June 23 Marathon Day

We started our day at :0300 in Dublin.  A quick cup of coffee, a ride to the airport and off to Amsterdam at :0600.   

The Amsterdam Airport is very big and contributed to a very long walk to the other end of the terminal.  With time to spare, we arrived at the gate had  another body scan and lengthy security interview.   

After a brief 10 and half hour Airbus ride, with moments of dozing off, we arrived in Portland.  Nancy and I managed to stay up  for several more hours to make an effort to get back on a normal schedule.  We finally crawled into bed after the 27 hour endurance run.  None the worse for wear, we are up and going this morning.  Be it a bit on the slow side of getty-up.   

More things to do and places to go, but no long plane rides scheduled in the near future.

June 22 Portrush - Belfast - Dublin

more later.


We arrived back in Dublin after about 1000 beautiful miles around Ireland.

June 21

June 20

June 19th Feast, famine, feast

Today our group drove through the Connemara area, beginning at Galway.  We first stopped at Cong, the town/abbey close to Ashford Castle.  This castle has been renovated by the Guiness family, and now operates as a posh hotel.  In the Cong area we visited the monk's fishing hut, a stone hut built over the river, and walked through the ruined abbey.  At St. Mary's church next door, we saw more of Harry Clark's outstanding stained glass windows.
Traveling on, we saw Croagh (Mount) Patrick where St. Patrick fasted for 40 days during Lent, and afterward drove the snakes from Ireland.  Since there were never any snakes in Ireland, the snake is seen as representative of the devil.
Our group stopped at Aasleagh Falls to check on the salmon run (none yet).  We traveled on to view the memorial for people who died during the Potato Famine. We also saw the Coffin Ship sculpture commemorating the thousands who left Ireland during the famine to find food and work in the New World.
Bud and I had lots of time to explore the town of Westport, and to have some seafood chowder at one of the local pubs.  We have a long ride on the bus tomorrow, so need to sign off.

June 18th Walk in the mist and big band sound

Our tour group took the bus from Galway to Rossaveel, where we boarded a ferry to travel to Inishmore, the largest of the Aran Islands.  There we took a small van to Dun Aenghus, the stone fortress at the end of the island that hangs off the cliff 300 feet above the Atlantic Ocean.  It was a long hike through the Burren-like rocks to the top of the hill, but the view was worth it!  We took a side tour to see the chevaux-de-frise (Frisian horses) - stones placed on end as a barrier to protect the fort from warriors attacking on horseback.
The mini-bus also stopped at Seven Churches - a cluster of monastic houses and tiny chapels.  We enjoyed seeing the pony carts taking tourists close to the fort.  After our hike, we stopped at Dun Aungusa Knitwear to visit Sarah Flaherty's shop.  Sarah makes everything in her shop. I was pleased to find a pair of fingerless gloves that she knitted in beautiful Aran wool.
We returned to Galway in the afternoon in time to take a walk, shop and go to dinner at Busker Browne's restaurant.  We ate in a quieter area while we watched the Euro 2012 soccer tournament.  Later, we heard a "big band" group playing '50's jazz.  Not Irish, but great fun!

June 17th Moher Cliffs and Rocks

We left Dingle and went to Tarbert, where we took the ferry over the Shannon River.  Our group soon arrived at the Cliffs of Moher, the site of scenes from the Princess Bride and one of the Harry Potter movies.  It's a wild and beautiful spot with an interesting shop and restaurant built into the headland.

Cliffs of Moher

Our group stopped next at the Burren to tour the area with our local guide, Mary.  We viewed fossils, plants and limestone rock formations.

Glaciers ground the land down to the bed rock.

The landscape was like this in all directions of this area.

We drove around Galway Bay to the city to spend two nights.  Our group took a walking tour of Galway, stopping at Eyre Square, Collegiate Church of St. Nicholas, Lynch's Castle, Spanish Arch, and River Corrib.

After dinner, Bud and I walked along the river to see the men fishing close to the Cathedral of St. Nicholas.

June 16th "Vacation from our vacation" in Dingle

Today was our "vacation from your vacation" day - time to regroup and relax.  Bud and his tour friend Al hiked around town taking photos.  We met at noon and went to the nunnery at St. Mary's church to see the Harry Clark windows of Diseart.  These stained glass windows were commissioned in 1922.  The workmanship and attention to minute detail was spectacular!  It was ashamed that he died a few years later, at age 42.

Full Window

The lines are the chicken wire that is on the outside of the window.

The detail, color and shading was amazing.  There were 10 windows and each one was just as good.

We planned to take a boat tour of Dingle harbor, but the wind had made the water so choppy the boats had to come in.

We went to the 6 p.m. Mass at St. Mary's church so we could hear our tour friend Mary play the organ.  She is a professional organist.  She asked the priest in the morning if she could play their organ to keep in practice and he asked to play at the service.  She is really good. 

Bud and I went to a local "home style food" restaurant for hake ( cod-like, yum!) and a bottle of wine.

June 15th Stone Huts and Troubadours

A gray day, but no rain.  Note the stone walls.  This was what many parts in the highlands of Ireland.  The farmers just cleared their fields and stacked them on the property lines.

Communing with the nature trail

Our group took the bus on an all-day scenic drive around Slea Head and the Dingle peninsula.  A local tour guide gave us information on important historical spots in the Dingle area.  Then we drove around Ventry Bay, named after the last English lord in this region.

We stopped at the Beehive Huts - circular stone huts built without the use of mortar for monks and clergy.  We circled the peninsula to the Blasket Center, a beautifully designed building built to commemorate and educate about those individuals who lived on the Blasket Islands off the west coast of Ireland. 

This structure has no mortar and has been here about 1000 years.

We also stopped at the Gallarus Oratory and Kilmalkedar Church and churchyard to see more stone buildings left by the early settlers to this region.


After dinner we all went to a concert of traditional Irish music at St. James' church.  We heard performances of Irish ballads on the accordion, guitar, whistle, bodhran (drum), and uilleann pipes (Irish version of bagpipes).

Since we can't get enough Irish music, we stopped at O'Sullivan's Old Courthouse Pub -again- to hear a guitar/fiddle duo on the way back to the hotel.

June 14 Dingle

Today we left Kinsale, heading for the Dingle peninsula.  Our group stopped at several historic sites relating to the war for Irish independence - Killdare battlefield, Michael Collins memorial, and the ambush site were he was killed at Kilmichael.  Collins was the main architect of the peace plan with England.

There are monuments to the Irish leaders and fighters in the early 1920's rebellion against English rule.

We stopped at Muckross House, a beautifully preserved Victorian mansion at the edge of what is now Killarney National Park.  The owners of this home spent several years and a barrel of money preparing for a visit from Queen Victoria - then she stayed only three nights.  No photos allowed in the house and it was raining cats and dogs.

Our group drove the scenic Ring of Kerry road through the park and on around Dingle Bay to the town of Dingle.

A damp and blustery day on the road going to Dingle.

Bud and I ate in the Dingle Pub so we could watch the soccer match, then we went on the the Old Courthouse Pub to listen to some traditional Irish music.

One pint of Guinness Stout for you Bob D.

Up close and personal.  What you can not see is the pub has a 6'1" ceiling and people are packed in.  More are standing than sitting.  Not a drop of beer was spilled and the music was great.  Apparently, fire codes have some flexibility in Dingle.

The pub is next to the court house.

Teddy in an open air market in a small village on the road to Dingle.  He just finished slicing off two nice salmon steaks.

June 14 Kinsale

Take a look at the sign. The top words are in Gaelic.

Our group took a tour of historic Kinsale and nearby Charles Fort. This little town and fort was the site of the defeat of two Irish clans and Spanish troops by the British in 1601. Charles Fort was occupied by the British until Irish independence in 1922. It was a beautiful, blue-sky day - what a great day to be on this hill overlooking Kinsale Harbor.

Inside Charles Fort

View of Kinsale Harbor.  It has been in use before the Viking arrived.

After lunch we did some shopping and took a walk along Pier Road to see the boats and yachts in the harbor.  We found the signs directing motorists to Bandon, Ireland, the town that Bandon in SW Oregon is named after.

On our way back to the hotel we stopped to tour St. Multose Church, featuring many grave sites of those who died in 1915 when the Germans torpedoed the Lusitania 10 miles from the harbor.

We were also able to tour the Kinsale Regional Museum, which houses relics from the Lusitania, and a display of personal objects belonging to Kinsale's 8'3" giant who lived here in the 1700's.

These are only a few of the colorful houses and shops in Kinsale.

June 12 On the way to Kinsale

We're off on the coach from Dublin to the villages of Ireland.  Our first stop was a visit to Powercourt Gardens near the village of Enniskerry.  This is a beautiful mansion set on 16,000 acres in the heart of the Irish countryside.  The mansion was gutted by fire in the 1970's, and is now a souvenir-rich shopping mall.  The grounds were laid out in the mid 1800's, and are beautifully designed and maintained.

One of many expansive lawns

Japanese Gardens

Another part of the Japanese Garden

We then went inland to the Rock of Cashal, first stopping at the Bru Boru Cultural Center for an excellent video/museum tour.  We took a rainy, windy guided tour of the church on the rock. We are tough tourists, though, and braved the weather to see the church where St. Patrick baptized King Aengus in about A.D. 450, bringing Christianity to clan leaders of the region.

Tonight we're in county Cork in the town of Kinsale.  It seems like we did a lot of driving today.  It's hard to remember that Ireland is about as large as the state of Maine, and we can reach our tourist destinations quickly.

June 10 Dublin

The zippers held together, but boarding at Heathrow proved to be the most interesting.  We arrived at the correct terminal (they have 5), passed through security and were ready to head to our gate.  But, the airlines here don't give you a gate until 20 to 30 minutes before the flight,  we waited with coffee and finally were notified to move to gate #8.  No problem.  We arrived to find that it really is "gate #8 area" and you have  Gates #8 A - F. We waited well past boarding time until they announced that we needed to move to gate 77, a hardy jaunt down several walkways.  We waited again and were finally able to board.  We couldn't take off, however, until they took a suitcase out the baggage compartment belonging to someone who did not board the flight. (Frustrating, but a good idea.)  A 50 minute flight to Dublin.

We arrived at our hotel to meet our tour group members.  They seem like a really nice people.  We had a great dinner together and Declan (deck lan), our guide, shepherded us around Dublin to start our history lesson with an explanation of the neighborhoods and a brief primer on Irish history.  The politics of Ireland is going to be very interesting.

June 9 - Making the Most of our Last Day in London

Weather report - The rain stopped and the sun graced us with its presence today.   

Right now it is 20:00 and it is twilight.

Portobello Road Market - Notting Hill

Nancy and I burrowed into the Underground for a trip to the Portobello Road Saturday Market, with a combination of portable stalls, permanent shops and arcades full of antiques, souvenirs, and food.  The market stretches four long blocks on both sides of the street and down some side streets. They haven't banned cars from the area yet, so it's a jumble of sprinting tourists and honking horns.  Two of the blocks are open for traffic on these narrow streets, plus sidewalks are narrow and uneven.  Now add a car or two every few minutes. We had a great lunch at Gail's about midway down the market, then shouldered our way back to the tube.

One stop of many and many and many.  Pretty interesting stuff over-all.

Some would say it was a pilgrimage.

 

River Cruise

After another trip to the underworld, we arrived at the Westminster Pier for a river cruise to Greenwich.  We enjoyed the narrated tour first to the Tower of London, then on to Greenwich.  We walked past the Old Royal Naval College to the Trafalgar Tavern, the spot Dickens used as the setting for the wedding breakfast in Our Mutual Friend.  Then it was off to find the "line" marking the prime meridian.  The only sign marking the meridian is at the observatory at the top of a very steep hill.  We estimated that the line was close to the gas station we passed at the Trafalgar Street intersection.

Views from the Thames River

Big Ben and the Parliament Building

The Tower of London

They are filming a James Bond movie.  The camera is on the nose of the helicopter.

The pilot just cleared the flag poles.  Watch for us in the movie.

The Trafalgar Tavern in Greenwich.  I am sure after a few pints it is Greenwich happy time.  We sat in the same spot that C. Dickens sat, maybe.

Trafalgar Square

We went to Trafalgar Square to take photos and to have dinner at the Crypt at St. Martin-in-the-Field church. The food was excellent, after you get over the fact that you're walking on someone's tomb.  One of the galleries had an exhibition of portraits called 100 Faces of London.

Tomorrow we fly to Dublin for the last leg of our adventure.  Hope everything fits in our suitcase!

Trafalgar Square

June 8th a Palace, an Abbey and a Mouse

News Flash from Buckingham Palace  ....  --.   --.  ..   .--- -...   .--.   --- (simulated Morse code)
We ambled over to see the changing of the guard with a thousand or so other tourists.  People were outside the fence looking in at a couple of guards marching their ceremonial route of 10 or 12 steps.  The scene reminded me of people at the zoo.  The guards entered on horseback in full dress uniforms.  That part lasted about 2 minutes.  We couldn't get close to the courtyard fence to see any more.  The ceremony was cut short because it rained just prior to the scheduled time. The grandstands from the Jubilee were partially taken down, with large picturesque orange and white barricades surrounding the Victoria Monument, so the tourist viewing area was very limited. 

A quick slide through St. James park to Westminster Abbey.  Oops, we found Big Ben and the Parliament Building - it looked like a church to us.  Westminster is on the other side of the street.  We found a spot in the Abbey's cloister and had our picnic lunch next to the 1740 grave of the church's plumber.  As noted on his tombstone, he was a "great service" to the church.   The Abbey is home to many famous and humble people, mostly just rich.  It is a walk though centuries of English history.

A quick trip home to drop excess gear and freshen up for dinner and a play.

We had excellent oysters and mussels at Loch Fyne restaurant in Covent Gardens and, after four more turns than we needed, we arrived at St. Martin's Theater for the 24,801st performance of Agatha Christie's play The Mousetrap.  We met a family from Sussex who were seeing the play with their two teens.  The dad said that this was the third generation to see the play. He said his grandmother brought his mother, his mother brought him and he brought his two children to this performance.  Granted, this is the celebration of the play's 60 years of performances.

Tube stops on our way.   More on that later...

June 7th Through the Tube

Our new friend.  He said he was a barber, but his blade looked a little big for my whiskers.

 Adventures come in many forms.  Today, we wormed our way through the ground and popped up like gophers.   The first pop-up was the Tower of London and a shopping trip for Nancy, but alas no extra crown jewels. I dodged that bullet. Believe me, they are really impressive.  Big diamonds (one over 500 karats), precious stones of all kinds and  gold in so many forms, it is hard to list.   We toured the castle and buildings around the tower for five hours and we didn't make it to all of the different areas.   The history, treachery, noble causes and many severed heads filled the stories of the Beefeaters and guides.  We sat in a 900 year old chapel, walked in the foot steps of kings and prisoners going to the tower for a severe hair cut just below their chin.  I will say that the Brits saved everything from the rack to a royal spoon that held the oil that anointed the kings and queens since 1100's.   It was a very good experience.  Down the tube again.

After a trip to Starbucks to get out of the rain, we scurried over to St. Paul's Cathedral for a short service at 5:00.  We were going to the service to avoid the 10 pound charge to tour the cathedral.  Our short evensong service was the Feast of Corpus Christi with a sung mass, choir, organ, incense and communion, with 300 or 400 people in attendance. Impressive.   St. Paul's was first considered for the wedding of Prince William and Kate, but it was too small.  This church is enormous and stunningly beautiful.  The present St Paul's is the fifth cathedral to have stood on the site since 604, and was built between 1675 and 1710.

A brief gopher trip over to the Porter's Pub for two scrumptious English pies and, of course, a couple of pints of Guinness fresh from the tap.

Porter's Pub

We hop scotched back through the tubes to the hotel via the Piccadilly Line to the Circle Line.  It is nice to finally get a handle on the different routes for the undergound.  It is easier to travel during off peak hours.  I think sardines had more room in the can than we did today.  No doubt the transit people would like to have stuffing plungers if they could, but I do not think they could have gotten us much closer together. 

Nancy in the tube

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We are closing our 14 hour day now.  We have a sunny day plan and a rainy day plan for tomorrow.

This is London's City Hall.  A local resident said when I asked him what the building was, he said " that ugly egg looking building is London's city hall and you need to take lots of toilet paper there, because that is all they serve."  I guess some things don't change around the world.

Important things to consider in the Tower of London,

June 6th - On to London

Six of us took a taxi to Edinburgh Airport this morning at 06:30.   We arrived well before our flight time and sailed through security.  We kept our shoes on, gathered our belongings and headed off to another interesting breakfast.  

The trip to London via Gatwick airport was uneventful. This London airport has a north and a south terminal that is connected by train.  We must have been at the farthest gate in the north terminal from the train connection in the south.  My guess is that we walked close to a half mile or more to reach the train.  Then we had another good stroll to get to the express train which took us to Victoria station and our tube connection.  Passes were purchased, we figured out the directions the trains were going and out of the ground we popped - three blocks from our hotel.  No lift, but it is only 45 steps to a great room.  We are centrally located and are close to some pubs, plus a grocery store to stock our kitchenette.  Started the pub crawl at the Prince Edward Public House tonight with a couple of pints, good pub food and dessert.
 Tomorrow the tour begins.   

June 5th - Back to Edinburgh

We made a dash from Oban to Edinburgh with many stops for photo opportunities. We drove down the highway next to Loch Lomond.  This is the area where the Highlands (rocky foothills formed by glaciers) become the Lowlands (flat valleys suited for farming).
 
The guided tour of Stirling Castle was a highlight.  After the tour we were able to visit the museum and the grounds.  Along the road to lunch we saw the Wallace Monument and the Barnockburn Battlefield.  Lunch was at Dobbie's - a combination garden center and New Seasons food court.

We finished the evening with a great dinner, a wee dram of Oban, plus some wine after the scotch.  We all said our goodbyes and invited our tour friends to join us in the northwest.

June 3

Glenfinnan - Hogwarts

This is the view of Glenfinnan where Bonnie Prince Charlie landed to convince the Scottish clans to wage war on England.

This is the bridge where they photographed the steam train on its way to Hogwarts.  Glennfinnan is directly to my back.

      
Fort William
 We saw Ben Nevis, the tallest mountain in Great Britain at 4,409 ft.  The lunch stop was a meat pie and a warm diet Coke.  The valleys or glens were created by the glaciers, and the valley walls still show the scars from the ice.  The glaciers rounded everything.

Glencoe was the area where the MacDonalds were massacred by Campbells.   The history is complex and is full of back stabbing, loyal fighters and bravery.  I would try to tell you, but I don't think I would have enough ale to explain it.