Ireland, August 2016 part 3

We had arranged to stay at a rural house on a horse farm about an hour from Cork. We got a bit lost and locals helped us find first the hilly, curvy country road and then the correct driveway. As we pulled in, we saw the owner, B, and soon her gloriously beautiful property with amazing views of hilly countryside. We settled into the 300-year-old stone building where we would be staying. Downstairs was a nice kitchen and a large 4-bed bedroom, perfect for the four kids. Up a spiral staircase was a large living room, two bedrooms, large bathroom, and wood stove. We could look out dormer windows onto the property. There were books and cozy armchairs everywhere. We absolutely loved it here! We went walking with B and picked many blackberries for ourselves and for the horses who followed us everywhere.

It was magical, having these muscular thoroughbreds following us like puppies and eating blackberries from our hands. We were all entranced. B explained that these are polo horses, which need a gentle temperament in their work, and have recently finished the training season, so they may miss the contact with people. We just couldn’t get over how sweet and curious they were, despite their large size and clearly defined muscles. We spent a lot of time out there, even without B which attests to the lovely nature of these horses. Back at the cottage, we had a great dinner on the porch with small metal fireplace burning for warmth and for toasting marshmallows. We had a salad from B’s garden, and cooked blackberries and apples with ice cream for dessert.

We had very cozy nights in the big cottage. Stables, also stone and 300 years old, attached to our cottage. Pics and notes from those days:

30 August

Everyone in my bed in the morning. I have a double bed with a skylight in room. We were all cozy then had breakfast then went out picking blackberries again in the field with the horses again. Misty, sometimes a fine drizzle, Douglas the chubby black lab joined us again but Thompson the little dog did not. Horses again are so curious and friendly and nice to be around. Cut, defined muscles and short soft hair. At one point they run to the gate because one there whinnies to them so we get to see them run.

This is the kids’ new favorite place, everyone is so happy. Me too! It is beautiful here and we feel like we have a little clubhouse. Drove to beach, cool and cloudy some drizzle.

Thatched roof houses, we even saw a new housing development with thatched roofs. ‘Copper coast drive’ along south coast, Pacific Ocean, rocky cliffs, twins swam, then back to cottage, dinner and hanging out with horses and the big beautiful changing sky.

Getting far behind on posts- posting this now 🙂

 

Ireland, August 2015 part 2

We left Dublin in a rental car. We wanted to visit two places near Limerick that DH and I had visited in 2002 when we had spent a week in Ireland with baby Fiercely. The first of these was Clonmacnoise, above, an ancient monastery. It was built in the sixth century AD and served as a pilgrimage site for many years for scholars visiting the monastery. It is part of the pilgrim paths of Ireland, many of which are now bicycling and hiking paths. As with many places in Ireland, it was attacked repeatedly by Vikings, Normans, English, and other invaders who removed its treasures such as illuminated texts and religious objects made of gold and jewels. The stone walls of several structures remain, as do grave sites and a path used by pilgrims. It is on a hill overlooking a lake. We have told Fiercely about this place her whole life because she fell on the stone steps here in 2002 when she was a toddler. She has a tiny scar on the bridge of her nose from this fall and has always found it interesting and possibly significant (a la Harry Potter) since it came from a medieval monastery in Ireland. We spent some time trying to figure out exactly which steps caused her scar. Indoors, there is a small museum with several high crosses (top photo above shows an example that remains outdoors) and other carved stones. A life-sized diorama in the museum shows what the stone carving process probably looked like. Unlike many things we saw in Ireland, Clonmacnoise had not changed much in 14 years. Here is Truly rolling down a hill and some stone steps where Fiercely may have tripped:

We also stopped nearby to see the Clonfinlough Stone, which has carvings that may date to Christian pilgrims heading to Clonmacnoise in the 9th to 12th centuries. It was in a beautiful location:

That might we stayed in a town called Bodyke in a golf resort, of all places. They had some kind of rental deal which was very affordable and we had a large, two-story house to ourselves that night. We did not stay long to enjoy it, however, since we had plans the next day.

We visited Bunratty Castle and folk park (above) which has many examples of Irish buildings through the ages. There are rural thatched roof buildings, a recreation of a Main Street, a foundry, and a fisherman’s house to name a few. Some of these are actual homes and buildings that were moved to the site, including a church that was relocated there stone by stone. There are also playgrounds, goats and chickens, extensive gardens, and the castle itself. The grounds are over 25 acres and feel even larger.  Although it is a popular stop on the tour bus route, it does not feel crowded because it is so spread out. This was the second place we re-visited after 14 years and it has changed significantly, adding several buildings and opening more of the castle to visitors. Next we were off to the southern “Copper Coast”. It turned out to be one of our favorite places of the whole 20+ country trip!

Ireland, August, 2016

We were in Holyhead, England to catch the ferry to Dublin, Ireland. Our hotel had a big breakfast for us and we walked about 15 minutes to the port. It was a breezy, sunny morning, and we enjoyed looking at the Roman fort and church ruins on the way and also crossing the bridge to the port. On the ferry:

The ferry ride was about three hours. It was like a mini-cruise ship with restaurants, lounges, and a movie for the kids. There was wifi on board which helped our trip planning. It was windy and cold on the deck. It was exciting to see Ireland get closer, with hills and the Dublin port welcoming us to the island. We arrived, disembarked, and took a city bus to a neighborhood of brick rowhouses in the northeast part of the city. The doors were colorful. A plaque said they were company houses from 1910. We stayed two nights in a newer house at the end of this block.

We walked to Trinity college and back. It was interesting to walk past the new and old bridges over the Liffey River, and to see the newer office buildings on the walk.  It seems Dublin has built a lot in the past decade or so. Trinity College is beautiful and we returned the next day.

At Trinity, we saw The Book of Kells, a famous illuminated gospel text from 800AD, and the historic library there. Relatedly, we watched the wonderful animated film called The Secret of Kells that evening- highly recommended. It tells a story, loosely based on what historians think really happened, of the famous book. You can’t take photos of the Book itself, but here is the gorgeous library:

I really wanted to see the bog bodies so we went to the Archeology museum. Many things have been preserved in the acidic, cold, low-oxygen bogs and they give clues to ancient life in Ireland.  Clothing, food, and even an illuminated text have been found very well preserved. The most fascinating find, though, has to be the bodies of people who were strangled and placed there for reasons unknown. The bodies are believed to be from upper class people, judging from the clothing and lack of evidence that they did much physical labor in their lives.

There were many other intriguing exhibits there on Vikings, the Normans, mideival life and pre-Christian life. There was a special exhibit on The Psalter book, dating from the ninth century and found in a bog in 2006. I love archaeology museums and this really was a good one. 

A few blocks away was a pedestrian street with buskers. I think it is Grafton Street. Here are the twins with some performers.

We also had some decent burritos in Dublin. You may scoff, burrito snobs, but you probably haven’t had a Darjeeling burrito. It was so bad that afterwards, Dublin may be the first place I dared try one. Anyway, while I’m on the subject, worth noting is The Buttery student cafeteria at Trinity- budget friendly, cafeteria style of course, and perfect for us trying to feed six easily and under budget. Awesome scones and other baked goodies. 

We left Dublin the next day in a rental car. DH and I had taken a trip to Ireland in 2002 with 15-month-old Fiercely. Stay tuned for the trip with 15 year old Fiercely plus her three little sisters!

Road trip London to Holyhead, August 2016, part 2



Our next night was near Hereford, England and it took a little while to get there. It was another unique rural find. Tucked away in tiny Rectory Lane facing St. James the Great Church, Cradely parish, (above) was the adorable ‘Cider Barn’. It had a tiny kitchen (below) and two cozy beds upstairs. The host also showed us his residence next door- a gorgeous place built with wood from sail ships dismantled in favor of steamships so long ago. We checked out the cemetary behind the church, and I wondered about the story of the husband and wife “accidentally killed” seven years apart (above). Instead of cooking, we had dinner at a pub called The Fox. The food was fine, and dessert was great- fruit cobbler or pie which came with warm custard. On the way there and often while driving, we were enchanted by small farm fields, houses with thatched roofs, pubs, square hedges and some tall hedges that made a green tunnel around us as we drove. 

 
We drove next to Liverpool and saw The Cavern Club of Beatles fame- actually a re-creation a few feet away from the original, which was demolished for a city train project. There happened to be an international Beatles festival wth cover bands from all over the world (Poland? Thailand? Turkey? Apparently they all love the Fab Four) that week. Liverpool has a university and also had a mix of thriving and faltering businesses in the area. We listened to a band and checked out the Beatles memorabilia on the Cavern walls but really didn’t stay long.

We encountered traffic and highways on the drive to Holyhead, and it seemed kind of long as we were a little crowded and tired of being in the car. Our destination was the port town from which the are ferries to Ireland. In Holyhead, we stayed at two different hotels due to space issues. These are small houses on residential streets and I stayed with Fiercely, Cleverly, and Really while DH and Truly stayed a few blocks away. We had a great  dinner at Stanley Arms pub on Newry Street. It seems to be a very quiet town. It was windy and close to the water. It was a very pretty area with hills in the distance and the tidy houses in rows. There was also a Roman fort we passed the next day as we went to the ferry. Next was Ireland! Some photos from Holyhead and crossing the bridge to the ferry:

Then we got on the ferry and headed to Ireland!

Road trip London to Holyhead, England, August 2016

We didn’t want to, but we had to leave London sometime. DH went to get the car and I read to the twins in the garden. I had tea with S one last time. Before I knew it, we were saying thank you to M and S and goodbye for now and thank you again. We were in the rental car with our backpacks and it was time to head out of the city. We were making our way to rural Wales to a farmhouse for the night, but it was only a couple of hours away and we had all day to get there. 

It took over an hour to get out of London to the freeway. I appreciate that the big roads do not cut through the city as they often do in the US. Travel by car is therefore more difficult but I am happy to put up with this since it encourages people to use trains and means a more organic form to the city. Being trapped in a small car with pre-teen music blasting is not ideal but not so bad either, considering we had only six in the car instead of seven like last road trip. And the one before that. 

Salisbury

We went first to Salisbury- St. Thomas’s Church with the Doom Painting from 1475 was beautiful and strange (above). I liked the handmade pillows for kneeling (above). Salisbury Cathedral (below) was enormous and has a copy of the Magna Carta! The town itself was very walkable with pedestrian streets and many shops. We spent a couple of hours here. 

Stonehenge was next. It was surprisingly expensive so only Cleverly and Fiercely went to the actual site. Luckily, Siri sent us the wrong way to the entrance and we had a great view from highway. 

Per F and C, there is a fence around the ancient stones so visitors can’t get very close. They did have entry to a small museum which they said was ‘ok’ but that could mean anything from our 12 and 15 year old correspondents. We all did enjoy the visitor center where there are recreations of houses during the time of Stonehenge, whitewashed thatched-roof rounded structures. 

We crossed into Wales, and all signs are in English and Welsh. We stayed at a little farmhouse Middle Ninfa Farm, a very interesting place where they offer occasional coracle making courses. What? Check out the British Coracle Society!  I didn’t know the word until I saw a brochure at the farm and the next thing I knew there were the twins riding in coracles at the pond!

I don’t know how anyone gets anything done around Europe with all the fascinating history laying around; it’s amazing they do anything other than study and re-create history around here. Wales was particularly beautiful; we were near Brecon Beacons nat’l park which is protected as an international dark sky reserve, free of light pollution and excellent for viewing stars.
We stayed until the afternoon the next day, relaxing and walking around the farm. I wish we could spend more time in Wales. The road trip continued. More in next post.

     

London part 4

Our last two days in London were, well, brilliant! We saw the sixth Harry Potter movie at the same cinema, then met Kip and her husband for another nice picnic at St. James Park. After that, for DH the family beatlemaniac, we went to Abbey Road and re-enacted the famous album cover. It is a funny scene there as a small crowd tries to do this. The road has some traffic, and England has strict laws about stopping for pedestrians in the crosswalk, so motorists and tourists try to be patient with one another as they get a little annoyed in attempting to do what they came there to do- pay homage to the Beatles or simply drive somewhere without hitting anyone. We waited with the rest and went out there when we could. It took us a few tries but I think we got a decent shot in the end! 

Nearby is the famous recording studio and a small shop with some interesting memorabilia of the musicians and others (like Prince Albert of the famed speech) who recorded there. That is the actual studio below; the white wall behind us is full of Beatles-related graffiti.

We also walked around the corner to what may or may not be a current or former residence of Paul McCartney. DH had some questionable information from his brother, a fellow Beatles fan. The house looked quiet and we didn’t knock on the door, but maybe we were close to a living pop culture icon that day. We had an amazing dinner with M and S that night- home cooked Indian food. I cannot say enough to describe how lovely it was to spend time with this well-traveled, interesting and genuinely nice couple. The Indian food was so good- they have access to a great farmer’s market and also to authentic spices thanks to England’s large Indian population-and the conversation even better. They go to India regularly and have many stories from adventures there. When their kids were growing up, they spent summers in the US at various national parks. They went to Iceland a couple of years ago and we loved hearing about their experiences driving around that country. It is inspiring to consider where our own next trips will be, both with the kids and later on after they are grown.

Our last day we went to the Shoreditch neighborhood Ziferblat cafe for quite a while. This cafe is based on a concept that started in Russia in which patrons pay for time rather than items there. One can use the wifi and board games, eat snacks and make coffee, tea, and smoothies while paying hourly rather than paying for each thing separately. It was very affordable for us and the kids loved the dress-ups.

I went out with a walking tour book from M and S that included some sites from 1880’s Jack the Ripper. From Aldgate station, I walked a circuitous route to Liverpool station. First I went to St. Botolph’s Church, right next to Aldgate station and which existed in the 1880’s on an island where prostitution was allowed at the time. The present day church showed no sign of an island or prostitution and was very pleasant. There were volunteer guides eager to show me their church. This sword stand was something I hadn’t seen before:

It turns out that St. Botolph is the patron saint of travelers, a fitting saint for me to visit. The surrounding area had been extensively updated over the past century and bore little resemblance to the late 19th century descriptions I have read. In fact, demolition and reconstruction we’re going on around me as I walked around. There were, however, some old places with plaques that added to my guide book in telling the history of the area. Two examples are Artillary Passage (below) and a Victorian building that had been a care home for women called “Providence Row Night Refuge and Home and Convent”. Catching a glimpse of old London was rewarding, since you have to look for it and it always has some interesting stories behind it. 

I went back to Shoreditch and the family, still happily ensconced at Ziferblat. After some more hanging out there, we headed to the British Museum. It was a grand building with a bright covered courtyard (below). We saw the magnificent Rosetta Stone which was the key to decoding Egyptian hieroglyphics. It is really a magnificent place but sadly we didn’t see much more before closing time.

That same afternoon, Cleverly and I had afternoon tea. Apparently I have had it confused all along with ‘cream tea’, which is tea and scones with jam and clotted cream. Afternoon tea includes this but also features sandwiches, fruit, cakes, and other food you can’t possibly eat in one sitting. We did what we could. Here’s part of the spread:

That was our last day in London. The next day we began a road trip through central England and part of Wales. Stay tuned!

London part 3

We still had four more days in London! We had a little rain, above, which we kind of wanted to see. So after Greenwich, we went to the Natural History Museum but the lines were very long so we went to the Science Museum next door instead. DH took the twins to the other museum later that day and they said the lines were shorter and the museum really was good. We were impressed with all of the London museums and greatful that they do not charge admission. The Science Museum was large and had wonderful exhibits both new and some older diorama type displays. We met our friend there and the older girls and I walked around London with the excellent guide Kip, an American who has lived here for 15 years and an all around righteous traveler and vegan cook aka themessyvegetariancook.com. She took us around Soho, Picadilly Circus, Chinatown, and a great bookstore where we had coffee and scones. That evening, we had an awesome dinner with M and S. And I think that’s the only photo I took that day! It was so nice having dinner with them- such excellent food, company, and conversation in their wonderful home.

The next day we kind of needed some down time and lucked into a free screening of Harry Potter flicks at a London movie theater. The kids had been saying they wanted to see it in the big screen and we were able to get tickets to watch the fifth movie. It was really cool seeing scenes of London since we were in London!! I actually snuck out to walk around on my own a little and enjoyed visiting St. James church, which goes back to the 1600’s. The church welcomes the homeless to rest there and the sound of gentle snoring was a peaceful background in the historic space. 

After the movie we got picnic food and went to St. James park. It was so big, full of trees and grass and picnickers. It was hard t believe we are in the middle of a major city. The kids decided to have a three-legged race for some reason and the twins kept their legs tied together for hours afterwards. 

We walked around to nearby Buckingham Palace and also to a park with pelicans and a tiny Swiss chalet. A surprising sight was a man feeding a heron by the garden with fish he took out of his pocket!!

At the end of the day, we went to funky Brick Lane for Indian food and to check out the shops. DH was thrilled with the record store there called Rough Trade. It was pretty cool. I was interested to see Jack the Ripper landmarks since I have a somewhat embarrassing interest in true crime and that is kind of the area, but the closest I came was a barber shop called Jack the Clipper! We were all tired so we didn’t get to hang out as long as we could have; it looks like a great neighborhood with a lot of art, food, and offbeat characters. Ok, that’s all for now, more soon…

 

London, England, part 2- Greenwich

The next day we spent at Greenwich, a nice walk from M and S’s house. There was so much to do there that we didn’t go into London as we had planned. We took the bus to Greenwich to the hilltop part of the park, walked down and ended up walking back to New Cross Gate. 

The park itself is vast, green, and has a lovely overlook of the Thames and London’s skyline. We walked partway down and reached the Royal Observatory. This is a UNESCO site and the home of both the prime meridian and Greenwich mean time. They say “Greenwich, where time begins”. It was really cool to stand on the line defining the division between the Eastern and Western hemispheres and to think that we had crossed the International Date Line just under a year ago in the Pacific Ocean on the opposite side of the planet! 

The museum here has some rooms where Astronomers Royal lived with their families as well as a large telescope and many exhibits on the measurement of time and space through the centuries. Much had to do with time measurement on ships, which was very tricky due to ship movement interfering with gravity-based clocks that worked only when stable. It was a fascinating place for us as we travel around the world going westward without airplanes. 
Mr. Fantastic went to the National Maritime Museum, and reports that it was excellent. The rest of us opted to hang out in the park instead. It was a cloudy but pleasant day and there were trees to climb and buskers to watch. We had lunch at Greenwich Market, est. 1737. There were many craft and food stands; I was ecstatic to eat Ethiopian food for the first time in over a year! 

Our next stop was the Cutty Sark tall ship. This ship worked the tea trade and was the fastest in its day. It has a long history including the demise of all ships and its own restoration. It is an interactive museum and has several videos including an explanation for the name and horsehair-grasping figurehead. Cutty sark refers to an undergarment worn by women at the time and specifically to a story of a demon who chased a man who had seen her dancing and yelled “well done, Cutty Sark!”. He revealed that he had seen the ghosts dancing and angered them, causing the demon to chase him and grab his horse by the tail. An odd choice for a ship name, a good story! There was a collection of figureheads inside the ship.

We also walked through a ‘foot tunnel’ under the Thames River. This was built in 1902 to help ship workers get to and from work without depending on ferry boats. The view on the other side was nice and we spent time at a park there. 

That was our day in Greenwich! It has even more to offer-pubs, a farmer’s market, a carousel and helter skelter slide, and a really nice downtown. We were lucky to be staying so close by because it added a lot to our trip. Thanks M and S!!