A Well Kept Man

I thought I would put a couple photos I have snapped on here to give you a sense of some of the things I find interesting. They may not be as interesting to you, nor may they be perfect in a photographic sense...but to me, they are cool and capture (in my mind anyway) the way I was feeling (or the environment felt) when I took the picture. (I've also compressed the photos because I don't want them to take forever to load). Click on the images themselves for an enlarged version.

This first picture is from Watford, England at The Grove hotel where Alli and I stayed for one evening. While Alli was away at work I was busy walking around the grounds and then off to Costco. This picture is cool as it is from a stainless steel "tree" that was on the grounds. I tried to get a picture that captures the color of the sky and the reflection of the surroundings off of the globes.


The second picture is from London, England on the Blackfriars Bridge at night. I thought the way the various buildings were lit up was pretty cool, plus you have the London Eye dressed in purple. It was tough to get a really clear picture because I had left my tripod in the hotel room, but I was able to get this picture by resting the camera on the bridge's railing while Alli made sure to let me know what would happen if I dropped the camera into the River Thames.


The third picture is from the Cascades d'Herisson, a series of waterfalls in France just West (and a little North) of where we live. I've decided that it's pretty much impossible to take a bad picture of a waterfall, but it can be tricky to take a great picture of one. This waterfall drops about 60m at this point (200 ft). I like this one because you can just see the rainbow, but it also gives a sense of the height as the waterfall disappears into the valley below.


The fourth picture is from Lausanne, near the cathedral on the bridge looking down. I just think the different colors of the buildings, combined with the various lines they draw make for an interesting photograph. They almost look like little model houses.


The fifth picture is from the Muckross House in Killarney (or near it anyway). This house had at least a dozen chimneys, and each chimney probably average three pipes which makes for a lot of fireplaces (I think they said on the tour there was something like 90 rooms in the place). Anyway, this picture reminds me of the cool air but warm sun, and I can almost feel the different textures of the old stone.


I'll try and do this from time to time if people enjoy it. I am obviously not as gifted as my father at photography, but if you take enough pictures eventually you'll have one or two that turn out (even a blind squirrel finds a nut once and a while...). Plus, digital cameras allow you to take as many as you want and then you can just delete the bad ones.

In the past I have lamented about the selection of meat (loads of pork, not so much beef) as well as the prices (20 bucks for a couple chicken breasts? 40 bucks for a steak? It's not even cooked!). Today, while picking up groceries for dinner on this wonderful Autumn evening (Fall has started here, not sure about the States, but it is cool, crisp, and beautiful!!!) I noticed something different on my grocer's shelves...

Having gone to the grocery store nearly every day since I've been here (I know, how European...shopping for the day and not much more), I can distinguish what is in the cooler without having to get too close (I don't want to get frostbite). A yellow package indicates poultry (sometimes lapin, which Alli won't let me purchase), white packages contain pork, poisson are in blue packages (how appropriate), while a red package is usually beef (sometimes cheval, or agneau...look them up, I'm trying to protect the innocence of my younger viewers). Today something caught my eye, so I went to investigate.

A black package. What could this wonderful new package contain might you ask? Exotic meat, that's what! One package simply labeled "cerf", so I just had to buy it as it was much cheaper than beef but similar in appearance, except leaner (here's a clue...it has antlers and also is the last name of a popular green brand of tractors). Thankfully they put playful little pictures on the package in case your vocabulary isn't extensive enough to make an in-store dinner decision. I also picked up a second package, this one was labeled "austruch" (it's the creature that likes to stick its head in the sand). There was a third, which I didn't get labeled "chevreuil" (I figured it was too close to cheval and didn't want to take a chance, turns out I would have been ok as it's just a different ethnicity of cerf). I will be cooking the austruch for dinner tonight along with some mushroom gnocchi, the cerf will have to wait until Alli is not here (I think she's ok with eating it, but since she's leaving me for a week I figured I could eat something fun that wouldn't cause a ruckus in the house if she didn't).

I guess I am amused mostly by the fact that the only way you can acquire such meat in the States is either through a specialty butcher, mail order catalog for outdoor enthusiasts, or utilizing a firearm (well, maybe not so much the flightless bird). In Europe, these things are normal and don't cause the locals to giggle when they look at the package and instead of dinner think Bambi or Thumper. Hopefully I will be cultured enough to someday sit at the big kid's table, but for now I will enjoy my culinary expedition with fervor.

UPDATE - Alli liked the austruch, the gnocchi wasn't as exciting. More austruch for everyone!!!!

When I talk to people back home in the States, they often wonder how we are doing with this transition and are we doing ok...for what it's worth, last night I had a weird dream where I was playing cards with Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, and Sydney Pollack. I don't know what this means but most certainly that I am having to hear Alli complain about a lack of being able to read People magazine, and that I'm not very good at cards (Angelina by the way was very impressive....at cards...Mr. Pollack was beginning to regret sitting down at the table with me as I was constantly asking Brad for advice on what I was supposed to do next).

Long story short; if I am able to have such vivid, albeit awkward dreams then things must be going ok as I am sleeping well and I'm not stressing about things that can't be changed. Later on in that same dream I was dressed up as Mr. Wilson (ala Dennis the Menace) while posing for a promotional poster for the upcoming holiday season (although I looked more like Walter Mathau with a stogey). Don't worry, I'm not on anything...just finally feeling 'home' as Alli described it last night when we arrived back at our apartment after an afternoon adventure (we went on a 2.5 hour bike ride about 45 minutes north of Lausanne through a bunch of farmers fields, very pastoral). Our first visitors arrive on Saturday so we are excited to welcome them...

Having rained nonstop for the last two days, I awoke to a cool, yet sunny morning and decided today would be a great day for a ride (I'm guessing Alli was probably hoping I would get out of the house as well as she is tired of me getting to take naps while she works hard saving Medtronic from incongruent pricing policies for medical device sales across European countries). It's been a couple weeks since I've taken a serious bike ride (most of my bike rides are just in and around Lausanne trying to find all of the things I haven't seen yet) so today felt like a good, long ride day. I tried to ride down to Vevey once, but was turned back due to the threat of inclement weather (or at least that is what I'd have you believe...).

Today I went all in and pedaled my way down to Vevey (I made it back as well...how else would you be reading this?). I probably exercised away about 5300 kilojoules (1200 calories) today on the roughly 44 km ride (~27ish miles), but I have no way of actually verifying the energy exerted, so you'll have to take my word for it (unless you can correlate the depth of the salt on my skin left by sweating with work performed; I'll leave this task to someone with a PhD).

Speaking of saddles, I didn't realize my bum is made of Tempur-Pedic Memory Foam (the same stuff they use on the Space Shuttle to remember where the Tang container goes when they are done with it). I am actually typing this post standing up to allow the dents in my butt to change from concave to convex once more (I know what you're thinking, let's pretend for the sake of humor that I do actually have a derrière).

This part of Switzerland is wine country so the entire ride consisted of winding my way through vineyards, with the beautiful sun-kissed lake and Alps being the other noteworthy feature. It's funny because I see these giant mountains everyday and I tend to forget they are there until I get a day like today where I can see every snow-topped peak and rocky summit. We (me and the Mrs.) are so thankful for this experience and undoubtedly will wistfully look back upon these days in our rocking chair days and fondly recall the views, food, and exciting adventures (ok, I'm just blatantly trying to make you all jealous...is it working?).

Many have read or heard about the well-prepared nature of the Swiss people. Whether it be secret mountain fortresses, underground tunnels, or vast stockpiles of water and food, the Swiss share a paranoia that enables them to at least appear to be one of the most collectively prepared group of people. I haven't really stumbled across any of the secret military tunnels into the sides of mountains, nor have I noticed explosive charges on the overpasses that could shut down the nation's highways within minutes, but our apartment sits atop a unique structure that all apartments and home across this interesting country require... a bomb shelter.

Every Swiss basement is required to shelter the occupants of the edifice in the event of a chemical, biological, or nuclear event that would render the normal living conditions inhospitable. The first door is approximately 35 cm (~14 inches) and looks more like a bank vault door. It is made of lead. Once inside this door, you are in an airlock which contains a simple sign in French, which indicates that you must rinse off for at least 7 minutes before entering the next door. I assume there is some sort of water supply to this airlock which is covered by the boxes behind this door, but I can't see it. The boxes contain dry toilets and bed frames (cots) that are to be used in the case of an extended stay in the room below.

The next door is almost identical to the first, although it has a giant bolt and wrench to enable the door to be locked from the inside. I am guessing this is to keep the zombies out after the apocalypse. Once inside the roughly 2 feet of concrete and lead, you come to a hallway with wooden rooms that make me think I am a termite inside an over-sized piece of IKEA furniture. Each room belongs to an apartment above, ours in number 12 (in case something happens while you are here visiting, please calmly make your way to this spot where we will let you in. If we seem hungry for brains, don't let us in.)

It is rather dimly lit and cozy down here, and the air smells eerily clean (one can assume there is a filtration system in place to make sure we aren't breathing the same air as the zombies). Most everyone uses these rooms for storage, although there is supposed to be non-perishable food and water to feed you and your family for a specified amount of time (by the way they make great wine storage facilities). Hopefully we will never have to use this room for anything more than just hiding our ski gear and luggage, but should Switzerland accidentally find itself in the path of a weapon of mass destruction, rest assured that Alli and I (as well as our visitors) will be safe and thirsty (unless I put some water down there).

For those that don't know I am avid fan of Costco, the warehouse chain of stores where you can find high quality goods (such as flat screen TV’s and diamond rings) located next to bulk items (such as a five-gallon tub of mayonnaise and fifty pounds of basmati rice) all for a reasonable bargain. Unfortunately for us, Costco does not have a store here in Switzerland which has been one of the biggest adjustments for me (mostly just the routine part, not so much the buying of fifty rolls of toilet tissue) as it was part our weekend in Minnesota. Every Sunday after church, we would head over to Costco to fill up Alli's car with gas, groceries, and the rest of the items we didn't know we couldn't live without (as well as the free samples).

I constantly find birthday and holiday (sorry, can't say Christmas...wouldn't be p.c.) gifts at the warehouse, as well as gifts for me (of course I need this super-size wheelbarrow, how else am I going to carry things from the front yard to the back yard?); so you could imagine that after two months of no Costco I'd be itching to go out and find one. As I mentioned, the Swiss don't believe in shopping in bulk (yet...I'm working on that) but as luck would have it, the British do. Alli had a business meeting just outside of London yesterday and I decided to tag along so we made a weekend of it. We spent Friday night through Sunday afternoon in London taking in the sights.

On Monday when Alli went off to do real work, I had the luxury of 8 hours to myself where I had the choice of golfing at the site of 2006 World Golf Championships, a day at one of the best spa's outside of London, taking a train back into London to see the Crown Jewels and various other sites, or walk four miles in each direction to go to the greatest store on Earth (4 miles + 4 miles = ? My younger readers can substitute a number for the question mark...school has started, are YOU ready?).

Costco - Watford, A Beacon of Freedom in England

As you can probably guess I chose the latter. You see, I view Costco not only as a unique shopping experience, but sovereign U.S. soil. The longer we are here, the more I miss the USA. I figured Costco would be a great way for me to recharge my American batteries (made in Taiwan) and also provide the opportunity to see if I have been missing any great deals (boy, have I ever!). After walking the four miles to get there, I was excited to see what I could find. Unlike the U.S. stores, this British Costco had a wider range of meat products (in the US they have beef, pork, chicken, fish, and some lamb...in England they have all of the above, plus a lot more lamb...as in a 15 pound leg of lamb, that's a big sheep.), they also carry duck eggs (um, not sure what you make out of duck eggs), a large selection of Indian cuisine, and various other exotic items (biscuits, bangers, puddings, and rarebit).

Aside from the weird British staples, all of the signs were posted in pound sterling rather than US dollars, which required some math on my part (1 pound sterling is roughly equivalent to $1.80 US; so for those that have a test next week...How much in US Dollars would a case of Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc at Costco Wholesale cost if the price in pound sterling is £ 26.99? ........ The answer is it doesn't matter, that's a great deal!). Even though I had my heart set on bringing back the Pro-Form Vibration Platform to help with my tummy firming (at £249.99, I didn't really have space in my carry on, plus you were limited to five only and I needed one for every day of the week, not just Monday through Friday), I did manage to find a couple things. I bought a pair of sunglasses and a pair of umbrellas (the one we have here in Switzerland has a rather unfortunate condition that causes it to function more as a modern art on-a-stick rather than as an umbrella).

I also had lunch at Costco which set me back £ 2.20 for a Coke (with FREE refills, but no ice) and a slice of pepperoni pizza (although I could have had cottage pie, or jacket potatoes with chili and cheese for an equally enticing price. By the way, jacket potatoes is really just a baked or boiled potato with the skin on, split in half lengthwise and topped with either cheese, beans, chili, tuna, or coleslaw). I did run into a minor problem when checking out as the U.S. Costco Member cards aren't recognized by the British Costco machines, which required a manager override to allow acceptance of my turncoat card. The cashier was very excited to see my card but wanted to know where I was from...he asked if I was from Canada (must have been my Minnesota accent), but I responded that no I was in fact an American (he seemed disappointed. I guess Europeans long to meet Canadians, the Real North Americans!). I also had to pay with cash (or the appropriate British equivalent...quid, I think) as they don't take American Express (I should have paid more attention to those Visa ads on TV).

So at the end of the day I felt recharged (both from the bottomless cup of Coke and from spending a couple hours at my favorite store) and as a bonus now have a couple of sweet umbrellas for when it rains (this means our visitors will stay dry too!), and sunglasses for when it doesn't (sorry visitors, you are on your own). I probably will now have a couple months away from Costco, but Christmas will be here soon enough (oh yeah, they were already selling Christmas decorations at Costco) and I will be able to visit as much as I want (as we will be back in Minnesota for a week or so).

Cheers!

* Disclaimer - we are stockholders of Costco...therefore I have to shop here as often as I can so I can make myself rich (at least that's how I think it's supposed to work)

Today is not a holiday in Switzerland, nevertheless Mark and Alli are not here. They are in London, England. I have been posting things to the internet in their absence (mostly love letters to the computer in the apartment downstairs...here's a sample:

"1101001001000000110110001101111011101100110010100100000011110010110111101110101").

Alli is at work today in Watford, Mark is at Costco (he's been looking forward to this trip to the Watford Costco ever since he found out about it...which was four days ago), and then to downtown London to see the sights that he missed on Saturday and Sunday. They will be back this evening, so probably around lunch time for those that decided to read this today.

If you find yourself in Ireland and fancy a drive down to the southern part of the country, I highly recommend staying a night or two in Tramore (Trá Mhór for the leprechauns out there). Tramore is a small town on the coast about 10-15 minutes drive from Waterford, where the world famous Waterford Crystal is made. Alli convinced me to go on this tour (albeit I was quite skeptical as crystal isn't exactly a manly thing) and I must say I was pleasantly surprised at the fun factor. You get an all-access tour to see how crystal is made from start to finish. We saw a water pitcher being made, a chandelier being blown, as well as various bowls, cups, vases, etc being etched by skilled artisans. The highlight of the tour (for me anyway) was getting to hold the backup copy of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am Championship trophy. I didn't drop it but man was it heavy (thankfully I am super buff thanks to my intense workouts, so it wasn't really a problem). Alli decided against holding one of the giant trophies (of which there were many) and opted instead for a giant wine goblet (it was full before she picked it up...and she said she wasn't thirsty for the rest of the day).

We also saw the backup of the crystal ball that drops in Times Square on New Years' Eve/Day. Looks a little like the Death Star from Star Wars (which was their inspiration I'm told).

That evening we stayed at the Cloneen Bed and Breakfast, which I strongly encourage you to stay at if you are in this area. It was by far the best B&B we stayed at while in Ireland. They had lovely gardens, the rooms were duly furnished, and the breakfast was outstanding. We enjoyed talking with the owners who were very friendly and accommodating, as well as provided great recommendations for dinner. For dinner we ate at a restaurant called the Vee Bistro. Being the gourmands that we are, we know a good meal when we find one and this place was awesome. We also happened to be there for the early bird special (5-7pm...early bird? they must stay out late here), which granted us one appetizer and entree, or entree and dessert for 22.50 Euro per person (including coffee or tea). So Alli got an appetizer (marinated mushrooms with a tasty sauce, which we shared), we each had an entree (I had a ribeye, I don't remember what Alli had because I was too busy stuffing cow and french fries into my mouth) and split a bottle of wine, and I ordered a dessert (maple and walnut pie with a vanilla cream sauce, which we shared...although I think I got a couple extra bites since the FDA says I need more calories than Alli).

Dinner was very enjoyable, and our waitress was very friendly. Seeing that I couldn't really find an answer in the guidebooks I asked her whether or not Ireland was a country where tips were customary as much of Europe is not (you might leave a dollar or two, but the waitstaff is usually paid a higher wage than American waitpersons so usually no tip is required). She let me know that you do tip in Ireland, although it is generally around 10% (unless you don't think the waiter deserved a tip).

We also got the recipe for the sweet potato mash that came with our meal (Warning, every meal in Ireland seems to come with additional starches or vegetables in spite of what comes on your plate. Unless you are in tip-top shape you will probably not be able to finish your meals due to the sheer volume of potato related dishes that accompany your main course. For example, my ribeye came with french fries which seemed normal, until the waitress brought out a second and third plate with regular mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, some other kind of potato wedges, carrots, and potatoes au gratin...each one would have sufficed as a side dish for two; in the end I proabbly ate about 25 potatoes for dinner that night with my steak, mushrooms, and pie. Just be prepared, you were warned), with the secret ingredient of tarragon (seriously, tarragon is very underutilized; everyone uses basil, or oregano, or even coriander these days, but tarragon? Not unless you are a French chef or were cooking with tarragon before tarragon was cool. Mark my words, tarragon will be the next cool spice/herb once chipotle and basil have run their course).

As you can tell, we enjoyed this part of Ireland very much with its scenic coastline, wonderful food, and charming atmosphere. If we ever make it back to the Emerald Isle, we will definitely return to this quaint little town.

Apparently they don't have the orange cone thingies in Ireland due to an overabundance of other "parking cone like" implements.

Well, driving on the left hand side of the road is a unique experience. Silly me decided to rent a manual transmission as well (why make things easy??). I'll be the first to admit my standard transmission skills are on par with my singing, dancing, and general movements (I've been described as a gazelle by some, a wounded chicken by most). Thankfully I had Susan (who incidentally has been sacked as of this afternoon and replaced by a British woman whom I shall refer to as Jane) who reminded me every time I asked her for directions that I should drive on the left. This included loud beeping and flashing pictures on the screen.

Alli was also good at reminding me which side of the road to be on as well as the speed limit I was pre-approved to drive (not always the same as the posted limit). I managed to stall the car about a half dozen times or so, usually on a hill or round about which I'm sure caused a few Irish persons to quickly pray to St. Please-move-this-American-out-of-my-way-so-I-don't-attack-them-with-my-shillelagh (the Catholic population is around 90% or so in Ireland, but we won't get into that here). I also managed to avoid hitting things with my car even though at times it seemed certain I would be a proud owner of the Nissan Note (you break it, you bought it).

Driving on the left isn't really all that hard, it just takes some getting used to (passengers apparently need more time to acclimate as they are in the de-facto drivers seat and don't have the same point-of-view as the real driver does). Our car was also very small as gas is expensive and I didn't want to get some gas guzzler, which meant we had the tiniest car I've ever been inside (it's slightly longer than a Mini). By the end of the trip I was ready to get back to a place where people drive on the right, and where the roads are large enough for more than 1.5 cars to drive on safely.

Alli and I went for a walk one evening along the coast en route to dinner. As we were walking we saw a couple and their daughter walking their dog which looked very much like our dog, only with shorter legs and a stockier build. Alli asked what kind of dog it was hoping it was a Wheaten so then she could pretend it was her dog and give it a hug.

The happy Irishman proclaimed it to be a Glen of Imaal Terrier and then regaled us with the origin of this Irish dog breed and it's purpose (hunting badgers). We then told them of our dog and how the two look very much alike. In fact, if you took our dog and just removed about 3/4 of the length of her legs and added about 10 pounds, you'd have their dog. After talking for a bit about dogs he asked us where in the United States we were from.

This is a pet peeve of mine ever since we have arrived...everyone just assumes we are Americans. Don't they realize we are from Switzerland? (Just kidding, I actually find it quite amusing as the two of us apparently represent the USA very well, so I take it as a compliment.) We explain where we are from (Minnesota) to which he replied that he never heard of it. Most people in Europe think the United States consists of New York and Washington D.C. on the East Coast, LA on the West Coast, and if they are truly cultured they know Chicago is somewhere in-between. From what I've gathered they think that you can get from one coast to the other in about a couple hours by car, and that if you don't live in one of the aforementioned cities then you are a cowboy that lives on a farm.

Back to the story...

At this point this Irishman looks at the two of us and begins to gesture wildly. First he points at me and loudly declares "Not you", then switches his pointing to Alli while making a circular motion (apparently encompassing her person in the air) "...but YOU! Have a major portion of Irish in you." At this point I awarded him the Nobel Prize for the discovery of the century...

Seriously, did it require you making fun of the lowly German boy to point out that my lovely wife has freckles, fair skin, and red hair? Either way, Alli was accepted into the clan and I was banished into the sea with the snakes (we didn't see any snakes in Ireland so the legend of St. Patrick must be true).

Alli looked forward to each new encounter with the locals as she was able explain her Irish heritage. After telling them that she was in fact Irish (leaving out the part that she is only 1/8), what her family name was (Reilly), and where they were from (Balbriggan), we would often get the story of the Reilly's from Balbriggan. Irish people KNOW their history and where the people come from (your name tends to indicate where you are from and what your social standing is/was...apparently the Irish don't move around too much), and apparently with Alli's family they were a good family with decent social standing that seem to have mostly left Ireland during the early part of the twentieth century to seek better lives in America. I decided to ask why I didn't look Irish and they replied that my hair and skin were too dark (I think they implied my ability to tan had something to do with it, and/or the fact that I can go out in the sunlight without turning into a lobster), and that my features were more Italian or Spanish (definitely Latin) of some sort. They seemed disappointed to find out I am German, but were happy to know I made a good choice in marrying a redhead. (I didn't inform them of our Protestantism for fear of being thrown into the sea for sure).

We had a wonderful trip to Ireland, in spite of all of the rain and cold temperatures. Most of the people in Ireland seemed downtrodden over the weather, labeling it as "October-like". I can't say it was that bad, although we were happy to get back "home" to Switzerland where shorts and t-shirts quickly replaced our jeans and rain coats. We maybe had two half-days of sunshine, the rest was a combination of cold, misty, rainy, overcast, windy, foggy, but vibrantly green and stony/rocky.

I never fully appreciated the size of Ireland until we started driving around. If you plan on going and want to see it all, you will probably need a good two to three weeks. It's not that cities and sites are located a long way from each other, it's just that the road system doesn't allow for efficient transit (most roads the max speed you could safely drive and not hit a passing car, 1000 year old wall, or sheep/cow was around 60 kilometers per hour or ~35 mph). I thought it would be super easy to just drive 2-3 hours per day and see everything...but we sadly had to drop some things from our itinerary (whiskey factory tour, driving tour of Connemara, a few churches/abbeys/stone forts).

If you plan on driving yourself (rather than taking a tour bus), I say go for it. I'll admit each morning I struggled with trying to remember that I was supposed to drive on the left, but once you almost crash head on into oncoming traffic once or twice then you remember. I was disappointed at Susan's performance at times, as there are now a couple major superhighways that did she did not know about so I was taken off on some windy country roads which impeded our progress somewhat, and I was often yelling at her (especially when she couldn't find our B&B that I told her about before we left).

Susan is the name of the chick on my GPS who pronounces things funny. In Ireland, she pronounces the word 'road' like you and I would pronounce 'rod'. But on the other hand she is worth every penny I paid as she has enabled me to avoid having to ask people for directions. If you plan on traveling on unfamiliar roads and are too lazy to plan everything ahead of time, get a GPS. Make sure the maps are up to date, download some POI's (points of interest), and you should be in for good times.

We saw bronze age forts, castles from the days of yore, and beer from last week (Smithwicks is great, Guinness is ok - although it is much better than in the U.S., Porterhouse brew pub beer is so-so, although I only had 3 of 9 varieties so maybe there are some better choices). We saw how they make Waterford Crystal, almost were lost at sea, stayed at an awesome B&B (a couple were sorely lacking), ate potatoes in multiple forms (fried, mashed, covered in cheese, roasted, boiled, stewed, au

Ireland is a lovely place, despite the weather, and I hope to go back someday to see all that we missed. More stories to come...must sort through 500 pictures of leprechauns, crosses, beer, and sheep. gratin, and many more), and interacted with the locals.

We will probably have a very leisurely morning followed by the last minute wrap of all things Dublin that we missed (Trinity College maybe). This will sadly be our last day in Ireland as our flight leaves at noon back to Geneva. I don't know how long it will take us to get our travel photos and adventures posted, but I will do my best to not hold back for too long. We are again on Aer Lingus and taking the train from Geneva to Lausanne, walking from the train station to our apartment. Alli will probably be excited to sleep in her own bed, but not excited about working the next day. Oh, and it is Alli's birthday today so don't forget to send her an email reminding her that she's still older than me.

We will leave for Dublin first thing (after breakfast of course) and stop in Kilbeggan along the way. This will probably be the highlight of Mark's trip to Ireland as it is a whiskey factory (with tasting at the end...naturally). Alli will then drive us the remainder of the way to Dublin where will proceed to see everything we didn't see on Day One/Two. This will probably be quite a bit as I'm guessing we'd rather skip Dublin on the first day to get to the crystal factory and see the Kilkenny area. We will again be staying at the Abberley House Bed and Breakfast, and maybe making a evening pub adventure to The Porterhouse (I wonder if they have a sampler platter....).

This will be our day to drive around the Galway area, seeing the various sights such as Clifden and Mayo. We plan on following this tour as it seems to be fairly complete. Depending on the weather and our adventures from the previous day, we may also try to make our way out to the Aran Islands. Apparently there are some neat Christian historical sites and a cool old castle made of iron. I am guessing this will be a catch our breath day as you will notice that we have pretty much been driving around like crazy people for the past four days. I promise that we are taking lots of pictures and will post some when we return.

We will have either just left Kerry County via the Dingle Peninsula or directly from the B&B, either way, our next stop will be the ferry in Tarbert to avoid having to drive the extra 80 miles around the Shannon River. We figured we could skip Limerick as I don't like poetry that much anyway.

We will then drive along the West coast and see the famed Cliffs of Moher en route to Galway. If you didn't notice we purposely did not stop to see the Blarney Castle and Blarney Stone in Cork because we heard from multiple sources that the castle isn't that great, it's overly touristy, and putting our lips on a rock that millions of other people have doesn't really seem like our cup of tea.

Plus, we can always go back to Ireland in case Alli needs another upgrade or her freckles repainted.

We will be staying at the Corrib View Farm Country Bed and Breakfast in Annaghdown, County Galway. We will be here for two nights, as there will be plenty to see and do in the area.

After leaving Waterford, we will head towards Cashel to see the Rock of Cashel followed by a trip to Cobh to see where the Titanic made it's last port of call. This town is also where most Irish immigrants from the last few centuries departed for America, so we will see if we can identify anyone we knew that left from here through historical records. In what should be a long day, we will eventually make it the Abbey Court Bed & Breakfast in Kenmare, County Kerry. The owners seem to be very friendly over email so perhaps we will have some good stories of getting to know them. I think we may try to squeeze in a drive around the Dingle Peninsula this evening, but if not then definitely first thing in the morning.

Depending on what we decided to do in the morning, we will either be leaving first thing for Waterford or spending the morning in Dublin and the afternoon driving to Waterford. We plan on visiting the Waterford Crystal Factory for a tour, and perhaps driving around the area. The medieval town of Kilkenny lies along the route to Waterford, so we will most likely stop for a tour of the castle and cathedral.

We will be staying at the Cloneen Bed and Breakfast in Tramore, County Waterford near the water. I'm guessing a lovely stroll along the harbor/ocean will be in order. In the morning we will leave after breakfast for our next stop.

We are getting on a train from Lausanne to Geneva (after walking to the train station from our apartment...like three whole blocks).

We are flying on Aer Lingus from Geneva to Dublin.

We will arrive in the early evening and after renting our car we will attempt to head to Balbriggan, the site of Alli's Irish ancestral heritage. We will then be traveling to Dublin for what should be the first of many pub dinners. We will stay at the Abberley House Bed and Breakfast (8/21) and perhaps walk around Dublin in the evening (weather permitting). We probably won't have enough time to go into any museums or buildings, so the first evening will just be a walk/drive around town kind of evening.

In the morning we will either immediately depart for our next destination or see some of the key Dublin sights before leaving for our next destination around lunch time.

We are flying to Ireland tomorrow (not sure how we'd get there by car...ferry maybe?), so I am busy packing and getting things organized for the trip today. I received a letter from Ireland when I married Alli that I needed to bring her to the Emerald Isle at least once before her warranty expires for maintenance and upgrades.

They figured they would need about a week to do the necessary freckle inspection, red hair sampling, and to install the most recent Leprechaun Operating System. I will have automated posts that let you know where we are every day should you need to find us for any reason as I don't intend to lug my computer around with us (too much risk of spilling beer on the keyboard).

We will be speaking English from the moment we arrive, so we won't have any language issues once we get there. I will most likely have some driving on the left hand side of the road stories when we return, so keep tuned in for updates after the 27th of August. Until then, have a nice week!

For my younger readers: Enjoy the last few days of freedom from school.
For my parent readers: Get excited for your first few days of freedom once the kids are back at school. By freedom I mean you don't have to worry about what your kids are doing all day and how much trouble they are getting into because now it is the teacher's problem.
For my parent readers whose kids don't go to school yet and you stay home with them: Pretend you are on vacation with us by putting some Irish Cream or Irish Whiskey in your coffee, and putting the Dora or Sponge Bob DVD on repeat (unless you have really young kids...like less than a year old, then just use some Irish Cream flavored creamer and put in the Baby Einstein videos...they're great for learning colors and shapes)
For those who work, but don't have kids: Enjoy dreaming about taking a vacation, but get some work done! They aren't paying you to dream...
For those who don't work, but have kids, but the kids are old enough to take care of themselves: Why don't you come hang out with us in Ireland? Or if you just can't make it then follow the instructions of the stay at home parent above, only replace the DVD by taking turns reading Yeats or James Joyce aloud to each other in your best Irish Accent.

Since many of my readers do not speak French, I will translate this sign (from my previous post) for you in case you happen to be in an area that requires obedience to the rules of the land.

Cell One: You will be much happier if you walk in front of your child. Cows will attack the slowest and weakest member of your hiking party. You can always have more kids.

Cell Two: Most cows are afraid of larger animals. Use a dog on a leash to make yourself seem bigger. Taking longer strides and holding your arms out straight will make you seem like a giant.

Cell Three: Make sure to know the metric system. Europe is better because of the metric system and you will enjoy your walk more if you know how to calculate distances in meters instead of feet. Cows stand on average 20 meters from the path, if you find yourself any closer than this to a cow, it is because you have converted units incorrectly.

Cell Four: Cows like to pretend they are in an orchestra, hence the bells and mooing. Make sure you have your children practice their conducting techniques before approaching the cows as they are very sensitive to poor performances.

Cell Five: Baby cows like to be petted, but do not bend your wrist while petting. Cows get jealous of humans ability to articulate their hands so it is best to pretend you can't.

Cell Six: The bells on the cows are very heavy and force them to keep their heads facing towards the ground. The bells are to remind the cows to eat the grass because that is what they are being paid to do. Think of cows as nature's lawn mowers.

Cell Seven: If a cow approaches you about a time-share presentation in exchange for a free weekend in a ski-chalet, continue walking. This is a common tourist scam which will involve a high-pressured sales pitch.

Cell Eight: Do not try to knight a cow. The last thing Switzerland needs is cows running around liberating the oppressed and searching for holy relics.