Day 8 (April 27, 2011)
Itinerary: Killarney National Park - Visit Ross Castle, Killarney for ice cream, walk to the Old Weir Bridge and Dinis Cottage, jaunting horse carriage on Gap of Dunloe
Today is another gorgeous day in Ireland. These gorgeous days where the sun in shining are few and far between. The locals are marveling at the weather this week and we are lucky to be here to enjoy. I seem to be waking up around 6:30am every morning (and going back to sleep) so the sun must come up then and shine through our window. Our Cottage is working out very well for us and we already feel at home. It sure is nice to be based out of one location for the bulk of the trip even if it does mean a lot of driving to the sights.
Our first stop today was at Ross Castle just inside Killarney National Park and just outside of Killarney. This tower castle was built during medieval times (of course) as a defense tower from the neighboring chieftains. I hear the middle ages were a rough time to live with lots of battle. Most castles in the area are tower castles built as defensive towers. Some of the defensive methods were built right into the architecture. For example, assuming that most people were right-handed, the spiral staircase was built clockwise so those coming up the stairs would be limited by the staircase on their right and not be able to swing a sword at the guards standing in the open doorway to a room. The guards in the doorway, meanwhile could swing with thier right hands with lots of space. Another defense mechanism was the way the oak doors were built with two layers of planks laid in a cross hatch pattern. Nearly impossible to knock down, most attacking members would burn down the door. However, the door took about half an hour to burn giving the guards inside a chance to plan the attack. Holes in the floor above the entry way were called murder holes because as attackers would enter the castle, the guards upstairs could drop ammunition, boiling water, or large rocks down on top of them. Of course many other defensive mechanisms were built into the castle such as narrow windows so you could shoot out, but not in; rifle holes pointing at the entrance, a walkway on the roof to drop ammunition on the attackers, and more.
We had a very interesting tour of the castle that went through the room on each of the 4 levels. The first floor was for the guards to defend, the second floor was a small dining area, the third floor had the one and only bedroom where more than 10 people would sleep on the floor, and the fourth floor was the grand hall. The grand hall of course was where the chieftain would entertain, complete with a musician area, cooking area, and eating area. The floor of this room was built of 70 tons of limestone sitting on a wicker arch over the bedroom that held all of this rock. The construction was rather amazing how an arch of wicker could become the base to hold those 70 tons of rocks. But it worked and still works today. It was neat to get a good tour of a castle since Ireland seems to be full of them. Many of them are in ruins around the country, but Ross Castle has been restored close to the original condition.
The Killarney tourist information office was helpful to help us find and plan the rest of the day. We stopped again at Murphy's Ice Cream to partake in some more Irish ice cream. This time the flavors tasted included the brown bread ice cream, honeycomb, dark chocolate, and possibly some others. Ice cream is still good.
We spent the afternoon walking to the Old Weir Bridge. It was advertised as about a 15 minute walk from the trailhead, but we stopped along the way for photos of course. The walk was along the same lake as the Muckross House we saw yesterday and at one point we could even look out across the lake and see the house. We aren't quite sure about the significance of the bridge, but it's a two-arch stone bridge crossing one of the streams connecting two of the lakes. Nearby is a little cottage called Dinis Cottage that had turned into a tea room at this point. The flowers surrounding the cottage were all in bloom, including some huge magnolias.
In the late afternoon we went to visit the Gap of Dunloe which is a winding one-lane road between two sets of mountains/hills. I had been told that we'd be able to drive the Gap, but only late in the day or early in the morning. After 6p was not late enough, however, and the jaunting cars were still running. The jaunting cars are traditional horse drawn carriage rides. One horse can pull up to 4 people in a tiny cart with only 2 wheels. It's not like the full size carriage you might be picturing. It is really more like a rickshaw. The problem with the jaunting cars on the Gap is that a) they don't want you to drive since they are losing business and b) it is hard to pass the horse jaunting cars on a one lane road.
In any case, we decided we wanted to take a jaunting car and 4 of us took the trip to the fourth lake, however far that ended up being. One of the lakes was in an echo canyon and the guide of course demonstrated the echoing. We learned a few things from him on the ride since he grew up in the area. The trip was bumpy, but a fast way to see the Gap. Otherwise, we would have been walking and would have taken a few hours that we didn't have.
Once again we were near Killarney for dinner time, so we found a place that specialized in the bocksty dish. Alan has a favorite place in Tulsa that serves the Irish bocksty and he wanted to see how the compared. The bocksty is a potato pancake with a filling. In this case everyone got a lamb curry filling. I ordered the mysterious looking nutroast which turned out to be delicious and a perfect small helping as well. The nutroast was basically a mash of cooked nuts and vegetables and spooned on the plate so it looked like meatloaf or mashed potatoes, though a much darker color. We were all very happy with our dinner and afterwards of course headed back to the Killarney Grand for their 9-11pm traditional music session. Tonight there was a trio including a fiddle, banjo, and a guitar.
(once again, a slow internet connection means no photos today; soon though!)
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Friday, April 29, 2011
Fungie the dolphin
Day 7 (April 26, 2011)
Itinerary: visit Dingle, boat ride in Dingle Harbor to visit Fungie the dolphin, walk around town, drive the Dingle Peninsula loop, attend the opening ceremony to the Pan Celtic festival, find dinner and music in a pub
The week feels as though it's half over, but today is only Tuesday. For those of us on vacation, that's a good thing. For those of you at work, I'm sure your week will eventually end. We woke up this morning to more gray skies and chilly weather (48 or 50 degrees) and the sun didn't come out until late afternoon. Then we only saw the sun for about 15 minutes anyway. But it was still a great day for vacationing.
My first step this morning was to go find a Petrol station to fill up the rental car. The gas stations around here don't open very early, but I was able to find one that was open before 8:30am. The pump had an old-style feel to it, and there was no computer communicated to the attendant my price. I simply just told the guy behind the counter how much it should be.
Then we were off to Dingle. Dingle is about 30 minutes from our cottage and straight down the road, so it was easy to navigate. We were hoping to find a ferry/boat trip out to Great Blasket Island to see both a variety of wildlife and also learn about the history of the now deserted island. The islands used to be inhabited by farmers up until the mid-1900s when they finally realized that they were too far from civilization and they needed to move off. However, we found out that the sea was too choppy today. Instead we settled for a harbour tour to see the famous Fungie the dolphin of Dingle Harbor. Fungie stays here even when the other dolphins leave to play with the boats in the harbor.
Since we stayed in the small harbor area, there were no waves to speak of and our boat stayed at a nice slow pace. At this rate, I don't think I even needed the dramamine. But I've learned when it comes the sea, it is always best to be prepared. The first part of our trip was more of a harbor cruise as we drove around looking for Fungie. We had some good views back to Dingle and some views of various old towers built near the mouth of the harbor. At the mouth, the tall rocks at the shore line had several caves that looked interesting. Just as we had started to wonder if we were going to get our ride for free because there had been no Fungie sighting, we found him. The legends are true....he does love to play with the boats. Once we found he, our boat when racing up next to him and he swam next to us in our wake, jumping up several times to get a good peek at us. Meanwhile, our boat felt as though it would tip sideways into the water with everyone pushed to one side to get photos. It sure was fun to play in the harbor with him. He was right next to the boat after all.
Back on land, we took a little tour through the town stopping at shops and eventually finding a cafe to eat lunch. The main street name was Goat Street, and the Goat Street cafe had delicious seafood chowder, bacon/leek/tomato tarts, curry, and fish. We were pretty satisfied, but still had time to stop at the Dingle ice cream shop called Murphy's that makes their own ice cream right here in Dingle. We had heard about the Guinness flavor of ice cream that they are known for, but apparently in their rotation oof 30 flavors, today the flavor was not available. We did see other flavors of the are with sea salt, brown bread, whiskey, and Baileys. I'm pretty sure everyone was happy after our stop.
At this point in the afternoon it was nearly 3pm and a perfect time to head out on our Dingle Peninsula drive. Rick Steves was our tour guide as we followed his kilometer by kilometer guide through the 47 mile/30km loop. As I watched the km gauge, Mark read out the various items of interest that we were passing. This area is the western most tip of Europe and the landscape is fairly hilly and rocky. At some point the Irish decided to move the rocks and farm/raise livestock here. The rocks were moved into fences made of stone that wind up the hills in rectangular shapes. One side of a hill almost looked as if someone was trying to spell out something in stone fences. The extra rocks were also used to make stone houses. We saw many well-built stone houses that had been abandoned during the potato famine and are still standing today. The houses have walls more than a foot thick and are built water-tight....very impressive looking. Now 500,000 sheep live on the penninsula. Most of the houses are newer, leaving the historic houses standing. But the stone fences are still used to hold sheep and cattle. Spring and lambing season is a great time to walk around the sheep farms. All the little ones are adorable with their high pitched baaaaa as they cry for attention.
The coast line around here is tall and rocky with only a couple scattered sand beaches. It made for some gorgeous views. Even with the clouds, we could still see the Great Blasket Islands west of the tip. One looked like a sleeping giant, complete with his hand on his beer belly. We found the oldest Christian church built in the 12th century, small and made of stone. The surrounding cemetery had some recent additions and was full of Celtic crosses and interesting headstones.
Traveling during the off-season has it's perks since the normally bumper to bumper loop was fairly free of cars and it was easy to find parking spots. I'm getting used to driving on the left. The hardest part of course are the turns. Parallel parking poses a unique challenge just because I'm sitting on the opposite side of the car. I've never been good at parallel parking anyway. At this point, the most challenging part of driving is the limitations of our Opel "minivan." It is an automatic transmission, but drives like a manual with an inexperienced driver. The gear changes are rough and sometimes late. Also, there is no forward idle while the car is in drive. On hills, I keep my left foot on the brake and right foot on the gas so as not to roll down the hill into an obstacle.
Back in Dingle, we headed towards the Skellig Hotel as this was the location for the opening ceremonies for the Pan Celtic Festival. I had no idea what to expect, but I was expecting something a bit larger. The number of chairs in the conference room seemed to small. Though the schedule told us the event was starting at 7:30, nothing happened until 8, but we were there early enough to grab a chair around a table and partake in the free wine and coffee. The room did fill up, but still less people than I would have expected. For the first 30 minutes, the opening ceremonies consisted of the heads of the Celtic Festival and Celtic Nations speaking in Gaelic, Welsh, Irish, and other Celtic languages introducing everything and everyone. They did go back and translate most of it into English, but the ceremony felt long with all the translations. Eventually, they brought out a school group to start entertaining us with music, but we didn't stay much longer past this point. It was 9pm and time for dinner!
The Irish do not eat as late as the Europeans and are usually done eating by 8pm. We had to think differently in order to work with this schedule as now we are used to eating late while traveling. Luckily, we found a pub that was serving food until 9:30. Dingle Pub had traditional Irish food and live musicians to entertain us. Tonight's group had two players, an accordion and keyboard and both were blaring through the speakers located directly behind our table. Needless to say, all conversation stopped as soon as those started playing.
After dinner, we made the drive home and to bed. Tomorrow we'll take it easy in the morning and then go back to Killarney National Park to find some hiking and some castles.
(No pictures today due to a slow connection)
Itinerary: visit Dingle, boat ride in Dingle Harbor to visit Fungie the dolphin, walk around town, drive the Dingle Peninsula loop, attend the opening ceremony to the Pan Celtic festival, find dinner and music in a pub
The week feels as though it's half over, but today is only Tuesday. For those of us on vacation, that's a good thing. For those of you at work, I'm sure your week will eventually end. We woke up this morning to more gray skies and chilly weather (48 or 50 degrees) and the sun didn't come out until late afternoon. Then we only saw the sun for about 15 minutes anyway. But it was still a great day for vacationing.
My first step this morning was to go find a Petrol station to fill up the rental car. The gas stations around here don't open very early, but I was able to find one that was open before 8:30am. The pump had an old-style feel to it, and there was no computer communicated to the attendant my price. I simply just told the guy behind the counter how much it should be.
Then we were off to Dingle. Dingle is about 30 minutes from our cottage and straight down the road, so it was easy to navigate. We were hoping to find a ferry/boat trip out to Great Blasket Island to see both a variety of wildlife and also learn about the history of the now deserted island. The islands used to be inhabited by farmers up until the mid-1900s when they finally realized that they were too far from civilization and they needed to move off. However, we found out that the sea was too choppy today. Instead we settled for a harbour tour to see the famous Fungie the dolphin of Dingle Harbor. Fungie stays here even when the other dolphins leave to play with the boats in the harbor.
Since we stayed in the small harbor area, there were no waves to speak of and our boat stayed at a nice slow pace. At this rate, I don't think I even needed the dramamine. But I've learned when it comes the sea, it is always best to be prepared. The first part of our trip was more of a harbor cruise as we drove around looking for Fungie. We had some good views back to Dingle and some views of various old towers built near the mouth of the harbor. At the mouth, the tall rocks at the shore line had several caves that looked interesting. Just as we had started to wonder if we were going to get our ride for free because there had been no Fungie sighting, we found him. The legends are true....he does love to play with the boats. Once we found he, our boat when racing up next to him and he swam next to us in our wake, jumping up several times to get a good peek at us. Meanwhile, our boat felt as though it would tip sideways into the water with everyone pushed to one side to get photos. It sure was fun to play in the harbor with him. He was right next to the boat after all.
Back on land, we took a little tour through the town stopping at shops and eventually finding a cafe to eat lunch. The main street name was Goat Street, and the Goat Street cafe had delicious seafood chowder, bacon/leek/tomato tarts, curry, and fish. We were pretty satisfied, but still had time to stop at the Dingle ice cream shop called Murphy's that makes their own ice cream right here in Dingle. We had heard about the Guinness flavor of ice cream that they are known for, but apparently in their rotation oof 30 flavors, today the flavor was not available. We did see other flavors of the are with sea salt, brown bread, whiskey, and Baileys. I'm pretty sure everyone was happy after our stop.
At this point in the afternoon it was nearly 3pm and a perfect time to head out on our Dingle Peninsula drive. Rick Steves was our tour guide as we followed his kilometer by kilometer guide through the 47 mile/30km loop. As I watched the km gauge, Mark read out the various items of interest that we were passing. This area is the western most tip of Europe and the landscape is fairly hilly and rocky. At some point the Irish decided to move the rocks and farm/raise livestock here. The rocks were moved into fences made of stone that wind up the hills in rectangular shapes. One side of a hill almost looked as if someone was trying to spell out something in stone fences. The extra rocks were also used to make stone houses. We saw many well-built stone houses that had been abandoned during the potato famine and are still standing today. The houses have walls more than a foot thick and are built water-tight....very impressive looking. Now 500,000 sheep live on the penninsula. Most of the houses are newer, leaving the historic houses standing. But the stone fences are still used to hold sheep and cattle. Spring and lambing season is a great time to walk around the sheep farms. All the little ones are adorable with their high pitched baaaaa as they cry for attention.
The coast line around here is tall and rocky with only a couple scattered sand beaches. It made for some gorgeous views. Even with the clouds, we could still see the Great Blasket Islands west of the tip. One looked like a sleeping giant, complete with his hand on his beer belly. We found the oldest Christian church built in the 12th century, small and made of stone. The surrounding cemetery had some recent additions and was full of Celtic crosses and interesting headstones.
Traveling during the off-season has it's perks since the normally bumper to bumper loop was fairly free of cars and it was easy to find parking spots. I'm getting used to driving on the left. The hardest part of course are the turns. Parallel parking poses a unique challenge just because I'm sitting on the opposite side of the car. I've never been good at parallel parking anyway. At this point, the most challenging part of driving is the limitations of our Opel "minivan." It is an automatic transmission, but drives like a manual with an inexperienced driver. The gear changes are rough and sometimes late. Also, there is no forward idle while the car is in drive. On hills, I keep my left foot on the brake and right foot on the gas so as not to roll down the hill into an obstacle.
Back in Dingle, we headed towards the Skellig Hotel as this was the location for the opening ceremonies for the Pan Celtic Festival. I had no idea what to expect, but I was expecting something a bit larger. The number of chairs in the conference room seemed to small. Though the schedule told us the event was starting at 7:30, nothing happened until 8, but we were there early enough to grab a chair around a table and partake in the free wine and coffee. The room did fill up, but still less people than I would have expected. For the first 30 minutes, the opening ceremonies consisted of the heads of the Celtic Festival and Celtic Nations speaking in Gaelic, Welsh, Irish, and other Celtic languages introducing everything and everyone. They did go back and translate most of it into English, but the ceremony felt long with all the translations. Eventually, they brought out a school group to start entertaining us with music, but we didn't stay much longer past this point. It was 9pm and time for dinner!
The Irish do not eat as late as the Europeans and are usually done eating by 8pm. We had to think differently in order to work with this schedule as now we are used to eating late while traveling. Luckily, we found a pub that was serving food until 9:30. Dingle Pub had traditional Irish food and live musicians to entertain us. Tonight's group had two players, an accordion and keyboard and both were blaring through the speakers located directly behind our table. Needless to say, all conversation stopped as soon as those started playing.
After dinner, we made the drive home and to bed. Tomorrow we'll take it easy in the morning and then go back to Killarney National Park to find some hiking and some castles.
(No pictures today due to a slow connection)
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Bottle feeding a lamb
Day 6 (April 25, 2011)
Itinerary: Sleep in and leave at noon; Torc Falls, Kissane Sheep Farm, Lady View pulloff, Muckross House tour, wander in the park, dinner and pub in Killarney
Vacations were made for sleeping in and that's what we did today. Mark and I went for a stroll down the road from our cottage and found many bleating lambs and a few horses. The roads here are narrow without any form of shoulder. The bushes and hedges grow up to the pavement, so walking along the road can be tough. Luckily I have only seen conscientious drivers so far.
At noon we headed out in the car towards Killarney National Park to catch a few tours today. First we stopped at Torc Falls, one of the more popular spots to go walking. The waterfall was less than a 10 minute walk and soon we were sitting with the falls eating a picnic lunch of peanut butter and nutella sandwiches (Mark's and my favorite easy roadside lunch.) The falls were taller than expected. I really don't know of too many named falls in Ireland except these. Beyond the viewing area, a steeper trail extended into the woods for loop hikes of 30 minutes or an hour long.
Tour schedules dictated our timing today, so we did not have time to explore and instead sheep dog demonstrations in the spring and will hold shearing demonstrations in the summer around July. The two owners were extremely nice. When we first arrived they were in the process of bottle feeding several lambs in the barn, so we were handed two bottles to help feed the littlest ones. I love this place! I held a bottle to the mouth of what I thought was the cutest lamb there and he hungrily sucked the bottle dry. Meanwhile about 2 other lambs saw what I was up to and started nosing their way into my lap hoping for some food as well. Vacation could end right here and I'd be happy.
However, after bottle feeding, the German tour bus who had originally booked this special demonstration time pulled up and the sheep dog demonstration started in German! We were handed a couple sheets of explanation in English to follow along. This was so similar to various experiences that we've had in other countries with language barriers. I guess even in English-speaking countries you sometimes won't understand everything going on.
The Kissane's had 2 sheep dogs showing us how they round up sheep. One was only 11 months old and it takes 2 years to train a dog. However, she was pretty good at her job. Both dogs wanted to work. While one was working, the other was tied up, whining and carrying on trying to get out there. While the owners were talking, the dogs would try and round up the sheep on their own. We were especially amused when after the sheep were herded into the pen, the puppy would come in and periodically scare the sheep into submission. She looked like she was having the best time in the world.
We learned that wool does not have the value it used to. These are Scottish black-faced sheep and their wool is only good for carpets and the like. The value is so low that they might only get about 650 Euros a year for their 1000 sheep. Sheep farmers will also raise sheep for food, but this far tends to get extra money by renting out their sheep, or later selling them. Demonstrations like ours bring in 40% of to their money for the year. Also, because conditions are so bad in the winter, with a little snow and just so little grass growth, they have to bring in enough feed for their flock every day in the winter. In any case, we were happy to contribute.
Next stop was the Muckross House. On the way we passed by a viewpoint called Lady's View with a sweeping view over the lake. Here we also found a Leprechaun crossing sign. We made it in time for the 4:40 Muckross House tour. First we walked through the gardens on the very large estate. There are two ways of approaching the most popular attraction of the park. We came in by car to the car park, but we could have opted to take a jaunting horse ride through a tree-lined path leading to the front of the house.
The gardens were extensive with many different flowers and flowering trees. Springtime is a colorful time in Ireland. Our one hour tour through the house was given by a tour guide who had done this tour one too many times. She had her memorized script and breezed through discussing each piece of furniture or decoration in the room. We did get to hear the history of just about every piece. Some of the more interesting pieces included an over-sized 3-ton pool table! The cues for the table were even longer than standard and the floor had to be reinforced to hold it. The house was built in the mid-1800s and is Victorian in style. An American couple purchased the house as a wedding present for their daughter and these Americans owned the house for quite some time. Many of their portraits still hang. Probably the next most interesting thing was a couple knobs in each room that were connected by wire to 30 bells in the basement. These bells all had a different tone so the servants knew which room was calling for them. The last interesting fact that I'll bore you with is that the owners of the house prepared for 6 years for the Queen's visit. Can you imagine spending that long getting ready for a house guest? Or even knowing exactly what's going to happen in 6 years?
After our tour, we walked the grounds some more to check out the Muckross cows. Mark and Alan started skipping stones on the lake after a little misty rain. Eventually we had to leave as the gates closed at 7pm.
We found a restaurant in Killarney serving traditional fish and chips. I had a traditional Irish stew that was incredibly tasty. Alan had a steak sambo which turned out to be more like a steak sandwich. In any case we were all happy with our food. We retired to the Killarney Grand pub at 9pm for a traditional Irish music session from 9 to 11pm. We didn't realize how lucky we were to arrive just before 9p and get a seat. By the time the night was up, the place was packed, standing room only with barely any room to enter the pub. The band was lively and very good. With a guitar/vocalist, a flute, fiddle, elan pipes, and an accordion, we were treated to a great evening. In fact we plan to come back and visit again since they seem to have traditional music every night at 9pm.
Great day today! Tomorrow we will head into Dingle to hopefully take a boat ride to the Great Blasket Islands and see some of the Pan Celtic Festival.
(sorry about the lack of photos, but I'm still on a slow internet connection.)
Itinerary: Sleep in and leave at noon; Torc Falls, Kissane Sheep Farm, Lady View pulloff, Muckross House tour, wander in the park, dinner and pub in Killarney
Vacations were made for sleeping in and that's what we did today. Mark and I went for a stroll down the road from our cottage and found many bleating lambs and a few horses. The roads here are narrow without any form of shoulder. The bushes and hedges grow up to the pavement, so walking along the road can be tough. Luckily I have only seen conscientious drivers so far.
At noon we headed out in the car towards Killarney National Park to catch a few tours today. First we stopped at Torc Falls, one of the more popular spots to go walking. The waterfall was less than a 10 minute walk and soon we were sitting with the falls eating a picnic lunch of peanut butter and nutella sandwiches (Mark's and my favorite easy roadside lunch.) The falls were taller than expected. I really don't know of too many named falls in Ireland except these. Beyond the viewing area, a steeper trail extended into the woods for loop hikes of 30 minutes or an hour long.
Tour schedules dictated our timing today, so we did not have time to explore and instead sheep dog demonstrations in the spring and will hold shearing demonstrations in the summer around July. The two owners were extremely nice. When we first arrived they were in the process of bottle feeding several lambs in the barn, so we were handed two bottles to help feed the littlest ones. I love this place! I held a bottle to the mouth of what I thought was the cutest lamb there and he hungrily sucked the bottle dry. Meanwhile about 2 other lambs saw what I was up to and started nosing their way into my lap hoping for some food as well. Vacation could end right here and I'd be happy.
However, after bottle feeding, the German tour bus who had originally booked this special demonstration time pulled up and the sheep dog demonstration started in German! We were handed a couple sheets of explanation in English to follow along. This was so similar to various experiences that we've had in other countries with language barriers. I guess even in English-speaking countries you sometimes won't understand everything going on.
The Kissane's had 2 sheep dogs showing us how they round up sheep. One was only 11 months old and it takes 2 years to train a dog. However, she was pretty good at her job. Both dogs wanted to work. While one was working, the other was tied up, whining and carrying on trying to get out there. While the owners were talking, the dogs would try and round up the sheep on their own. We were especially amused when after the sheep were herded into the pen, the puppy would come in and periodically scare the sheep into submission. She looked like she was having the best time in the world.
We learned that wool does not have the value it used to. These are Scottish black-faced sheep and their wool is only good for carpets and the like. The value is so low that they might only get about 650 Euros a year for their 1000 sheep. Sheep farmers will also raise sheep for food, but this far tends to get extra money by renting out their sheep, or later selling them. Demonstrations like ours bring in 40% of to their money for the year. Also, because conditions are so bad in the winter, with a little snow and just so little grass growth, they have to bring in enough feed for their flock every day in the winter. In any case, we were happy to contribute.
Next stop was the Muckross House. On the way we passed by a viewpoint called Lady's View with a sweeping view over the lake. Here we also found a Leprechaun crossing sign. We made it in time for the 4:40 Muckross House tour. First we walked through the gardens on the very large estate. There are two ways of approaching the most popular attraction of the park. We came in by car to the car park, but we could have opted to take a jaunting horse ride through a tree-lined path leading to the front of the house.
The gardens were extensive with many different flowers and flowering trees. Springtime is a colorful time in Ireland. Our one hour tour through the house was given by a tour guide who had done this tour one too many times. She had her memorized script and breezed through discussing each piece of furniture or decoration in the room. We did get to hear the history of just about every piece. Some of the more interesting pieces included an over-sized 3-ton pool table! The cues for the table were even longer than standard and the floor had to be reinforced to hold it. The house was built in the mid-1800s and is Victorian in style. An American couple purchased the house as a wedding present for their daughter and these Americans owned the house for quite some time. Many of their portraits still hang. Probably the next most interesting thing was a couple knobs in each room that were connected by wire to 30 bells in the basement. These bells all had a different tone so the servants knew which room was calling for them. The last interesting fact that I'll bore you with is that the owners of the house prepared for 6 years for the Queen's visit. Can you imagine spending that long getting ready for a house guest? Or even knowing exactly what's going to happen in 6 years?
After our tour, we walked the grounds some more to check out the Muckross cows. Mark and Alan started skipping stones on the lake after a little misty rain. Eventually we had to leave as the gates closed at 7pm.
We found a restaurant in Killarney serving traditional fish and chips. I had a traditional Irish stew that was incredibly tasty. Alan had a steak sambo which turned out to be more like a steak sandwich. In any case we were all happy with our food. We retired to the Killarney Grand pub at 9pm for a traditional Irish music session from 9 to 11pm. We didn't realize how lucky we were to arrive just before 9p and get a seat. By the time the night was up, the place was packed, standing room only with barely any room to enter the pub. The band was lively and very good. With a guitar/vocalist, a flute, fiddle, elan pipes, and an accordion, we were treated to a great evening. In fact we plan to come back and visit again since they seem to have traditional music every night at 9pm.
Great day today! Tomorrow we will head into Dingle to hopefully take a boat ride to the Great Blasket Islands and see some of the Pan Celtic Festival.
(sorry about the lack of photos, but I'm still on a slow internet connection.)
Monday, April 25, 2011
Local traditions
Day 5 (April 24)
The light sure arrives early here in Ireland, far north of the equator. I started waking up this morning at 6:30am, but managed to sleep in until just past 7. Today started cool and misty at about 52 degrees out with a light rain. This is more the Ireland weather that i expected, but it was still disappointing to see yesterday's beautiful day gone.
We were on the road by 9am to start our 2 hour journey to the town of Mallow in County Cork, just north of the city of Cork. Here was day 2 of their 3-day Easter Racing Festival. This morning the town center was filled with a food and crafts fair. We found lots of homemade cooking and baked goods to sample and purchase. One guy made some pretty spicy sauces. I found some banana bread for breakfast tomorrow, Mark found some hot sauce, Mark's parents found several cakes/cupcakes, and Alan found some cheese and hot sauce. We were all successful and came home with treats. We all found our own thing for lunch as well at the many food booths. Probably the most popular was the mobile petting zoo with baby bunnies, lambs, sheep, goats, a pig, baby ducks, a rooster, and a puppy. The women working the zoo were very helpful and liked to tell stories about their animals as well.
My favorite part of the food and craft fair was that I didn't see another tourist. Or at least if they were there, they did not stand out. This was really purely a local event and everyone know everyone in this small town. People watching was at its finest and it was fun to listen to stories. Oh, and the light rain from the morning was gone and the sun even came out several times the rest of the day.
Another favorite was the Mallow Rotary Charity Ball Run. Quoting the program guide: "A spectacular visual event where thousands of colored [tennis] balls are released down O'Brien Street with all proceeds going to local charities." Basically, we all stood and lined the street holding up orange construction fencing and thousands of tennis balls were released at the top of the hill. They came rolling down to a funnel at the bottom. People can purchase a number (each ball has a number on it) and the first four balls to reach the bottom win some sort of prize. It was indeed a fun visual event and even more fun was watching all the kids help throw the balls down the street and then pick them all up at the end.
After the fair, we headed over to the Cork Racecourse Malllow for the first race at 2:10pm. There were 8 races today, all spaced with starting times 30 minutes apart. What a day this was! Everyone came dressed to the nines for the best dressed ladies and gents competition. The ladies had huge decorative hats on and tall high heels. The guys were dressed in a combination of old style suits or newer classy suits. I felt as though I had gone back in time to attend a racing event. It was impressive. The horse racing itself was different from anything we'd seen before as well. Firstly, there were almost 20 horses racing in each event. There was a combination of hurdles and steeple (taller hurdles) races. Also, there were no starting gates. Instead the horses seemed to just circle the start over and over until the red flag was raised and they were off. All the races were over 2 miles in length. The racecourse ring was huge! The background was a perfect setting to the horse race with it's rolling hills, trees, and green pasture land.
We had a great time and stayed until the last race finished at 6pm. Then it was back to Mallow to find a pub with some live music. I poked my head into several pubs to ask about live entertainment, and soon we found Murphy's a great, small little pub with the group Double Trouble entertaining. This pub was straight out of a Rick Steves show on Ireland where all the people there were friendly and came over to talk to us. We learned the life stories of several members and shared our stories. We were asked to sing with the group of two guitar-playing ladies or at least suggest a song. With a combination of stouts and lagers on our table, the 5 of us had a great time relaxing after our wonderful vacation day.
The best part of finding new Irish friends is getting recommendations for places to eat. We got about 3 recommendations, of which we stuck with the first, a bar down the street named Fitzpatricks. They served a great roast turkey and roast lamb with all the fixings. Each plate came with about 4 scoops of mashed potatoes as well! We also learned that it would be best to eat before 8pm in Ireland as afterward most places shut down. This is different from the rest of Europe and very good to know.
By the time dinner was eaten and our stomachs were stuffed it was dark out. The sun sets late here and there is still residual light between 8:30 and 9pm. Driving home in the dark was fairly easy and similar to driving at night in the Canary Islands where everything is completely dark and there are very little cars on the road. We found our cottage though pretty easily, and now we are all decompressing and heading to bed.
Tomorrow we will sleep in and then eventually head out to Killarney National Park and that area once everyone is up and ready. It will be a bank holiday, so I'm crossing my fingers that the places we want to visit are open.
(Due to a slow connection, no photos this week, sorry)
The light sure arrives early here in Ireland, far north of the equator. I started waking up this morning at 6:30am, but managed to sleep in until just past 7. Today started cool and misty at about 52 degrees out with a light rain. This is more the Ireland weather that i expected, but it was still disappointing to see yesterday's beautiful day gone.
We were on the road by 9am to start our 2 hour journey to the town of Mallow in County Cork, just north of the city of Cork. Here was day 2 of their 3-day Easter Racing Festival. This morning the town center was filled with a food and crafts fair. We found lots of homemade cooking and baked goods to sample and purchase. One guy made some pretty spicy sauces. I found some banana bread for breakfast tomorrow, Mark found some hot sauce, Mark's parents found several cakes/cupcakes, and Alan found some cheese and hot sauce. We were all successful and came home with treats. We all found our own thing for lunch as well at the many food booths. Probably the most popular was the mobile petting zoo with baby bunnies, lambs, sheep, goats, a pig, baby ducks, a rooster, and a puppy. The women working the zoo were very helpful and liked to tell stories about their animals as well.
My favorite part of the food and craft fair was that I didn't see another tourist. Or at least if they were there, they did not stand out. This was really purely a local event and everyone know everyone in this small town. People watching was at its finest and it was fun to listen to stories. Oh, and the light rain from the morning was gone and the sun even came out several times the rest of the day.
Another favorite was the Mallow Rotary Charity Ball Run. Quoting the program guide: "A spectacular visual event where thousands of colored [tennis] balls are released down O'Brien Street with all proceeds going to local charities." Basically, we all stood and lined the street holding up orange construction fencing and thousands of tennis balls were released at the top of the hill. They came rolling down to a funnel at the bottom. People can purchase a number (each ball has a number on it) and the first four balls to reach the bottom win some sort of prize. It was indeed a fun visual event and even more fun was watching all the kids help throw the balls down the street and then pick them all up at the end.
After the fair, we headed over to the Cork Racecourse Malllow for the first race at 2:10pm. There were 8 races today, all spaced with starting times 30 minutes apart. What a day this was! Everyone came dressed to the nines for the best dressed ladies and gents competition. The ladies had huge decorative hats on and tall high heels. The guys were dressed in a combination of old style suits or newer classy suits. I felt as though I had gone back in time to attend a racing event. It was impressive. The horse racing itself was different from anything we'd seen before as well. Firstly, there were almost 20 horses racing in each event. There was a combination of hurdles and steeple (taller hurdles) races. Also, there were no starting gates. Instead the horses seemed to just circle the start over and over until the red flag was raised and they were off. All the races were over 2 miles in length. The racecourse ring was huge! The background was a perfect setting to the horse race with it's rolling hills, trees, and green pasture land.
We had a great time and stayed until the last race finished at 6pm. Then it was back to Mallow to find a pub with some live music. I poked my head into several pubs to ask about live entertainment, and soon we found Murphy's a great, small little pub with the group Double Trouble entertaining. This pub was straight out of a Rick Steves show on Ireland where all the people there were friendly and came over to talk to us. We learned the life stories of several members and shared our stories. We were asked to sing with the group of two guitar-playing ladies or at least suggest a song. With a combination of stouts and lagers on our table, the 5 of us had a great time relaxing after our wonderful vacation day.
The best part of finding new Irish friends is getting recommendations for places to eat. We got about 3 recommendations, of which we stuck with the first, a bar down the street named Fitzpatricks. They served a great roast turkey and roast lamb with all the fixings. Each plate came with about 4 scoops of mashed potatoes as well! We also learned that it would be best to eat before 8pm in Ireland as afterward most places shut down. This is different from the rest of Europe and very good to know.
By the time dinner was eaten and our stomachs were stuffed it was dark out. The sun sets late here and there is still residual light between 8:30 and 9pm. Driving home in the dark was fairly easy and similar to driving at night in the Canary Islands where everything is completely dark and there are very little cars on the road. We found our cottage though pretty easily, and now we are all decompressing and heading to bed.
Tomorrow we will sleep in and then eventually head out to Killarney National Park and that area once everyone is up and ready. It will be a bank holiday, so I'm crossing my fingers that the places we want to visit are open.
(Due to a slow connection, no photos this week, sorry)
Sunday, April 24, 2011
The Covingtons arrive
Day 4 (April 23, 2011)
It is a beautiful day in Ireland today and the locals are going crazy for this weather. The sun is out, the sky is clear, the grass is green, the flowers are colorful; we really could not ask for anything else. I think the high today got up to 60 as well.
Breakfast at our bed & breakfast had quite a variety of food and it was all very good. Sitting out were cereals, fruits, biscuits (crackers) and the like. Then we got a hot breakfast from the owner including scrambled eggs, bacon, mushrooms, tomatoes, and hashbrowns. There was also tea and bread. I don't think we could have asked for anything else.
Mark's brother, Alan, arrived at the Shannon airport around 9am, so we picked him up and took him to the nearby Bunratty Castle. We didn't need to go inside, but we did walk around the grounds of the castle and the hotel catching up and enjoying the sun. Mark's parents arrived a little after 11am, and then we were off to start our adventure.
Our first stop was about 30 minutes down the road in Limerick for lunch. Limerick is one of the larger towns in the area and it took a little while to drive through the streets packed with pedestrians to find a parking garage. The little sandwich shop we found made all 5 of us happy with our choices of food for lunch. Mark and I really enjoyed our sweet chilled chicken wrap.
Then, the driving began. We drove about 2 hours to our cottage near Castlemaine in County Kerry through some beautiful Ireland countryside. I wish we had time to stop and take photos, but we'll have plenty of time in the next week. Hopefully the weather will hold out. The cottage is very nice. The owner met us in town and led us in his car to the cottage. We have a nice lawn with an outdoor table, a creek nearby, 4 bedrooms and plenty of space. I took a walk down the little road holding our house and found sheep, cows, and tall hills in the background. The street has lots of cute houses on it with the creek running alongside.
We spent the afternoon getting aquainted with our cottage and catching up with each other. For dinner and a grocery run we headed to the town of Tralee. The shops and restaurants seem to be closed for Easter weekend, so once again we found an Italian restaurant with very good food. Most of us had an appetizer of vegetable soup which was almost a pumpkin or squash soup and incredibly delicious. The various pasta dishes we had were also good and I think we were all happy with the choice.
Tomorrow we are headed to the Cork Mallow Racing festival. There should be various fair events and racing. We are looking forward to it.
(Due to slow connection, no pictures this week, sorry)
It is a beautiful day in Ireland today and the locals are going crazy for this weather. The sun is out, the sky is clear, the grass is green, the flowers are colorful; we really could not ask for anything else. I think the high today got up to 60 as well.
Breakfast at our bed & breakfast had quite a variety of food and it was all very good. Sitting out were cereals, fruits, biscuits (crackers) and the like. Then we got a hot breakfast from the owner including scrambled eggs, bacon, mushrooms, tomatoes, and hashbrowns. There was also tea and bread. I don't think we could have asked for anything else.
Mark's brother, Alan, arrived at the Shannon airport around 9am, so we picked him up and took him to the nearby Bunratty Castle. We didn't need to go inside, but we did walk around the grounds of the castle and the hotel catching up and enjoying the sun. Mark's parents arrived a little after 11am, and then we were off to start our adventure.
Our first stop was about 30 minutes down the road in Limerick for lunch. Limerick is one of the larger towns in the area and it took a little while to drive through the streets packed with pedestrians to find a parking garage. The little sandwich shop we found made all 5 of us happy with our choices of food for lunch. Mark and I really enjoyed our sweet chilled chicken wrap.
Then, the driving began. We drove about 2 hours to our cottage near Castlemaine in County Kerry through some beautiful Ireland countryside. I wish we had time to stop and take photos, but we'll have plenty of time in the next week. Hopefully the weather will hold out. The cottage is very nice. The owner met us in town and led us in his car to the cottage. We have a nice lawn with an outdoor table, a creek nearby, 4 bedrooms and plenty of space. I took a walk down the little road holding our house and found sheep, cows, and tall hills in the background. The street has lots of cute houses on it with the creek running alongside.
We spent the afternoon getting aquainted with our cottage and catching up with each other. For dinner and a grocery run we headed to the town of Tralee. The shops and restaurants seem to be closed for Easter weekend, so once again we found an Italian restaurant with very good food. Most of us had an appetizer of vegetable soup which was almost a pumpkin or squash soup and incredibly delicious. The various pasta dishes we had were also good and I think we were all happy with the choice.
Tomorrow we are headed to the Cork Mallow Racing festival. There should be various fair events and racing. We are looking forward to it.
(Due to slow connection, no pictures this week, sorry)
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Ireland lives up to its fame
Day 3 (April 22, 2011)
Itinerary: check out of London hotel, take the train to Gatwick, fly to Shannon, Ireland, check into B&B in Shannon, explore Ennis
Good morning vacation. It was wonderful to wake up this morning to spend the day with Mark. The muffins and fruit I purchased at the market yesterday made an excellent breakfast and the walk to Victoria Station was lovely. The weather here in London sure seems perfect right now.
It was very easy to grab a ticket on the Gatwick Express to the airport since we are using Ryanair to fly to Shannon, Ireland this morning. Gatwick is much nicer than Heathrow. The security lines added something new that we hadn't seen before. As we handed our boarding pass and ticket to the staff member before going through security, they used a webcam to take a photo of us. Then, at the gate, when we handed our boarding pass to the staff member, they pulled up that photo to confirm that we were the same person. Also, Gatwick had a very mall-like appearance in the waiting area before the gates. There were 2 floors of shops selling everything from electronics to swimsuits and clothing. There was a little video game center and of course food. We grabbed a decent lunch before heading to the gate.
Ryanair, a discount airline in Europe, boards similar to southwest as no seats are assigned. We waited too long before getting to the gate, so we found no overhead bin space and no two seats together. The flight was pretty short to Ireland at only about 1.5 hours and I managed to sleep the entire way again. I'm getting good at sleeping on planes. Mark told me later about all the advertisements over the loud speakers and carts selling everything from phone cards to perfume in the aisles. That's a discount airline for you. It was much nicer than the easyjet flight we took out of Venice last year.
Shannon is a cute little airport that reminded us of Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Passport check was amusing since all the EU and British citizens basically filed past an immigration officer who barely glanced at the passports as people filed by. About 100 people filed through in about 2 minutes! Meanwhile, the few of us that were non-EU citizens had to be asked several questions before we could enter. Still, this experience was much nicer than the wait I had in Heathrow.
Europcar had our minivan waiting for us. It's not really a minivan as you would think of one in the States, but it does have 7 seats. The back row was all folded up and unfolds with a rather short leg area. At least the 5 of us should have enough space for our various road trips over the next week. Mark's parents and brother will arrive tomorrow morning and we'll see how all the luggage fits in this car. The car, while seating 7, is still smaller than the beast of an SUV we had in the Canary Islands for just 2 of us.
Driving on the left side of the road is an experience. Mostly, it is strange to find the driver's side door on the right side of the car and to have the gear shift on the left inside the car. Mark's job is to remind me to stay on the left especially when making turns. Right turns are hard and feel so wrong, but we practiced driving around on the left today and had no trouble.
Tonight we are staying in the Shannon Lodge B&B which is very close to the airport and very nice inside as well. After dropping off our bags, we had no plans, so we decided to drive to Ennis for the day. Since today is Good Friday, about 50% of the shops were closed, but the town was still fun to walk around in. It's very small. I think we walked around the town twice. We found a decent driving map and also a sim card to put in Mark's cell phone so that we can make some calls. We tried to get a sim card to put in my iphone, but my phone is now too old for the 3G sim cards out there and I had no luck. But, unlike our horrible Italy experience, this sim card worked right away and 5 minutes later we were able to make calls.
The weather today started out cool and cloudy, but the sun was out while we explored Ennis. The folks here are all very nice and are commenting on the amazing weather that could almost be summer weather to them. I hope it stays this nice. We didn't drive very far, but from what we did see, the countryside is gorgeous with rolling hills, farms, horses, cattle, and even flowers and flowering trees.
As 6pm rolled around and all the shops closed, the streets started to look very empty, and we started to wonder if we'd be able to find a place open on Good Friday for dinner. Thankfully, we did find the one restaurant in town that was packed with all of us wanting to eat on the holiday. The Italian food was delicious. Mark and I shared a very tasty salad and pizza.
Tonight we are just hanging out in the living room at the B&B and accessing the internet for the last time for the next week. Our cottage will not have internet, so you might see less travel blog postings from me. However, I will keep in touch and check email at least once a day using the sim card we purchased. We pick up Mark's family from the airport and then head to even more southwest Ireland to stay near Killarney. I'm looking forward to our vacation.
Happy Easter Weekend.
Our room at the Shannon Lodge B&B
Must photograph! Outside a market in Ennis
For my friends, The Patricks
Itinerary: check out of London hotel, take the train to Gatwick, fly to Shannon, Ireland, check into B&B in Shannon, explore Ennis
Good morning vacation. It was wonderful to wake up this morning to spend the day with Mark. The muffins and fruit I purchased at the market yesterday made an excellent breakfast and the walk to Victoria Station was lovely. The weather here in London sure seems perfect right now.
It was very easy to grab a ticket on the Gatwick Express to the airport since we are using Ryanair to fly to Shannon, Ireland this morning. Gatwick is much nicer than Heathrow. The security lines added something new that we hadn't seen before. As we handed our boarding pass and ticket to the staff member before going through security, they used a webcam to take a photo of us. Then, at the gate, when we handed our boarding pass to the staff member, they pulled up that photo to confirm that we were the same person. Also, Gatwick had a very mall-like appearance in the waiting area before the gates. There were 2 floors of shops selling everything from electronics to swimsuits and clothing. There was a little video game center and of course food. We grabbed a decent lunch before heading to the gate.
Ryanair, a discount airline in Europe, boards similar to southwest as no seats are assigned. We waited too long before getting to the gate, so we found no overhead bin space and no two seats together. The flight was pretty short to Ireland at only about 1.5 hours and I managed to sleep the entire way again. I'm getting good at sleeping on planes. Mark told me later about all the advertisements over the loud speakers and carts selling everything from phone cards to perfume in the aisles. That's a discount airline for you. It was much nicer than the easyjet flight we took out of Venice last year.
Shannon is a cute little airport that reminded us of Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Passport check was amusing since all the EU and British citizens basically filed past an immigration officer who barely glanced at the passports as people filed by. About 100 people filed through in about 2 minutes! Meanwhile, the few of us that were non-EU citizens had to be asked several questions before we could enter. Still, this experience was much nicer than the wait I had in Heathrow.
Europcar had our minivan waiting for us. It's not really a minivan as you would think of one in the States, but it does have 7 seats. The back row was all folded up and unfolds with a rather short leg area. At least the 5 of us should have enough space for our various road trips over the next week. Mark's parents and brother will arrive tomorrow morning and we'll see how all the luggage fits in this car. The car, while seating 7, is still smaller than the beast of an SUV we had in the Canary Islands for just 2 of us.
Driving on the left side of the road is an experience. Mostly, it is strange to find the driver's side door on the right side of the car and to have the gear shift on the left inside the car. Mark's job is to remind me to stay on the left especially when making turns. Right turns are hard and feel so wrong, but we practiced driving around on the left today and had no trouble.
Tonight we are staying in the Shannon Lodge B&B which is very close to the airport and very nice inside as well. After dropping off our bags, we had no plans, so we decided to drive to Ennis for the day. Since today is Good Friday, about 50% of the shops were closed, but the town was still fun to walk around in. It's very small. I think we walked around the town twice. We found a decent driving map and also a sim card to put in Mark's cell phone so that we can make some calls. We tried to get a sim card to put in my iphone, but my phone is now too old for the 3G sim cards out there and I had no luck. But, unlike our horrible Italy experience, this sim card worked right away and 5 minutes later we were able to make calls.
The weather today started out cool and cloudy, but the sun was out while we explored Ennis. The folks here are all very nice and are commenting on the amazing weather that could almost be summer weather to them. I hope it stays this nice. We didn't drive very far, but from what we did see, the countryside is gorgeous with rolling hills, farms, horses, cattle, and even flowers and flowering trees.
As 6pm rolled around and all the shops closed, the streets started to look very empty, and we started to wonder if we'd be able to find a place open on Good Friday for dinner. Thankfully, we did find the one restaurant in town that was packed with all of us wanting to eat on the holiday. The Italian food was delicious. Mark and I shared a very tasty salad and pizza.
Tonight we are just hanging out in the living room at the B&B and accessing the internet for the last time for the next week. Our cottage will not have internet, so you might see less travel blog postings from me. However, I will keep in touch and check email at least once a day using the sim card we purchased. We pick up Mark's family from the airport and then head to even more southwest Ireland to stay near Killarney. I'm looking forward to our vacation.
Happy Easter Weekend.
Our room at the Shannon Lodge B&B
View of a river through Ennis
Must photograph! Outside a market in Ennis
For my friends, The Patricks
Cathedral in Ennis
Friday, April 22, 2011
Buckingham Palace
Day 1/2 (April 20/21, 2011)
The first travel day is really two days. I never quite know if I should call the whole travel "day," Day 1 or Day 1/2. In any case, I started a precedent several vacations back, so I'll stick with it.
I'm typing this entry as I sit outside the hotel in London watching for Mark to arrive. Getting out of Houston on my KLM flight was easy and uneventful. (As it should be.) I remember that last time I flew with KLM, I really enjoyed the airline food and it was true again today. Dinner was fantastic and I ate it all. I was able to sleep through just about the entire flight with a full row to myself. The arm rests on the KLM seats only raise up to about a 45 degree angle, which can be annoyed, but I fit beneath so that I could lay down across the seats.
My flight transferred in Amsterdam and I scanned the landscape as we flew in hoping to catch the colorful tulip farms from the air. I did see several farms, but I think the tulips have already been cut as I also saw lots of bare and brown farms. Also, the hazy, cloudy morning sky and foggy window did not provide the ideal conditions for photos. I snapped several anyway.
We arrived about an hour early, so I had plenty of time to peruse the Schipol museum and several shops before going to my gate to get to London. I slept the entire flight to London as well, though it was only about an hour long.
You would think that with all that sleep, I would wake up in London ready for the day. However, I was still feeling jet-lagged and it was all I could do to make it to the hotel. The train from Heathrow to Victoria Station was a commuter train and took almost an hour. I exited the train station into downtown London and hordes of people soon engulfed me. It took several tries to find the street name, but soon I was on my way to the hotel.
I have several first impressions of London. Firstly, and the most odd was all the English. All the signs in the airport were in English, and English only. I am so used to traveling internationally and finding other languages, that it came as a shock to see all the English. Obviously, I am well aware that the UK speaks English, but somehow the intense presence of it made me feel as though I was in another country. The UK customs were similar to USA customs as we had to fill out a landing card on arrival to enter the country. The line for this took over 30 minutes, so by the time I passed through, my duffel bag had been circling the baggage claim for a while. My next impression was that all public transportation commuter trains are starting to look the same to me. I could have been in any country when I boarded the Picadilly Line towards downtown. The only difference here was that I could actually understand the information given over the loud speaker. My last first impression came as I exited the train station on a very crowded street and was immediately surrounded with people. London, unsurprisingly, is packed with people.
Once I was going the right direction, the hotel was easy to find and the room was even ready for me, thought I was an hour before check in time. This was all excellent news as I took a 3 hour nap upon entering my room.
It was rather disappointing to see the clock in the room was blinking and not set right because when I woke up at 4:30, I convinced myself that my watch was set wrong as well and I couldn't decide what time was right. Mark's flight was supposed to arrive at the airport at 5:30 and I could not figure out what time it was. Finally, I just logged into a website to find the correct time, same as my watch.
I put my new rented wide-angle lens on my camera and went out to roam. On my way to Buckingham Palace, I found lots of unique little shops. There was a tea shop called About Thyme and nearly every Indian restaurant was called either Spicy World, or Spice Time. I found a cute little park full of tulips. The view was marred by all the homless sleeping in the grass, but the tulips were huge! The gift shops around the Palace were selling Will and Kate memorabilia. Everything seems to be all about the royal wedding these days. We will not be in London on the big day, April 29th, but it's nice to see London getting decorated for the event. Across from the Palace was a garden full of flowers with the London Eye in the background beyond. My wide-angle lens was perfect for taking photos of Buckingham Palace itself. As I walked around the fountain in the middle of the blocked off roundabout, nearly everyone stopped me to borrow my shutter finger. I get this a lot when I walk around on my own with a DSLR hanging around my neck. One of these days I should walk around with my business cards and hand a card to everyone who asks me to take their picture.
I was only out for about an hour before it was time to go back to the hotel and wait for Mark. On the way back I was able to find some Dr. Pepper for him at a market and some breakfast for the morning. The weather today is magnificent, too. The sun is out and the temps are a perfect 75. I'm not sure what everyone is talking about when they mention London is always cloudy and drizzly.
I sat outside the hotel in the beautiful weather to type and wait for Mark. Finally we were reunited. We are looking forward to spending the next 3 weeks together.
We went out to dinner at an asian restaurant with dim sum and outdoor seating. Mark enjoyed his curry and I really enjoyed my crispy shredded beef and coconut rice. Then, it was back to the hotel so that we could use the internet to make a bid for London 2012 tickets. The bidding process is complicated and closes on the 22nd, so we wanted to go ahead and get that done. Now we just have to wait a few months to see if we got any tickets.
Good end to a good day/days. Tomorrow we are off to Ireland.
The first travel day is really two days. I never quite know if I should call the whole travel "day," Day 1 or Day 1/2. In any case, I started a precedent several vacations back, so I'll stick with it.
I'm typing this entry as I sit outside the hotel in London watching for Mark to arrive. Getting out of Houston on my KLM flight was easy and uneventful. (As it should be.) I remember that last time I flew with KLM, I really enjoyed the airline food and it was true again today. Dinner was fantastic and I ate it all. I was able to sleep through just about the entire flight with a full row to myself. The arm rests on the KLM seats only raise up to about a 45 degree angle, which can be annoyed, but I fit beneath so that I could lay down across the seats.
My flight transferred in Amsterdam and I scanned the landscape as we flew in hoping to catch the colorful tulip farms from the air. I did see several farms, but I think the tulips have already been cut as I also saw lots of bare and brown farms. Also, the hazy, cloudy morning sky and foggy window did not provide the ideal conditions for photos. I snapped several anyway.
We arrived about an hour early, so I had plenty of time to peruse the Schipol museum and several shops before going to my gate to get to London. I slept the entire flight to London as well, though it was only about an hour long.
You would think that with all that sleep, I would wake up in London ready for the day. However, I was still feeling jet-lagged and it was all I could do to make it to the hotel. The train from Heathrow to Victoria Station was a commuter train and took almost an hour. I exited the train station into downtown London and hordes of people soon engulfed me. It took several tries to find the street name, but soon I was on my way to the hotel.
I have several first impressions of London. Firstly, and the most odd was all the English. All the signs in the airport were in English, and English only. I am so used to traveling internationally and finding other languages, that it came as a shock to see all the English. Obviously, I am well aware that the UK speaks English, but somehow the intense presence of it made me feel as though I was in another country. The UK customs were similar to USA customs as we had to fill out a landing card on arrival to enter the country. The line for this took over 30 minutes, so by the time I passed through, my duffel bag had been circling the baggage claim for a while. My next impression was that all public transportation commuter trains are starting to look the same to me. I could have been in any country when I boarded the Picadilly Line towards downtown. The only difference here was that I could actually understand the information given over the loud speaker. My last first impression came as I exited the train station on a very crowded street and was immediately surrounded with people. London, unsurprisingly, is packed with people.
Once I was going the right direction, the hotel was easy to find and the room was even ready for me, thought I was an hour before check in time. This was all excellent news as I took a 3 hour nap upon entering my room.
It was rather disappointing to see the clock in the room was blinking and not set right because when I woke up at 4:30, I convinced myself that my watch was set wrong as well and I couldn't decide what time was right. Mark's flight was supposed to arrive at the airport at 5:30 and I could not figure out what time it was. Finally, I just logged into a website to find the correct time, same as my watch.
I put my new rented wide-angle lens on my camera and went out to roam. On my way to Buckingham Palace, I found lots of unique little shops. There was a tea shop called About Thyme and nearly every Indian restaurant was called either Spicy World, or Spice Time. I found a cute little park full of tulips. The view was marred by all the homless sleeping in the grass, but the tulips were huge! The gift shops around the Palace were selling Will and Kate memorabilia. Everything seems to be all about the royal wedding these days. We will not be in London on the big day, April 29th, but it's nice to see London getting decorated for the event. Across from the Palace was a garden full of flowers with the London Eye in the background beyond. My wide-angle lens was perfect for taking photos of Buckingham Palace itself. As I walked around the fountain in the middle of the blocked off roundabout, nearly everyone stopped me to borrow my shutter finger. I get this a lot when I walk around on my own with a DSLR hanging around my neck. One of these days I should walk around with my business cards and hand a card to everyone who asks me to take their picture.
I was only out for about an hour before it was time to go back to the hotel and wait for Mark. On the way back I was able to find some Dr. Pepper for him at a market and some breakfast for the morning. The weather today is magnificent, too. The sun is out and the temps are a perfect 75. I'm not sure what everyone is talking about when they mention London is always cloudy and drizzly.
I sat outside the hotel in the beautiful weather to type and wait for Mark. Finally we were reunited. We are looking forward to spending the next 3 weeks together.
We went out to dinner at an asian restaurant with dim sum and outdoor seating. Mark enjoyed his curry and I really enjoyed my crispy shredded beef and coconut rice. Then, it was back to the hotel so that we could use the internet to make a bid for London 2012 tickets. The bidding process is complicated and closes on the 22nd, so we wanted to go ahead and get that done. Now we just have to wait a few months to see if we got any tickets.
Good end to a good day/days. Tomorrow we are off to Ireland.
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