Same Old, Same Old... or Not?

Oddly, Cork is the second largest natural harbor in the world, next to the harbor in Sydney, Australia.   And, the Irish will be the first to tell you that Sydney gets a wee bit more sunshine and warm weather than the City Cork.  Regardless, on a sunny day, with the temperatures in the mid 60's, it's hard to find fault with this quaint city of 120,000.   Yet, today, while strolling along the River Lee, my husband, often known to be a fountain of creative and uplifting remarks manages the following:

"Looks like a dozen other cities that have a river running through ...
 Paris, Prague, London..."

I could only roll my eyes at such a comment because with that single thought, the costs, jet lag, ridiculously narrow economy-class seats, and any other number of hassles associated with traveling almost halfway around the world became pointless.

I am certain my husband did not mean this remark in the way it ended up coming out of his mouth, but it made me stop and think about what was different here.  The first thing that came to mind, of course, was that in other cities with rivers traveling through, I did not have a pint of irish lager and rich meat and potatoes lunch in my belly.   This surely slowed my pace if not changed my perspective on the scene before me:

In Cork, most of the walkways and thruways near the river that carry pedestrians, passenger vehicles, and an odd assortment of trucks were built directly on top of old waterways.  In modern day Cork, there is no need for these waterways to cater to ships, shipping, and water-based transport, so the River Lee has been architecturally free to host a delightful variety of low-hanging, romantic bridges and walkways:

Unlike the likes of Prague, London, Paris, and whatever other city has a river running through it, many of the houses along the River Lee are painted in all manner of colors, as if San Francisco had been transplanted to a river bank:

And, finally, the people in the City of Cork seem so much more laid back than this city's gigantic cousins to the east and south.   This may have as much to do with what they ate and drank for lunch as their general outlook on life, but the result is the same.  We ambled through the city today among others who were ambling.  We relaxed as others seemed to be.

And, simply enjoyed life in another place at a better pace.