Holiday to a Sunny Isle...Ireland

When Tracy's friend Cat let her know that she was going to Ireland for St. Patrick's Day, and Tracy realized it coincided with a shift change that already had her off that weekend, it was a no-brainer. This was just the sort of scenario we had envisioned when we made this move to England. We booked a Ryanair flight to Galway in western Ireland and off we went.

What an easy trip. The normal quantity of research we do before trips was cut down dramatically, the airport trip was pretty easy, the direct flight was easy, and so was clearing customs. There was however, a rather long bus ride from the Shannon airport and Ryanair is a budget airline in every sense...good and bad. Really Ryanair: all the announcements of things you were selling on the plane were too much. Scratch-off lottery tickets...really?

Galway is a cute, atmospheric city full of tourists, college kids, and pubs. But that's fine; we were going for the party after all. Day one was just Tracy and I hanging out in town, and it was easy and no stress.

Originally owned by the executioner of Charles I

Buy some booze, get a free pizza...sounds like college.

River Corrib entering into Galway Bay

Not sure why there were so many swans

Galway Bay

That is not Nessie's humps, she's in Scotland...

Everything was in the Irish language (formerly called Gaelic). Usually there was English too, but not with this pub.

Day two we were off on a day tour to see the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren. Our bus was full of American college kids, mostly girls...felt a little bad for our guide/driver, but he was cool. The Burren is a rock scape of limestone, but has a wide variety of wildflowers, which weren't really out just yet.

Close-up of the rocks...potential nightmare for your ankles

Poulnabrone Dolmen, a 5,500+ year old grave with 30-40 bodies buried in it

Another type of ancient grave called a cairn

On the way we also stopped at a castle and an ancient earthen ring fort.

Artsy

Ring fort...a few families lived here

The earthen mound was worn down.

And we saw a couple very old Celtic crosses.

On to the main event, the Cliffs of Moher. These are 200+ meter high cliffs, about 700 feet, and they can often be obscured by fog and rain...this is Ireland after all. But we had a beautiful day and were so thankful. Actually, our weather was generally really nice for March, in the rainiest city in Ireland...hence the title of this post.

Sorry, but the south-facing pictures were into the late afternoon sun.

Of course, our silly hats had to come out here.

 

So thankful Tracy was there to save my life after I slipped over the edge........

The couple that took this picture then did the same pose. Seems like that happens a lot.

We made a few stops on the way back, some planned, some...not so much.

Rock formation called the Leprechaun's Head (blurry: moving bus)

A stubborn cow

When a car tried to pass it, the cow kept moving back and forth in front to block it from passing.

UP NEXT: St. Paddy's Day and the parade...

Market Day

3-3-13

Yesterday Tracy and I went to the Borough Food Market, just south of the Thames. There are markets all over London on weekends, and some during the week too. Most are the type that have souvenirs, nick-knacks, and stuff for women. Usually not a lot for the men at these, but the food markets, oh yes. There was a whole cheese section with large wheels of cheese and many free samples.

And then there was the cheese matured in wine and beer...from the Drunk Cheese stand. Dude with the glasses needed to move along, I think.

Red Wine...yum...we bought some.

Beer & chocolate with Blue Cheese...maybe next time.

 There was also some amazing bread...to go with your cheese, I suppose.

 And some huge vats of Vietnamese food:

Some sweets and some olive oil in big tanks.

These are called Meringues, haven't actually tried one yet. That's an oversight.

Oh, and there were fishmongers and butchers, not Tracy's favorite.

Pigeons

Rabbits

A little disturbing even for me.

We also got some delicious brownies, beer, and wine.

Unfortunate name...but they were awesome.

We'll definitely be back because there was some good looking food here and several things we wanted to bring home.

Quirks

So, there are quite a few quirky things about London, and the British in general. I really like some of the pub names:
(just in our neighborhood)
The Bank of Friendship
The Hen and Chickens Theatre Bar
The Famous Cock
The King's Head
(others)
The Coal Hole
The Cock (apparently less famous than the one above)

The Red Lion (there are at least 4 of these)
Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese
The Only Running Footman

Fox & Anchor
Hand & Shears
Hoop & Grapes
Dog & Duck
Lamb & Flag (ate there today actually)
Queen's Head & Artichoke
Fox & Pheasant
Crown & Greyhound
Dog & Bell
Boot & Flogger
Old Bull & Bush
(this naming style is quite common)

Just to name a few. I haven't tried many, seriously, I haven't, but in time I will...

Then there's the food. Generally I like the food, and there's a good variety. But there are a couple issues too. There are basically 2 primary vegetables: baked beans and peas. The peas may be mushy, or not (not a big fan either way). The baked beans have a watered down tomato sauce that just disappoints. Bush's Baked Beans could make a killing here. The Mexican food is just OK, and nobody here knows about queso with your chips (crisps). Oh, and people drink alcohol at lunch during the work day and liquor is available at grocery stores. Some pros, some cons...

The television is interesting-ish. I love 'Top Gear', as well as '8 out of 10 Cats' (which is a comedy show that has nothing to do with cats). American TV censors would have their heads explode here. Swearing is very common, all day. Nudity is somewhat common too. We even saw a commercial the other day with 2 naked people from behind. Now my area of expertise: news, is very different too. I won't pass judgment on American vs. British news, but there are big differences. The news here has far fewer stories and goes much deeper into them. They concentrate on big issues and may spend 5-10 minutes on one story. At my last TV station in America we would do 5 live shots and 15 stories in 10 minutes. I have yet to see a car crash or petty theft type story here, which I will admit is nice. I guess the 'horse meat labelled as beef' story here isn't getting much play back home. They could easily spend 10 minutes on that story alone, and once you know the details, I'd say that may be justified.

An update on us. Tracy's job is going great. I haven't had much luck yet, but I'm still hopeful. We're happy to be settled into our flat. It took quite awhile for the internet to be hooked up, hence the lack of posts for a couple weeks. Not having internet access (aside from coffee shops and internet cafes), feels like the dark ages. So happy to have it now. I'll try to post some London landmark-type pictures soon. I was waiting until the winter gloom had passed...it may be a bit longer.

Cheers!!

Match Day

16-2-13

So today our football team, Arsenal, took on the Blackburn Rovers in an FA Cup game. Our neighborhood was quite busy, as it always is on match day. Today Tracy and I were around as the neighborhood was gearing up for the match. Now usually every day we see people taking pictures of the front of our building, since it was the previous stadium of Arsenal.

OUR HOME

On match days, we see a lot more of that, as well as food stalls and souvenir stands.

30 meters from our door

The team nickname is The Gunners, the fans call themselves The Gooners

Those are homes, by the way

Scarves are BIG here...it is cold and windy a lot

Highbury is our neighborhood, N5 is our post code

Here is a quick snippet of video of the crowd walking through our neighborhood to the stadium.

Just for comparison, I snapped a photo of the new Emirates Stadium, and then I took a couple pictures of old black and white photos from when our home was the stadium. Actually, it was their stadium just a few years ago, the old pictures are really old.

The pub where the old photos are is called the Gunners Pub. Its a block away. Not a nice Victorian Era pub that you'll find in the guidebooks; it was all about the team there.


Oh, and Arsenal lost 1-0. Blimey.