West Ireland Road Trip

Good afternoon from Claremorris, County Mayo. We have covered a fair bit of both rocky and fertile ground around Ireland in the last week. We drove towards County Clare via Limmerick where we stopped to see an interesting cave near Mitchelstown. The entrance is at a farmer's house, where one knocks on the door to pay the admission. From there we headed North to the Burren, a high rocky plateau covered with ancient mystical ruins. We stayed for three days at Clare's Rock Hostel, run by Pat Cassidy, right down the road from Cassidy's pub. You can see where this is going... Cassidy's bus lines take you to all the sites if you don't have a car. The local dairy, Cassidy's, makes really good ice cream...

The Burren is dotted with ruined ring-forts and Dolmans dating back about 1600 years. The area has been continuously settled for over 8000 years, which is hard to imagine given the very rocky terrain. We also spent some time at the Aliwee caves, the cliffs of Moher (where a scene from 'the Princess Bride' was filmed) and the swimming pool in the town of Lehinch. After three days of exploring, we headed Norht to Claremorris. We've been in the good hands of Dan Egan, Jarrod and Anne Egan (great dinner!) and their family, Noula (really great stew!) and Seamus and their boys John, Darraugh and Keiran, and have seen a lot of the county. We spent some time visiting with Deirdre's grand-aunt Kay at her house. She let us know that it's been there as a farm in he family for over 100 years.

Yesterday we climbed part-way up Croak Patrick, the highest mountain in Ireland and the mystical spot where St. Patrick fasted and contemplated the future of the faith of Ireland, and spent some time on the beach at Old Head near Westport. Just off shore from there is Clare's Island, home to Ireland's most famous Pirate, Grace O'Malley.

We've been staying at the Egan family farm which is still home to a few cows and a horse. At night, we burn peat in the fire, sip Irish whiskey. play cards and tell tales of adventures past and present. David and James have learned quite a bit of Irish history, and a lot about their family here. Today they had a chance to ride out in the tractor with Seamus Murphy to count the yearling cows in the far pasture, and to check out the milking operation at the farm. David is really interested in all of this; James just wants to drive the tractor...

Thursday we head back to Dublin, then to Aberdeen, Scotland on Sunday. It rains a lot here, but it sounds like the ground is more used to taking it up than in Clagary... keep your wellies handy...

Hot days in Ferrycarrig

Good evening blog watchers. We have been having a wonderful time staying with John and Bernadette Parle here in the sunny Southeast. Touring County Wexford makes one a true believer in Ireland's charm and natural beauty, no doubt. We've had absolutely glorious hot sunny weather since leaving Dublin. On the way down we stopped at the Abbey of Glendalough and had a great time driving the back roads with Eoin Parle. Over the last few days, we've spent some time on the stunning beach near Curracloe where the film 'Saving Private Ryan' was shot. Deirdre has been swimming in the Irish sea there, and the boys have been making excellent sand castles. We've also spent some time in the town of Wexford, been down to the sea at Kilmore Quays, explored the grounds around Johson Castle, toured a famine ship in New Ross, found our way out of an extensive hedge maze at Dunbrody Abbey and watched the surf pounding at the foot of the lighthouse on Hook Head.

Yesterday John Parle and Dan Egan took me to the county final hurling match at Nowlan Park in Kilkenny. County Wexford (the Yellowbellies sponsored by Wexford Cheddar) and County Dublin ( the Arnotts? sponsored by...Guinness?) played a thrilling, head-bashing, knee-snapping match that saw the favourite Wexford squad narrowly defeat Dublin in the dying seconds by one score. If you ever get a chance to see a hurling match, go. It made NHL hockey play-offs look a bit silly, especially considering NONE of the hurling players get paid a cent to play, and the effort they make in the game far surpasses anything routinely seen in professional sports.

Tomorrow is our last day in Wexford; we will be renting a car and winding along the very skinny roads towards Waterford and the Rock of Cashel. We'll be staying later in the week at Clare's Rock Hostel in the Burren, County Clare, near the cliffs of Moher, Dingle and Galway. We meet up with Dan Egan again in Mayo on Saturday and will spend some time on the farm where Deirdre's mother was born before heading back to Dublin. Having hard luck trying to get more pictures on this thing, but will try next time we have high-speed access.

Hope everyone in Calgary is recovered from the flood. HOT AND SUNNY IN IRELAND!!?!!

Lucky days

We are having a great time in Dublin, visiting with family (John, Geraldine, James, Sean, Mary, Peter, Catherine & Connel, Seamus, Padragh, Groinge, Olivia & Eoin, Ann, Alan, Serena & Joshua, Dan too) and seeing some sites. We've been to the natural history museum, and spent some time looking at tall ships on the Liffey during Dublin's Maritime Days festival. Also, we went to see Jack Sparrow escape from Davy Jones's locker at the movies with cousin Josh Warren yesterday, so the nautical theme continues!

Shortly, we are off the the Guinness Storehouse with cousin Sean Egan to see how they make the famous stout. Surprisingly, it's s'posed to be a good tour for kids, in spite of them not being able to consume the end product. Sean's brother James has started a summer job as an apprentice in the brewery, which includes daily free lunches and free guinness. Nice work if you can get it.

Tomorrow we head to the sunny South East with cousin Eoin Parle to see his parents John and Bernadette, and to maybe, finally get out to a pub or two. Must head out to learn the secrets of black beer (Dublin is from Irish "Duhb Lin", meaning black water or black pools - little did they know how important little black pools might become...)

Clare Feasby - still waiting to hear what a 'Hollaback Girl' is; maybe Meagan and Kate Norris can help out! Cheers, Amigos

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.