Tall ships past our window

We left France today for Ireland and are very sad to have that part of our trip behind us. For the last week, we have been camped out on the beach at St. Briac sur Mer just West of St. Malo on the Cote d'Amour. That part of France is absolutely stunning and beautiful; we had an apartment in an old sea captain's house which is on the ocean side of a very posh golf course (golf Dinard for those wishing to google it). The tides are huge and powerful here, and the sailors are very traditional. Every morning through our window, we would see a variety of sailing ships headed out with school groups aboard. Occasionally, a really big tall ship would cruise by on the horizon under a towering cloud of sail. We visited St. Malo (from which Jacques Cartier left to colonize Quebec), Dinan, St. Juiac (lots of kite-surfing there), La Richardais, St. Servant (where there is an excellent museum dedicated to the Cape Horn clipper ship sailors), Fort de la Latte, L'Abbe du Beauport and Mont St. Michel. I will add some pictures soon!

In Dublin, we were met at the airport by Deirdre's uncle John; since our arrival a few hours ago we've been visiting with aunt Geraldine and cousins James and Sean, and had phone calls from Aunt Katherine and Uncle Seamus... the phone is ringing again... looks like we have a lot of visiting to do!

Best wishes to the Lambs - Lisa, James, Max and Charlie. We are very sorry to be missing what I hear is going to be (or has been?) a big party. We are sad you will be out of the 'hood for a while and hope all goes well in Texas.

Paris in the Spring

Hot and sunny in Paris today mixed with.... rain? Spring weather can change a lot here! So far we have visited the Eiffel Tower (big hit with James) been conned out of a water bottle and an apple by a gypsy (could have been worse), visited a science museum and spent 5 hours (!!!?!!) at the Louvre (big hit with David).

James has decided that all the classical depictions of guys with armor are missing the likely smell factor which would accompany their lifestyle. He's decided they all wore 'smellmets' on their heads; not helmets... James has such long hair now, he's starting to be a bit smellmetty himself.

Tomorrow we have a booking for Cité des Enfants at the science and technology centre. No Smellmets.

Paris is an amazing city; more amazing is our ability to instantly figure out the Metro and find a place for the boys to use the washroom withing 2 or 3 minutes! The travel skills one acquires... much easier in French than in Greek...

Our apartment is close the the Place de la Republique and is very small, but nice. The boys can find their way home on 4 diferent Metro lines.

Thanks to all for birthday greetings - so sorry to Gracie for not sending an e-mail on your birthday; we hope it rocked, girlfriend.

Happy Birthday to Rob & James

Today we leave Italy again which is sad as we have really enjoyed our time in this beautiful country. Since leaving Athens, we have been on the trains, visiting Verona (a very beautiful city), Venice (very hot and crowded, and not really magical at all), and have run through Milan to Genoa. In Verona, we stayed at the local youth hostel which is located in a 17th century villa with a 6 hectare garden. In the morning, we were woken by the sounds of thousands of birds singing, including cukoos. We managed to see all the attractions of Verona we missed the last time through 11 years ago, including the first century Roman Arena, the Castelveccio, the botanical gardens (with a maze!) and the biological museum.

In Venice, we slugged our way through the crowds to the Piazza San Marco to see the Doge's Palace and also a display of musical instruments from Vivaldi's school. When we arrived in Genoa, we decided to treat ourselves to a nice hotel - with a bath tub! James and David are actually clean! We saw the Aquarium which was amazing, and the Maritime Museum.

Today we are headed west, back to France, through Nice to either St. Raphael or Avignon, and then on to Paris on the TGV where we have a tiny apartment for a week. Hard to believe our trip is about half over; we've come very far and seen so many amazing things! Looking forward to more time in France, and then visiting the Irish Aunts, Uncles and Cousins starting May 30th.

Happy Birthday to Iris - sorry we won't be there for the Party - and to Colleen. James turns 6 in 2 days and is very excited about having cake! Tahnks Becky or the updates, eh?

Will update pictures at the next chance.

Caio caio

Parthenon at Night

Yesterday evening we went for a walk in the neighbourhood of the hostel, and experienced a bit more of Greek life and culture. It's good we're moving on as we're getting a little sick of eating so many Gyros with lots of tzatziki and feta. Still like the Mythos beer, though. We decided to take the metro down to the Acropoli for one last look as night settled over Athens, and were glad we did. The Plaka was full of people and music; there was a huge open-air book fair going on as well. We climbed up the sacred rock and circled the Acropolis which provided a very nice view of the city. I'll try t o attach a couple of pictures before our computer access is limited again.

Another highlight - we had a chance to call Kathy, Jeff, Hil & Grace. Very nice to hear voices from home . We wished they were here with us to share the night views,n and dodge the Albania Gypsy beggars.

Memories of Greece include sailing in 40 knots of wind, listening to gunshots (a possible Albanian revolution?) on the beach at night on Nissos Patros, James, Kate and Meagan bein g hoisted up the mast on the bosun's chair, eating 'meze' and octopus, wantering the cliffside at Santorini, and following a fisherman down the dock in Rhodes while he used a spear-gun to catch his dinner. Also, our sailor's pilgrimage to the Temple of Posseidon. James remembers all the portside playgrounds, including the big bug climber he fell off of at Nisos Spetsai (left a really big bruise). David will remember eating Gyros and playing on the boats, seeing schools of porpoises bounding over the waves towards the boat, and watching the beautiful tumbling sea from the bow.

Our trip so far has been amazing. We are almost half way through the 22 weeks of travel. There are days we miss home, and all our friends, but mostly we are excited about the next part of the adventure. We have met so many nice people who have been very kind to us, especially to David and James; we hope this trend continues as we work our way back West.

New Pictures!!

Finally some new shots of our adventure. Hope you enjoy!

Athens

Sadly, we have finished our time yachting in the Greek Islands. Our excellent skipper, Steve Hooker, left us at 3:30am to catch his flight back to Kos. Steve was great to sail with; he taught us a lot about handling boats, and took us to some amazing sites, including ancient ruins, beautiful towns and secluded coves. We stayed one night in a bay by the island of Dhokos, where Jacques Cousteau found a 3000 year-old ship which was still full of cargo. An amazing place where we were lulled to sleep by the sound of the bells around the goats' necks on shore. The sailing was great. We finished yesterday reaching across to the harbour accompanied by the local Optimist sailing fleet - young kids training to be the next generation of Olympic sailors.

We checked off the boat at 9:00am and are now at the Hostel Aphrodite trying to deal with VISA over a non-functioning credit card. The frustrations of travel! David and James are cruising the net as I type, and Deirdre is searching for the next places we'll stay on our way back to Paris. We really only have one day in Athens, and will try to see the Parthenon and a few other sites near our hostel.

Thanks Lynne and Brett for the text message - we got it on Steve's phone and are glad to hear you still have 'boat head' from rocking in the waves. Our little Bavaria handled the seas very well, but was not nearly as luxurious as the cat! Glad the plate made it home...