Jazz Weekend/Halloween!

Last weekend was both Jazz Festival Weekend and Halloween in Cork. I tried to get out as much as possible to really experience the weekend.

This picture was taken at a hotel (the Imperial) that had live music on in the bar. The hat is from one of the bar tenders. People in the bars were wearing them all weekend and they'd give them out to customers on occasion.

This is my housemate's (Becky's) friend Susan who we met up with at the Imperial.

Kyle (my housemate) and I.

In the lobby of the hotel there was a stand selling hot dogs and I simply could not resist.

After taking Saturday off to relax, I spent Sunday with some friends seeing as much free music as we could. In this picture are Gearóid and Sarah.

Sarah, me, and Melanie with our Gingerbread Lattes!

Part of the festival weekend are various street fairs around town.

If they hadn't be closing up I totally would have tried this, just to see what it would be like.

These kids were doing a barber shop quartet performance and they were amazing!

That night I went to Rearden's with Sarah and Gearóid to see one of the bands we had seen perform earlier that day.

He didn't want his picture taken.

The trumpet player was such an attention seeker...he would wave to people with cameras to get them to take his picture.

During the performance some of the musicians came out into the crowd to play.

The next day was Halloween so I went with some of my friends to go see the parade! In this picture: Sarah, Melanie, Liz.

The bridge was decorated to look like you were walking through a rib cage.

And there were creepy monsters lurking in the river.

The moon over St. Finn Barr's

While we were waiting for the parade we met up with some of our friends...the guys in the masks were Jasper and Ivan.

Caroline, Stephania, and I.

We both dressed up as maids.

The start of the parade!

The zombie marching band.

Dementors that swoop around to suck out your soul.

I dont even know...

These people had a whole dance that they did.

A skeleton of a fish made out of cling wrap...that seemed to be the main medium for creating the creatures that night.

A skeleton smoking a cigar while riding an old fashioned bicycle.

After the parade we went to Soho for dinner and drinks.

Veggie quesadilla :)

We dont know the name of this guy, but he had an AMAZING voice. The best song that he sang was a Paul Simon medley consisting of You Can Call Me Al, Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes, and Graceland. After his set we asked him if he had a cd but he didn't.

But he did agree to take a picture with us...and the monkey I carry around in my purse.

By the end of the night the monkey had been given the name Julio and was beloved by all.

Caroline and I.

Later that night I was invited to go out with Fiona (left) and we ran into Katie (right) who is a PhD student in our department and who I know from the dig I worked on in May.

Gereme (left) came out with us too. We ended up spending the evening at a venue called Crane Lane.

This is back at Fiona's house after the bar and the girl in the picture with me is Fainche, Fiona's housemate.

So that's just a little glimpse into the exciting weekend I had. I wish that every weekend could be like that, but my wallet would not thank me for it.