University College Cork

We spent a morning hanging out at UCC known to the locals as University College Cork. We went to see the architecture, Ogam Stones, and planetarium. 


UCC has the world's largest open collection of Ogam Stones in Ireland. The stones above are examples of the Ogam script. The lines represent certain letters of the Ogam alphabet. Ogam was specifically created for the Irish language and used to commemorate people important enough to have names. The stones at UCC are from the 5th and 7th centuries.  
I was very excited to see the Ogam stones! We listened to a book on tape this summer that incorporated Ogam stones as a major part of the plot. I love seeing things that I have read about or seen in a movie in real life. It makes the experience more meaningful. 
We went to UCC to see that architecture because I read that it was reminiscent to that of the English Universities. While in Cambridge we loved visiting the different colleges and looking at the architecture. That is what I miss most about living there, being surrounded by the beautiful architecture and English roses of course. UCC did not disappoint. It is not Cambridge or Oxford, but it looks just like some of the colleges. It reminded us of Corpus Christi College in Cambridge. 
The architecture made me miss Cambridge terribly. So beautiful and it inspires the mind. 
At the Crawford Observatory which houses the 1860s telescope. The telescope was designed by Howard Grubb who received an award at the 1900 exhibition in Paris for it. Sadly the observatory was under renovation. I guess winter when no one is around is a good time to get work done. Not good for us though. 
The campus is beautiful and the people there were really nice. We wandered into the gift shop and the employee there was so nice. We talked about New York because it is the best and he gave Cosette a little owl key chain free of charge. The owl is the University's mascot. A good and wise choice for a university I think. Maybe Cosette's cousins will go there. As for us we are fans of the UCC owls!

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