublin
100. 100th post of quarantine!
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