Filed under: Cork
So we’re on our way to our big vacation in Glengarriff. We decided to make the drive in two days so we spent the night in Youghal (pronounced Y’all). It’s Aine’s new favorite town name. In fact she said the name about 4 billion times en route.
Grandpa did a great job driving, which if you’ve driven in Ireland you know isn’t easy. We stayed at a nice place where Grandma & Grandpa could stay in the hotel and we got a whole house.
We had fun skipping stones on the beach in the back of the hotel.
Filed under: Dublin
We are very excited to report that Grandma and Grandpa have come to visit. They spend their first two days in Dun Laoghaire – at the Royal Marine. The good things about the Royal Marine are: the super nice swimming pool that’s free for guests, the lobby and the location. What’s not so great is the power that went out repeatedly one afternoon and the fire alarm “test” at 11:30.
While in Dun Laoghaire we got to take them to some of our favorite places – like the pier and some great restaurants.
Last weekend was Dublin Puppet Weekend. We kind of thought that the kids might be too young for it – but we sort of ran into some of the activities. Aine is the only one who enjoys Punch and Judy type shows. Maybe you have to grow up with Bosco (one of the characters) to like that sort of thing. But we did see a guy who did a very small puppet show. He started with a mermaid. I think I got a video, which I’ll try to add later. His work was really exquisite – almost like a dance. I’ve added a picture of Wanderly’s Wagon for my friend Sheila. It meant nothing to us – but I thought you might like it.
Then we lined up to see the mechanical puppet show. But they only choose 10 people from the crowd to actually go into the show. Lily was the first person selected. She said it was cool. It better have been since we had to wait 20 minutes for her. (Not that we were jealous or anything!)
On Sunday we went to the Dublin Flea Market kind of near St Patrick’s. It’s an area that we don’t’ know well at all. It can be a slightly rougher area – but the market was very cool and we met up with our friend John. So that was fun.
The girls and I spent a marathon day in Howth. Patrick didn’t come because apparently being a full time student relieves you from any family obligations. It was a day of highs and lows – literally.
For folks who don’t know Dublin – Howth is the other side of Dublin Bay from us. So it’s what we look at any time we visit Dun Laoghaire or Bray. The nice thing is that we could take the DART (train there). Unfortunately we have to take a bus to the train but we’re pretty used to that.
The first thing we did when we got there was take a boat to Ireland’s Eye. It’s an island just a short hop away from Howth. I think it took all of 20 minutes to take the bus there. It was fun! We had packed a picnic; so we had our lunch on the Island. NO one lives on the island. It’s very small. We hiked around the part of the island/mountain that looks easiest but turned out to be full of nettles and kind of boggy. So you live and you learn.
After the island we hiked around the coast of Howth. It get super steep so we didn’t go too far. I can only handle taking Aine so far up places like that. Although we saw a kid about four years old who was dangling his feet off the cliff. Even Aine noted that it looked pretty stupid and that his parents were negligent to not have an iron grasp on him. Really I was so Afraid for the kid I could have been sick.
In the way up we saw a place where WB Yeats had lived. That was a thrill. It was a beautiful day so we saw a ton of people too. We ate a Deep, which seems to be a favorite with Lily. The waitress actually remembered us, which is either nice or a very bad sign. After lunch/dinner we went to see Howth Castle. There is a cooking school in it now. We also saw the Rhododendrons, which are mentioned in Ulysses.
After that very full day, we took the train home – got on a bus but had to get off about a mile from our stop because old girl (I won’t use names to protect the innocent) was sick. Actually her timing was good. Any longer on the bus and they would have been handing us a bucket.
So as I said, a day of ups and downs – but overall a great time. Going to Ireland’s Eye was a big highlight.
So here’s a little quiz. Where was Handel’s Messiah first played? If you said Dublin, you’re right. If you knew it happened in 1742, you get bonus points. For the anniversary there are activities all around Temple Bar in Dublin. We went to hear music at St Audeon’s, which was kind of fun. I won’t pretend that any of us are classical music buffs – or even classical/traditional Irish music buffs but it was nice. The biggest treat through was going into the St Audeon’s visitor center.
I used to live behind St Audeon’s, which is near Christ Church is a very old part of Dublin, but I had never been in the old or new church. So it was kind of cool.
The other pictures were taken either from a day we spent in Dun Laoghaire or a day in town on Thomas Street (that’s the picture with the modern art heads).
Toady we’re making on our way back to Dublin. First I have to give props to some of the best traveling kids in the world. It’s one thing to travel in a car all day (which I fully admit is where we would fall down) it’s another to go from town to town via trains, boats and buses. We started the day in Edinburgh; we were sad to leave but all felt like it was a great vacation.
We took a morning train to Glasgow (about an hour) and had lunch in Glasgow. We had lunch, went to the Museum of Modern Art, saw the Firth of Clyde, saw some great pipes and bags buskers and got back on the train a little earlier than necessary. Glasgow is a very different city from Edinburgh. Now part of it may be the areas we visited but I don’t really think so. As Lily said it’s like Glasgow is the evil city and Edinburgh is the good city. That doesn’t mean we didn’t like it. It was just a very astute observation.
So we left Glasgow and headed to Ayr – where we found our we’d have 2 hours before the next train to Stanraer, where we could get the boat. So we got to see a little of Ayr. We walked through the town and ended up on the beach, which was really the place where the River Ayr enters the sea. So it’s very sandy, shallow beach. Patrick sat by the bags – I forgot to mention that each of us had a carry on type bag, mostly carrying our favorite electronics – and we had one genuine e suitcase for the 5-day visit. (Not bad – but gets heavy when you’re walking aimlessly through the third city of the day.) The girls and I walked on the beach. It was a beautiful day. The girls were barefoot. They found a live hermit crab in the water and several dead crabs on the beach.
We hung out there just long enough to have to walking very quickly back to the train. Then a quick (90 minute) train, (2 hour) boat, (3 hour) bus and taxi later we got home at 2:00 am! But if I had to do it all over again I would – I would just pack less!
I nearly forgot – the last picture is of the wake from the boat as we launched. I thought it was amazing to see.
Filed under: Loch Ness
Want to know what’s not a good start to a 12-hour bus tour? Aine throwing up on me. But I’ve included a picture of me in my new shirt. I was thinking that we had kind of aired out when we got onto the boat at Loch Ness and they starting spraying air freshener around us – thinking it was remnants of previous guests. They were kind enough to then spray down Aine and me like we had just arrived from some quarantined island. But we’re tough so we tried not to let it bother us…
To start, the girls and I were on time for our 7:30 pick. (Patrick didn’t go. Don’t even ask!) Anyways, we don’t lead the earliest life in Dublin so I was relived! We headed out of town to open road. We drove through the Scottish Highlands. It’s a pretty windy tour – but it was fun to get more Scottish history as we drove. We learned about the kilt. Traditional the beauty of the kilt was that soldier could wear it (and animal skin shows) and run fairly easily through the heather as opposed to the over dressed English. The kilt used to be 5 meters by 2 meters. The wearer would pleat it each morning. In the rain half could be pulled up to cover you. At night you could unfurl it to use as a sleeping bag. The trick was to bundle up into the heather and wiggle a bit until you sunk in. The heather is apparently pliable enough to kind of envelope you – but too tough to let you slip unto the ground. So the branches of the heather would protect you from above and you’d be kept off the wet ground.
Another interesting fact – sometimes the kilts were difficult on the battlefield so often they’d fight in shirts online. SO I guess you want to be careful about “no shirts, no service” signs here. (I made that up – it wasn’t from the guide by the way.) We got to learn more about Braveheart and the parts that were less true than others. Of course it was all a little beyond me since I haven’t seen it. We learned about Mary Queen of Scots, which is more my speed since I’ve seen a play about her and read several of the Other Boelyn Girl series. We drove by a lot of things that would be pretty cool to see – I suppose that’s the down side of a coach tour.
The Highlands are beautiful and we got a great, dry day for traveling, not sunny, which is nearly better when you’re going on a marathon bus ride. We stopped in Spean Bridge for lunch. Then off to Loch Ness.
We took a boat tour of Loch Ness. I think you’ll be very impressed with what we saw if you watch our video. All I’ll say is that it was created on the boat in Loch Ness.
After Loch Ness we headed back to Edinburgh. It was a pretty , yet long, drive. We drove through the Cairngorms mountains – reaching Britain’s highest point at about 1500 feet. There was plenty of snow in the mountains. It was beautiful. We drove by some distilleries and learned a little bit about whisky. Almost made me wish that I liked whiskey as then the occasional to show off my new knowledge might come up. We drove by – where Macbeth actually lived and learned that Shakespeare wrote the play for Henvy VIII in hopes of getting on his good side. Shakespeare took some liberties and if I got it right one was making Macbeth out to be the bad guy when really Duncan and XX were just as bad except that they weren’t related to the king. But then I guess if you’re wirting it for a king I guess you can understand the spin.
The nicest thing about the tour – we were picked up at the door of our apartment and dropped off at the same. OK maybe that wasn’t the nicest but when you’re sightseeing with three kids it’s going to at least come in at a close second.
Filed under: Edinburgh
Day two in Edinburgh was more ups and downs. (Remember, built on 7 hills.) We started at the Camera Obscura. It’s kind of a museum of optical illusions. My favorite part was the telescope on top you could work remotely from inside . You could zoom in on things all over town. I loved that. There was a giant version the guides could use to give us a lazy man’s tour of the city. We loved it. Here’s a definition of Camera Obscura from Wikipedia. I thought it was interesting…
The camera obscura (Latin for “dark room”; “darkened chamber”) is an optical device that projects an image of its surroundings on a screen. It is used in drawing and for entertainment, and was one of the inventions that led to photography. The device consists of a box or room with a hole in one side. Light from an external scene passes through the hole and strikes a surface inside where it is reproduced, upside-down, but with colour and perspective preserved. The image can be projected onto paper, and can then be traced to produce a highly accurate representation.
After Camera Obscura we went on a underground ghost tour. Soon after the tour began we realize why there weren’t more kids in the tour. The tour takes place in a vault underground – it’s part of Edinburgh’s underground city. The vaults were originally built by merchants for storage but they soon learned that the caves we too porous to be useful. So there were abandoned. In the 1700s Edinburgh became over populated. They made it illegal to be homeless, punishable by death. So the homeless moved to these underground vaults. The life expectancy of a grown man was 18 months once we moved to the vault. I won’t go into gruesome details – but it was really sad to just think about the conditions. One of the vaults is currently used by a Wiccan group. There were some scary stories about why the Wiccans move from one room to another. The tour guide had a great, super scary delivery. It took about a hour for the girls to talk to us after this tour. Although – and I want it on the record – this was Patrick’s choice, not mine! As revenge I am including the picture of him in the vault. It’s one of the few pictures that turned out.
After the creepy tour we headed to the Scott Monument. It was built in the mid-1800s and there are 287 steps to the top. I got to about 250 and had to turn back. Partially because I just couldn’t stomach Aine running around completely oblivious to the height. I can’t believe that we weren’t scooping her up off the pavement – although in fairness there really wasn’t an easy way to fall or jump out of the tower. Lily, Aine and Patrick made it to the top of the tower.
Then we went to Calton Hill. There’s an old observatory there – and some towers and ruins (Nelson’s Monumnet) that nearly look like they are from Rome. Like the day before on Arthur’s Seat, it was just nice to be out in the great weather climbing aorund. Aine particularly enjoyed it. Patrick pointed out that it’s fun to see all of the old emperial statues and mouments. For better or for worse those seem to get blown up in Dublin so there’s not a lot left.
We capped off our day with a fun Thai meal.
Filed under: Edinburgh
So it turns out that we should have come to Scotland a long time ago! We have had an amazing time.
Edinburgh is very hilly; it’s built on 7 years. The castle is built on the top of one hill on one end of town. It looms pretty impressively over the town. In fact from our apartment we walked into town and kind of fell upon this amazing site. We all gasped! (First a quick note on the apartment. We have a 2 bedroom apartment with a sitting room, kitchen and big bathroom. It’s about a 10-minute walk from town. It is wonderful!)
Anyways the city really does take your breath away. It’s one of those times when I wish I had a good camera because I just don’t think my fit-in-my-pocket camera did any justice to the scenery. We saw where the prisoners lived and were tortured. We’re always suckers for torture – of others. But mostly we were overwhelmed by the amazing views.
We decided to start with the castle. So we climbed up and up. It is huge. We took at tour and I found out how little I really know about Scotland. Most of it I learned watching Macbeth! We saw the crown jewels.
The Castle is at one end of the Royal Mile. At the opposite end is the Palace of Holyrood – between the two are a series of tourist shops, loads of tiny alleys, some cool old buildings. We stopped for lunch at The Elephant House, where JK Rowling started writing Harry Potter.
Then we walked down to Holyrood and as you get closer you can see Arthur’s Seat – an extinct volcano. We debated for about four second whether to see the palace or climb the mountain. We went fr mountain, which was spectacular. The best part of it was that we never really thought we’d get to the top. (For those in the know we really climbed up near the Seat of Arthur, not the tallest peak but one next to it, though in retrospect we could have gone for it.) Anyways we did climb the entire thing – in fact we climbed up and around the mountain.
I was so impressed with the girls. Kate was a little afraid that her asthma might be a problem but she toughed it out. In fact, she said climbing the mountain was her favorite part of the day. Both of the older girls had reservations about the height issues. And I’m happy that Aine didn’t run off the side of the mountain. She was actually kind of sad that the climb was so gentle – she wanted to be climbing up rocks.
Then we kind of winded our way back to the apartment, We saw a statue of some relative of Guthrie. (Patrick can post a comment with details if he wants.) Patrick and I popped in a cemetery to see philosopher David Hume’s grave. The kids waited below where some Japanese tourist stopped to stare at them.
Then we went to a French restaurant called Chez Pierre for dinner. It was excellent – although even I have to sometimes marvel at kids who will order mussels.
Filed under: Uncategorized
Well the toughest thing about coming back to Ireland after 10 days back home is coming back to the cold. At least it was nice and sunny and probably I would have thought it was warm except that it’s 80 degrees back home and now I know it.
For Easter Uncle Fearghal brought us all to the Hungry Monk in Greystones, which is a little town/suburb on the sea about 30 minutes from Cabinteely. If you’re ever in Greystones, you should check it out. The name actually comes from a cookbook, but they have monk paraphernalia all around the restaurant. The restaurant itself is like a converted country house. We had profiteroles that were nearly as good as Uncle Billy’s. The big girls shared scallops. After lunch we took a quick walk along the beach.
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