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.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
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
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