Ok, I am really sorry, but since the middle of October I have not been home at any one time for more then 3 days. I have been back and forth to the states so much this year it is amazing, did some work in Chicago, Halfmoon Bay and Arizona. Then came home went to Portugal for 5 days it was lovely - mid November weather in the Algarve region was 68-70 everyday. Then enjoyed thanksgiving at a Freinds house, now I don't know if I have said before but the stoves and ovens in Ireland are very small. Very small compared to what we are used to, so our freind Paula got a 22 pound turkey and it just barely fit in the oven. But, it was lovely and we had a very traditional american thanksgiving, I provided the pumpkin pies. Day after thanksgiving I left for 5 days in New York with my girlfriends. I have not been to New York since I was very small so I count this as my very first visit. LOVE NY can't wait to go back and its wonderful at Christmas time. New plays/musicals to recommend should they make it your way.... Young Frankenstein (musical) made me want to go rent the movie again it was quite funny. 39 steps a comedy spoof with only 4 actors - spoofs Alfred Hitchock and all his movies it was amazing. August in Osage County - drama - very intense but incredible, long 3.5 hours 2 intermissions. Also, got to do "behind the emerald curtain" which was backstage at Wicked (one of my very favorite musicals) and Radio City Chrsitmas Extravaganza. Really enjoyed myself a total of 8 of us went which I would generally say is to many people for this sort of trip but it worked out very well and we had a good time. Got home yesterday, today is Friday, we went in search of Christmas decor for the house - could not bring our lights and we needed a few more odds and ends. We leave Monday for the Christmas Fair in Bristol, England for a further 5 days and then I am home until we go to Dublin for New Year's. It has been a very busy few months and I am ready to spend some quiet time at home enjoying my family. The weather has turned cold with many an icy morning. We hear we should be seeing snow in Bristol, looking forward to that. I still need to update the pictures I have loaded into flickr so you all know what your are seeing, enjoy the photos.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12938045@N02/
Friday, December 5, 2008
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Where in the world am I now
A rainbow over the far village of Limano on our last morning.
The view of the mountains and castle ruins from Maria's kitchen window.September 29 - October 5 we were in Vico Pancellorum. That is the little village in the dolomite mountains that Adrian's family is from. I must it admit it is not only fun to be able to say we have a home there and watch peoples faces (even a small family home that is shared by the many is to be envied :)). One of his very dear cousins passed away this summer and he really wanted to get up and see the wife and daughter. We spent 3 days just hanging out in the village, eating in the wonderful restaurant that another cousin owns "Bucca di Bidalbo" also known as the "Circolo", they used to put plays and dances on there in the old days. And visiting with various friends and family there. It was lovely, the Tuscan mountains in fall are beautiful with leaves turning and blowing everywhere, its comfortably warm on the days it doesn't rain and quite chilly at night. We had to buy a heater for the bedroom so we would not freeze to death. It is our hope and plan to go back the day after Christmas and spend New Year's eve in the village.
We got home Sunday night, I got up Monday, did laundry and packed again to fly to Chicago. I'll be here on business until this coming Sunday and then I will fly to SF for a quick weeks visit before going on to my next meeting in Phoenix. So another three weeks away from our lovely home and new country. Through the end of the year I will do quite a bit of traveling. I am going to be exhausted come the new year - but I think in the long run it will be a wonderful exhaustion.
Oh, and the funniest thing about the last week or so. We went to Italy, it rained for 2 of the 3 days we were there. We got home it rained (I know its Ireland, but there's soft rain and theres rain), I landed in Chicago it's raining. Hmm, winter must be on its way.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Back in Ireland
I arrived home on Saturday not a drop of rain to be seen. It has now been 5 days and it has not rained once. I was really glad to arrive home after the two month absence.
September 24, 2008 we celebrated 25 years of marriage.... Who knew 25 years ago that we would be living in another country. It's a fantastic way to spend your 25th anniversary. We enjoyed the day by going to Adare, known as the "Prettiest Village in Ireland". It really was darling and filled with interesting history and sights to see. The village as it is named today arose with the arrival of the Anglo Normans in 1129. The area was settled by the Earls of Desmond on what was originally a "Rath" or round fort. The fort was known as Rath Dara or the Fort of the Oak. The castle was destroyed by order of Oliver Cromwell in 1675. Eventually the property came in to the hands of the Earls of Dunraven and they set about restoring many of the ruins and remodeling the village to look like a nice "English Village". That's why the thatched cottages appear as they do. The Earls of Dunraven owned all of the property in the area and in the 1800's built a magnificent Manor House, today the manor is owned by an american couple and is a 5 star hotel and golf course, sitting on 840 acres of property. It was all fantastic to see and we have decided a stay in the manor is in order and so, have our reservations for Valentine's weekend already. We spent the entire day walking around the village, castle and manor, it was another glorious rain free fall day.
Then it was off home to take a nap before going to dinner at Dromoland Castle. Dromoland is located in our own village of Newmarket. Its a get all gussied up kinda place and was wonderful. The food was fantastic and we met two other couples from San Francisco, one of which was touring Ireland for their 25th anniversary. We also met a lovely couple from England that was on their honeymoon. We decided it is another place worthy of a stay but we have not decided when that will be.
The weather is still lovely again today not a drop of rain in sight..... Its peaceful and quiet and sunny and beautiful. Just another day in paradise.
Enjoy the photos.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12938045@N02/
September 24, 2008 we celebrated 25 years of marriage.... Who knew 25 years ago that we would be living in another country. It's a fantastic way to spend your 25th anniversary. We enjoyed the day by going to Adare, known as the "Prettiest Village in Ireland". It really was darling and filled with interesting history and sights to see. The village as it is named today arose with the arrival of the Anglo Normans in 1129. The area was settled by the Earls of Desmond on what was originally a "Rath" or round fort. The fort was known as Rath Dara or the Fort of the Oak. The castle was destroyed by order of Oliver Cromwell in 1675. Eventually the property came in to the hands of the Earls of Dunraven and they set about restoring many of the ruins and remodeling the village to look like a nice "English Village". That's why the thatched cottages appear as they do. The Earls of Dunraven owned all of the property in the area and in the 1800's built a magnificent Manor House, today the manor is owned by an american couple and is a 5 star hotel and golf course, sitting on 840 acres of property. It was all fantastic to see and we have decided a stay in the manor is in order and so, have our reservations for Valentine's weekend already. We spent the entire day walking around the village, castle and manor, it was another glorious rain free fall day.
Then it was off home to take a nap before going to dinner at Dromoland Castle. Dromoland is located in our own village of Newmarket. Its a get all gussied up kinda place and was wonderful. The food was fantastic and we met two other couples from San Francisco, one of which was touring Ireland for their 25th anniversary. We also met a lovely couple from England that was on their honeymoon. We decided it is another place worthy of a stay but we have not decided when that will be.
The weather is still lovely again today not a drop of rain in sight..... Its peaceful and quiet and sunny and beautiful. Just another day in paradise.
Enjoy the photos.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12938045@N02/
Monday, July 21, 2008
Back in San Francisco
So Jessie, Oretta and I left Ireland at 2:45pm on Sunday 20, July 2008. We arrived in Philadelphia at 5:30p.m. local (EST) time and got through customs, which was interesting because we had to take the bottles of liquor that we had purchased in the duty free shop in Ireland and now put them in our luggage for the 2nd leg of the trip. We got onto the plane to come to SF on time and then sat on the runway for 1 and 1/2 hours. So we finally landed (after circling) in SF at 1:00am. I still woke up at 8 am this morning. Its weird to be back in SF and not going to work or to my old house but just being here on vacation. I can't wait to connect with everybody and will take a hiatus from entering anything onto the blog. I'll be back in Ireland on 20 September 2008.
See you all then!
See you all then!
Saturday, July 19, 2008
The Rock of Cashel and Cahir Castle
So, we took Oretta and Jessie on one final sightseeing trip before we leave for the States. We left Wednesday afternoon for the 1.5 hour drive to Cashel in County Tipperary.
The Rock of Cashel has a very ancient history. Documents have been kept on the local since the 4th centruy. History has it that St. Patrick converted the local King, Aenghus at Cashel in the 5th century. Prior to that the Kings of Munster reigned there from 370AD until Brian Boru was crowned high king of all Ireland here early in the 11th century. In 1101 Muircheartach O'Brien handed the Rock over to the Church. There is a large cathedral, ancient round tower and a Romanesque Church called Cormac's Chapel. Additionally, in Cashel town itself there is the Bru Boru Cultural center where we had dinner followed by a show of tranditional Irish evening entertainment. It rained on Thursday when we went to the rock and I have a cute picture of Oretta hiding out from the rain.
After we toured the rock we took Oretta( she was not feeling well again) back to the hotel and let her have a nap. Jessie went back as well and following a short nap Adrian and I took a drive out to Cahir to see the castle there while the ladies stayed at the hotel. Cahir Castle was built in the 13th century, by the Anglo-Norman de Berminghams and then taken over by the Butlers, and its one of the few intact castles to have survived through Cromwell's time. The Butler family owned it until the 1960's when it was turned over to the government of Ireland. It has been bused in films such as Triston and Isolde and Excalibur.
We got up Friday morning, had breakfast and came home to begin the packing process for our trip back to the states.
Enjoy the photos - see you all soon!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12938045@N02/
The Rock of Cashel has a very ancient history. Documents have been kept on the local since the 4th centruy. History has it that St. Patrick converted the local King, Aenghus at Cashel in the 5th century. Prior to that the Kings of Munster reigned there from 370AD until Brian Boru was crowned high king of all Ireland here early in the 11th century. In 1101 Muircheartach O'Brien handed the Rock over to the Church. There is a large cathedral, ancient round tower and a Romanesque Church called Cormac's Chapel. Additionally, in Cashel town itself there is the Bru Boru Cultural center where we had dinner followed by a show of tranditional Irish evening entertainment. It rained on Thursday when we went to the rock and I have a cute picture of Oretta hiding out from the rain.
After we toured the rock we took Oretta( she was not feeling well again) back to the hotel and let her have a nap. Jessie went back as well and following a short nap Adrian and I took a drive out to Cahir to see the castle there while the ladies stayed at the hotel. Cahir Castle was built in the 13th century, by the Anglo-Norman de Berminghams and then taken over by the Butlers, and its one of the few intact castles to have survived through Cromwell's time. The Butler family owned it until the 1960's when it was turned over to the government of Ireland. It has been bused in films such as Triston and Isolde and Excalibur.
We got up Friday morning, had breakfast and came home to begin the packing process for our trip back to the states.
Enjoy the photos - see you all soon!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12938045@N02/
Monday, July 14, 2008
Father/Daughter bonding time
On Saturday Adrian and Jessie departed for Cork with a side trip to Cobh. They went to check out the University at Cork, as it will be one of the locations Jessie applies to for next year. They took their time to drive back today with some stops in Kinsale and at the beach's and Loch Gur. I have attached the pictures Adrian took, he did not take any in Cork for some reason.
Enjoy - 6 days until we leave and come back to the US for a while.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12938045@N02/sets/
Enjoy - 6 days until we leave and come back to the US for a while.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12938045@N02/sets/
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Irish Weather
Hail in the corner by the front door.
Hail pile on the ground.
The flood in the driveway
It's 8:30pm, its raining and the sun is shining its about 70 degrees
The most hail is on the side of the house.Ok, so it has rained off and on most of today, and though its not as windy as yesterday today started out a bit chilly. However, by mid afternoon, the sun was shining and it was very warm out, so we headed into Ennis for the street fair. The fair was a bit disappointing, but we hooked up with freinds and went to dinner at Holywell a very good Vegetarian Italian Restaurant. We got home about 8:30pm, the sun is still shining, we saw a rainbow on the way home, we drive up the driveway and what do we see.....it looks like snow.....its not really, its piles of hail, that are melting. The beauty of summer in Ireland is that you can experience all four seasons in the span of a couple of hours. So for fun we have loaded some pictures of the "snow" and rain and sunshine. Have a great weekend.
4th of July
We had a very wonderful celebration yesterday here at Granahan Mor. Most of Adrian's co-workers and families showed up, interestingly enough I will have to tell people what to bring in the future as we had 4 different versions of Pasta Salad and 1 potato salad. We provided the burgers, the dogs and ribs. The ribs were not such a hit with the Irish, and they were a bit of trouble to find. When I went into the butcher and asked if they had country style pork ribs I was told they would need to be ordered. I then asked if there were any ribs suitable for Barbecuing and was told no. I had to go to another butcher to get the ribs. Next party I'll just do the dogs and burgers they were a huge hit. The weather was typically Irish, on the 3rd it was absolutely beautiful, yesterday I was barbecuing in the rain....shades of camping at McClure :0
Following are pictures of the party and you'll get an idea of some of the new freinds we have made here.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12938045@N02/
Following are pictures of the party and you'll get an idea of some of the new freinds we have made here.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12938045@N02/
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Paris, June 25 - July 1, 2008
June 25, 2008
Ok, so we arrive at Beauvais Airport and then have to take the Metro to Paris, its a 2 hour ride so Jessie and I entertained ourselved by listening to a little Eddie Izzard on the way in. Once the train arrived in Paris we had to transfer to another line to get to our hotel, at 6:30pm on a Wednesday night the metro is unbelievably mobbed with people. It was tricky especially with Oretta, we managed to get it and then walked around the area of Place d'Opera for another 2 hours trying to find Rue Saint Agustine, which is where our hotel is. We get here and Oh No, they do not have a reservation for us until the next night. Not to worry they will find us a place, and they did, unfortunately we were so tired we did not take pictures of it, it was a small apartment, and Oretta did not feel good, it was the worst night sleep I did not have in a long time. No air conditioning so we had to keep the window open and of course there is no noise where we now live so that was interesting.
June 26, 2008
Wake up, try to take a shower, can seem to figure out the darned shower, I obviously have issues with European showers and think I am going to start taking pictures just so everyone can have a laugh. Any way took a sort of bath instead, packed up and walked the 3 blocks back to our original hotel, checked in dropped off our luggage and went out for the day. We bought tickets for the hop on hop off bus and got off at the Louvre, we spent about 4 hours in the Louvre, walked around the left bank for a bit and had lunch. Oretta was still not feeling well, she did not tell us this though, so we meandered down to the river to take a boat cruise. Of course this was a mistake and we got off and took her back to the hotel so she could get some rest. Then Adrian, Jessie and I went out and got a bite to eat. This was quite the journey, we tried to catch the hop on hop off, but we missed it by 5 minutes. So we started walking, we walked the breadth of the city, from Place d'Opera to the Tour Eiffel way on the other side of the city. I grew a lovely large blister on the bottom of my foot, and we never managed to catch the bus and it stoped running so we continued walking around the Tour Eiffel area until we found a restaurant for dinner, had a bite to eat and caught a cab to the hotel. By the time we got back to the hotel it was 12:00a.m. - it had been a long and mostly frustrating day - and finding a cab in Paris can be quite tricky. Actually there are cabs everywhere, finding one to take you someplace well.....
June 27, 2008
We got up at 8:00- I proceeded to flood the floor in the bathroom attempting to take a shower, cause of course there is no curtain. Oretta will stay in today as she still does not feel well, we go over to the boulanger and get a croissant and a simple sandwich to leave for her incase she wakes up and gets hungry. I think she has the flu or something. So off we go I insist that we ride the entire circuit of the hop on hop off before we decide to do anything. This does not make Adrian happy at all, because he feels we are missing out on valuable touring time.....oh well. We finally finish the circuit, and get off at the Museo d'Orsy. The Museaum was originally Paris' train station and the building is amazing. The collections housed here are Rodin, Monet, Manet, Whistler and many other very famous paintings that everybody knows. We spent several hours in the museum, Jessica seems to have pulled a leg from last nights major trekking and is not feeling well. We had lunch in the museum on the top floor, its a lovely restaurant and we will split up from here. Adrian and I are off to see Napolean's Tomb and Jessie is going back to the hotel. So we catch another hop on hop off and she catches one that will take her back to our hotel. As we drive around to get to our stop our path crosses the path of the bus she is on, unfortunately we never got close enough to take a picture of her, it was pretty funny. We got to the tomb at 6:05 and it closes at 6:00, the guy let us in anyway, so we got to see part of the dome and chapel where he is buried and we got to take pictures of his tomb from above, but were unable to go to the bottom to view it. We were very lucky to get to see it. By then Adrian had had enough and we took another bus back to the hotel. We checked in on Oretta and she said she was up for going to dinner with us, but Jessie was not, so we took Oretta to the lovely Italian Restaurant Jessie, Adrian and I went to on our first night here.
June 28, 2008
We are up at 7:30am because we have to catch a train out to Versailles. We go around the corner and get our breakfast (coffee and a croissant), Jessie is obviously still not herself, but she will buck up because she wants to see Versailles. I will feed her Advil all day, and Oretta is feeling up to going with us. The train takes about 30 minutes to get to the Village of Versailles, its a short walk from the train (maybe 15 minutes) the the Chateau and my first view of it I must say is quite overwhelming. Although the buildings may or may not be as big as the Louvre, the Louvre sits in the middle of the city so you really don't get the imposing picture like you do at Versailles. The line in the morning to get into the Chateau itself is much like the line you would see at the Vatican. We had purchased a package ticket, that gave us rountrip train, gardens, Le Petite Trianon, Le Grand Trianon, The Chateau and all open rooms. So we went into the gardens first and walked from there to Le Petite Trianon that took about 1 and a half hours. We left Oretta sitting at the Grand Canal in the gardens enjoying the fountains while we walked the rest of the way to the Trainon's and Marie Antoinettes village she built. The Trianon itself was closed but we got to walk through the space and through the village. It started to sprinkle so I Jessie and I went back to get Oretta, while, Adrian finished up in that area and met us at the restaurant at the Grand Canal; it never did actually rain, but I did not want to risk having her out in the rain so we met Adrian at the restaurant and had a lovely lunch. Then we slowly walked back up through the gardens toward the Chateau, surprisingly in the afternoon there is actually no entrance que to get in. So we went in found a place for Oretta to sit as she was tired by now and toured the Chateau. It was absolutely amazing. One thing I forgot to say yesterday, my husband likes to take pictures of pictures, however, I don't think I will be posting many of them to the photo stream. Anyway, we got done about 4:00pm, collected Oretta and walked back to the train. Unfortunately we got off at the wrong stop in the city so could not find a taxi. We opted to take the Metro, but, one thing that we did not take into account was that it was - is Pride weekend and the parade had just ended. The metro was a zoo and we needed to take to buses to get back to the hotel. This was really hard on Oretta and Adrian's temper was a bit short, but we made it back and then she started having leg cramps. I did not want her to be left alone so we went and got McDonalds for dinner. I can now honestly say that I have been in 4 major cities during pride weekend, and had McDonalds in 3 different countries. Might someday be my claim to fame.
June 29, 2008
Today Jessie will not go out with us she is not feeling well, and there was something about someones snoring being so bad that she did not sleep at all. Adrian, Oretta and I took a cab over to the Place d'Teatre and had breakfast, walked around I bought two sketches and a new overnight bag. We went to Sacre Couer, got there about 10 minutes before Mass, so Adrian and I got Oretta a seat for Mass and then waited outside while the preist and sisters processed in - it was beautiful and I think I would have liked to see the entire mass, but there was sightseeing to be done, including walking up the 300+ steps on the outside of the church to the top of the dome. I must say the 360's you get of the city are incredible and I do think that this is a walk well worth doing. After mass we took the funicular down to the bottom of Montremart and walked into the artists quarter where we had a great lunch and met another american that works for the US government. It was great fun sharing experiences with another american over lunch. We then wandered around this neighborhood until we crossed the Seine and stoped at the Bothella ice cream factory for an ice cream. It was good, not sure it compares to Italy and the gelato, but still good. Then Oretta and I caught the Metro all by ourselves, nobody on the train and no transfers it was much easier. We stopped at the corner boulanger becasue I knew Jessie had not eaten and got her a sandwich (the sandwich's here are fabulous). Adrian stayed behind to continue sightseeing, he should have made it to Notre Dame and I don't know what else, but will add more once I see all the pictures and can have him fill in what he did.
June 30, 2008
Today we got up and met Tato, Darlena, Elisa-Maria Torres and Maria Dominguez at the Grand Palais to view the Marie-Antoinette exhibition, it was amazing and fascinating. We spent about 4 hours altogether, it was the first time we had not pre-purchased tickets for something and the wait was about 1.5 hours, today was very warm in Paris and outside, no shade, I was really glad that Oretta had decided not to come with us. She had breakfast with us before we caught the cab over to the Grand Palais and then she and Adrian stopped by a Boulanger to pick up a sandwhich for her lunch before she came back to the hotel. After the exhibit we took the Metro over to the Place St. Germain for a little shoe shopping, Jessie got a pair of jeans, a shirt and a pair of black ballet shoes. I got the same ballet shoes and a lovely pair of sandals, in June and July here all the stores have major sales so we got really good deals. Then while were waiting for the restaurant to open for dinner we walked over to St. Sulpice Church, which is in the same neighborhood. It is the Church Dan Brown uses in the DaVinci Code, which holds a brass line in it that is the original Meridien Line from which all distances and times were calculated during the 17th Century, later moved to Greenwich, England. Also in the church is a large photograph of the Shroud of Turin, we could not figure out any discernable reason for the reproduction to be there, but it is apparently in at least 20 churches in Paris. The church itself is in much need of restoration, but still lovely to walk through and see all the chapels. And then went back to the restaurant "LE Golf D'Naples" for a lovely dinner with the first rude people we had ever encountered in Paris. Everybody we came across was helpful and nice until here - the food was exceptional however.
There are a few things we wanted to do that we did not, so Adrian and I will certainly be making a return trip to Paris.
Enjoy all the photos.
http://flickr.com/photos/12938045@N02/
Ok, so we arrive at Beauvais Airport and then have to take the Metro to Paris, its a 2 hour ride so Jessie and I entertained ourselved by listening to a little Eddie Izzard on the way in. Once the train arrived in Paris we had to transfer to another line to get to our hotel, at 6:30pm on a Wednesday night the metro is unbelievably mobbed with people. It was tricky especially with Oretta, we managed to get it and then walked around the area of Place d'Opera for another 2 hours trying to find Rue Saint Agustine, which is where our hotel is. We get here and Oh No, they do not have a reservation for us until the next night. Not to worry they will find us a place, and they did, unfortunately we were so tired we did not take pictures of it, it was a small apartment, and Oretta did not feel good, it was the worst night sleep I did not have in a long time. No air conditioning so we had to keep the window open and of course there is no noise where we now live so that was interesting.
June 26, 2008
Wake up, try to take a shower, can seem to figure out the darned shower, I obviously have issues with European showers and think I am going to start taking pictures just so everyone can have a laugh. Any way took a sort of bath instead, packed up and walked the 3 blocks back to our original hotel, checked in dropped off our luggage and went out for the day. We bought tickets for the hop on hop off bus and got off at the Louvre, we spent about 4 hours in the Louvre, walked around the left bank for a bit and had lunch. Oretta was still not feeling well, she did not tell us this though, so we meandered down to the river to take a boat cruise. Of course this was a mistake and we got off and took her back to the hotel so she could get some rest. Then Adrian, Jessie and I went out and got a bite to eat. This was quite the journey, we tried to catch the hop on hop off, but we missed it by 5 minutes. So we started walking, we walked the breadth of the city, from Place d'Opera to the Tour Eiffel way on the other side of the city. I grew a lovely large blister on the bottom of my foot, and we never managed to catch the bus and it stoped running so we continued walking around the Tour Eiffel area until we found a restaurant for dinner, had a bite to eat and caught a cab to the hotel. By the time we got back to the hotel it was 12:00a.m. - it had been a long and mostly frustrating day - and finding a cab in Paris can be quite tricky. Actually there are cabs everywhere, finding one to take you someplace well.....
June 27, 2008
We got up at 8:00- I proceeded to flood the floor in the bathroom attempting to take a shower, cause of course there is no curtain. Oretta will stay in today as she still does not feel well, we go over to the boulanger and get a croissant and a simple sandwich to leave for her incase she wakes up and gets hungry. I think she has the flu or something. So off we go I insist that we ride the entire circuit of the hop on hop off before we decide to do anything. This does not make Adrian happy at all, because he feels we are missing out on valuable touring time.....oh well. We finally finish the circuit, and get off at the Museo d'Orsy. The Museaum was originally Paris' train station and the building is amazing. The collections housed here are Rodin, Monet, Manet, Whistler and many other very famous paintings that everybody knows. We spent several hours in the museum, Jessica seems to have pulled a leg from last nights major trekking and is not feeling well. We had lunch in the museum on the top floor, its a lovely restaurant and we will split up from here. Adrian and I are off to see Napolean's Tomb and Jessie is going back to the hotel. So we catch another hop on hop off and she catches one that will take her back to our hotel. As we drive around to get to our stop our path crosses the path of the bus she is on, unfortunately we never got close enough to take a picture of her, it was pretty funny. We got to the tomb at 6:05 and it closes at 6:00, the guy let us in anyway, so we got to see part of the dome and chapel where he is buried and we got to take pictures of his tomb from above, but were unable to go to the bottom to view it. We were very lucky to get to see it. By then Adrian had had enough and we took another bus back to the hotel. We checked in on Oretta and she said she was up for going to dinner with us, but Jessie was not, so we took Oretta to the lovely Italian Restaurant Jessie, Adrian and I went to on our first night here.
June 28, 2008
We are up at 7:30am because we have to catch a train out to Versailles. We go around the corner and get our breakfast (coffee and a croissant), Jessie is obviously still not herself, but she will buck up because she wants to see Versailles. I will feed her Advil all day, and Oretta is feeling up to going with us. The train takes about 30 minutes to get to the Village of Versailles, its a short walk from the train (maybe 15 minutes) the the Chateau and my first view of it I must say is quite overwhelming. Although the buildings may or may not be as big as the Louvre, the Louvre sits in the middle of the city so you really don't get the imposing picture like you do at Versailles. The line in the morning to get into the Chateau itself is much like the line you would see at the Vatican. We had purchased a package ticket, that gave us rountrip train, gardens, Le Petite Trianon, Le Grand Trianon, The Chateau and all open rooms. So we went into the gardens first and walked from there to Le Petite Trianon that took about 1 and a half hours. We left Oretta sitting at the Grand Canal in the gardens enjoying the fountains while we walked the rest of the way to the Trainon's and Marie Antoinettes village she built. The Trianon itself was closed but we got to walk through the space and through the village. It started to sprinkle so I Jessie and I went back to get Oretta, while, Adrian finished up in that area and met us at the restaurant at the Grand Canal; it never did actually rain, but I did not want to risk having her out in the rain so we met Adrian at the restaurant and had a lovely lunch. Then we slowly walked back up through the gardens toward the Chateau, surprisingly in the afternoon there is actually no entrance que to get in. So we went in found a place for Oretta to sit as she was tired by now and toured the Chateau. It was absolutely amazing. One thing I forgot to say yesterday, my husband likes to take pictures of pictures, however, I don't think I will be posting many of them to the photo stream. Anyway, we got done about 4:00pm, collected Oretta and walked back to the train. Unfortunately we got off at the wrong stop in the city so could not find a taxi. We opted to take the Metro, but, one thing that we did not take into account was that it was - is Pride weekend and the parade had just ended. The metro was a zoo and we needed to take to buses to get back to the hotel. This was really hard on Oretta and Adrian's temper was a bit short, but we made it back and then she started having leg cramps. I did not want her to be left alone so we went and got McDonalds for dinner. I can now honestly say that I have been in 4 major cities during pride weekend, and had McDonalds in 3 different countries. Might someday be my claim to fame.
June 29, 2008
Today Jessie will not go out with us she is not feeling well, and there was something about someones snoring being so bad that she did not sleep at all. Adrian, Oretta and I took a cab over to the Place d'Teatre and had breakfast, walked around I bought two sketches and a new overnight bag. We went to Sacre Couer, got there about 10 minutes before Mass, so Adrian and I got Oretta a seat for Mass and then waited outside while the preist and sisters processed in - it was beautiful and I think I would have liked to see the entire mass, but there was sightseeing to be done, including walking up the 300+ steps on the outside of the church to the top of the dome. I must say the 360's you get of the city are incredible and I do think that this is a walk well worth doing. After mass we took the funicular down to the bottom of Montremart and walked into the artists quarter where we had a great lunch and met another american that works for the US government. It was great fun sharing experiences with another american over lunch. We then wandered around this neighborhood until we crossed the Seine and stoped at the Bothella ice cream factory for an ice cream. It was good, not sure it compares to Italy and the gelato, but still good. Then Oretta and I caught the Metro all by ourselves, nobody on the train and no transfers it was much easier. We stopped at the corner boulanger becasue I knew Jessie had not eaten and got her a sandwich (the sandwich's here are fabulous). Adrian stayed behind to continue sightseeing, he should have made it to Notre Dame and I don't know what else, but will add more once I see all the pictures and can have him fill in what he did.
June 30, 2008
Today we got up and met Tato, Darlena, Elisa-Maria Torres and Maria Dominguez at the Grand Palais to view the Marie-Antoinette exhibition, it was amazing and fascinating. We spent about 4 hours altogether, it was the first time we had not pre-purchased tickets for something and the wait was about 1.5 hours, today was very warm in Paris and outside, no shade, I was really glad that Oretta had decided not to come with us. She had breakfast with us before we caught the cab over to the Grand Palais and then she and Adrian stopped by a Boulanger to pick up a sandwhich for her lunch before she came back to the hotel. After the exhibit we took the Metro over to the Place St. Germain for a little shoe shopping, Jessie got a pair of jeans, a shirt and a pair of black ballet shoes. I got the same ballet shoes and a lovely pair of sandals, in June and July here all the stores have major sales so we got really good deals. Then while were waiting for the restaurant to open for dinner we walked over to St. Sulpice Church, which is in the same neighborhood. It is the Church Dan Brown uses in the DaVinci Code, which holds a brass line in it that is the original Meridien Line from which all distances and times were calculated during the 17th Century, later moved to Greenwich, England. Also in the church is a large photograph of the Shroud of Turin, we could not figure out any discernable reason for the reproduction to be there, but it is apparently in at least 20 churches in Paris. The church itself is in much need of restoration, but still lovely to walk through and see all the chapels. And then went back to the restaurant "LE Golf D'Naples" for a lovely dinner with the first rude people we had ever encountered in Paris. Everybody we came across was helpful and nice until here - the food was exceptional however.
There are a few things we wanted to do that we did not, so Adrian and I will certainly be making a return trip to Paris.
Enjoy all the photos.
http://flickr.com/photos/12938045@N02/
Saturday, June 21, 2008
BIG NEWS
OK, so the biggest thing I have to share today is that we have Vonage, which gives us a US phone number at US rates and we can now call back and forth as if we were still living in South SF. So........ 650-204-9849 is our phone number, just remember if you are on the West Coast we are 8 hours ahead of you and on the East coast 5 hours. We would appreciate no middle of the night calls.
The house is coming along nicely and, we have not hung pictures yet, we need special equipment because....turns out the walls are cement - imagine our surprise when we tried to hang the first thing....it was pretty funny I have to admit. I am hoping to rent the appropriate tool and get them hung before our party on the 4th.
We took a ride along the coast this week and so I have loaded a few pictures, along with a picture of Oretta soaking up the sun on our patio yesterday and Jessie's new hair do.
I will have more to post after we return from Paris on the 2nd.
http://flickr.com/photos/12938045@N02
The house is coming along nicely and, we have not hung pictures yet, we need special equipment because....turns out the walls are cement - imagine our surprise when we tried to hang the first thing....it was pretty funny I have to admit. I am hoping to rent the appropriate tool and get them hung before our party on the 4th.
We took a ride along the coast this week and so I have loaded a few pictures, along with a picture of Oretta soaking up the sun on our patio yesterday and Jessie's new hair do.
I will have more to post after we return from Paris on the 2nd.
http://flickr.com/photos/12938045@N02
Friday, June 13, 2008
All is right with the world
On the 7th of June, Jessie arrived. It was so amazingly good to see her. She is settling in and we are now collecting applications and re-thinking when she will come over for school. It is looking like most likely next fall, they don't accept students in the spring semester the way we do in the States. It's all very different, they declare their major when they enter University (College is high school here) not allowed to change major's mid stride, but the course of study is much more focused and you only take those courses that pertain to your major so it sounds like its a bit easier in some ways.
We finally got internet here at the house yesterday (Thursday, June 12). It is so nice to not have to go find internet and just be connected.
The biggest news is that our stuff arrived on Tuesday. It will take me weeks to get through this chaos, but its pretty happy chaos. The kitchen is all unpacked and we have opened up lots of boxes - now stuff to sort through everywhere. All of our pictures made it just fine, some broken frames - a couple of other items broken, but so far not to bad. We will add pictures to the blog once things are more settled. It's nice to finally have our things around even if everything is a mess.
Last night went to dinner to meet some other women who have relocated to Ireland from America, Germany, Denmark, Japan, Hungary and England. It was at one of only 2 decent Italian restaurants around - the restaurant is called Holywell and is actually vegetarian. It was quite good and when we left to go home I thought it was 9:30, but in fact, it was 10:30 so as you can see it was a very enjoyable evening. I now have some new freinds who share the same frustrations about switching to the Irish lifestyle and can truly commiserate with me. It is a very different lifestyle and turns out that many of the things we Americans have been complaining about, (thinking them to be European issues), the other Europeans have also been complaining about. Its just crazy that Ireland remained so far behind the rest of Europe.
So that's the latest news and I'll sign off for today.
We finally got internet here at the house yesterday (Thursday, June 12). It is so nice to not have to go find internet and just be connected.
The biggest news is that our stuff arrived on Tuesday. It will take me weeks to get through this chaos, but its pretty happy chaos. The kitchen is all unpacked and we have opened up lots of boxes - now stuff to sort through everywhere. All of our pictures made it just fine, some broken frames - a couple of other items broken, but so far not to bad. We will add pictures to the blog once things are more settled. It's nice to finally have our things around even if everything is a mess.
Last night went to dinner to meet some other women who have relocated to Ireland from America, Germany, Denmark, Japan, Hungary and England. It was at one of only 2 decent Italian restaurants around - the restaurant is called Holywell and is actually vegetarian. It was quite good and when we left to go home I thought it was 9:30, but in fact, it was 10:30 so as you can see it was a very enjoyable evening. I now have some new freinds who share the same frustrations about switching to the Irish lifestyle and can truly commiserate with me. It is a very different lifestyle and turns out that many of the things we Americans have been complaining about, (thinking them to be European issues), the other Europeans have also been complaining about. Its just crazy that Ireland remained so far behind the rest of Europe.
So that's the latest news and I'll sign off for today.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Michael come's for a visit
Michael and Oretta arrived in Ireland on the 20th. Unfortunately, he already leaves next Tuesday to return to the US. We traveled to Scotland for 5 days and thoroughly enjoyed it. We stayed in Edinburgh, visited the castle, did all of the Royal Mile and went through Holyrood Palace at the end of the mile. The castle was amazing and we were able to see where King James I/VI was born. The crown jewels of Scotland and the "Stone of Scone" (which the Scots pronounce scoon). Amazing history to be seen in the city. Most of the buildings are covered in black soot and one would assume that its from modern pollution. Infact, during the last 2 centuries (pre-electricity), every building burnt coal in 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. As a result there was always a black cloud hanging over the city and the city was known as the
"Reek", they still call the fog that rolls in the "Reek". We did not have any fog while we were there and it only rained the last day and a half. It was very windy and cold though. Rather like SF in the summer. Holyrood Palace is where the current Royal Family stay when they are in Edinburgh and was quite beautiful. We got to see Queen Mary's chambers and lots of her personal belongings. It included the spot where her secretary was killed by her husband and his freinds. The palace is literally built into the remains of the Holyrood Abbey. It was amazing to see where this was done. We also did a couple of the standard other "touristy" tours. The best was "The Real Mary Kings Close" in underground Edinburgh there still exist homes from the 16th and 17th century that have literally been built on top of. Pretty amazing stuff. Edinburgh itself reminded me culturally in many ways of San Francisco. Very diverse population, Starbucks every 2-3 blocks and fabulous food. We found the most amazing Italian Restaurant and ended up eating there 2 nights in a row. Michael hooked up with the bartender from the local pub (down the street from our B&B) and went out for a night on the town with him. Stumbled in just about daylight. He said it was really wonderful and he really likes the Scots.
Adrian and I spent about 5 hours in the National Museum - all of the Musuems are free - return trips will happen. The National Museum hows a version of the entire history of Scotland and we probably could have spent a further 5 hours there, but I got tired. I highly recommend it to anyone wanting an overview begining in the bronze age up through the industrial revolution and the 20th century.
We went to Stirling Castle (I have always wanted to see) as that is where Queen Mary was born and crowned. It was even more windswept and lovely than Edinburgh. You could see out to Bannockburn, which is where Robert the Bruce defeated the English in the 1300's and ensured indepence for Scotland. There is also a memorial out there to William Wallce, who our guide told us was the actual person behind Robin Hood. From Stirling we went to Hadrian's Wall which was amazing, and surprisingly actually quite a ways into England. It is very desolute out there and you could certainly see why the Romans complained so bitterly about being posted to the frontier. That was the first time we ran into rain and it was our next to last day in Scotland. Enjoy the photo tour if you have time.
http://flickr.com/photos/12938045@N02/
Our next stop will be Paris but that won't be for a couple of weeks. At the end of June. Only finally got the telephone pole put in at our house yesterday. So finally, TV's could be hooked up and I went down to An Phost (the post office) to purchase the licenses. Did I tell you that you are required to have a license to watch TV and we were told for every TV in the home. The lovely post woman only made me buy one. She said in her very Irish accent - "it's need to know and you don't need to tell us how many tvs you've actually got. Nobody will come check." As they cost 160.00 Euro each that was wonderful news for me, because you are required to renew it each year.
Still no broadband at home, so have to go to an internet cafe to get on line. I have to purchase a telephone today, plug it in and call Eircom to order the broadband in order to prove that my phone line is actually working. We had an email several days ago to say that our container should arrive in Cork on 5/31 (tomorrow). I don't know how long it will take to clear customs, but am hoping it means I'll have my household goods next week or the one following. I'll do more pictures of the house showing the mess once everything arrives and then maybe after I get everything set up.
I think that's about all the news for now.
"Reek", they still call the fog that rolls in the "Reek". We did not have any fog while we were there and it only rained the last day and a half. It was very windy and cold though. Rather like SF in the summer. Holyrood Palace is where the current Royal Family stay when they are in Edinburgh and was quite beautiful. We got to see Queen Mary's chambers and lots of her personal belongings. It included the spot where her secretary was killed by her husband and his freinds. The palace is literally built into the remains of the Holyrood Abbey. It was amazing to see where this was done. We also did a couple of the standard other "touristy" tours. The best was "The Real Mary Kings Close" in underground Edinburgh there still exist homes from the 16th and 17th century that have literally been built on top of. Pretty amazing stuff. Edinburgh itself reminded me culturally in many ways of San Francisco. Very diverse population, Starbucks every 2-3 blocks and fabulous food. We found the most amazing Italian Restaurant and ended up eating there 2 nights in a row. Michael hooked up with the bartender from the local pub (down the street from our B&B) and went out for a night on the town with him. Stumbled in just about daylight. He said it was really wonderful and he really likes the Scots.
Adrian and I spent about 5 hours in the National Museum - all of the Musuems are free - return trips will happen. The National Museum hows a version of the entire history of Scotland and we probably could have spent a further 5 hours there, but I got tired. I highly recommend it to anyone wanting an overview begining in the bronze age up through the industrial revolution and the 20th century.
We went to Stirling Castle (I have always wanted to see) as that is where Queen Mary was born and crowned. It was even more windswept and lovely than Edinburgh. You could see out to Bannockburn, which is where Robert the Bruce defeated the English in the 1300's and ensured indepence for Scotland. There is also a memorial out there to William Wallce, who our guide told us was the actual person behind Robin Hood. From Stirling we went to Hadrian's Wall which was amazing, and surprisingly actually quite a ways into England. It is very desolute out there and you could certainly see why the Romans complained so bitterly about being posted to the frontier. That was the first time we ran into rain and it was our next to last day in Scotland. Enjoy the photo tour if you have time.
http://flickr.com/photos/12938045@N02/
Our next stop will be Paris but that won't be for a couple of weeks. At the end of June. Only finally got the telephone pole put in at our house yesterday. So finally, TV's could be hooked up and I went down to An Phost (the post office) to purchase the licenses. Did I tell you that you are required to have a license to watch TV and we were told for every TV in the home. The lovely post woman only made me buy one. She said in her very Irish accent - "it's need to know and you don't need to tell us how many tvs you've actually got. Nobody will come check." As they cost 160.00 Euro each that was wonderful news for me, because you are required to renew it each year.
Still no broadband at home, so have to go to an internet cafe to get on line. I have to purchase a telephone today, plug it in and call Eircom to order the broadband in order to prove that my phone line is actually working. We had an email several days ago to say that our container should arrive in Cork on 5/31 (tomorrow). I don't know how long it will take to clear customs, but am hoping it means I'll have my household goods next week or the one following. I'll do more pictures of the house showing the mess once everything arrives and then maybe after I get everything set up.
I think that's about all the news for now.
Friday, May 16, 2008
It's been a while
I know I am behind in posting to the blog. We still do not have internet at home - and it has been very busy for the last few weeks. We went to the Cliff's with our Friends the Kozlowski's and then we had our first American visitor. Joseph Hanson-Hirt. We did the medieval banquet at Bunratty Castle with him which was great fun. Joseph and I also went to Craggeaneauwen which is a recreation of Celtic life in the bronze age. The photo's have all been added to flickr. Then last Saturday I flew to Chicago and am now sitting in the airport waiting for the return flight to Shannon. Spent the week catching up with colleagues and working on one of their meetings. It has been great fun and definately a civilized way to work. I am ready to get back to Ireland and realized that I already consider it "home". A very odd awakening for me. Michael and Oretta will arrive on Tuesday and I can't wait. Then we are off to Scotland for 5 days, I am sure I'll have lot's of interesting news to share at that point.
Oops already time to begin the boarding process so I will need to say goodbye for now! (DV like those exclamations points?)
Oops already time to begin the boarding process so I will need to say goodbye for now! (DV like those exclamations points?)
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Just the latest news
The trials and tribulations of trying to move to a new country. Finally, got our Irish drivers licenses today they are funny and on big pink paper. And of course, first thing that happens to me is I get pulled over by the Garda (police), because I picked up my cell to answer a call. Its illegal to not use blue tooth or hands free here in Europe. However, it wasn't a ticket, but I already have two points added to my drivers license whatever that means. And of course, when I got pulled over I did not have the drivers license because I had not picked Adrian up from work yet. And of course, I don't have proof of insurance yet it should be here in 5 to 7 days, so now I have to report to the Garda station within the next 10 days with proof of both. That's what we get for buying a red car. Off to purchase a "hands free kit" this week.
Also, got an email from the moving company the other day, our sea shipment (furniture and everything else) has not left the states yet. It won't leave until May 28 and arrive in Cork on June 1, but then it needs to clear customs. We of course are moving into the house of Thursday, so its a good thing the landlord was willing to leave the beds and kitchen table. We'll have someplace to sit and someplace to eat for the next month and a half.
It's all good though, we'll just continue hanging out and moving along with the transition. It's a good thing nobody was rushing out to see us.
By the time we get everything resolved we'll be ready for visitors.
We had a beautiful morning and early afternoon - and now we are having a thunderstorm - its amazing really.
Well thats where we stand for now we don't have any major plans until the third week of May, but then we will be going off to Scotland for a few days.
I'll keep updating.
Also, got an email from the moving company the other day, our sea shipment (furniture and everything else) has not left the states yet. It won't leave until May 28 and arrive in Cork on June 1, but then it needs to clear customs. We of course are moving into the house of Thursday, so its a good thing the landlord was willing to leave the beds and kitchen table. We'll have someplace to sit and someplace to eat for the next month and a half.
It's all good though, we'll just continue hanging out and moving along with the transition. It's a good thing nobody was rushing out to see us.
By the time we get everything resolved we'll be ready for visitors.
We had a beautiful morning and early afternoon - and now we are having a thunderstorm - its amazing really.
Well thats where we stand for now we don't have any major plans until the third week of May, but then we will be going off to Scotland for a few days.
I'll keep updating.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Galway and the Coast Road back to Bunratty
Lots of tidbits to add today- we bought a car a couple of days, so now we have transportation. We purchased a Hyundai Accent - 60K miles and 3600.00 Euros (translates to about 5600 USD). Its in good shape so now we can get around without having to bum tons of rides.
We drove up to Galway on Tuesday walked around the city - its not a really big city. There is not much of the old city just bits and pieces all over the place. Irish weather being as fickle as it is - we had beautiful weather all morning, but around 3:30 in the afternoon they Skies opened up and by the time we got back to our B&B around 5:00 we were completely drenched.
We had managed to see all of the important sites - some of which I did not take pictures of, such as the inside of the Cathedral, felt wrong to do so. We must have walked about 10 miles which is great of course. We were also able to visit the University at Galway and met with a lovely teacher of graduate Irish Literature who took us around a bit. The University is beautiful.
Wednesday morning we got up - drove to Salthill an area in Galway that seems to be a mix of Santa Cruz and Pebble Beach. We took another few mile hike along the waterfront there. There were these boys actually diving in just swim trunks into the Atlantic Ocean. It was amazing to watch they would dive in off a platform and then quickly swim back to the platform. Stand around (you could tell they were freezing at that point) and then do it all over again. We walked back up to the main parking area, picked up our car and went back to the University to meet with the Admissions department for International Students, collected yet another application for Jessie to complete. Then we headed out for our coast drive back to Bunratty. There is such an amazing of rapidly changing environment in Ireland. All of the scenery so far has been beyond beautiful. We stopped for a very late lunch (4:00pm) in the town of Lisdoovarna and happened to meet a couple visiting from New Jersey. It was lovely to chat with another American couple about all the craziness in this current Presidential race and all the possible outcomes.
We arrived back at the hotel around 6pm - I have loads of laundry to do now.......
Had my first Dr. visit today as well. Its very different here - you go into the Dr's. Surgery as it is called, note who the folks are that were already there. When it is your turn you go in and see the Dr. you do not make an appt. and you don't do anything else. Got my prescriptions replaced for here in Europe and paid....... $373.00 - hope the insurance reimburses us for the entire amount.
Seven more days and we will be in the house, got a call today that our Air shipment has arrived and we will recieve it Thursday when we move into the house.
Enjoy the photos.....http://www.flickr.com/photos/12938045@N02/
Have you noticed that they just add my new photos to the front of the stream.....:)
We drove up to Galway on Tuesday walked around the city - its not a really big city. There is not much of the old city just bits and pieces all over the place. Irish weather being as fickle as it is - we had beautiful weather all morning, but around 3:30 in the afternoon they Skies opened up and by the time we got back to our B&B around 5:00 we were completely drenched.
We had managed to see all of the important sites - some of which I did not take pictures of, such as the inside of the Cathedral, felt wrong to do so. We must have walked about 10 miles which is great of course. We were also able to visit the University at Galway and met with a lovely teacher of graduate Irish Literature who took us around a bit. The University is beautiful.
Wednesday morning we got up - drove to Salthill an area in Galway that seems to be a mix of Santa Cruz and Pebble Beach. We took another few mile hike along the waterfront there. There were these boys actually diving in just swim trunks into the Atlantic Ocean. It was amazing to watch they would dive in off a platform and then quickly swim back to the platform. Stand around (you could tell they were freezing at that point) and then do it all over again. We walked back up to the main parking area, picked up our car and went back to the University to meet with the Admissions department for International Students, collected yet another application for Jessie to complete. Then we headed out for our coast drive back to Bunratty. There is such an amazing of rapidly changing environment in Ireland. All of the scenery so far has been beyond beautiful. We stopped for a very late lunch (4:00pm) in the town of Lisdoovarna and happened to meet a couple visiting from New Jersey. It was lovely to chat with another American couple about all the craziness in this current Presidential race and all the possible outcomes.
We arrived back at the hotel around 6pm - I have loads of laundry to do now.......
Had my first Dr. visit today as well. Its very different here - you go into the Dr's. Surgery as it is called, note who the folks are that were already there. When it is your turn you go in and see the Dr. you do not make an appt. and you don't do anything else. Got my prescriptions replaced for here in Europe and paid....... $373.00 - hope the insurance reimburses us for the entire amount.
Seven more days and we will be in the house, got a call today that our Air shipment has arrived and we will recieve it Thursday when we move into the house.
Enjoy the photos.....http://www.flickr.com/photos/12938045@N02/
Have you noticed that they just add my new photos to the front of the stream.....:)
Friday, April 18, 2008
Granahan, Newmarket on Fergus, Co. Clare, Ireland
Ok, so it is confirmed we have a home, we'll move in on May 1. I have taken better pictures and put an explanation beneath each. When I was there taking photo's tonight a rabbit ran right across our lawn. We have a cow pasture on one side and an older home on the other. I forgot to take pictures of the outside so you all will just have to wait. and Hopefully our belongings will arrive soon. Our landlords are lovely people. Marie is the wifes name, don't know the husbands yet, but he has a "foundry" (Iron works shop) across the road from our house. And they've three sons age 19, 20 and 23 who were very excited to hear we had a 19 year old girl. Dad was not thrilled to hear that tonight but oh well.
The weather today, was overcast and quite windy, rather like South City actually. Had lamb shank with barley tonight for dinner, and I must admit I have always turned up my nose at barley but it was very tasty. I'll have to add more barley into my diet - supposed to be very good for you.
The weather today, was overcast and quite windy, rather like South City actually. Had lamb shank with barley tonight for dinner, and I must admit I have always turned up my nose at barley but it was very tasty. I'll have to add more barley into my diet - supposed to be very good for you.
Here is the link to the flickr pictures of the house:
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Limmerick
Went into Limmerick today with our friends Chris and Paula. Chris works with Adrian for CBP and they are one of the other new families here, the came from Atlanta, have 2 boys and a lovely Rottweiler named Rambo. We did a little shopping and walked around a couple of the nicer stores. They are comporable to Nordstrom or Bloomies. We also went to "Penneys" which surprisingly is similar to JC Penneys. Pretty funny gotta wonder if there was ever any relation.
Ok, have I told you about the obnoxious crows we have here at the hotel. They make an enormous ruckus all the time, its just crazy and if I had access to a beebee gun....well....you get the picture.
We still have not found a car but we have found a home, the pictures are on the flickr link previously included under the Shannon Area portion. Still working out the entire picture thing. I will add better pictures later - I plan to go back this week and take better pictures. We should move in May 1. We will be living in Granahan, New Market on Fergus, Co. Clare, Ireland. And I believe that will literally be the address -but still working on that.
Here's some information regarding the village of Newmarket.
http://www.tourclare.com/newmarket.html
That's about it for now - not doing much of anything else.
Ok, have I told you about the obnoxious crows we have here at the hotel. They make an enormous ruckus all the time, its just crazy and if I had access to a beebee gun....well....you get the picture.
We still have not found a car but we have found a home, the pictures are on the flickr link previously included under the Shannon Area portion. Still working out the entire picture thing. I will add better pictures later - I plan to go back this week and take better pictures. We should move in May 1. We will be living in Granahan, New Market on Fergus, Co. Clare, Ireland. And I believe that will literally be the address -but still working on that.
Here's some information regarding the village of Newmarket.
http://www.tourclare.com/newmarket.html
That's about it for now - not doing much of anything else.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Shannon Area
I know it's been a couple of days since I last wrote, but, you know sometimes you get busy. Friday was laundry day - so I could not come up to the lobby to get on-line. We are pretty spoiled in America, I don't have internet access in Castle Gardens - they are working on it - but can't quite seem to get the wireless to work. Our friend Dan moved into one the homes today and said he has wireless access in his home - so he does not have to walk up here to the lobby of the hotel. Sometimes it just sucks to be me, doesn't it. Anyway by the time I was done with the all day laundry it was time to meet Adrian and the gang for a final going away for Clint and his family. We met at the Creamery, its a pub here in Bunratty, the food is very good there - Clint is who Adrian is replacing, he is off to an analysts position in Washington, D.C. .
Then Saturday we went and looked at homes for lease and cars to buy. We believe we have found Casa Scaletti, but I won't put any pictures up of it until our form has been approved. If it gets approved we should move in as soon as I come back from Chicago in May. We were less successful in locating a cheap car for us to start out with. We have found a candidate, but Adrian has a couple of more places to check.
Today, we took the rent-a-car and drove around the Shannon Peninsula. The Shannon river reminds me a bit of the Mississippi in that it is extremely wide. In some spots its quite muddy and even looks a bit brown like the ol' miss.
The thing about Ireland is that when it is overcast, drizzly and/or rainy you still love it because the people are so amazing and the country is so nice. On a beautiful day (today) it grabs you and you think you really have gone to heaven. It is just so beautiful and calming here. I think it could renew any body's spirit.
One of the amazing things that struck me as we were winding our way along the very narrow country roads was that even though it is very "rural" here it's a different kind of rural from home. At home you may drive a couple of hours to get out into "the Country" but, once there, you will see relatively no signs of life. Here even rural means some sort of community and there seems to be a community every 10 miles or so. When we have gone exploring at home and gotten lost I have often been nervous. I was not one bit nervous today when we got lost.
We saw lots of ruins as expected and got lost trying to get to some of them, signage is truly not a strong point of the Irish. And although they care about the tourist dollar they don't care about it the same way you do. So when you are lost start looking for some one and they'll likely be able to give you directions to where you are going. Or as in the case today when we were trying to locate Dromore Castle, they'll just jump in your car (reeking of stale alcohol) and show you how to get there. Very funny old man literally got in the back seat when we asked for directions and said I'll show ye. Then when he got us where we needed to be and we offered to drive him back (probably about 4 miles), he said: "no, I need the walk". He did not really speak to us when he was in the car other than to tell us just continue on down the road here, make a left here and go down a bit more, there you see it. It was an amazing experience.
Our first stop today was at Muntreg, it had the ruins of a Friary consisting of about 5 medieval churches. They were very neat to see.
Our next stop was Dromore Castle, it is called the "Fairytale Castle" and was built in the late 1800's. It burned down in the 1940's. The reason it is a fairytale is because it looks like no other castle in Ireland. The architect for it pulled the wrong set of plans and built something he was meant to build along the Rhine river in Germany. It was also the setting used for the movie "High Spirits", starring Darryl Hannah and Peter O'Toole. Very good movie, if you have never seen it, I would encourage you to do so. It turned out after all that getting lost to find it, it is on private property and you can't go in or even get very close to it. We met a lovely couple out walking when we were trying to figure out how to get on the property and they said, "can you imagine, that is what we see from our bedroom window." It would certainly be an amazing view.
Following that, we were on to the Celtic Folk Park and Garden in Kilcornan. It was a lovely 3 mile hike around the park that took us through an interpretation of Celtic History. It started at the Templar Church. The original church was built by the Knight's Templar around 1100AD. Then on to a Dolmen that they had constructed, a "Dolmen" is a megalithic tomb structure. Then a community tomb, a lake home, a stone circle as in "Stonehenge", only much smaller. A "mass rock" rumor has it during the Catholic repression these rocks were used with the Priest saying mass with his back to the people, and the people standing on the hillside watching for soldiers so they could warn the priest and disperse should the English show up. And finally, the Throne that the kings of Clare were crowned on. It was said that they could hear lions roar when they were on the chair, proclaiming them true kings of Ireland.
After that we went in search of Beagh Castle, it was an impressive set of ruins sitting right on top of the Shannon River.
Our final place to see was Askeaton we went in search of what was an amazing ruin of a Franciscan Friary and to our great delight found in the middle of the village the ruins of the Castle. The castle was built around 1199 and by the 14th century was the principle residence of the Fitzgeralds who were the Earls of Desmond.
Then we drove on to Tarbert and took a 20 minute ferry ride across the Shannon, landing in Co. Kerry to complete the circle and arrive back at Bunratty. I've included a link with the pictures from my camera and will add Adrian's pictures later.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12938045@N02/
Then Saturday we went and looked at homes for lease and cars to buy. We believe we have found Casa Scaletti, but I won't put any pictures up of it until our form has been approved. If it gets approved we should move in as soon as I come back from Chicago in May. We were less successful in locating a cheap car for us to start out with. We have found a candidate, but Adrian has a couple of more places to check.
Today, we took the rent-a-car and drove around the Shannon Peninsula. The Shannon river reminds me a bit of the Mississippi in that it is extremely wide. In some spots its quite muddy and even looks a bit brown like the ol' miss.
The thing about Ireland is that when it is overcast, drizzly and/or rainy you still love it because the people are so amazing and the country is so nice. On a beautiful day (today) it grabs you and you think you really have gone to heaven. It is just so beautiful and calming here. I think it could renew any body's spirit.
One of the amazing things that struck me as we were winding our way along the very narrow country roads was that even though it is very "rural" here it's a different kind of rural from home. At home you may drive a couple of hours to get out into "the Country" but, once there, you will see relatively no signs of life. Here even rural means some sort of community and there seems to be a community every 10 miles or so. When we have gone exploring at home and gotten lost I have often been nervous. I was not one bit nervous today when we got lost.
We saw lots of ruins as expected and got lost trying to get to some of them, signage is truly not a strong point of the Irish. And although they care about the tourist dollar they don't care about it the same way you do. So when you are lost start looking for some one and they'll likely be able to give you directions to where you are going. Or as in the case today when we were trying to locate Dromore Castle, they'll just jump in your car (reeking of stale alcohol) and show you how to get there. Very funny old man literally got in the back seat when we asked for directions and said I'll show ye. Then when he got us where we needed to be and we offered to drive him back (probably about 4 miles), he said: "no, I need the walk". He did not really speak to us when he was in the car other than to tell us just continue on down the road here, make a left here and go down a bit more, there you see it. It was an amazing experience.
Our first stop today was at Muntreg, it had the ruins of a Friary consisting of about 5 medieval churches. They were very neat to see.
Our next stop was Dromore Castle, it is called the "Fairytale Castle" and was built in the late 1800's. It burned down in the 1940's. The reason it is a fairytale is because it looks like no other castle in Ireland. The architect for it pulled the wrong set of plans and built something he was meant to build along the Rhine river in Germany. It was also the setting used for the movie "High Spirits", starring Darryl Hannah and Peter O'Toole. Very good movie, if you have never seen it, I would encourage you to do so. It turned out after all that getting lost to find it, it is on private property and you can't go in or even get very close to it. We met a lovely couple out walking when we were trying to figure out how to get on the property and they said, "can you imagine, that is what we see from our bedroom window." It would certainly be an amazing view.
Following that, we were on to the Celtic Folk Park and Garden in Kilcornan. It was a lovely 3 mile hike around the park that took us through an interpretation of Celtic History. It started at the Templar Church. The original church was built by the Knight's Templar around 1100AD. Then on to a Dolmen that they had constructed, a "Dolmen" is a megalithic tomb structure. Then a community tomb, a lake home, a stone circle as in "Stonehenge", only much smaller. A "mass rock" rumor has it during the Catholic repression these rocks were used with the Priest saying mass with his back to the people, and the people standing on the hillside watching for soldiers so they could warn the priest and disperse should the English show up. And finally, the Throne that the kings of Clare were crowned on. It was said that they could hear lions roar when they were on the chair, proclaiming them true kings of Ireland.
After that we went in search of Beagh Castle, it was an impressive set of ruins sitting right on top of the Shannon River.
Our final place to see was Askeaton we went in search of what was an amazing ruin of a Franciscan Friary and to our great delight found in the middle of the village the ruins of the Castle. The castle was built around 1199 and by the 14th century was the principle residence of the Fitzgeralds who were the Earls of Desmond.
Then we drove on to Tarbert and took a 20 minute ferry ride across the Shannon, landing in Co. Kerry to complete the circle and arrive back at Bunratty. I've included a link with the pictures from my camera and will add Adrian's pictures later.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12938045@N02/
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Ok, so first let me say that it would be helpful if I would notice that there are comments from all you guys. I just finished reading them and appreciate all the reat comments and questions.
Today is Thursday and I spent the better part of the afternoon at the airport waiting to try to open a bank account here. One of the most important things Adrian's boss and co-workers that have been here for a while keep saying is "baby steps". It also helps to have a sense of humor and be patient. In the end we could not open the account and I have to contact the Embassy in Dublin for yet another letter - they provided us with a certified letter and copies of our passports (that they have in hand) to open the account. Not good enough, we need a certified letter showing our address here at the hotel and in both our names as the account is meant to be in both our names. We were told by some of Adrian's co-workers that we will then have to jump through some additional hoops to get the account open, but that eventually we will. So now we are trying to figure out how we can purchase a car this weekend.
We drove up to Dublin on Tuesday morning, spent the afternoon in the Embassy getting oriented as it were and completing lots of documentation and being told that they are really sorry but there is not alot of support for those of us down here in Shannon. They get lots more benefits if they are in Dublin, but then the Embassy choses your housing for you - so everything (as with the rest of life) is a trade off. If we wish to buy a car and have the VAT tax paid we will need to find the car, send the info to the Embassy they will complete the documentation and then we wait three weeks to purchase the car. Or, as I found out speaking with Adrian's boss today, we could buy the car pay the VAT tax (which is 40% of the cost of the car) and then submit a reimbursement request. Oh, and we can only do either within the first 6 months we're here if we way 7 months to buy a new car oops we won't get the benefit of the VAT tax. They only pay it on 1 car so if you buy two you only get it on the one. It all sounds a bit daunting but I am already adjusting to everything being 3 times as hard as it should be and who knows maybe by the time I come back I will be a much more patient person.
I also learned that its not that easy to work here either. I would have to find the job I wanted to do, contact the Embassy with my resume and they would help me and the employer with the rest of the paperwork which apparently can be quite difficult to wade through. Most times they are required to prove there is not an Irish person who could do the job, but apparently that is where the embassy comes in very useful, they can smooth all of that. Given the travel I want to do this year I won't be rushing in to finding a job here.
We got to meet the Ambassador to Ireland, Tom Foley, he was a very nice man, very down to earth and seemed to genuinley want to know about us. We also have a small commissary at the Embassy so we can get American items, including Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. Apparently quite the big deal over here and the Irish love it but can't get it on the market.
Once our various meetings were done on Tuesday - 5:00pm'ish, we were pretty tired, so we wandered over to our hotel, found dinner and then Adrian and Dan walked over to the Temple Bar - I went to the room to go lay down. I think we were all asleep by about 8:30pm.
We had to be up early on Wednesday to continue our orientation at the Embassy, we were done by about 11:30am so we walked to Grafton Street and Trinity College. Grafton Street is great shopping- lot's of shishi places. They have a TJ Maxx only it's called TK Maxx.
Trinity is beautiful, Dublin is beautiful I could certainly live there if ever given the option. We had lunch at a lovely restaurant with the most amazing stained glass windows, we think the building may have been a theater at one point but could not find out.
The drive back took forever, we got in at 7:00pm last night. Had dinner and unpacked and went to sleep.
Today it has rained off and on all day and is cold and wintry feeling.
Adrian loves his job and the people he is working with. Tomorrow night we will go to dinner for the guy that Adrian is replacing.
Today is Thursday and I spent the better part of the afternoon at the airport waiting to try to open a bank account here. One of the most important things Adrian's boss and co-workers that have been here for a while keep saying is "baby steps". It also helps to have a sense of humor and be patient. In the end we could not open the account and I have to contact the Embassy in Dublin for yet another letter - they provided us with a certified letter and copies of our passports (that they have in hand) to open the account. Not good enough, we need a certified letter showing our address here at the hotel and in both our names as the account is meant to be in both our names. We were told by some of Adrian's co-workers that we will then have to jump through some additional hoops to get the account open, but that eventually we will. So now we are trying to figure out how we can purchase a car this weekend.
We drove up to Dublin on Tuesday morning, spent the afternoon in the Embassy getting oriented as it were and completing lots of documentation and being told that they are really sorry but there is not alot of support for those of us down here in Shannon. They get lots more benefits if they are in Dublin, but then the Embassy choses your housing for you - so everything (as with the rest of life) is a trade off. If we wish to buy a car and have the VAT tax paid we will need to find the car, send the info to the Embassy they will complete the documentation and then we wait three weeks to purchase the car. Or, as I found out speaking with Adrian's boss today, we could buy the car pay the VAT tax (which is 40% of the cost of the car) and then submit a reimbursement request. Oh, and we can only do either within the first 6 months we're here if we way 7 months to buy a new car oops we won't get the benefit of the VAT tax. They only pay it on 1 car so if you buy two you only get it on the one. It all sounds a bit daunting but I am already adjusting to everything being 3 times as hard as it should be and who knows maybe by the time I come back I will be a much more patient person.
I also learned that its not that easy to work here either. I would have to find the job I wanted to do, contact the Embassy with my resume and they would help me and the employer with the rest of the paperwork which apparently can be quite difficult to wade through. Most times they are required to prove there is not an Irish person who could do the job, but apparently that is where the embassy comes in very useful, they can smooth all of that. Given the travel I want to do this year I won't be rushing in to finding a job here.
We got to meet the Ambassador to Ireland, Tom Foley, he was a very nice man, very down to earth and seemed to genuinley want to know about us. We also have a small commissary at the Embassy so we can get American items, including Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. Apparently quite the big deal over here and the Irish love it but can't get it on the market.
Once our various meetings were done on Tuesday - 5:00pm'ish, we were pretty tired, so we wandered over to our hotel, found dinner and then Adrian and Dan walked over to the Temple Bar - I went to the room to go lay down. I think we were all asleep by about 8:30pm.
We had to be up early on Wednesday to continue our orientation at the Embassy, we were done by about 11:30am so we walked to Grafton Street and Trinity College. Grafton Street is great shopping- lot's of shishi places. They have a TJ Maxx only it's called TK Maxx.
Trinity is beautiful, Dublin is beautiful I could certainly live there if ever given the option. We had lunch at a lovely restaurant with the most amazing stained glass windows, we think the building may have been a theater at one point but could not find out.
The drive back took forever, we got in at 7:00pm last night. Had dinner and unpacked and went to sleep.
Today it has rained off and on all day and is cold and wintry feeling.
Adrian loves his job and the people he is working with. Tomorrow night we will go to dinner for the guy that Adrian is replacing.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Friday night we went to "Traditional Irish Nights" in the corn barn at Bunratty Folk Park. It was great fun and let me just say that the Irish Cream made here is 100 times better than Baileys. It was like eating Ice Cream. It was a fun night, the meal was Salad - have I said how fantastic the salads are here. Tradtional Irish Stew it was yummy. And then apple pie with fresh cream. They do not add as much sugar to the cream here but it is still very yummy. I was stuffed by the time we walked out. I have added some pictures of the entertainment courtesy of Dan Oulette. The singer reminded me of Eileen Kilgariff, unfortunately we did not get a picture of her.
On Saturday morning we got up and took the bus into Limmerick, we went to breakfast at the "Wild Onion" at the Corn Market. The place is owned by Americans and serve French Toast with Maple Syrup - that was lovely, I am still on the hunt for American style bacon. We met a lovely couple from Maine that spends 5 months a year here - Nancy and Elliott. Everybody is amazing and always willing to assist in what ever way necessary. Ruth (the owner of the restuarant) is from Chicago originally and offered me a waitressing job, I politely turned it down.
Then we wandered throuh peoples park and went to the Hunt Museum. It was ragingly cold, an arctic blast had come in and I wasn't feeling great -so we called it an early day and took the bus back to Bun Raite (Bunratty), I had a nap and then we had an early dinner at Gallaghers Seafood Restaurant. I of course had "Steak", which is always advertised as being 100% Irish Beef.
Enjoy the photos.
On Saturday morning we got up and took the bus into Limmerick, we went to breakfast at the "Wild Onion" at the Corn Market. The place is owned by Americans and serve French Toast with Maple Syrup - that was lovely, I am still on the hunt for American style bacon. We met a lovely couple from Maine that spends 5 months a year here - Nancy and Elliott. Everybody is amazing and always willing to assist in what ever way necessary. Ruth (the owner of the restuarant) is from Chicago originally and offered me a waitressing job, I politely turned it down.
Then we wandered throuh peoples park and went to the Hunt Museum. It was ragingly cold, an arctic blast had come in and I wasn't feeling great -so we called it an early day and took the bus back to Bun Raite (Bunratty), I had a nap and then we had an early dinner at Gallaghers Seafood Restaurant. I of course had "Steak", which is always advertised as being 100% Irish Beef.
Enjoy the photos.
Friday, April 4, 2008
Haven't done much of anythin today, just looking at homes and emailing realtors back and forth. The weather is turning again and they say it may snow this weekend as an arctic blast is going to come in. Supposed to rain this weekend as well.
Adrian and I will take the bus into Limmerick tomorrow and walk about a bit. Tonight we are going with Dan, another new arrival from Boston, to a dinner show that will include "trad music and dance". It's held in the folk park of Bunratty Castle.
Oh and the front desk manager offered me a position today....hmmm.....maybe I'm spending to much time in the lobby. I told her I had to speak with the embassy first and I would not be interested in anything full time. But, I might be interested in working part-time. Wait until I tell her that I will be gone for 6 weeks during the height of tourist season. The offer will probably dissappear at that point.
Limmerick is the largest city in County Clare, after touring the museum and other things tomorrow I'll be able to give you a much more worthwhile description.
Adrian should be rolling in shortly which will be nice, but then all my freinds will be up and on-line so I'll be chatting with them for a bit.
Remeber how I said the shower was to small to shave in- I keep accidently turning the water off with my elbow when I am rinsing my hair...... Jessie might actually fit without doing to much damage, being that she is soooo tiny.
And the refridgerator is the same size that everyone has in the office or if they are in a dorm. Apparently, that is standard here. My guess is because you go to the butchers and the bakers and the candlestick makers ":) everyday here. That could be a bit tricky when it comes to actually accepting a house - but - I have also heard that landlords are willing to negotiate many things. We'll see.
That's it for today - as I said a slow day..... Have a great day and don't work to haaaaard :)
Adrian and I will take the bus into Limmerick tomorrow and walk about a bit. Tonight we are going with Dan, another new arrival from Boston, to a dinner show that will include "trad music and dance". It's held in the folk park of Bunratty Castle.
Oh and the front desk manager offered me a position today....hmmm.....maybe I'm spending to much time in the lobby. I told her I had to speak with the embassy first and I would not be interested in anything full time. But, I might be interested in working part-time. Wait until I tell her that I will be gone for 6 weeks during the height of tourist season. The offer will probably dissappear at that point.
Limmerick is the largest city in County Clare, after touring the museum and other things tomorrow I'll be able to give you a much more worthwhile description.
Adrian should be rolling in shortly which will be nice, but then all my freinds will be up and on-line so I'll be chatting with them for a bit.
Remeber how I said the shower was to small to shave in- I keep accidently turning the water off with my elbow when I am rinsing my hair...... Jessie might actually fit without doing to much damage, being that she is soooo tiny.
And the refridgerator is the same size that everyone has in the office or if they are in a dorm. Apparently, that is standard here. My guess is because you go to the butchers and the bakers and the candlestick makers ":) everyday here. That could be a bit tricky when it comes to actually accepting a house - but - I have also heard that landlords are willing to negotiate many things. We'll see.
That's it for today - as I said a slow day..... Have a great day and don't work to haaaaard :)
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Our Address
I forgot, if you want to send us mail and use the US postal system. Use the following address, it takes a bit longer, but works similar to an APO, and is the best way to get mail to us until we have a permanent home:
Adrian and Tanya Scaletti
5290 Dublin Place
Dulles, VA 20189-5290
Also, until further notice we can be contacted at the Shannon Shamrock Hotel, House #6, Bunratty, Co. Clare, Ireland
011-353-61-361-177
Adrian and Tanya Scaletti
5290 Dublin Place
Dulles, VA 20189-5290
Also, until further notice we can be contacted at the Shannon Shamrock Hotel, House #6, Bunratty, Co. Clare, Ireland
011-353-61-361-177
Today I finally made it to the hotel gym, only here they are called "Leisure Centres", has all the same equipment and the pool is indoor and heated. It's very nice and will definately keep me busy for a bit each day - at least until we move into a house. So, there are some real differences here in Ireland, the food - everything comes with some sort of sauce on it and so far every restaurant we have been in apparently only knows how to cook chicken two ways. You can have cajun chicken or you can have chicken parmiggiana. I have yet to come across any food that is grilled, there is a lot of beef on the menus as expected. Your meals always come with two types of potatoes, one of which will be large fingerlings boiled and then either mashed or scalloped with garlic - really, really like those garlic scalloped potatoes. And everything pretty much comes with a small salad on the plate - which their salads are fantastic. Lots of variety in them and very tasty dressing, yet they do not drown the salad in dressing they just drizzle it on. Even in the pubs if you order any meal with chips it will come with some sort of salad on the plate. Even the cole slaw is tastier here. Catsup is much sweeter, so I don't really like that. Hamburgers are called steak burgers and they taste a bit like meatballs. The bread is wonderful and I had the most amazing salmon the other night.
Today I did laundry and the oddest thing - the washer and drier are the same machine - however, I have been working on the same load for about 4 hours. It's still drying, it may take me two days to finish the two loads of laundry I have.
We have learned that the town we are moving to has a "boil order" for the water, so we can't drink it and the order will remain in effect for the next 2 years at least. They are working on a new water treatment plant but it wont be ready for a couple of years. They have some specific bacteria in the water that if you are born and raised in Ennis you should have no trouble, but if you are an outsider - mmm might be a problem. They do have floride in the water but you can't drink it....crazy.
I learned today that we did not bring the cabling to plug the camera into the laptop so I can't upload any pictures until we go buy one. It may be in a week or so. However, I thought I would provide a couple of links so you all could see where we are, they'll be at the end of today's post.
Adrian has just come home from work, his job here will be pretty easy. He works from 7-3 Monday - Friday. Today he is not feeling well so we will stay in tonight and try to find some soup in the form of broth for him.
http://www.shannonheritage.com/Attractions/BunrattyCastleFolkPark/
http://www.shamrockhotelbunratty.com/Bunratty_Shannon_Shamrock_Hotel_Conference_and_Leisure_Centre_Home.html
http://www.tourclare.com/ennis.php
Today I did laundry and the oddest thing - the washer and drier are the same machine - however, I have been working on the same load for about 4 hours. It's still drying, it may take me two days to finish the two loads of laundry I have.
We have learned that the town we are moving to has a "boil order" for the water, so we can't drink it and the order will remain in effect for the next 2 years at least. They are working on a new water treatment plant but it wont be ready for a couple of years. They have some specific bacteria in the water that if you are born and raised in Ennis you should have no trouble, but if you are an outsider - mmm might be a problem. They do have floride in the water but you can't drink it....crazy.
I learned today that we did not bring the cabling to plug the camera into the laptop so I can't upload any pictures until we go buy one. It may be in a week or so. However, I thought I would provide a couple of links so you all could see where we are, they'll be at the end of today's post.
Adrian has just come home from work, his job here will be pretty easy. He works from 7-3 Monday - Friday. Today he is not feeling well so we will stay in tonight and try to find some soup in the form of broth for him.
http://www.shannonheritage.com/Attractions/BunrattyCastleFolkPark/
http://www.shamrockhotelbunratty.com/Bunratty_Shannon_Shamrock_Hotel_Conference_and_Leisure_Centre_Home.html
http://www.tourclare.com/ennis.php
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Getting ready to go
Friday was my last day at work, the movers come tomorrow, it has now become real! Flying out of SFO on the 27th will be weird. In, many ways we still feel as if we are just heading off to a vacation.
March 26, 2008
The house closed officially we are homeless. It feels very strange to walk away from 20 years worth of memories here. The house of course now looks exactly as I want it to and we have created such a home here. There is a little sadness in letting go of where the kids grew up, we are truly moving on to the next stage of this life called adventure.
March 27, 2008
Breakfast with Lorren, Kathi, Loretta and Beth - the last truly american breakfast we'll have for a while. Very sad as we love our breakfasts. Lorren and Kathi drop us at the airport and we are well and truly on our way. We board our flight for the London to Heathrow leg, Adrian has asked that we be placed in an exit row - something I have never done. I will always do so if I have to fly coach on long distance in the future. It was very easy to fly this way, lots of leg room and easy to get up - you do lose out on a window, but you can get up and look out the porthole. I managed to read two entire books on the flight over and watch Juno all were very good. We land in Heathrow at 6:30a.m. local time. It is only about 11:30p.m. at home - so I don't feel very tired. We go through a crazy amount of security, probably four different areas that we have had to go through security to catch our Aer Lingus flight to Dublin, from there we are meant to transfer to another flight to Shannon. We sit on the runway for what feels to be for ever but is probably only a little over an hour. A sensor that is responsible for the de-icing process has broken and they do not have the part in London. They need to fly the part over from Dublin, so eventually they move us onto another plane. They tell us they'll see how many of us they can move and then come back and say they are moving the entire flight. In fact, they even moved the flight crew. I tell Adrian I think it is because Sinead O'Connor is on our flight. She is just two rows ahead and over. There is no first class on this flight. She was not happy about the troubles, but even her pull could not help tremendously in this situation. It was interesting - we told the two women sitting across from us that she was up there and they said "Does she have any hair?" When we told the taxi driver the same thing - his first response was the same "Does she have any hair?" It was very funny. We land in Dublin and are told someone will meet us to lead us on. There isn't anyone and being the oh so experienced traveler that I am I start following the signs that say "Those with forward boarding pass, continue on". Unfortunately, that meant that we completely passed the "Transfer Desk" (the one place we could have been helped). Then we are stuck at the immigration booth - the Garda apparently does not know what to do with "Diplomats" that are coming here to work (see page 51 of our passports please). After considerable delay there we finally wonder around completely lost - with our two travel mates from across the way. Who are Irish but have lived in England forever and have never flown into Dublin, they appeared very confused. Finally, we find an Aer Lingus employee who is available to help us sort this out and she takes us down to the "Transfer Desk" "Where we should have stopped to begin with - before ever hitting immigration." This is when we discover that no we have missed the one and only flight out that day for Shannon and it left at "half past eleven" But, we are calling a taxi to take you to Shannon courtesy of Aer Lingus. It was a great day for our taxi driver - four hours down and back - cost Aer Lingus about 1,000.00 E - considerably more than our tickets and we had a lovely driver and chat. Stopped about half way at a place called Midway - they had a subway in there. We opted for Tea and a slice of Quiche. We finally arrived at our hotel around 7:00pm - checked in (did not think much of the room and wondered why it appeared to be a handicapped room). Went found dinner - I had fish and chips - Adrian had Irish Stew, his first. By 8:30pm we were in bed asleep.
March 29, 2008 - Saturday
First thing we do is go off to breakfast - included in our stay - it is sort of buffet style and they offer - scrambled eggs, fried eggs, baked tomatoes, blood pudding, sausage, "bacon", hash browns, assorted cereals that you scoop out of a bowl, rhubarb or peach Melba yogurt, muffins, brown bread, prunes and something else I am unsure of, orange juice, grapefruit juice, coffee or tea and white toast. The coffee is terrible, the bacon is what we would consider fried ham, the has browns are fantastic. Now why did I go into so much detail about the breakfast......it never changes-------everyday the same offering, and we have to live here for oh, only 60 days.
I o to the "reception" desk and inquire as to whether or not I request a handicap room, ooh dear no - did we put you in one? They moved us. Then Adrian contacted his new office to tell them we had arrived. There is a party tonight to say goodbye to one of the guys here and to welcome us and another family that arrived three weeks ago. Someone will be by to collect us at about 5:30pm. So we went and walked all about Bunratty Castle and the folk park. And I want you guys to know I did every bit of it. Man did my thighs hurt the next day for climbing all the stairs in the Castle. Did I tell you.... they constantly burn a peat fire in the hotel lobby - it smells a little like kerosene or the starting of a barbecue. Its a very odd smell. And it's not a great blazing fire although it is in a great big fireplace. The party is lovely and everybody is very nice it will be fun getting to know them.
April 2, 2008
Today I went into Ennis with Paula Kozlowski, she and her husband and two boys arrived three weeks ago. I needed to get a converter for the laptop and a hair dryer. Its pretty funny when you ask for something only to spend 10 minutes finding out that its called something different here. I also took a moment to shop for a few groceries now that we are in the holiday house. Still connected to the same hotel and breakfast is still included, but I am heartily sick of the breakfast, so I picked up a couple of items we can cook. We had lunch then and drove to the airport to meet the boys. Everybody has to meet with an nurse practitioner after they arrive, she will manage getting our prescriptions filled etc. So our holiday house. It is lovely, 3 bedrooms each with its own "Toilet" that's the term here, its pretty funny. But the showers are very tiny I was going to shave my legs today.....nope - no room to do so. Ah well whats a girl to do. The weather has been different every day. Both rain and sunshine most days at differing times. It did pour all day on Monday literally and it had started Sunday afternoon. Yesterday, it stayed beautiful all day and the first couple of days it was cold but it warmed up yesterday. Today it has been overcast and drizzly all day, but warm so that I think shows a change in the weather. Starting tomorrow I will try to download some of the photos and post them on here. But I close now that I have caught up on this and off to dinner at the pub - yet again. Tomorrow I'll tell you about the food.
March 26, 2008
The house closed officially we are homeless. It feels very strange to walk away from 20 years worth of memories here. The house of course now looks exactly as I want it to and we have created such a home here. There is a little sadness in letting go of where the kids grew up, we are truly moving on to the next stage of this life called adventure.
March 27, 2008
Breakfast with Lorren, Kathi, Loretta and Beth - the last truly american breakfast we'll have for a while. Very sad as we love our breakfasts. Lorren and Kathi drop us at the airport and we are well and truly on our way. We board our flight for the London to Heathrow leg, Adrian has asked that we be placed in an exit row - something I have never done. I will always do so if I have to fly coach on long distance in the future. It was very easy to fly this way, lots of leg room and easy to get up - you do lose out on a window, but you can get up and look out the porthole. I managed to read two entire books on the flight over and watch Juno all were very good. We land in Heathrow at 6:30a.m. local time. It is only about 11:30p.m. at home - so I don't feel very tired. We go through a crazy amount of security, probably four different areas that we have had to go through security to catch our Aer Lingus flight to Dublin, from there we are meant to transfer to another flight to Shannon. We sit on the runway for what feels to be for ever but is probably only a little over an hour. A sensor that is responsible for the de-icing process has broken and they do not have the part in London. They need to fly the part over from Dublin, so eventually they move us onto another plane. They tell us they'll see how many of us they can move and then come back and say they are moving the entire flight. In fact, they even moved the flight crew. I tell Adrian I think it is because Sinead O'Connor is on our flight. She is just two rows ahead and over. There is no first class on this flight. She was not happy about the troubles, but even her pull could not help tremendously in this situation. It was interesting - we told the two women sitting across from us that she was up there and they said "Does she have any hair?" When we told the taxi driver the same thing - his first response was the same "Does she have any hair?" It was very funny. We land in Dublin and are told someone will meet us to lead us on. There isn't anyone and being the oh so experienced traveler that I am I start following the signs that say "Those with forward boarding pass, continue on". Unfortunately, that meant that we completely passed the "Transfer Desk" (the one place we could have been helped). Then we are stuck at the immigration booth - the Garda apparently does not know what to do with "Diplomats" that are coming here to work (see page 51 of our passports please). After considerable delay there we finally wonder around completely lost - with our two travel mates from across the way. Who are Irish but have lived in England forever and have never flown into Dublin, they appeared very confused. Finally, we find an Aer Lingus employee who is available to help us sort this out and she takes us down to the "Transfer Desk" "Where we should have stopped to begin with - before ever hitting immigration." This is when we discover that no we have missed the one and only flight out that day for Shannon and it left at "half past eleven" But, we are calling a taxi to take you to Shannon courtesy of Aer Lingus. It was a great day for our taxi driver - four hours down and back - cost Aer Lingus about 1,000.00 E - considerably more than our tickets and we had a lovely driver and chat. Stopped about half way at a place called Midway - they had a subway in there. We opted for Tea and a slice of Quiche. We finally arrived at our hotel around 7:00pm - checked in (did not think much of the room and wondered why it appeared to be a handicapped room). Went found dinner - I had fish and chips - Adrian had Irish Stew, his first. By 8:30pm we were in bed asleep.
March 29, 2008 - Saturday
First thing we do is go off to breakfast - included in our stay - it is sort of buffet style and they offer - scrambled eggs, fried eggs, baked tomatoes, blood pudding, sausage, "bacon", hash browns, assorted cereals that you scoop out of a bowl, rhubarb or peach Melba yogurt, muffins, brown bread, prunes and something else I am unsure of, orange juice, grapefruit juice, coffee or tea and white toast. The coffee is terrible, the bacon is what we would consider fried ham, the has browns are fantastic. Now why did I go into so much detail about the breakfast......it never changes-------everyday the same offering, and we have to live here for oh, only 60 days.
I o to the "reception" desk and inquire as to whether or not I request a handicap room, ooh dear no - did we put you in one? They moved us. Then Adrian contacted his new office to tell them we had arrived. There is a party tonight to say goodbye to one of the guys here and to welcome us and another family that arrived three weeks ago. Someone will be by to collect us at about 5:30pm. So we went and walked all about Bunratty Castle and the folk park. And I want you guys to know I did every bit of it. Man did my thighs hurt the next day for climbing all the stairs in the Castle. Did I tell you.... they constantly burn a peat fire in the hotel lobby - it smells a little like kerosene or the starting of a barbecue. Its a very odd smell. And it's not a great blazing fire although it is in a great big fireplace. The party is lovely and everybody is very nice it will be fun getting to know them.
April 2, 2008
Today I went into Ennis with Paula Kozlowski, she and her husband and two boys arrived three weeks ago. I needed to get a converter for the laptop and a hair dryer. Its pretty funny when you ask for something only to spend 10 minutes finding out that its called something different here. I also took a moment to shop for a few groceries now that we are in the holiday house. Still connected to the same hotel and breakfast is still included, but I am heartily sick of the breakfast, so I picked up a couple of items we can cook. We had lunch then and drove to the airport to meet the boys. Everybody has to meet with an nurse practitioner after they arrive, she will manage getting our prescriptions filled etc. So our holiday house. It is lovely, 3 bedrooms each with its own "Toilet" that's the term here, its pretty funny. But the showers are very tiny I was going to shave my legs today.....nope - no room to do so. Ah well whats a girl to do. The weather has been different every day. Both rain and sunshine most days at differing times. It did pour all day on Monday literally and it had started Sunday afternoon. Yesterday, it stayed beautiful all day and the first couple of days it was cold but it warmed up yesterday. Today it has been overcast and drizzly all day, but warm so that I think shows a change in the weather. Starting tomorrow I will try to download some of the photos and post them on here. But I close now that I have caught up on this and off to dinner at the pub - yet again. Tomorrow I'll tell you about the food.
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