Bonjour Paris

All packed and ready to go, we made our way through the drizzly streets of Dublin to the station to catch the train to Rosslare.  A pigeon used Michael as target practice at the station, which I found hilarious (Michael did not).  I tried to tell him that it was a lucky sign but I don’t think he believed me.  Anyway, Michael had the last laugh on me later that evening when I discovered that my new cardigan, which I had been parading around in all day, still had the enormous security tag attached!

Our cabin on the Oscar Wilde was very spacious and this time we had a porthole so we could watch our progress across the water.  We had a lovely meal in the French restaurant and then watched a bit of the cabaret which was a bit too RSL for our taste.  The overnight crossing was so smooth that the following morning, Michael woke with a start, and not feeling the ship’s engine or any movement, was convinced that we had overslept and had already docked.  A quick look out of the porthole confirmed that we were still at sea.

The ship docked in Roscoff and it was a relatively short walk to the station, once we worked out which direction to take.  Four trains later, three of which were very comfortable country trains, followed by one metro train, we arrived in Paris.  The weather was glorious and it was just a short walk to hotel, check in and then off to reacquaint ourselves with the beautiful city.

Once again we had managed to coincide our stay with the free museum Sunday.  Michael and I took a leisurely walk along the canal and through the streets of Paris, stopping to window shop along way.  There was a huge women’s marathon taking place and I felt a little guilty watching the slim, super fit women running past.  Michael wanted to see the Arab Monde Museum so we made that our first stop.  The museum was very modern and contained many artefacts and interesting displays but it wasn’t quite what Michael was expecting.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t feeling well, so I returned to the hotel and Michael continued on to his favourite gallery in Paris – the Gustav Moreau museum.  He had a lovely time as there were a number of different works on display and he was able to spend as long as he wanted, looking at them all.

Cat Cafe

The next morning, we took a walk along the Rue Montorgueil, as I had read that this was one of the best “foodie” streets in Paris.  Michael and I had a lovely time looking at all the beautiful delicatessens, boulangeries and patisseries.  We stopped at Patisserie Stohrer, which is famous for its rum babas and was the patisserie to Louis XV.  Michael tried one and was impressed.  We then had a coffee at Au Rocher de Cancale, a café Alexandre Dumas mentioned in one of his books. 





I still get a kick out the history on view in the European cities.  I wanted to see the love- lock bridge as I had read that they had all been removed.  Indeed they have all been removed and the bridge railings are now covered in boarding with colourful and amusing graffiti.  I understand that the boarding will be replaced with Perspex later in the year.

Hymn of Bavaria

It was just a short walk to the station for the next stage of our journey.  We caught a very comfortable double decker train to Munich and, as we were in first class on the upper deck, it was a very pleasant trip indeed.    The best part of travelling by train is watching the ever-changing scenery and we saw many small villages nestled into the foothills of the mountains.  I would love to spend a month just driving through Germany, as it such a beautiful country.  We arrived late at night in Munich and once again it was just a short walk to our hotel.

The next day, Michael and I set off to reacquaint ourselves with the city.  Our last visit was in winter and the city was blanketed with thick snow.  It was lovely seeing Munich in the snow however it did make walking around a little more difficult.  This time, the city has come alive with many restaurants having outdoor seating and beer gardens, large and small have sprung up everywhere.  We re-visited the Hofbrauhaus for dinner and Michael was very happy to enjoy a meal of schweinhaxe and beer accompanied by the music of the oompah band.

I decided to take a leaf out of our son Tim’s book, and looked up where to find the best coffee in Munich.  A short tram ride took us to Vits café where we found the best coffee of our trip so far.  It was a trendy café where they roast their own beans and it was well worth the journey. 

One of the best places in Munich is the Viktualienmarkt - an outdoor fresh food market.  Every type of sausage, cheese, meat, fruit and vegetable is available and there is a large beer garden in the centre.  You are allowed to bring your own food into the beer garden as long as you purchase your beer there.  Michael and I purchased our picnic supplies and then headed to the Englischer Garten, a huge park, which is an oasis in the middle of Munich.  There are a number of beer gardens in the park and Michael and I took a seat at the Chinese Tower, ordered a beer and then ate our picnic whilst watching all the cyclist, walkers, dogs and children having a wonderful time. 

Michael and I had dinner at Zum Straubinger, a restaurant voted as having the best schweinhaxe in Munich.  Michael was beside himself as he enjoyed a full schweinhaxe, dumplings, sauerkraut and potato salad washed down with beer and riesling.  Apple strudel with ice cream followed and he was a very happy camper indeed.

 

My Dublin Bay

Life continues to treat us very well and Michael and I are thoroughly enjoying our time in Dublin.  Our weekends are spent exploring the streets, visiting exhibitions and trying different cafes and restaurants.  We keep an eye out for any events and try to get along and see as much as possible.

One of the things that we have wanted to do for some time was a cruise around Dublin Harbour.  The weather has warmed up sufficiently to contemplate such an outing so we caught the train to Howth.  Howth is a lovely seaside town, which is very popular with Dubliners in the summer time.  We had a beautiful seafood lunch and then we boarded the ferry, which was to take us around the bay.  I was so excited when Michael spotted a large seal swimming next to the fishing trawlers.  He seemed unafraid of people and was obviously hoping to score some of the fish that had been caught.  When we returned home, I did some research and discovered that his name is Sammy and that he is a well-known local character.

We cruised around the bay and then continued the ferry ride to the harbour town of Dun Laoghaire.  This is where Michael usually dives from, so it was nice for me to see where he disappears to now and then.  We disembarked the ferry and headed to the famous Teddy’s Ice Cream shop, which has been serving ice cream for the past 65 years.  Delicious!

Whilst on the topic of Irish food, we have discovered a dish, which appears to be unique to Ireland although it is fiercely debated where exactly in Ireland the dish originated – the Spice Bag.  It is a takeaway available from Chinese restaurants and consists of deep fried chicken balls, mixed with vegetables and seasoned chips using a blend of salt and chilli.  It sounds and looks terrible however it is very tasty.

The big news in Ireland has been the passing of the Yes Vote, which will allow gay people to marry.  We had watched with interest the public canvassing of people in the streets with many wearing “Yes” badges and t-shirts.  There were posters both for and against nailed to just about every light pole and there were numerous articles written in the daily newspapers.  Michael and I took a stroll through the city after the results of the vote had come through and there were people everywhere.  It was a giant party with bands playing and people dancing in the street with a general atmosphere of euphoria - a very emotional time for people.  We will now watch with interest what happens in Australia.

Once more the seasons have changed quickly.  The daffodils, tulips and cherry blossoms have given way to the poppies, which seem to be everywhere and are huge in size (no wonder the bumble bees are enormous here).  We haven’t experienced as much wet weather as we did last year, however the winds have been mighty and relentless.  It is certainly a reminder that you are on an island in the middle of the Atlantic.

We have just had another Bank Holiday long weekend.  Michael and I attended the Dublin Port’s Riverfest, which featured tall ships, food and craft markets and many pirates.  Children were encouraged to dress up as pirates and it was astonishing to see how elaborate some of the outfits were (no newspaper pirate hats like I used to have).  The children had a lot of fun and even adults dressed up for the occasion. 

Well, our time in Ireland is once again is drawing to a close.  Michael and I will be leaving here on Friday to explore a little more of Europe.  With any luck we will return in July – I certainly hope so!

Knickerbocker Glory yum

Old Dublin Town

Once again we are back in the swing of things in Dublin.  This year, we were both lucky enough to be here for St Patrick’s Day.  Michael was here for St Patrick’s Day last year however I was in London at the time with Christine.  The celebration took place over 4 days with something for everyone.  In the evening, all of the principal buildings were lit by green lights, including the Spire (charmingly referred to by Dubliners as the Stiletto in the Ghetto) and it was lovely to walk around and admire the city.  There was a big children’s fair set up with rides and games and there were a number of exhibitions and displays set up around the town.  One of the buildings opened free to the public, was Marsh’s Library.  This wonderful old library was built in 1701 and it was a joy to wander around and look at the beautiful dark oak bookcases and see the cages that students were locked into to study.

The highlight of St Patrick’s Day was naturally the parade.  Thousands of people thronged the route as everyone jostled to get the best view.  It was the first parade I have attended where people brought their ladders to stand on!  There were many marching bands and floats and everyone seemed to have a jolly time.  When the parade had finished, Michael and I headed out to watch the hurling. 




This was our first hurling match and it was exciting to watch the speed at which the players run at the ball (sliotar) and whack it with their sticks (hurleys).  I won’t pretend that I understood much of what was happening but I do know that I would never have allowed James & Tim to play the game.  Arming those two boys with hurleys would have been just asking for trouble!  The hurling was followed by a game of Gaelic football, which was an exciting match as well.  At least I could pretty much follow what was happening.  It was good to see what a family celebration St Patrick’s Day is.  We didn’t see any intoxicated people like we see in Australia.  Mind you, we deliberately avoided Temple Bar as we knew that all of the tourists who had descended on Dublin would be out is force celebrating.

 





The past two months have seen several of Michael’s former work colleagues come over to Dublin and it is always nice catching up with them for a meal.  Tim’s son, Christopher, was touring Ireland with his choir and we caught a performance at St Patrick’s Cathedral.  It had been a while since Michael and I had been to a choir performance and it was very peaceful sitting in the magnificent church and the performance was very good. St Patrick’s is the largest cathedral in Ireland and has been on the site for over 800 years. 

We experienced our second Easter in Ireland and once more I was amazed at the number of shops open on Good Friday, especially the butchers.  I have subsequently discovered that the reason for this is that Good Friday is not a gazetted public holiday.  It is classified as a bank holiday, which means that not all businesses are required to close.  In fact, the only businesses required to close on Good Friday are the pubs.  Another quirky liquor law that we have discovered by chance, is that you are not allowed to purchase alcohol before 10.30am on any day and only after 12.00pm on Sundays.  We had picked up a bottle of wine to have with our dinner at the supermarket and were informed that we would have to wait 10 minutes before we could purchase the bottle (it was 10.20am Saturday).  The scanners at the registers are physically locked to ensure that no alcohol is sold before the correct time. 

Easter Saturday, we decided to have a sporting day.  First we took in a rugby game of Leinster v Bath.  It was a packed stadium and some of the Bath supporters went to the trouble of dressing as Roman centurions.  They started off very vocal, challenging all comers and waving their swords (plastic) in the air.  They soon quietened down when Leinster overtook them on the scoreboard.  We followed the rugby with a trip to the greyhound stadium to watch the dish lickers.  Michael and I had a surprisingly good meal in the restaurant overlooking the racetrack and we had great fun using our highly scientific method to bet on the winner (if we liked the name, we bet on it).  The lady who looked after the placing of our bets was impressed serving such high rollers as us- 4 Euro between us per race ($6).  One of Michael’s dogs refused to parade past the punters and his poor embarrassed owner had to carry him to the starting box.  Amazingly, he actually won the race!  We enjoyed ourselves so much that we took Tim with us last week.  He seemed to enjoy himself and he actually won a few races, possibly because he actually studied the form guide for the dogs instead of just fancying their names!

Easter Sunday we headed to the Easter Uprising service marking 99 years since the uprising.  The service was held out the front of the main post office, which of course was where the main events happened all those years ago.  The roads were blocked off by the police and security was tight.  Bags were checked at the one entrance and there was a sizable crowd there.  The service was conducted in Gaelic, however we understood the gist of it.  There were displays in the street detailing the history of the uprising.  I hope that we are lucky enough to be here next year for the centenary celebrations.

The Galway Girl

Michael wanted to do some diving so we hired a car and drove to county Galway to the tiny town of Tully Cross.  It took us 6 hours to drive there as it was pouring rain and the last part of the drive was hair raising trying to navigate extremely narrow lanes in the pitch dark.  At last we found our accommodation, Maol Reidh Hotel and we settled in for the night.  Michael spent the Saturday diving whilst I spent a leisurely day reading in the lobby, as it was much too cold outside for me.  Every time I looked out of the window I discovered the weather had changed – one moment there was sunshine, next came the rain, which was then followed by hail. 


The cycle then went onto repeat in a never-ending loop.  Michael returned shivering, having completed a shore dive and a boat dive.  He enjoyed himself but was too cold to want to repeat the performance on Sunday.  The town of Tully Cross consists of 2 pubs, the hotel we stayed in and a few scattered houses.  That was it – no general store or anything else.  We amused ourselves with a pub- crawl of the 3 establishments.

We awoke the next day to the view of mountains covered in snow, which explained why we had been feeling so cold.  After breakfast, we took a lovely drive through the countryside, stopping at Roundstone for a coffee.  We had been there before and remembered what a relaxing town it was.  The café overlooked the water and it was peaceful sitting sipping our coffees and watching the world drift by.  Then we drove through the wilds of Connemara to Limerick where we spent the night.

The next day, Michael had work to do in Shannon so I had the day to myself to explore the town.  The last time we were in Limerick the weather was cold and raining, however, this time, it was glorious sunshine.  The city looked completely different and it was interesting to see just how beautiful the city is with lovely buildings and gardens and of course the castle along the River Shannon.  I spent the day checking out the places of interest along with the shops.  Michael says that I have turned into his father, as I can’t go past an op shop without checking out the books for sale.  There are many op shops in Limerick, which, whilst good for me, is a sad reflection of the times.  We dined in Limerick before driving back to Dublin and I was able to try a Knickerbocker Glory, which I had tried to track down in England with no luck.  It was wonderful!

Michael and I attended the dawn service on Anzac Day at the Grangegorman Military Cemetery.  The crowd was considerably larger than last year and the service was very moving.  Unfortunately we had a rather embarrassing moment when Michael’s phone alarm went off at full volume during the prayer.  Michael panicked and pushed every button on the phone but still it rang on.  He eventually managed to remove the battery just as I was getting ready to stomp on the thing!  It could have been worse though, it could have happened during the two minutes’ silence.  

Since we were up and about so early, we decided to wait until the zoo opened.  Unfortunately, just as we entered the zoo, the heavens opened and the rain set in for the rest of the day.  We spent the morning wandering the exhibits soaked to the skin whilst the animals did the smart thing and stayed in their shelters.  It is a nice zoo with a good range of animals and we will definitely return when the weather is kinder.

The Boys of the County Cork

It was the Labour Day weekend so Michael and I hired a car and headed to Cork for the weekend.  It poured with rain for most of the drive however the weather cheered up by the time we arrived.  We had lunch at the English Market, which is the main food market in the centre of Cork.  There has been a market on this site since 1788 with the present buildings dating back to the mid 19^th century.  It was very pleasant wandering around looking at all the fresh produce and it was the best market we have seen in Ireland.  Cork is a beautiful, old city and we spent the afternoon exploring the streets and shops before checking into the Ambassador Hotel.  When we arrived, we assumed that there was a wedding reception taking place, as we could see a huge number of formally dressed guests.  Imagine our surprise when we looked in and saw that the “bride” was in fact a 7 year old girl celebrating her first communion!  The hotel receptionist told us that every Friday and Saturday evening for the next two months has been booked for communion functions.  Apparently the trend is for the child to arrive by chauffeured limousine and if the child is a girl, then a spray tan is a must!  It is all much grander than when our boys took their first communion.

The next day was our wedding anniversary (how the years fly by) and we drove to Kinsale for breakfast.  One of the more challenging things in Ireland is to find somewhere that opens at a reasonable hour for breakfast.  It is nearly impossible to find somewhere even in Dublin with many cafes advertising breakfast but not opening until 11.00am or even midday.  It is certainly not like Melbourne. 

Kinsale would have to be the most picture perfect town that we have seen since arriving in Dublin.  The narrow, winding streets are filled with lovely, restored houses and shops and I would definitely like to spend a weekend in the town.  We spent the afternoon driving around the countryside, which is mainly beautiful, lush green farmland.  










 We also saw the monument for the people who perished during the sinking of the Lusitania at the Old Head.  It was 100 years ago today (at time of writing) that the Lusitania sank in 91 metres of water just off the Cork coast.

 









Since we were in Cork, it was only right that we should make the pilgrimage to Blarney Castle.  We arrived nice and early in order to beat the tourist buses and we dutifully climbed to the top of the castle keep to see the Blarney Stone.  We did not kiss the stone, as I was worried that if I lay down to kiss it, I would not be able to get back up again!  The view from the tower was impressive and it worth the climb just to see that.  We then walked the grounds, which were enormous and we hoped that we would see some red squirrels however they were all hiding that day. 












 








A short drive took us to the Jameson Distillery where we lunched and had a good look around.  It was then time to slowly wend our way back to Dublin.