Europe2009

Home safely....

2009-11-18T15:44:00.007+08:00

Ok, this is it! Just to let you all know that I arrived home safely in the wee small hours of this morning (Wednesday).

My body has no idea of where or when it is, but luckily I can just go gently and ease back into things.

My house is all good, in fact I had arranged to have my carpets cleaned while I was away, and it looks lovely for now - until the unpacking started. Pity it's raining here, because that will delay my 75 loads of washing!! Mind you, I came in and kissed my washing machine first thing. It's funny how the worm turns... usually I despise washing - it's only when you see the alternative that you really appreciate what you have at your disposal.

So my good friends and family, thanks for coming along for the ride. I've really enjoyed having an audience to write for. It certainly gave me the purpose and the discipline to keep going each day. I have loved your emails back and the witty comments that people have made. How lucky am I to have had, first of all, this magnificent journey, and how much luckier am I to have had such good friends to share it with....

So, au revoir, until we meet up shortly for all those coffees that lie in wait for me as I bore people senseless, describing the ongoing sagas of the toilets and the language and all the other dramas and adventures that unfolded over the last 7 weeks or so. But I can just whip out my blog, and there is the record for all to see.

It will be lovely to see you all in the flesh again soon. :)

Paris Illuminations, Charles de Gaulle airport

2009-11-16T21:57:00.007+08:00

Well, here we all are sitting in CDG airport outside Paris, waiting, waiting, waiting..... My flight leaves at 9.10pm tonight, and the last transfer from the hotel was at 10.30am. So naive little me thought "Ah well, I'll check my bags in and then find a nice coffee shop and wander round and look at the duty free etc...."

But........ They don't open the frigging booking for each flight until 3 hours beforehand, so here I am wandering around with all my luggage, and I can't even go through to the duty free area, so I'm stuck in the very unwelcoming front part of the airport, just waiting, waiting, waiting.... Had a coffee, tidied up my photos, read the paper, looked at my watch and still 3 hours to go.... Ah well, there had to be yet another adventure in store for me didn't there....????

But I've discovered some Internet access, so I thought I would amuse myself by continuing these little dalliances with my blog.

One thing I forgot to mention yesterday about Le Louvre....

At the end of the tour, the meeting point before returning to the bus was at the base of the Inverted Pyramid. While most of us were standing there, there was this big grinding noise, and everyone starts looking around, and these massive steel doors start closing, virtually closing us off from the other areas....I instantly thought bomb attack or something dastardly, but our guide (when we were eventually re-united) said it was the fire alarm, and they were sectioning off different parts of the building. It was all a little bit scary and creepy, and I was very glad to get of there eventually.

This is where we were waiting

But I found one last toilet to share with you..... this one was in the same place... in the shopping centre which is under the louvre.... I had to pay 1 Euro to use this one, but the interior was lovely... very colourful!

Last night we had our farewell dinner at a lovely little restaurant on the Champs Elysees called Chez Clement.... The food was Ok, but once again the soup was French Onion..... what have I done to deserve this...??? The main course was Poached Salmon and mashed potato and that was lovely.... and the sweet was Creme Broulette (which they said was lovely). Jonathan organised to get me something instead of teh soup, so he was offered salad.... Fine, says I.

Hmmmm... salad was literally a plate of lettuce leaves with bits of onion thrown in (I can't escape those bloody onions!) That was it... no sauce, no nothing.... French Food is really wasted on me. Give me those huge plates of meat and vegies from Ireland any day!

But after that we went on our last excursion - a ride down the river Seine on a boat to look at the illuminations.... That was just lovely.... It went for just over an hour, and the night was really quite mild, so I sat up the top and had a lovely view.... I took a heap of pics, and even did a little movie of the Eiffel Tower twinkling.... I'll see if I can upload that too at some stage, so watch this space... Here's one to start

Moulin Rouge, Musee D'Orsay, Le Louvre

2009-11-15T23:52:00.010+08:00

I'm writing this with a bit of heavy heart tonight - not because I'm finished my travel, but because I've just heard that the sister of one of my very good friends (Carmel) in Melbourne, died last night. It certainly puts things into perspective and once again reminds me lucky I have been to experience all this.

But the last day in Paris has been extraordinary. It started last night at the Moulin Rouge... what a show! It was all boobs and feathers, but it was alive and colourful and musical and very entertaining with lots of dancing. And the meal was fantastic! Really nice tender steak, and potatoes. And of course, we had ze wine..... Always, everywhere is ze wine....
We weren't allowed to take pics inside, in fact we had to hand the camera into the cloakroom as we entered, so this was the best I could do...!!!

Then today, I chose not to go to Versaille, because I had been there already, so I had an extreme luxury - a sleep-in! Someone said on the first on the first bus tour that this is a tour, not a holiday, and how true that was. I'm often up at either 6 or 6.30am and when we have these dinners out, by the time I've finished important things like this blog, it's often around midnight! I'm coming home to have a holiday!

Along the banks of the Seine

Then I joined up with the other Aussie girl Jan, and we hopped on the Metro and went to Musee D'Orsay - one of the many truly excellent museums in Paris.

Outside Musee D'Orsay

And what a treat it was. Now that I've got a bit of "kultcha" I can even rescognize some of the painters and their art pieces. I was walking past "The Angleus" by Millet, and I got all excited, because that was the subject of our Art webquest last term with year 4s. Here's a pic to show them, Catherine and Brad - I've seen the original now!!!!

Here's a few more masterpieces that I'm now very "au fait" with!

Cezanne - Nature morte a la bouilloire

Portrait de l'artiste - Van Gogh

And of course, I've now been to Cezanne's studio, and Arles, where Van Gogh spent much time, so it all made incredible sense. I'll be teaching art history soon (not!!)

Then we wandered back across the river to Le Louvre, where we took part in a guided tour that was arranged by Trafalgar. It was excellent and the guide showed us the parts of Le Louvre that held the most important (or well recognized) pieces. Of course, we saw the Mona Lisa and the Venus d'Milo

And many other outstanding masterpieces which are too numerous to mention now. It was a fantastic experience and one that really topped off our stay in Paris.

But now I must get ready for our end of tour dinner, at a nice little number along the Champs Elysees - Chez Clement. I'm going to upload this now, because I'm not sure how long I'll have when I return and I need to do a very serious packing job tonight!!! I'm not sure the plane will be able to take off.....

I will have time at the airport tomorrow, so I might add a few final thoughts then....

Thanks to you all for providing an audience for me - it's given me a reason to be disciplined and do this reflection each night. I've really enjoyed just jotting down the experiences of the day, and now I have a wonderful record of all my memories.

So until next time - au revoir.....!

Lyon_Beaune_Paris

2009-11-15T06:50:00.007+08:00

Writing on the bus again, as I find it saves time in the evening. Often we don't have much time, especially if we're going out again, and because we're on the motorway, the bus is travelling quite smoothly, so I can pen my thoughts now. I type it up in Notepad, and upload it later.

We arrived in Lyon about 4.30-ish yesterday, just as the night was drawing in. We were taken on a short tour of the city, which is the third biggest in France. Quiz question for those who've been following - which is the second biggest...???? Lyon is a very pretty city - full of Plain Trees. Every time I see those leaves I still think of Shepherd St where Mum and Dad lived, and what a pain there were for them. When they first moved in, they had a neighbour called Bob, and I think Bob ran out and cleaned up every time a leaf fell. Mum and Dad used to say they thought he sat by his window and just waited for a leaf to fall so he could run out and clean it up...

Lyon

Anyway, I digress... Back to Lyon.

I liked Lyon a whole lot more than Marseille (the 2nd biggest town in France!). Not sure why... just had a nicer feel. Marseille was very big and brash and bustling, but Lyon had a more "French" feel. The River Rhone and the River Saone (pronounced Soan!) meet there, and provide the city with many beautiful spots. I had signed up for the optional dinner which was held in a top class restaurant Chez Lea (1 Michelin Star (which is apparently very good!) To be honest again, French Food doesn't do a lot for me, but the best part of the excursion was that we went up to the Cathedral on the top of the hill (yet again) and we had the most spectacular view of Lyon at night. My camera does not do justice to it....

Very blurry - I tried a new setting on my camera - obviously didn't work!

The Cathedral is called Notre Dame de Fourviere (Our Lady of the Hill) and was built in the mid 1800s to say thank you to Our Lady that Lyon survived in the French Prussian War. Many of those Cathedrals I've visited have been monuments to Notre Dame to say thank you for surviving something... The inside of the Catheral again was very lavish, as are most Eurpean Cathedrals. It seems to be a way of expressing gratitude to God or Mary for favours received.

We stayed in an "interesting" hotel last night. The big plus was that it had free Internet access! There were a few minuses though, and many a loud moan was heard in the morning. Each room had airconditioning (in theory!) but none of them worked and the rooms were incredibly hot! I just slep with a sheet on all night. The roomw at the back backed on to the railway line and had multiple trains zooming past all night. They were also near a floodlit carpark, so had a few light issues! One couple changed rooms 3 times.... The Americans tend get a bit easily upset, and make known their displeasure. As for me, I had Internet access and I slept all night, so what more could I want....!!!

Stopped at a lovely little town for morning tea called Beaune. It was a typical French country village, with the winding streets and the houses with shutters. There was a bit of a wine auction on today, because this town is in the heart of Burgundy, and Pinot Noir territory. The town was alive and had a fantastic market set up. Unfortunately we didn't have a lot of time to explore, but we did manage a cup of coffee.

We're off to the Eiffel Tower this afternoon and the sights of Paree.... then we off to the Moulin Rouge tonight. This excursion is verrrry expensive, but hey, who knows if or when I'll ever get back to France. So I'm going for it!

Pont du Gard and Sur la Pont D'Avignon

2009-11-14T00:20:00.008+08:00

Nice and easy does it today. We had a relatively late start of "Bags Out" at 8am and depart at 9am for those of those going on the excursion to the Pont du Gard. I chose to go on this, as I'm really enjoying all the history I am learning as I journey around.

The Pont du Gard is a Roman Aqueduct that was built in the year 19 BC to service the then Roman town of Nimes with water. The engineering and architecture of the Romans is just outstanding. This aqueduct flows for 50 kms with an exact decline of 34 cm for every km. The actual structure too is truly amazing because it was constructed with no mortar. The bricks were cut with precision and placed exactly where they fit. It transverses the River Gard, which can be very powerful when in flood, yet it has survived over 2000 years. The Romans never cease to amaze me.

It was a lovely overcast morning, a crisp Autumn day. NO rain yet still moderately mild. We have been so lucky with our weather. The grey skies just seemed to add to the mystique of the place. We walked all around it and across it and took lots of pics. Because we could walk over it, there was a coffee shop and toilets on the other side, so a decision was made that the bus would meet some of us around the other side.. however not everyone got the message and one lady was "misplaced"!!! There was a little drama for a while, but fortunately it all turned out ok in the end.

View from Pont du Gard

We came back then to Avignon and had about 2 hours there. It's a lovely town enclosed by th walls that were built originally to protect the Pope - mainly from being brought back to Italy! The Pope's palace was more like a fortress than a Palace, and you can see the places from which the occupants would've defended their property with arrows and burning oil.... Not really a sign of peace and unity as one would expect form Il Papa!!! I had a lovely wander around though, and felt the cosiness on an enclosed town.

Another thing I had the opportunity to do in Avignon was to see the Pont D'Avignon - those who have learnt French at any stage will surely remember the song "Sur La Pont D'Avignon".

The lyrics are -

Sur le pont d'Avignon
L'on y danse, l'on y danse
Sur le pont d'Avignon
L'on y danse tous en rond
Les beaux messieurs font comm' çà
Et puis encore comm' çà

Which means :
On the bridge of Avignon
We all dance there, we all dance there
On the bridge of Avignon
We all dance there in a ring
So I had a little dance in front of the bridge - it cost 5 Euros to go on the bridge, so I didn't bother!

As we were about to leave Avignon, we discovered once again that we had lost a couple of members! Apparently they got lost, so it's been an interesting day for poor Jonathan.

We're just driving along now to Lyon which is out stopover tonight. I'm typing this on the bus, because it's a long straight motorway, and it gives me the opportunity to do it before we go out for dinner again tonight. This tour should be called the Food Tour de France! I think tonight I'm having Poached Sausage and potatoes in a wine sauce for Entree and Coq ou Vin for main course. Just as well I don't eat sweets, or I may not fit on the plane to come home....!!!

It's been an interesting experience to watch the community on the bus evolve! It takes all types to make this world, and I think we have a fair smattering of them on this tour. Back in the days when I used to make silent retreats, you could always work out people's personalities, even without them saying a word. The same is true on a bus trip... although words are spoken and sometimes that's part of the problem! There are some that often get a bit confused - thus trying the patience of the louder members of the group. I guess if you throw 34 people together in quite an enclosed environment for 10 days, people's personalities will begin to show quite quickly...!!! Travel has been an interesting experience for me in more ways than one!

Only one more long road trip... tomorrow we drive from Lyon to Paris, then we spend 2 days in Paris. Can't believe that it's nearly all coming to an end. Part of me is reluctant to leave this holiday behind, and part of me is dying to get out of that bloody suitcase and do some proper washing! I guess I should just be grateful for what I have been able to experience!

Arles-Avignon

2009-11-13T06:03:00.014+08:00

Had a gentle start to the day, with yet another sunny bright day...

First port of call was literally the port of Marseille, where the fishermen had just brought in their catch, and laid out their wares for all to see and purchase. The harbour is beautiful and edges right on to the city of Marseille.

Then we travelled on through the flat plain that forms the region of La Camargue. This is formed by the delta that happens when the Rhone river splits into two before it hits the coast and flows into the Mediterranean Sea.

Our morning tea stop was a lovely city called Arles... It has an ancient Roman history, as do many cities in this corner of France, and this was displayed in the form of a still-standing Colosseum, and Roman Theatre, as well as the remains of the
Roman Forum in the Arles Roman Square.

Arles is also famous for the amount of time the painter Vincent Van Gough spent here. The painting "Le Cafe Nuit" was painted in the Roman Square at Arles, so I took this photo from approximately the same spot from which Van Gogh would have painted it... There's hope for me yet - I might still become an arty-farty... I bought a book on Van Gogh for the kids in Year 4, and all the people on the bus were really interested, and quite a few ended up buying one too!

Le Cafe Nuit - Van Gogh

I loved Arles - it had a lovely feel to it. Again there was the mixture of the old city and the new. The Church in Arles was built around 1000AD, and was really old (obviously!), When you went inside, it just had an ancient feel to it. In those days, France was barely Christian... The facade at the front told the story of the Last Judgement, and our Guide, Jonathan, is really good at explaining what all the historic facades are trying to explain. In those days of course, people were not able to read and write, so the Churches needed to make visual representations of what they were on about, so that people could grasp the stories through the pictures and sculptures.

After Arles we moved on to Chateau Neuf de Pape - one of the famous wineries based in this area. I have a very fond memory of this wine... When I was young and foolish, I went through Canberra with some of my nun friends, and my brother Terry was based there at that time. I remember well that he took me out for tea, with one of his friends Peter, and we went through a bottle of this Chateau Neuf de Pape wine. I think I must've had a good night, because my nun friends reminded me of how they had to pour me into bed...!!! So I was very pleased to go to this winery and see how this beloved liquid is made... We had a short introduction to wine tasting, and everyone was being very polite, but we were all secretly waiting for the time when you actually got to put it into your mouth!!!! it was lovely, I have to admit...

BTW, Chateau Neuf de Pape measn the new castle of the Pope. One thing I've learnt about again ( I had forgotten a lot of this) was the history of the Pope's move to Avignon, and the scandal of the Papacy at the time. There were actually 3 Popes at one stage, and some of them were very naughty boys...!! I must read up more about this period of Church history when I return... always love to hear the goss...

Then tonight was one of the highlights of this tour so far.... In theory we were supposed to provide our own dinner tonight, but Jonathan had a plan... he gets some very good plans sometimes, and this one was exceptional! He knew this area quite well from his own life and had holidayed here quite frequently, and he knew this fantastic restaurant that was about 30 mins outside Avignon in a place called Fountaine de Vaucluse...

My Melbourne friends might immediately recognize that name, because the school I attended for my Secondary years was called Vaucluse Convent. So I was immediately interested to visit this region... We left Avignon about 5pm, but the traffic was the usual peak hour horreur, so it took us nearly an hour to get there. But it was worth it all. This most beautiful restaurant was situated on the River Sorgue, a very fast flowing river that has its spring not far from here. The reason the region is called Vaucluse is taken from the Latin words - Vallis Clausa - surounded by the hills. This town is literally surrounded by the mountains all around, and is in a cul-de sac where you can go no further.

But the restaurant is itself was spectacular...! It sat right beside this magnificent river, and had a wonderful ambience as soon as you walked in. The food was magnifique, and I even had some vegies.... Yee Haa! Their house wine which was unlimited was taken from the vineyards of Chateau Neuf de Pape, so we were in heaven! A good night was had by all...

So, I've had a lovely day in France. It seems to be going so quickly now, but I can't complain. I've had just such a wonderful time. How blessed I am...

Eze_St_Tropez_Marseille

2009-11-12T03:59:00.017+08:00

Another beautiful day in Paradise....

But I'll retrace my steps to last night to Eze. We had the most beautiful drive along the road called Le Grand Corniche. There are 3 of these Corniches, all at different levels. (One of them was where Grace Kelly was killed.) As we drove along, Jonathan pointed out all the houses of the rich and famous, including Elton John and Bono amongst others... The drive was simply spectacular, as the weather was very kind to us.

Views along the Corniche Road

We arrived at a little village called Eze which is set on yet another mountain top for protection. It was quite a climb to get up there, but I'm reasonably fit at the moment after the walking I've done in the last few weeks.... (Are all my detractors listening here...!!!) I was a bit worried about a few of the oldies because we have multiple hip and knee replacements on the bus, and I was expecting one of them to keel over at any moment... In fact I noticed a defibrillator half way up the hill - an ominous sign indeed!

But what was more disappointing was that nothing was open. Today (Nov 11) is a big national holiday for Remembrance Day, where the French especially celebrate the end of WW1.

And because it's the end of the season, and the eve of a holiday, not much was open in the village. So we were hauled up to the top of this little mountain, and given two hours to fill in with little open. I tried the tourist thing for a while, but then I did what any self-respecting Aussie would do... look for the nearest pub!. A couple of my colleagues had beaten me to it, and had a good start. They kept up that pace all night, and some felt a little worse for wear today! You'll be pleased to know that I was very moderate - as we had a "drinks included" dinner that night in Eze, and it was lovely. The bus was quite racous on the way home around those Cornices... Luckily our driver didn't have any! It was very windey.... (curves)

So today we set off again, and again we were blessed with outstanding weather. We had a short ferry trip included today, so I was very pleased that it was all nice and calm.

View from my hotel balcony in Nice

We started with a drive to Cannes, the home of the film festival, and saw where it all happens. The building itself was quite disappointing. We only had a drive through, no stops, so my photos are not flash. It was my turn to be at the front of the bus today, and it was a good day to be there. The coast at Cannes is lovely, but we found out today that they import the sand for the beach. Every week they have to get new sand and compact it down, then the sea just washes it away - as the sea does!

Cannes foreshore

Our next port of call was St Maxime which is also along this coast, and we had a quick break for a toilet stop and coffee.From there we took the ferry across to St Tropez, where the beautiful people hang out! Didn't see any today .... must've been
because it was a Public Holiday.

On the boat in St Maxime harbour

We had 2 hours to explore the village of St Tropez and it was quite pretty. Again, as I've seen on other days, it was a mixture of the old town and the newer areas. We didn't really go to any rich and famous places, but it was a pretty town with a lovely harbour. And of course, there were all the yachts of the rich and famous.... Couldn't even begin to calculate what they'd all be worth....

Jonathan, our tour guide

Pics from St Tropez

After lunch and our wander there, we got back on the coach and moved on to Marseille. This town was quite a surprise to me.... First of all I had forgotten, or didn't realise it was a port town. And secondly because it is so splendid! It is the
second biggest town in France after Paris (3rd is Lyon and 4th is Nice). It's massive and we were able to see the breadth of it from the vantage point of the Cathedral - Notre Dame de la Gard (Our Lady of the Guard - who watches over the city)

Notre Dame de la Gard

It is a spectacular site, both inside and outside the Cathedral. It is perched way above the city on the highest hill - as Churches tend to do! The inside is most beautiful.... there are walls where people buy space or send in paintings of artefacts eg boats or planes, because they believe Our Lady has helped them in some way, and that is their way of saying thanks.

Roof of Cathedral - everything is mosaic

But once you go outside, the view is simply incredible. Once again teh pictures cannot do justice to the view that is literally breath-taking... That is, if the 250 steps required to get up there, don't take it away first! Unfortunately we only had a short time there. I Wish we could've swapped the time slot with last night, when there was too much time!)

We had a guided tour around Marseille and it was full of history, as is all of France.... It was lovely to see, but again time was short. So much to see - so little time...

Before I conclude and go and get my dinner (Roast Pork tonight - hope it's s true roast dinner!) - I have to tell you another toilet story! This time I took a picture...! I again ventured into one of those self-destructing toilets, but what a
surprise.. No such thing as even a toilet bowl, just a semi-circular stainless steel ring around a hole in the stainless steel floor beneath. As soon as you go in, the water starts running underneath you and in the tap area.... maybe it's a plot designed to touch your psyche and make you hurry up.... I couldn't believe it...

Quite a few of the others in the tour group went in too, and we all couldn't believe it...! And it was in St Tropez - the home to the rich and famous! You'd think they
could at least offer a decent toilet. But maybe they don't go the toilet, or maybe they just go on their very rich yachts..... Quite ironic that such an edifice was found in such a place.

On that note i'm off for dinner.... wish me luck with my roast pork!

Nice is very nice!

2009-11-10T20:51:00.010+08:00

I'm writing this blog early again today for same reasons as last early post... we're going on an excursion to a little town called Eze at 3.45pm and I only bought 24 hours of Internet and it might run out before I return.

Perfect day weatherwise in Nice today, and a very pleasant day for the weary traveller, as we had a sleep-in and free time all morning! It was lovely to wake up naturally without the alarm clock and "cases out by 7am"! I also took the opportunity to do some washing - an unfortunate necessity whilst on tour. I'm bascially only doing "socks and jocks" at this stage, and hoping to hangout until I get home. But Nice is our only 2 night stopover until we return to paris, so I hooked up the portable washing line and had the intimate items draped all across the bathroom. Poor girls coming in to do the room - they would've had to dodge and weave to even get in.

This is my hotel in Nice. I'm on the second floor with one of those balconies outside my room. It's not the most splendid I've ever been in but it's comfortable and clean and it's right in the heart of town. You can walk everywhere from here. It's only one block from the beach, so I started my day with a walk along the Promenade Anglaise.

You can see by the pics how perfect the weather is - I barely needed my jacket, in fact I ended up carrying it most of the time.

The next attraction to visit was the markets and they were full of interesting produce. Their food is quite different to ours and the things they display are not things that I'd be rushing to buy... but that's the different culture for you!

I think these were some sort of mushrooms...???

Then I ventures into the old city. I've become quite accustomed to these now. They have quaint little winding streets that are narrow and often quite dark, as the buildings overhang and block out the sunlight. But it's always an adventure walking through them.

I also found the Cathedral. Something I found out yesterday was that Nice was originally an Italian City and only changed over in the time of Napoleon in the 19th century. So, maybe that explains why it appears such a Catholic area. They are many Saints names on the streets and there are Churches all over the place. It's almost like Ireland with the amount of Churches... Jonathan told us yesterday that France is 94% Catholic but very few of those are practising. I have noticed all over France though, that there are many Churches...

Nice Cathedral

Another thing I've noticed in France, is the role that dogs play. They are everywhere. Mostly on a lead, but they are in the restaurants and the shops and public transport and everywhere. They're obviously a part of the French furniture!

After I'd prayed for you all yet again, I moved into the shopping area of Nice - again a place where the beautiful people hangout! I went into Galeries Lafayette, which is a bit like Myers on steriods! But to be quite honest, apart from the price tags, there was not a lot of difference to my untrained eye.

Some of the bus crew are oohing and aahing over all the designer shops here.... As for me I decided to not buy anything rash, and go and play the pokies instead at teh Nice Casino (which was pretty ordinary in my opinion)!!!! I did my 20 Euros but I had a lot more fun and spent a lot less money than some people have done with their fancy clothes and handbags etc.... Ah well, I guess we're all different!

So, Nice was nice, and this afternoon/evening we're off to a lttle village called Eze, which apparently includes a beautiful drive along the Cote D'Azure, and dinner when we get there. So, au revoir for now - a bientot....

Monaco

2009-11-10T05:19:00.008+08:00

We started the day with a drive for about 2 hours along the motorway to a place called Grasse, where we were booked to visit a perfume factory - Fragonard. The tour was interesting enough. I found out a few important details.... the mostly highly sort-after member of staff in a prefume factory is called "The Nose". This person needs to study for many years to become qualified and once you join a company you are not allowed to leave and join another company... This person only works a maximum of 4 hours a day, because as their job suggests, they use their nose to discern and evaluate perfumes. What a life!
This factory sold perfumes and eau-de-tiolettes and soaps and creams, and as always, the way out was through the shop! I must admit I weakened a bought a small sample....!

After that we drove for about another 45 mins to a place called St Paul de Vence. Apparently this St Paul was a follower of St Francis of Assisi. He gives his name to yet another mediaeval fortress town which stands on the top of the hill. The high wall that surrounds the town, together with the mountain it was situated on, guaranteed safety and immunity from attack.

This town was a lovely mixture of cobblestone alleyways and little shops that held some interesting wares. The view from the top was amazing - you could see right down to the Mediterranean Sea. We had a lunch here, and the "sandwich" I had for lunch was lovely. It was like a really fresh ham roll (or baguette). For once it was just plain, and I really enjoyed it.

One thing I did notice was the sound of children in a playground and sure enough we were looking down on a school.

Looking down on school playground

I said a quiet prayer of thanks that I wasn't on playground duty! There was also a beautiful Church, and again I lit a candle and said a prayer for you all, especially those who are sick. I'm not normally a candle-lighter, but it be the distance factor, and for me it's a tangible sign that I'm thinking of you all.

We had about 2 hours to walk around this little town. It is so European, and different to our towns. that is why travel is so good... it really broadens the horizons and you can see a way of life that has existed for many centuries.

After lunch we moved on to Monaco. Casino, pokies, bling, bling.... Now I was in my element. I even found one of those gold miner machines, that when you hit the feature, I always choose Winnie - for my Mum! It was hard to believe I was actually in Monaco... it reminded me of James Bond movies. Here was I gazing out over the Mediterranean, past the yachts of the rich and famous and being seen with the beautiful people! I had a little flutter at the Slot machine Casino (as opposed to the big, serious Casino where you have to wear a jacket to get in..)

Of course, I lost all my money, but one of the couples on the tour had a modest win, so they bought me a beer. The two girls I've chummed up with went over to the Posh hotel and bought a cocktail, and it cost 25 Euros - approx $40!! I stayed in the cheaper area and had my free beer!

Monaco - Adam and Eve statue and Moira

Casino in background

Then we got back on the bus and headed for Nice for our two night stay... Jonathan warned us that the hotel was not the best quality, but its position is fantastic! We're within walking distance of everything.... Went out for dinner tonight, and we had vegetables!!!! yee haa....!!! Had Beef Bourginon, which to me tasted a bit like a lump of Oyster Blade steak, but hey there were peas and carrots and my heart was happy.

Have to pay for the Internet again tonight.... could go to Maccas on the next corner, but I'm too tired to move out again, so I'm just going to cough up and pay! Watching CNN on Tv and they're celebrating the breaking down of the Berlin Wall. I'm all ears of course, because I've just been there and seen it all....

Annecy - Aix_en_Provence

2009-11-09T05:03:00.011+08:00

Interesting day today.... beautiful scenery as we drove through the Alps, and ended up in a beautiful town, Aix en Provence (pronounced Ex on Prov-on-se) But that's where the drama begins..... Read on to find out more... !!!

We left Annecy this morning, but before we left I looked out my hotel window and found myself on the top of the Annecy railway station. So for all my railway relation fanatics here's a couple of pics....

When we left Annecy we weren't sure which way we would go.. the weather was shocking last night and there was no point in going over the Alps if it was raining or foggy or snowing.... But Jonathan had contacts along the road, and we got the all clear to take on Napoleon's Pass through the Alps.

As we left Annecy we drove along the valley between these magnificent mountain ranges... the trouble was there was a thick fog, and we could only catch a glimpse of the snow capped peaks every now and then. We passed through Grenoble, then took on the mountain pass, and almost miraculously the weather cleared and became sunny. The scenery was spectacular, with a variety of pastoral and farming country offset by these beautiful mountains with their tips covered in snow.

We stopped for morning tea at a town called Col de la Croix Haute - something of the high cross. It was just beautiful and there was snow all around, although not on the road to disturb our journey. Jonathan warned us that it was a bit "rustic" but hey, I've seen worse toilets than that in my life. And do you know what was best....???? There were 3 toilets - neither male nor female, and the blokes had to queue up with us as well..... Divine Justice at last!

We then continued on through the mountain pass - it was all downhill from there, because the Croix de Haute was the highest point. Again the scenery was just magical, and the weather just perfect - at least from inside the bus!

We stopped at another town called Sisteron for lunch. This was a mediaeval town that had the fort and the remnant of the walls around the city, and we even sat outside for lunch. A bit fresh, but bearable....

Jan (the other Aussie) and me at lunch in Sisteron

I haven't told you a toilet story for a while, so here's one to keep you interested... Jonathan had warned us about these French Public Toilets. In Paris they have these ones on the street that you pay 40c for, and you get exactly 12 and a half mins to "do your business"! After that the doors open! He also warned us about not trying to keep the doors open because when you open the door, it automatically disinfects...

So here we are in Sisteron, confronted by one of these toilets... It was free, but was it worth it...??? It was your basic stainless steel, no seats on the toilet and a big tiled room. So I ventured in... I couldn't find how to flush, so I let the next girl in and sure enough before she could enter, you could hear the big whoosh.... So she went in, and she couldn't find where to wash your hands, so she opened the door to ask us... and then she went back in.... We were scared it would self-destruct or something.... But she managed to escape before the next big "Whoosh".... What an adventure...!!!

So we moved on to Aix en Provence. And again to all you people who think I lack "Kultcha" I went on the optional extra to the house of Paul Cezanne - a famous French Impressionist artist who came from this town. We saw his studio and the mountain he painted many times over - Mount St Victoire... We were given an excellent run down on his life, and the house and its contents is preserved until this day. Many objects that appeared in his paintings were still on display. If the year 4s study Artists again next year, we'll all be full bottle on this topic!

Then we were taken down to the town centre of Aix en Provence, and what a charming town it proved to be. It has its history based way back in Roman times, and it's most recent history belongs to the mid 1800s - around Cezanne's time.

One off the features of Aix en Provence is the Plain trees... those who remember Mum and Dad's house in Shpeherd St will remember how those trees were the bane of their life, as they used to have to pick up all the leaves. They look very gracious in Aix, but they had a history in Surrey Hills!

That should've been enough excitement for the day, but there's more....

I think I told we had a strong American contingent on the tour. That is proving to be an eye-opener. Their view on the world is quite different to the Aussie perspective, and their expectations from travel vary quite a bit from ours... A couple of them were having quite an argument because their politics differed, and they voted for different people.

One couple though, were at the desk as I passed by on the way to the bar for a drink before tea, and the goss was going around the group... According to them between the time when we briefly booked in before the Cezanne tour, and getting back about 6pm, they reckon somebody was in their room doing what comes naturally, because when she went to have a shower before tea, there was a bra and panties hanging up behind the door of the bathroom... and a man's shirt...

Not sure what's going on there, but I was staying well away from it. One of the group from Boston is a litigation Lawyer, so he was in his element trying to see what was going on... Poor Jonathan, and the poor French people behind the desk....

What a schemozzle. It wouldn't be France without some sort of drama, would it....????

Ah the joys of life on the road....!! France is beautiful and the scenery is just lovely, but the food is still killing me.... Tonight we had like a kebab with different kids of meat, and that was quite nice, but the vegies were all capsicums and onions.... I'm dying for a big Irish feed of meat and vegies... The entree was like a bruschetta but made with a pesto sauce, so I only ate a bit of that. I might fade away before I get home....!!! I shouldn't complain though, because I'm having a lovely time, and the bus trip is good, and the company is interesting!!!

Onwards and upwards....

Notre Dame Paris - Annecy

2009-11-08T05:08:00.010+08:00

Met the new tour group last night. Seems good. Our tour guide is Jonathan and his father was Scottish and his mother was French. He's a funny fellow. He has a British accent then swaps into fluent French. He's youngish but he seems to know the ropes. Our tour group seem nice. Mostly Americans which makes an interesting mix. As far as I know there is only one other Aussie - Jan from Brisbane who used to work as a hostess for Qantas. There are a few othe nationalities, but we are all very much in the minority to the Yanks.

Morning tea stop on the motorway

Had a good night last night when I took the optional extra to see Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, then out for dinner in the Latin quarter. I had been to Notre Dame before but I had forgotten how grand it was. The only drawback was that it was at night, so we couldn't really see the glory of the rose window as it was dark outside. They were celebrating Mass whilst we were there (this time I could really tell it was Mass - altar, priests in vestments,etc...). Heard a bit about the history of mediaeval Paris and the story of St Denis, who had his head chopped off by the Romans for his trouble. Apparently he's the patron saint of Paris. There is a statue of St Denis holding his head in his hands, but unfortunately it was a bit dark to take a pic.

St Denis - patron saint of Paris

Notre Dame Cathedral

Notre Dame Cathedral Mass

Dinner was good but I'm struggling a bit with the rich French food. Everything has a really rich creamy sauce on it. Not good for the internals!

Had a good drive today to Annecy. It's a long trip.... approx 500 kms. We arrived about 4pm. Went via the motorway most of the way. The first part was a bit boring, but then we wended our way through the hills of the Burgundy wine region. After a while the hills turned into mountains and we went through numerous tunnels, each time yielding to a surprising view of beautiful mountaans and valleys and small towns nestling inbetween the mountains.

Views taken during journey through bus windows. No stops for pics today!

The weather started out fine in Paris, but got progressively worse as we neared the mountainous regions in the South East.

In fact the rain was falling steadily as we arrived at Annecy. We were let loose in the town for about an hour and a half, which given the weather conditions, didn't seem like a great idea.

Annecy is a very pretty town nestled between the lake and the mountains, and given a fine day would be a lovely spot to spend some time. There is an old town and a new town, and we walked through the old town with its winding cobble-stoned roads and quaint houses. But it was too wet to do much, so a few of us holed up in a coffee shop, and I had a Latte but the other girls had a hot mulled wine, which they said was lovely.

Pics of Annecy

We were all dying to get back on the bus and back to our hotel... it was good to have a hot shower and change the wet clothes.

Map of our journey

Tonight we went out for a special dinner, but when I heard what they were serving, my heart sank a bit because it was yet another rich potato and cream and cheese bake. So, on behalf of my stomach, Iasked Jonathan if I could possibly get a plain meal, and I ended up with a steak and vegetables..... C'est tres bon!!!! Much better altogether. Actually it came out and the waitress gave it to the wrong person who duly tucked into it!!! She was a bit embarrassed when she realised it went to the wrong person. But another one was ordered and it was really good to just have something plain.

So that's it tonight folks. it's a bit late and i'm a bit tired, so it's short and sweet tonight! Tomorrow we're going over the Alps - God help us all!!!!

Paris - La Defense 2

2009-11-06T21:16:00.014+08:00

I'm writing this a bit earlier today for a couple of reasons.... It's 2.20pm now and we meet our tour director at 4.00pm, and we're off on an optional extra to see Notre Dame Cathedral, and then have dinner. After last night's saga it might be just as well to go somewhere different for tea! However they advertised the speciality of the restaurant as "home to France's best onion soup...!! Oh my Gawd..... I'd better keep away from that!

The other reason is that I bought 24 hours access to the Internet which will expire in the early evening and I mightn't be back by then.

Had an easy start to the day today. Got up about 8.30 and wandered down to breakfast. Last day of the sleep-ins! Cases out at 7am tomorrow and on the bus at 8am. Here we go again...

I was tossing up whether to go on the Metro into Paris proper, but when I found out we were meeting at 4pm, I decided just to hang around here and have a good look at La Defense. I had a bit of an explore on the Internet, and I came across this guided walking tour of La Defense, complete with audio guides for my MP3 player. So I downloaded them, and I was away.
It was a good way to explore, because it actually pointed out the interesting bits and gave a bit of an explanation of them. I can't remember it all to write it down but I took lots of pics!!!
(This is the only one with me in it... I didn't trust anyone to ask them to take pics. This one was taken by an English family, who were also taking pics... Safe to ask!)

La Defense is an amazing place. It's like a city within itself. There is something like 300 million sq feet of Office space and 600 million sq feet of Living accommodation. All contained in this high rise and glass jungle. There are shopping centres and a Church and public transport at ease. The even have their own vineyard which produces grapes that are made into wine. It's a mixture of structures and beauty, because there is also an elegant boulevarde lined with tress, that looks so Parisian.

Vines are at the back of this picture

Tree-lined boulevarde

La Grande Arche dominates the landscape and lines up with the Arc de Triomphe. It's a beautiful view all the way down the boulevarde...

The Grande Arche was inaugarated on July 14, 1989, and marked the bi-centennial of the French Revolution.
For more info try this wikipedia site
La Grande Arche

The Agam fountain was unique with all different colours

The buildings are all skyscrapers. SOme are now ready to be pulled down because they are too old - I think my MP3 said one of them was built in 1970 and is now ready to be pulled down. The tow tallest towers are the Areva and Totoal Towers..

I'll just add a few more pics of the skyline...

Truly amazing that people live here as well as work here. It really is a community in its own right. Speaking of community I found the Church - Notre Dame de Pentecote - so I went in. it was bit like the Chapels in the City - St Francis in Melbourne and Allendale Square in Perth. They don't do weddings and funerals, and only do weekday Masses and prayer services. You have to go to the Parish Church about half a kilometre away for Sunday services.
Anyway I went in, and there was a man who was obviously the priest dressed in civvies but with a stole around his neck. I thought it might have been Mass and being the good girl I am, I thought "This will do for the weekend when I'm on the road". I couldn't understand a word that was said, but I thought it might have ben the liturgy of the Word. So I hung around a bit longer, but after a while I guessed it wasn't Mass. There was a bit of intereaction between the priest and the small congregation and then I wondered if it was Reconciliation, so I said "Sorry God" just in case. But he didn't seem to give absolution. So I figured it must've been just a lunchtime prayer service. Ah well, the intention was there....!

Notre Dame de Pentecote - La defense

There were also a few interessting art works spread throughout the plaza.... Some of my more learned friends may be able to enlighten me further as to what they represent...

The Red Spider

The Thumb

By this time I was getting peckish so I wandered back to the shopping centre I discovered last night and bought a "sandwich" which was really like a pipe-like baguette. Very nice though. Pointing at what you want comes in very handy!!!

One other interesting thing i have discovered about the French, is that at lunch time every restaurant is full and has queues lined up. Not just your average sandwich shop, but the posh restaurants and all in-between. It looks like the French like to dine properly in the middle of the day. No wonder nothing was open last night. They all allow for the lunchtime crowd.

So now, back to the fray. Wish me luck as I start all over again with a new tour group...

Paris - La Defense

2009-11-06T04:36:00.007+08:00

Well here I am in Paris.

Getting to the airport in the hirecar was an interesting experience, but Gaby Garmin did her job well. However she fell down at the last minute through no fault of her own. The Dublin airport is undergoing a massive upgrade, and there are witches hats everywhere and everything is relocated. I had a few major panic attacks before I eventually found the Sixt (name of HireCar place) depot. Luckily I had allowed lots of time, and the traffic was kind to me on the way out to the airport.

Just as well I offloaded those books yesterday. I had to pay excess luggage on Aer Lingus today. The lady behind the desk said I was 5 kgs overweight but she only charged me for 3. But at 12 Euros per kg, that was another 36 Euros down the gurgler...!!

The rest of the trip was uneventual. Good flight across, only took about 90 mins. Had another mini panic attack when the person arranged to pick me up (through the travel agent) was not there. But I had his phone number, and we made contact, and all was well in the world again. He drove me to the Hilton La Defense which I'm discovering is in an interesting part of Paris.

I haven't really been able to get my bearings yet, because I only arrived about 5pm, and it was starting to get dark... even though I gained an hour again from Ireland. I'm back to 7 hours behind Perth and 9 hours behind Melbourne.

La Defense is an area in Paris where skyscraper buildings are allowed. The centre of Paris does not allow high buildings, but they've made up for it in this area. There is massive structure just outside the hotel called Grande Arche. The photo I'm including below doesn't do it justice. I'll try to get a better one tomorrow.

If you stand of the steps of the Grand Arche you can see the Arc de Triomphe. Again the pic isn't all that clear. Maybe tomorrow in the full daylight I can pick it up
better.

Look right in centre of pic to see Arc de Triomphe

Having dinner tonight proved to be another one of those little challenges that are there to try the intrepid traveller. I've been spoilt in Ireland, because they eat my type of food! Meat and vegies - and loads of it. And I've been spoilt in the last few days as I've had my dinner cooked up and presented to me at Mary's house.
Even down at Lahinch I felt very comfortable at the Shamrock Inn with my boys.

But now I'm in a different country, where there is a different language spoken and a different style of food served.

When I arrived I went for a walk around and there is a big shopping centre almost in the centre of this building. But it was a bit early for dinner, especially as I had gained an hour in time, so my next priority was to get a beer. Didn't want to get one at the Hilton, as the costs are outlandish....So I found this Brasserie which looked nice, so I went in and the man
behind the bar spoke English and so I asked for a beer. That's where the complications set in! What sort of beer...??? None of them sounded familiar so he suggested a French beer and I agreed. But then when it came to paying there are 2 costs... one if you stand at the bar, (2 Euros 70) and one if you sit down(4 Euros 40). What a decision... I opted for the cheap one of course, then felt like a real dork standing at the bar drinking my beer. But there were some bar stools so I asked the lady if I could sit on them and that was OK. The lady was very nice and explained that in France that is always the way. I've learnt something new again today.

Then came the dinner saga. it was still too early for dinner so I went back to my room to see what I could sus out. There are a heap of food places in the basement of the hotel, but none of them were opened. I saw one nice place in the big food court but wasn';t sure what it offered. There were lots of people drinking there, but no-one was eating.

Shopping centre in middle of hotel. Pic taken from inside elevator

Anyway, I decided to take the plunge and eat at the Hilton dining room. So I went in and got seated and got the menu, and all of a sudden there was this almighty row coming out of the kitchen... some guy was shouting really loudly at some other poor bugger. It went on for quite a long time. I felt a bit uneasy, because there was only one other person in the dining room. The girl came to take my order (all the dishes were quite expensive) and I asked her what the vegies were, and she was almost too scared to go into the kitchen... Anyway, she came back eventually and said they were carrots, fennel and celery. Byt this time it all got a bit much for me, so I told her I was going somewhere else. It's no good paying 30 Euro for a piece of meat with not much else.

So, I went and got my coat and went back to the Brasserie. It was a lovely atmosphere inside there - much better than that Hilton dining room. The waiter was interesting..... he had the typical French arrogance. The dinner was OK - steak and fries and salad (by this time I'd given up on my vegies). I had a glass of wine and coffee and it came to 25 Euros 80 - reasonable price. But I didn't have change so I gave him 50 Euro note. And he was very reluctant to give me any change... Maybe he thought because I didn't speak French I also couldn't work the money.... I was on to him. I did give him a tip, but there was no way I was going to give him that much. I am but a poor teacher after all!!!!

I thought I wouldn't have much to say today, but there's always something happening when you travel.

Tour starts tomorrow night, and I think I'm glad I'll be with a group again here in France. I must admit I feel a little uneasy here - not scared, just wary, so I'll be glad to have a few people around. Different to Ireland where I just felt absolutely at home.

I think my days of free Internet are over... have to pay here and almost certainly will as I travel through France. Ah well, I've come this far with this blog I might as well finish it off.

Home in Perth on Nov 18 - a few people have asked when I'm back. Not rushing - still having too good a time! :)

Drogheda - St Oliver Plunkett

2009-11-05T02:04:00.009+08:00

Had a nice easy day today, because I'll be on the move tomorrow.

I wanted to say thank you to Mary and Nicky for allowing me to stay with them for the past few days, so I asked Mary where her favourite place was in Ireland. She said Drogheda (pronounced with a silent "g" - Dro-heda). Some of us of the older generation may remember that was the name of the homestead in the Thornbirds. Drogheda is about 50 kms north of Dublin along the coast.

Drogheda has another claim to fame though - it is the resting place of the head of St Oliver Plunkett. One of my early teaching appointments in Melbourne was at BOP's - Blessed Oliver Plunket's in Pascoe Vale. He was canonised just after I left - maybe there was a connection...???

Anyway, I also wanted to see Ollie's head one more time, so I offered to take them there and take them out for lunch, which we did.

St Peter's Church, Drogheda

St Oliver is a favourite Irish saint, and has the usual grisly end... hung drawn and quartered by the British for having the temerity to stick up for his faith.
Here's a bit from Wikipedia about Ollie
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Plunkett

Saint Oliver Plunkett (1 November 1629 – 1 July 1681) was the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland. He maintained his duties in Ireland in the face of English persecution and was eventually arrested and tried for treason at a kangaroo court after lawful courts had failed to convict him. He was hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn on 1 July 1681, and became the last Catholic martyr to die in England. Oliver Plunkett was beatified in 1920 and canonised in 1975, the first new Irish saint for almost seven hundred years.

Mary and I out the front of St Peter's Church, Drogheda

We started off by having a lovely lunch at the cafe near the Church... Nice soup and soda bread and Nicky had egg, beans and chips. I wasn't going anywhere near those beans!

Mary and Nicky having lunch

Then we went into the Church. It was really hard to take a pic of the head because it was inside a big gold steeple like case, and the head was a bit black! Let's just say you would have to see it in the flesh to really get the visual impression.

I lit a candle and said a prayer for all my friends in Australia, especially for the children and staff of St Oliver's where I taught.
The Church itself was beautiful...

On the way back we went through Balbriggan, which is where my maternal grandfather came from. The plan was to stop and have a coffee and take some pics, but it was getting dark and it was raining and there was no parking. So we drove straight through Balbriggan. My cousin John had tried to track down the genealogy of this part of the family, but apparently the Church was burnt down at some stage and all the Parish records with it, so we don't have any access to my Grandfather's lineage. All we know is that he moved across the water to Liverpool, and met my Grandmother who came from Leicester, and they migrated shortly before my Mum was born. She was born in Australia, but her older brothers and sisters were born in England.

So now I'm demolishing my last can of Fosters as I prepare for the daunting task of re-packing my case so that it can fit on the Aer Lingus flight to Paris tomorrow. I actually went down to the Post Office today and posted home some of the books I have collected along the journey.
That cost me 38 Euros, but I'm sure my case would've been overweight, so I might was well do it first!

So, tonight it's good bye to Ireland - a place where I have felt so much at home, and somewhere that I hope to return to. Onwards to the next stage of the journey - to Pareee..... I've enjoyed doing my own thing for a week or so.. it's been nice just to draw breath and go at my own pace for a while.

So.....

Slarn agus dirguit (Goodbye and God bless) from Ireland.

Avoca, Glendalough, Wicklow

2009-11-04T01:58:00.013+08:00

Yet another lovely day.

Woke up and the sun was shining. I had a plan for today. I wanted to go to Avoca and Glendalough. Avoca was the town where Ballykissangel was set, and last time I was here I only had a limited time there, so I was hoping to get there and just take my time and have a good look around.
Point A on the map is Avoca, and the little green blob just to the North East of Avoca is Glendalough (Don't forget the Irish correct pronunciation - Glenda-lock!)

Little Gaby Garmin got me there with no worries at all. We are starting to work out our relationship now. I'm learning when to ignore her...! If the road she suggests looks like a country lane or back road, I just keep going and she just re-calculates...

The scenery continues to be spectacular..
Avoca was a little quiet when I arrived, so I headed straight for the pub (as you do!) to have my lunch. Those who have seen Ballykissangel may recognize the pub - Fitzgerald's - where Assumpta used to work.
I also took photos of the bridge and the Church...

I said a prayer for you all in the Church, and lit a candle for you. I especially said a prayer for my Mum who used to love Ballykiss. You didn't dare ring whilst it was on telly! You would get very short shift.

After lunch I moved on to "The Meeting of the waters", where two rivers meet.... There was a famous song about it, that people of my parents generation might remember...
There is not in the wide world a valley so sweet,
As the vale in whose bosom the bright waters meet;
Oh, the last rays of feeling and life must depart,
Ere the bloom of that valley shall fade from my heart

Using my little Gaby GPS I moved on to Glendalough, which means the "Valley of two lakes". It is a most beautiful place, just outside Dublin. It's in County Wicklow which is called the "Garden of Ireland". The Wicklow mountains are just outside Dublin, and provide the prefect backdrop to a truly beautiful place.
It is centred around the ruins of St Kevin's abbey, whic lie just above the lakes beneath. If you would like to read a little history about this place, click on the link below
http://www.sacred-destinations.com/ireland/glendalough

I was very lucky with the weather. While I was out walking, the weather was chilly but fine. The wind made my eyes water.... But as soon as I got back inside and was having my coffee, down she came.... It bucketed down! I was so lucky.

Decided to drive home through the Wicklow mountains - again beautiful scenery.... I stopped at the Wicklow Gap at the top of the mountains. I hoped out the car to take a photo, and I was nearly blown off the face of the earth....

It's been an interesting experience driving in Ireland. Our tour guide Bernard talked about how road rules are just guidelines!!! And I've seen it in practice so often... Speed limits mean nothing at all. The standard speed limit in built up areas is 50 km/h, but nobody takes any notice. And people just drive at the speed they think is OK. Double lines don't mean much at all either... I've had a few times when my heart was in my mouth with people overtaking. But also, they seem to be very patient, and they don't always rush to overtake either. It's a curious mixture.

Now, I've had my can of Fosters, and am about to have some tea - Irish stew and vegies... I'm very spoilt. How blessed am I to have been so looked after....

Back in Dublin

2009-11-03T02:22:00.011+08:00

This post will be short and sweet today, mainly because there's not a lot to say about the drive back.

I felt sad leaving Lahnich, wondering if and when I would be back. This morning was grey and bleak as I gazed out of my breakfast room, but that didn't stop me from feeling an attachment to the place.

It's been a great few days and I feel very connected to the land around there. The Curtin family were so warm and welcoming that I really felt I belonged. Ah well, all good things must come to an end.

BTW - in case anyone has noticed the difference in spelling between Curtin (Irish) and Curtain (Australian).... When our ancestors migrated from Ireland, they were definitely Curtins. But we have a family legend that some dear old nun once said to someone in the family "That's not the way you spell Curtin - it should be Curtain" and that was the end of that! You don't argue with dear old nuns. It was in my grandfather's generation...

My Gaby Garmin GPS has now become my second best friend. She navigated beautifully today, and took me on the best and quickest way back to Dublin. No real backroads where only one car can pass. Just the best way, with very clear instructions. She also got me off the Motoroway before the toll was operational, then brought me back on the motorway when payment was no longer required.
In the map above you might be able to follow my route. I cut across from Lahinch (PointA) to Gort, then to Loughrea, then Athlone and then on the motorway to Dublin.

I stopped near Gort to view the ruins of an old abbey, Kilmcduagh

There are so many of these around Ireland. Not sure of the significance of this one. That's where you miss the bus commentary.....

My next stop was Loughrea (pronounced Lock Ray). It was a lovely little town and I found a nice bakery to have the usual sandwich. Here's a pic of the town of Loughrea...

Then I got onto the Motorway, and it was so boring after the beauty of the country roads. You could've been anywhere in the world. I foudn myself getting quite sleepy as you just cruised along. I was glad when Gaby Garmin told me to get off for a while, and I ended up at a lovely little pub called the Monastery Inn in a town called Clonnard.

So, that's it. I'm safely back in Dublin with Mary and Nicky, and only have 2 days left in Ireland. Tomorrow I hope to go down to Avoca (home of Ballykissangel) and Glendalough (pronounced Glenda - lock over here!)

Not sure how much Internet access I'll get in France, so I'm making the most of it here while I have it.

Crossing the Shannon, Tralee and Dingle

2009-11-02T04:43:00.017+08:00

Big adventure today. I was so brave... I went on a boat! For those who know me well, this is a big challenge. I would have to be the worst sailor... but it made sense in order to save about 100km or so. In the map below, I crossed at point A, otherwise I would've had to go all the way around through Limerick to get into County Kerry.

The plan was to catch the 10am ferry (they go on the hour) but alas and alack after having dinner with the rellies last night, I was a little slow this morning and missed the ferry by about 10 minutes...

BTW - here's a pic of dinner with the Curtin's last night.

I went to Mass first, then Sean dropped off Nora to go in my car and we went up to Marie and Pat's for dinner. It was so lovely to be amongst family, and that's how it felt.

Anyway - back to the ferry trip...
So, what can you do when you see the ferry pulling out from the dock...?? Go to the toilet, buy a cup of coffee and a paper and sit down and relax. So, that's what I did. I met up with a couple who also just missed the ferry and they were from Germany and Switzerland, and they had been living in Galway for three weeks to learn English. She was telling me they stay with the host family and they must speak English for those 3 weeks. if you don't know the word, you do without... Could be tricky!

Anyway, the ferry takes about 20 minutes to get across then returns... Here are a few pics

I didn't want to sit in the car, so I hopped out on to the deck, which was fine, except it was freezing out in the middle of the Shannon, and it got quite rough in the middle. Lucky it was only a short trip!

Anyway, apart from nearly freezing to death, the trip was good and we drove straight off at Tarbert in Kerry. I had looked at the map previously and noted that my route went through Listowel, home of Tadgh Kenneally from the Sydney Swans. I looked out for him in the streets, but couldn't see him. Took a couple of pics of the town though...

There was hardly a soul around, but it was Sunday morning so nothing even stirs until about 12-ish. I was looking for a coffee shop in Listowel, but couldn't find one, so pressed on to Tralee.

I especially wanted to go to Tralee because it's the home town of my friend Mary Catlin. She has always talked about it, and I couldn't get this close and not go there. By this time it was one o'clock-ish so I went into a pub (the Imperial) and had my standard toasted ham and cheese sandwich. I also went to visit the Church - St John's- but was nearly mown down in the rush, because 12 noon Mass was just coming out. I guess they were all on their way to the Sunday session!!

Pictures of Tralee

It was still relatively early, so I thought I would press on to Dingle. In my previous bus tour twelve years ago, I remember being more impressed with Dingle than the Ring of Kerry (re-inforced by my recent experience!). So off I went again... faithfully led by Gaby Garmin GPS.

The drive was absolutely beautiful. As I've found so many times on this trip, the photos can't really capture the magnificence of the scenery. The weather changed a bit during this part of the trip, and made the driving a little hazardous, so once I hit Dingle, I decided it was time to turn around and go back the way I came. If I had more time, I would've loved to complete the whole Dingle Peninsula, but I was conscious I had to go on that boat again!

Here are some pics of the Dingle Peninsula.... (thought of Nadette from Newman who spent time in Dingle as part of her Medical pracs...)

The town of Dingle itself is very pretty. It's a harbour and obviously has lots of boats. As noted above the weather had changed a bit by the time I go there, so I didn't dilly-dally. Just had a quick cup of coffee and set the GPS for Tarbert again (the ferry port)

Here are some pics of Dingle....

I made it back for the 4.30pm crossing which was good, because the next one would've been 5.30pm and it's quite dark by then. The crossing back was uneventful - less rough, but just as cold.
We berthed back at Killimer just on 5, so I set Gaby Garmin for Lahinch. But she has a mind of her own sometimes.... she doesn't realise that the shortest way as the crow flies often means negotiating the back roads and lanes, and sure enough, that's where she took me. I was quite keen to get home by now, as it was almost dark, and the rain started again. But I followed her instructions and ended up on this lovely little road that took me God knows where, but I eventually ended up on the Lahinch Road. The last part of the journey was quite tricky driving, because the road winds a bit and it was dark, and of course it was raining.

I was so glad to get back into Lahinch that I drove straight to the Shamrock Inn - my favourite watering hole! I've become one of the family there now, and I know Declan, the boss, and Sean and Peter who served me every night. They all call me Moira too and ask me about my day and where I've been. No wonder I feel at home! I'll miss them as I head back to Dublin tomorrow.
I had to celebrate my last night in my patch with an Irish Coffee.... and it was beautiful. I don't know if I've had one of them since my Mum died in 2000.... But it was worth waiting for to have the genuine article.

Irish coffee at the Shamrock Inn

Well, that's it for Lahinch. Tomorrow I move on back to Dublin to stay with Mary and Nicky again. It's been just wonderful being here and meeting up with my family and feeling very much at home in my country. Hopefully I will come back here again soon, because it's place that I have grown to love.

Meeting the relatives, Clare Coast

2009-11-01T01:22:00.013+08:00

The day started as a beautiful sunny day, but I'm discovering that it can be deceptive.

Breakfast room and Rosie

I had organised to be picked up at 10am this morning, so Marie came to get me with her little girl, Ellen.

Ellen and Marie

They took me up to the family farm to meet Nora, the mother and Sean, Marie's brother. For those who may not have heard the story, this is the farm from which my Dad's ancestors migrated over 150 years ago. The Curtins still own the farm and are direct descendants of the same family as me. So the farmhouse is on the very spot where my Great (x5) Grandfather would've grown up. I had been there twice before and it's an amazing feeling to be surrounded by the spirit of your ancestors.
The welcome was very warm and gracious and I felt very much at home.

Curtins and Curtin farmhouse

Nora and Moira

We had a lovely morning tea/lunch and then Sean took me off around the farm to have a look. He breeds cows until they're about one year old then sells them to the farmers in the East of the country, because apparently the land is much better over there.

The bulls on the Curtin farm

The farmhouse is in a beautiful spot. You can see down to the Ocean, and you are surrounded by fields of green on every side.

Curtin farm view at Tullygarvan

Brickwork that is characteristic of County Clare

Then we took off to Marie's farm which is just down the road, and had another cup of coffee. She has just built her house and again she has a beautiful view, surrounded by fields of green.

This afternoon I decided to go for a drive along the Clare Coast heading North. The scenery again was just magical, with the road often tracking right beside the sea.
Here are a few pics..

One of the features of County Clare is The Burren which a wild rock landscape that appears very barren but is full of wildlife and protected flora.
Few more pics..

So now it's Saturday night and Halloween and I'm off to Holy Mass. Will pray for your immortal souls! Then I'm off to have dinner with the relatives....

Cliffs of Mohr, Ennis and a surprise location!

2009-10-31T03:42:00.025+08:00

Today was a "wow" day.... everywhere I travelled, I kept saying "wow". County Clare is just so beautiful. The rugged coastline blends so perfectly with the green fields and rolling hills

As I mentioned yesterday I'm staying at a lovely B&B that backs on to the Atlantic Ocean. When I went down for breakfast, I could just sit and look at this glorious view. I wasn't rushing my brekky at all. And the big bonus was, Rosie even had Vegemite!!!! First time on this trip. She actually had Weetbix and Vegie. She knows how to make a person happy!

View from B&B window

I tried to ring my relatives, but no-one was home, so I decided to set up on my first adventure. The Cliffs of Mohr (sometimes spelt Moher - not sure which is right!) are just 10 kms out of town, so that was an obvious starting point. It was your typical Irish day - overcast and raining, but that kind of weather just embellishes this rugged coastline. So Gaby Garmin took me directly there. It costs 8 Euros to park your car - they call it an amenities fee, so I made sure I went to the toilet twice to get my money's worth!!!!

As you'll see in the pics below, it was quite wet, but not cold. The wind was blowing straight off the ocean, but that only makes it more authentic.

There are a variety of walks you can take around this place, but because it was raining reasonably steadily, I didn't venture too far... I walked up to O'Brien's Castle. The view from the top was outstanding, but if truth be known I only went in there to get out of the rain...!

I looked around for about half an hour or so, then coffee called, and thank goodness it did, because I was no sooner inside than the rain absolutely bucketed down. People were coming in looking like drowned rats. The coffee shop had these big panoramic windows and you couldn't see a thing because the rain was so heavy. I couldn't do much, so I decided to retire to the Souvenir shop. And it was so lovely to just wander around and take my time without the pressure of being back on the bus. A couple of busloads of people came in whilst I was there, and I was so grateful I wasn't part of that.

The rain eventually eased a fair bit and then the Cliffs were immersed in fog.

But it was lovely to be there and experience the whole range of the Irish weather.

My next stop was a little village about 10 kms away called Ennistymon. I was getting a bit peckish by now, and thinking about lunch, but I couldn't find a single place to have a sandwich, so I decided to push on.
But as I walked the main street looking for tucker, I saw this sign that said "The Cascades". It was a hidden treasure. Theis magnificent river pouring over the rocks...

Next stop Ennis, which is like the capital city of County Clare. It's a charming town with the shops opening straight on to the street. Th tricky part of any Irish town is getting parking. And you always have to pay. I found a car aprk and was doing laps, but started giving St Anthony and St Anne a go, and sure enough, there was a spot. I also found a public phone and got on to Nora Curtin, my relative that I'm going to visit. I told her I was in Ennis, and she told me that her daughter worked there in the bank, so I wandered in and said G'day!

When I finished in Ennis I took off for my surprise destination... I'll upload the pics below and see if you can guess....

It's the house used in the series "Fr Ted", one of my favourite shows! MAry's son Patrick had it in his GPS and he transferred it to mine. Gaby Garmin took me there with ease. When I came from Ennis, she took my via main roads and I got there really easily, but when I had taken my pics and said "Take me home to Lahinch" I went via all these really small little lanes and back roads... Gaby and I are still getting used to each other obviously! next time, I think I might ignore her if she sends me off the back way! But I took some nice pics on the way...

Clare stone fence

Took some more pics of the sunset over Lahinch beach, but they weren't nearly as spectacular as last night so I won't bother uploading them. Had my dinner again in the "Shamrock Inn". The boys there recognized me from last night and all came and had a conversation about where I'd been today and what I did. Everyone I run into knows the "Curtins". I'm having morning tea with them tomorrow so it will be nice to catch up and take a few pics of the farmhouse that still stands on the original Curtin property.

Bit long winded tonight - must be because I have the Internet connected and don't have to rush. Hope it's not TMI (too much information!)

Lahinch

2009-10-30T03:02:00.013+08:00

On the road again....

Can't believe I'm actually here in Lahinch - the home of my forefathers. It is the most beautiful place. It's right on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, quite close to the Cliffs Of Mohr, and is surrounded by fields of the various shades of green, divided by the distinctive stone walls of the Clare region.

How's this for a photo of me with Lahinch Beach in the background at sunset.

Had a bit of a sleep-in and by the time I got my case re-packed and got organised, I left Dublin about 11.15am. My lovely GPS ( now called Gaby Garmin) led me very succesfully onto all the correct roads, and off I went.

The first nearly 90 kms were on a double highway motorway, and was very easy driving. Then we hit the roadworks! One lot took about 15 mins to edge through. But it was an easy drive. I was going to stop in Roscrae for lunch, but they signs up everywhere about paying for parking, and the clamps that are imposed if you don't pay etc... And the town was quite hectic. So I gave that a miss and went on to the next town which was in County Tipperary and was called Toomevera. It was a little town, but I went into the pub and had a toasted ham and cheese sandwich (my staple diet for lunch!) and a coffee. All for 5 Euros - bargain! I meant to take a photo of the pub, but forgot!

From there my route took me right through the town of Limerick - fondly called "Stab City" by the Irish, because of its high crime rate! My faithful little Gaby Garmin took me through all the turns with no bother. Then I headed northwards past Shannon Airport and ended up in Lahinch about 3.30pm. It's extraordinary to think I crossed Ireland from Dublin to the West Coast (from east to west) and the entire journey took me only about 4 hours max with stops!

Soon as I hit County Clare, my spirit seem to come to life. There is something about this part of Ireland that just feels like home.

I've found a lovely B&B called Cois Farraige (pronounced Cosh Farragher - which means near the sea!). The owner is Rosie O'Donoghue, and I had already emailed her to say I might be here during this week. The B&B is set up on top of the cliff and has a beautiful view across the Atlantic. My room is very comfortable and the best thing is - she has WiFi Internet access. I think I'm here for a few days at this rate! All included for 35 Euros!

My B&B and my hire car - little Ford Fiesta

Went down into the town and had a look around. It really only has one main street and then there is the seaside area. It's dark quite early here, now that daylight-saving has stopped. So I had my tea about 5.30pm in the Shamrock Inn. Lovely Bacon and Cabbage. But they all think they're feeding an army! I can never finish my meals, and I'm a good go-er at dinner time!
But the man behind the bar got talking and my Aussie accent is quite obvious, so we got talking and of course- small town as it is- he knew my relatives. I haven't rung them yet, so I bet they'll know before I ring that I'm in town!

So now I'm at my B&B using the Internet, halfway across the world, and in the place from which I came. It feels quite weird, yet almost like home.So I'll upload just a few more pics of "my patch"!

Dublin - Wicklow and Bray

2009-10-29T01:51:00.008+08:00

Nice easy day today... sleep-in and washing done.

I picked up the hirecar this morning, and made sure I found out how to reverse and how to open the petrol cap. Both of these have been problematic for me before. In fact last time I was in Ireland, the hirecar had been backed in so I just drove it straight out. I stopped in Ennis to have lunch and nosed into a car park - as you do. Until I tried to reverse out.... No matter what I tried I couldn't get the car into reverse. In desperation I eventually bailed up this man walking past with a family (turned out he was from Denmark!) but he knew the trick.. you actually had to pull the gear stick up towards the roof then move it into reverse... What a drama...

After I picked up the car, I used my new found skills with the GPS to get to Mary and Nicky's place in Crumlin. Except for one little detail.... When you set the GPS you make a setting called "Home" and their son set it all up for me the other night, and put their address into the Favourites and called it "Home". However, this was not the "home" that was found by clicking on the "home" option. So I thought I was very smart with my little GPS, but actually ended up in whoopity-whoops. But I was cunning and loaded up the correct address and eventually ended up in Crumlin.

Seeing I had the car, and the washing was in hand (12 Euros this time, but money extremely well spent to get your washing done for you!), I decided to really give my GPS a workout by going down the coast to Wicklow. The GPS was great, except sometimes we got a little confused between us. But it all worked beautifully and I ended up safely in Wicklow.

Wicklow Beach

Wicklow golf course (for all you golf addicts out there!)

By now I was feeling a little smug having more or less mastered the GPS. I wanted to go back via the coast road. But I was devotedly following the instructions and ended up on the ring road. So I looked at the map and decided to go my own way. That really tricked it. It kept telling me to do things that I blissfully ignored.... Then I started talking to it... How bad is that.... Do you think it knew I was ignoring it...???? hehehe :) Anyway, it will be a boon when I take off tomorrow for the country.

Anyway, I found my way to Bray by the coast road, and had a lovely cup of coffee sitting outside near the water. It's another beautiful weather day. I've been so lucky with my weather... Bray is a bit like St Kilda with the amusement park by the seaside. As it was midweek and the season is over, it was all quiet, but it was a lovely place.

This evening I went up to the local for my pint of Smithwicks.... have to keep up the traditions whilst in Ireland. This was a big event for Mary because she is a life-long Pioneer (given up the drink!) So I'm corrupting the Irish, and leading them to drink!

Off to County Clare tomorrow to the home of my forefathers... I've enjoyed the break today and the change of pace. Now I'm ready for action again!

Kilkenny - Dublin

2009-10-28T04:49:00.020+08:00

I can't believe the tour is over already. We've done a lap right around Ireland and now we're back in Dublin.

We had a later start today - bags out at 8am and brekky at 9am. Woo hoo! Except for one slight detail..... when I set my alarm last night I somehow managed to move the clock forward one hour so instead of getting up at 7am, I actually got up at 6am. I thought it looked pretty dark so I checked my watch and my phone and both said 6am, but I rang reception just in case. It would be awful to be late on the last day! There is a very subtle yet strong peer pressure for people to be on time. We had a couple of Asian ladies on this trip, one of whom was rather elderly and they constantly got the times mixed up at the start. But they worked it out after a few days and all went well from there.

There was also another "character"on our trip.... Rockwell - commonly called Rock! He is 90 years old and fit as a fiddle. He actually really reminds me of my dad in looks and mannerisms. He been married 4 times, and three of them had died - of "natural causes" he was quick to point out. He was a great story- teller and entertained us quite a bit.

As did Bernard our tour guide who is definitely related to the leprachauns.... he had a story for every occasion... often about father O'Brien or one of the saints. That's one of the interesting thing about Ireland. Because it's such a Catholic place many of the stories involve the Church or the struggle of the Catholics. It's so easy to see where the faith of our parents came from....

Anyway, back to the travelogue....

We started the day with a short visit to the Waterford Crystal factory- short being the operative word, because Waterfor Crystal has gone bust - another victim of the recession. So all we really saw was a display of some of their best pieces and their showroom. Like Belleek, you can understand why the pieces are so expensive when you see the time and craftmanship that is put into each piece, but there was little to be bought under $100AUD.

Next we moved on to Kilkenny to yet another castle. But the price of entry was not included in this little jaunt so I chose to pass on payment. We could look around the outside but the day was dark and gloomy and raining on and off. And I have to admit, one can take only so many castles!

Kilkenny Castle

Instead I wandered down the street to look through the shops of Kilkenny. I love how the shops all face right onto the streets here. There are some quaint little shops in all the towns, but they all have one thing in common - they're very expensive!

Kilkenny Shops

The highlight of today however was the visit to the Irish National Stud farm (relating to horses, of course!)It was so interesting to wander around ths farm with the local guide telling us all about horse breeding and the money involved. It is such a high profile business these days, and for a mare to get coupled with a stallion (or "covered" as they say) it starts at 10 000 Euros. But, no foal, no payment. So they have all these strategies in place to make sure the mare is right to accept the stallion, because if she's not interested, she'll kick the stallion and could break his legs, and their goes the meal ticket!

Foals at the stud farm. Did you know that horses are born with their legs at the same size as they are as adults...?? The rest of the body grows but the legs don't get any longer....

The guide was a funny fellow and he told us how they know the mare is on heat. They have a little Shetland Pony called Tommy, who is in a stable with the top of the stable open and if the mare is ready for business, Tommy lets them know. But he can't do any damage, because he's locked inside but they reckon the system is nearly fool-proof!

He was also telling us that once a stallion fathers a horse that starts winning money, the value of the stallion's services goes up exponentially... Their most expensive stallion commands 60 000 Euros for each hit. And it's all very controlled as to how many goes he can have. it's all recorded and there has to be witnesses to maintain the purity of the blood lines. It was really fascinating stuff!

Expensive Irish Stallion

It was also lovely to see that famous irish rac horse - Vintage Crop, who is put out to pasture here. Although he is a gelding, and doesn't have a lot of value in their business, he earns his keep as a tourist attraction. I actually backed him when he won the Melbourne Cup in 1993. Of course we asked if he has a runner next week in the Cup, and apparently there is one called Proud Beauty (I think) but he said he will only be a chance if it's wet. What's the weather like in Melbourne...??????

The other lovely part of that visit was the neighbouring Japanese Garden. See, I do go into gardens sometimes...! The colours of the trees were just exquisite and the layout was very peaceful and calming. I'll include some pics below and you can see for yourselves.

So now, my journey takes another twist and turn as I hire a car and wander off on my own for a while. I'm actually staying in Dublin for one night with Mary, Bernadette's sister, to catch my breath and do my washing (big issue when travelling, as I have revealed before in an earlier saga!). Then I'm off down to County Clare to visit the land of my heritage and hopefully share a coffee with my relatives. I think I have the car for about a week - I'd better check those dates at some stage!

It will be nice to have a breather from the bus, and just move at my own pace for a while. Although I will miss the camaradarie of the people on the bus, I won't miss the rocking and rolling and the disciplined regimentation of life in the tour coach.

So ends another chapter on the journey. I might even have a little rest from the blog tomorrow - unless I find I have more exciting pearls to share! Right now I'm going to check my clock is set on the right time and hopefully have a bit of a sleep-in for tomorrow.

Thanks for all the lovely emails you are sending. I love to receive them so please keep them coming as you can!

Blarney-Waterford

2009-10-27T05:45:00.010+08:00

It was a very soft day in Ireland today... in other words it was very foggy and raining, and very Irish!

View from hotel in Kenmare

It was a good day to go to the Blarney Castle though, as the weather was in keeping with the sombre mood of the Castle. We drove out of Kenmare, and I have to admit I was glad to move on... the hotel we stayed in was nothing spectacular, and it smelt of mould. Also, because of the wedding on Sat night, there were heaps of people there, and there were kids everywhere... They kept running up and down the corridor outside our rooms until quite late. Those amongst us who were teachers tried to give them the eyeball, but to no avail. The question was... where were their parents...???? However that was answered about 3.30am in the morning when the adults started wandering down the corridor speaking quite loudly to each other... Not a good night for sleeping all round!

It was a lovely drive through the irish mist to Blarney. Again because of the Year 4s studying castles I was really interested in the layout and structure of the building. There were ruts in the brickwork at the top, and one of the guys pointed out that they were for holding the hot wax or boiling oil which was poured onto the enemy below. Also I love the murder hole which was basically a trap door built over a hole in the top of the castle, which had nothing beneath, so the victim plunged to his death below. They certainly had their "ways and means" in those days.

I had every intention of kissing the blarney, and I climbed to the top without any bother, but when I had to lean backwards I got really dizzy, so had to sit up. Consequently I didn't actually kiss the blarney, but I blew it a kiss and reckon that was near enough. You have to sit down and lean backwards - all too much for me!!!

The grounds around the castle were lovely and the trees were all just changing colour, so were fantastic.

Next came the highlight of the day - born to shop!!!! Next to the Blarney CAstle is the Blarney Woollen Mills, which is probably the biggest gift shop in Ireland. Bernard had been promising us all trip that we would have some time today, and sure enough we had an hour or so to just cruise through the shop. I could've spent a lot more time there (and money!) so it was just as well we had to move on.

So back on the bus again, for the drive to Waterford, which took about 2 hours. Unfortunately there was a very serious accident on the motorway, so we had to detour, and that cost us some extra time.

When we reached Waterford, we barely had time to check in before we were taken for a walking tour around the town. Our guide was a professor of Archaeology at Trinity and was immersed in the history of the place. He told us the story of Dervila (not quite sure of all these spellings..) who was married to an old and ugly King who only had one eye. Anyway, Dervila ran away with handsome young Dermot (we all know another Dermot who would fit this bill!). Anyway long story short again. They lost the war and went to England to get reinforcements and the leader who came over was Strongbow. He ended up marrying Dermot's daughter, and Irish Princess, thus joining together the English and the Irish, and when the daughter died, the English took over the Irish lands, and history was changed forever...

He also told us of the Vikings who were the original inhabitants of Waterford, and this town had over 1000 inhabitants. Along with Dublin was one of the biggest towns in Europe. He showed us the Viking fortifications, and there is one that is still standing and has been in constant use since about the year 1000. It was a fascinating tour. I love hearing all this history, and he was a wealth of information.

Waterford square

Blackfriars Abbey

Waterford - Reginald Tower. Still in use after 1000 years

No sooner had we finished the tour than we were all bundled in the bus again to go out to Murphy's Pub, which is in the sticks outside Waterford. It's obviously set up for tourists, but they played the irish music - both traditional and popular.

We all got a free drink and 2 hours of music then we came home again. I haven't been homesick one bit on this tour, but when they played "Too-ra-loo-ra-looral" the eyes got a bit misty. It reminded me of dad and how he used to sing it to all the grandkids. It's become a family tradition now, and to hear it in this context, just made me a bit bleary eyed!I must admit I've sung that song to my little "babies" a few times too... Just as well I had my pint of Smithwicks to console me!

Tomorrow is the last day of the tour. Can't believe it's gone so quickly... Going up through Kilkenny tomorrow then on to Dublin, and it's all over red Rover... Then I'm off in my hirecar....

I have to admit, in one way though, that I'm ready for a break from the bus. Whilst it has been great to have the company and the commentary and the organisation, it will be nice to do my own thing for a while.

But I am so blessed to have been able to see ireland this way, and hear all those mad stories from Bernard, but also to learn about the Irish people both past and present. I guess that's the beauty of travel.

Ring of Kerry

2009-10-26T00:59:00.012+08:00

Today was spent travelling around the Ring Of Kerry, via Killarney.

We were all on the bus by 8.30am and some people had opted to go to Muckross House which apparently has spectacular gardens, but I chose not to go to that one ( I can see some collective eyes rolling out there!)Anyway, it was just as well that I didn't choose that option for two reasons...
1. There was a picket line at the entrance to Muckross House, because the powers that be are trying to put "nappies" on the horses on the jaunting cars, and of course the drivers are objecting. So we would have had to cross a picket line to go in...

Entrance to Muckross House

2. The left-overs who didn't go were dropped in Killarney, and I managed to go to Holy Mass. A quick Mass is a good Mass, and we were out in 40 mins. I was surprised how full the Church was.... It was 10 am Mass and it was 90% full. The Church was a Franciscan Friary and they love their statues over here... I think every available spot in the Church was taken up with a statue!

After we rejoined forces with the others, we took off for the Ring of Kerry. I have often shared with you the little pearls of wisdom I have learned on this journey. Today I have another one...

The back of the bus is not a good place to be on the winding roads of the Kerry Ring. I was virtually in the back seat, on the opposite side to the view, so I saw very little of the beautiful scenery. And again we rocked and rolled and twisted and turned. I have to admit I'm glad to be off the bus tonight... But the scenery was magnificent, and we stopped a few times so I'll let my pictures do the talking for me.

First photo stop on the Ring of Kerry

Killarney Lakes Ladies View

Another photo stop along the way

Ring of Kerry Waterville

That's all for now folks - Internet is so slow. Tonorrow I'm going to kiss the Blarney so who knows what this will be like tomorrow...????

Bunratty, Adare, Limerick Killarney

2009-10-25T00:52:00.009+08:00

Sure, it's a soft day in Ireland! In other words it's raining again. As someone said earlier, it only rains in Ireland on days that end in "y".

Anyway, up and at 'em....

We started the day with an optional extra to Bunratty Castle. Having studied Castles with the Year 4s this year, I was really interested to go and see one live. It was a great excursion. The castle was built around 1425, and during the 16th and 17th centuries became a stronhold for the O'Brien family, who pledged their allegiance to the King. In return for giving up their Chieftain status, they were made Earls in the British system. Thus they became the Earls of Thomond. It was a well preserved castle and had a Great Hall, and murder hole and the staircase was just as described in our history studies of castles.

Bunratty also hosted a Folk Park which was a little similar to the Ulster Folk Park, and had many thatched cottages, each one set out in the furniture and design of the times (19th Century).

If you're sick of looking at thatched cottages you might notice my brand new Irish hoodie in vibrant green. An Irish person would never be seen dead in it, but I love it!

We had a very short visit to Limerick, and really only stopped to take photos for a few minutes. We stopped at the Treaty stone where the Treaty was signed between the Williamites (William of Orange) and the Jacobites (Catholic followers of King James) - I think. All this history is doing my head in! Anyway, the Catholics lost - I know that much- and the Penal Laws followed which sent the priests into hiding, and thus began the hedge schools and Masses celebrated right out in the mountains.

The other parts of Limerick that we saw were the River Shannon, and King John's Castle.

Our next stop was Adare, where again we were given the opportunity to look at the thatched cottages. There were three things against this.... it was our lunchstop, there were souvenir shops aplenty, and it was still raining. Poor old thatched cottages got the cursory glance and we moved on to food, loos and shopping.

I haven't talked about toilets much lately, but it has to be said.... For a country with as much water as Ireland, you'd think you could manage to flush a loo. But each one is unique in all the world. You're never sure if you have to pump the handle, or just give it one big push, or just wait and pray! The showers are also in the realms of the great unknown. There is never one so simple as to have a hot tap and a cold tap. There is always a combination of dials and plugs, and when combined with the bath, you're never sure where the water is going to come out... Nor what temperature it will be. I've learnt now not to hop under until I see what water is coming out of where, and how hot or cold it is. Aaaaahhh the intricacies of life on the road!

Anyway, back to the travelogue. After lunch we travelled through Limerick and into Kerry. They love their Gaelic footy and hurling down here, and nearly every house flies a flag with the County colours.It's sad but true that my County - Clare - has
the colours blue and gold. There are some trials in life that you just have to put up with...!

We stopped for a view of the Killarney lakes, which was just beautiful. The sun just popped out for a few minutes... just made everything seem even more mystical.

Our last stop was at yet another souvenir shop, but this one was very upmarket... They had some lovely knitware (which is a bit wasted with Perth weather anyway!), but the ones on special were 180 Euros - nearly $400AUD. The ones on the shelf were
260 Euros for a simple Cashmere cardigan. Wow..... not in my budget! But they did greet each one of us with an Irish Coffee which was lovely (although a bit sweet for me!)

Now here we are in Kenmare which is on the water at the beginning of the Ring of Kerry, which we do tomorrow. Nice hotel with free access to the Interent in the lobby (I hope it works ok). Having tea at Casey's Pub tonight. Last night I had Boiling Bacon and Cabbage - that's real tucker! Wonder what I'll have tonight....???

PS Had Irish Stew for dinner tonight - very nice! :)

Ballintubber Abbey, Connemara, Kylemore Abbey, Galway

2009-10-24T01:43:00.023+08:00

Well, we rocked and rolled and bumped our way through Connemara today. The driver said it was because the roads are built on a bog, so the roads are like a bumpy, winding roller coaster. A few people felt quite queasy, because the driver tends to be a bit jerky anyway. But we all survived!
We started the day with a foggy morning - not something I see very often these days. I took the optional extra to go to Ballintubber Abbey, "the Church that never died". It survived the many invasions and looting and burnings and their claim to fame is that mass has been said every day in that Church for over 800 years.

Here's a link to learn a little more about Ballintubber Abbey

The Church itself was beautiful. It had been renovated many times but it still maintained the feeling of being very old, yet it had a deeply spiritual feel.

As usual there are many stories attached to the Church. There is so much history in every brick. The guide told the story of the Priest killer who was paid to kill priests, which he did very successfully and was paid handsomely - keeping him in drinking money. Anyway, long story short, he ended being killed and being buried in the local cemetery, and everyone was up in arms. So they dug up the body and threw it in the lake. Anyway, the curate said they couldn't do that, so they recovered the body and buried him the Church yard, but they didn't bury him facing East, as Christians are - to face the rising sun. The buried him facing North -the direction of the devil. Later a tree grew out of his grave, but a big storm came and split the grave in two. the Irish are great storytellers.....

Here's a link to the story of Seán na Sagart - John of the priest

Priest Killer's Tree

The stations of the Cross inside the Church were made by some contemporary artist and were quite lovely.. see below...
Here's a link to see more of the Stations of the Cross

The other interesting thing about this Abbey was that it was a resting place for those who were on the pilgrimage to Croagh Patrick - the mountain of St Patrick. It was a place to stop and have a wash and relax before you attempted climbing the mountain - 22 miles away. Of course, legend tells us that Croagh Patrick was the place where St Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland. It's quite a high mountain that apparently takes a good few hours to climb. And the very good pilgrims actually take off their shoes and climb the last part with bare feet... over quite ragged rocks.

Croagh Patrick in the background

Part of the deal about being a pilgrim is you must not complain on the journey. If you fall into a bog, you just say "Thanks be to God" and keep going. And a pilgrimage doesn't work unless something changes in your life. Our guide asked us if we were tourists or pilgrims..... tricky question that. I think it's easier to be a tourist!

Ballintubber Abbey

Next we rocked and rolled our way through Connemara and the mountains. The scenery was quite wild and rugged, but always very beautiful. We passed by quite a few Loughs (or lakes).

Our next stop was Kylemore Abbey, which always reminds me of the episodes of "Two Fat Ladies" with all the nuns tucking into that rich, fattening food that they prepared so well. But it's a beautiful spot, tucked between a mountain and a lovely Lough.

The scenery on this journey has been quite different to the North. It is far more rugged and wild. Our guide tells us that during those times of oppression when the British took over the East coast of Ireland, they pushed the inhabitants towards the west coast because the land there was so inhospitable. The history of Ireland is so filled with oppression and mayhem. And of course there was the great potato blight leading to the faminine, where the British Govt just let nearly 2 million people starve to death. History can be very condemning as well.

Our final stop before Galway was the Connemara Marble factory where we shown all the different types of Marble that are found in this region. Very informative, and of course we had the compulsory gift shop!

As our hotel is about 15 mins out of Galway we were given an hour or so to cruise through the shops in Galway before dinner. The shops were lovely and I really enjoyed just walking around here. I've developed a liking for the local brew.... Smithwicks Ale, so I had to stop at one of the many pubs and have a half pint of Smithwicks.

Galway shopping streets

So, that's about it for today. Once again I have free internet access in my room so I was able to embellish a little more today.

Hope you're all well and enjoying reading this as much as I am writing it. I have to admit I have to discipline myself sometimes, but I've got into the swing of downloading my pics as soon as I hit the hotel room, then writing the blog immediately, otherwise I might put it off. But it's a great record for me later, and I'm sure I will enjoy reading this over when I return and see how lucky I have been to go through such rich experiences. Indeed I am blessed!

Ulster Folk Park, Belleek, Yeats, Sligo

2009-10-23T04:07:00.017+08:00

My day today was more of a regulation tourist. Our bus stopped at the more "commercial" tourist spots, and that was ok, but anything was going to be hard to compare with the grandeur of yeterday's trip.

Ulster Park

The days are starting a little later than the European Tour, and that is much appreciated! There is always a cooked brekky on offer, but I take the cautious way and just have my weetbix and toast and vegemite. I have to take my weetbix down in a little ziplock bag, and I feel such a dork bringing out my daily dose of sugar-free fibre, but when travelling on a bus, all precautions must be taken. Then to add to my dorkiness, I then proceed to furtively drag out my jar of Vegemite, because, once again, they only offer sweet things to put on your toast. I could have a massive cooked breakfast every day if I so desired, but that might be pushing my luck a little too far...!

One of the young-ish gentleman on the tour, who is a little unique (whole life history in first 5 minutes!) stacks his plate twice at breakfast and works his way through it all. I just sit back and admire an appetite like that.

Anyway, having negotiated breakfast, we're on to the Coach and off for the day. Today our first stop was at the Ulster-American Folk Park, which was little like Sovereign Hill in Ballarat, except it was about Irish immigration to America. It was actually quite a good display and combined both lifelike models and poster boards inside, with recreations of cottages and live locals who were acting out the roles of the people in the olden times.

Models depicting life after immigrating

We had two hours there and it went really quickly. We could've stayed a lot longer. I loved the Irish traditional houses and models of life of the immigrant, but I zipped pretty quickly through the new life settlement in America. The money for the display was donated by an Irish American family who had made good in the USA, but wanted to highlight the life of the Irish immigrant.

It traced the history of the potato famine and how the population of Ireland decreased by over 25% during that period - through both immigration and death by starvation. Some of the displays were very lifelike and really portrayed the miserable conditions that the immigrants faced, both in Ireland before the journey, then on the ship, and then when they arrived in the USA things were not much better.

Our next stop was Belleek, the china making factory. It was fascinating to watch the craftspeople at work and see how long it takes to make the individually crafted items. The prices refelect this amount of time and effort, so purchases were kept to a minimum, as I was also worried about transporting any fragile items I bought.

Then we all piled back on the bus, and the next stop was Yeats' grave at a place called Drumcliffe - just outside Sligo. I had been there before on the bus tour I took 12 years ago, and as we approached the place, I actually remembered being there before. There is a magnificent set of mountains behind the grave and they tower over the Church and cemetery. There is also an ancient Celtic Cross there which dates back to the ninth century. The monastery was founded by St Columcille (St Columba) around 574, so the history just oozes out of the place.

The handles on the door of the Church were a pair of swans and apparently they were donated by the Yeats society of Western Australia. Nice connection!!!

Had a short break in Sligo and just had a cruise around the shops. We don't really get enough time to do a town justice, but I suppose it's giving me a picture of what's available later when I hire my car.

On the way to our hotel for the night, we made a quick stop at a Holy Well called Tobernalt Holy Well. It was a shrine which grew around a well and there were grottos and statues and candles burning. It actually had a truly peaceful aspect to it, and
the sign as you went in said "Silence" and most members of the tour honoured that. I lit a candle myself and said a prayer for all the people on my email list, especially those who are not well at the moment.

Tonight we are staying at a place called Castlebar and we are in a lovely old home that has been renovated into a modern hotel. It's called Breaffy House Resort.

So - a good day for a tourist today. Scenery was just lovely Ireland, and I'm not complaining at'all at'all at'all at'all!

Derry and Inishowen Peninsula

2009-10-22T02:58:00.004+08:00

What a good day to have my turn at the front of the bus! We went on the most spectacular excursion this afternoon around the Inishowen Peninsula. But more about that later...

The day started at a respectable hour - 8.45am which in touring terms is a sleep-in! We started off by picking up our guide Ronan McNamara who took us around the city of Derry, first in the bus, then we all hopped out and did a walking tour along the walls of the city.

He was a fantastic tour guide, and gave a very balanced overview of "The Troubles" and how they have been a part of the history of Northern Ireland for over 800 years. He took us through the history of the various English kings and how they each had their own impact on the way things happen even now. As he took us along the top of the wall, he pointed out the parts of Derry that belonged to the various communities - eg the Bogside was where all the Catholics lived.

He showed us a lot of the art work that illustrates the frustration that was felt about the conditions they found themselves in. For exeample he talked about how the only people who had a vote was the house/land owners. But Catholics were largely unemployed, as it was very segregated at the time, so Catholics virtually had no vote as they owned no property, and so were powerless. It was fascinating to hear, yet also very sad to imagine, the pain that many of these people felt as they experienced this conflict.

We were given free time then to wander around the town, and I must admit I liked Derry much more than Belfast. To me, Belfast seemed colourless and empty, whereas Derry has life and a bit of spirit.
This is the Church of St Augustine which is supposed to date back to the time of St Patrick. The word "Derry" means in Irish oak trees and this site is full of oak trees.

Then this afternoon we had an optional extra to go for a drive to the uppermost North West corner of Ireland - back in County Donegal (so back to the Euros for a little while!). It was just magnificent. The views were just out of this world. I've put some photos in, but they really didn't do justice to the fantastic scenery that just followed us all afternoon.

We started by going to the Inishowen Peninsula, and in particular to Marlin Head - the most north-westerly point of Ireland, and a place that for many who were emigrating, would have been their last glimpse of Ireland. After raining on and off all morning, the weather just cleared up amazingly and even the guide was surprised when the sun came out. He told us that often you can't see a thing because it's all covered in cloud. We were just very lucky! It was a bit windy though, as you might notice in the pics below.

Next we went to a place called Grianan Aillagh which was a very ancient place, over 2000 years old, marked by a circular fort. It was set right on top of the highest mountain, and we could see at least 4 Counties from there. Again the view was just out of this world. The whole day, the scenery was simply stunning. It's probably the best day I've had on this Irish tour so far. (Although I did enjoy the Giant's Causeway yesterday!)

I'm going out for dinner soon so I have to upload this before I go, as my Internet access will run out. I've had some trouble with the Internet, so I went up to the desk and they gave me a free 24 hour access, which is great. - even though we move on in the morning!

So to sign out today "Go neiri an Bothaue leat" - means may the road rise up to meet you!

Look for the sheep!

Glens of Antrim and Giant's Causeway

2009-10-21T04:37:00.011+08:00

Started today with a gloomy wet and windy morning, and it steadily progressed to wet and freezing cold. But it was a good day.

We picked up our local guide for the Belfast tour, and this time we were taken around and shown all the usual tourist spots. We started by driving past the Parliament for the North called Stormonton - also the name of our hotel. It was situated within an enormous park, and I know I should've known it, but I was surprised to see the Union Jack flying from the top of the building.

Northern Ireland parliament - Stormonton

The tour was quite informative, but I was hoping we might get taken into the area where "The Troubles" took place, but that was not to be. We were given a broad general look at things, and shown a few significant places, but I suspect they're trying to put all that behind them and not highlight the immediate past. We didn't stop the bus for any photos, which was a bit disappointing, because we were all keen to photograph some of the more famous landmarks.

We were also taken to see Queen's University and that was quite impressive, but the day was so cold and gloomy that we wereall glad to get back on the bus again.

Queen's University Belfast

The next part of the day provided the real highlight however.. the drive along the Antrim coast. It was just spectacular. We were driving so close to the ocean that sometimes the spray from the waves would hit the bus. It reminded me a bit of the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, but it was much closer to the water than that. As we drove through the Glens of Antrim we had these massive hills on our left and the ocean on our right. The view was just spectacular. We stopped a few times to take photos, and the wind was whipping the rain into your face, making the wind chill factor very significant. It seemed almost appropriate to have a wild, windy day whilst driving along that coastline.

Rope Bridge Antrim Coast

The scenery reminded me slightly of Cape Shanck, on the Victorian Coast at the back of the Mornington Peninsula. We used to have an annual holiday at Sorrento, and when it was an overcast day we always seemed to take off to Cape Shanck, because the weather matched the mood of the place. The scenery at Antrim was so majestic, it was breathtaking. I was wishing I was in a car instead of the bus, because you can only see so much in a bus. But I'm so glad I've seen it.

Antrim Coast

We finished up at The Giant's Causeway. Legend has it that this was the place where the giant Finn McCool used to embark onhis trip to Scotland (16 miles away across the water) to see his mistress. The story goes that Finn's mistress was alsomarried, and the husband came home unexpectedly and almost caught Finn in a compromising situation. So Finn escaped back to Ireland and told his mother not to ask questions, just to do what he asked. Anyway the Scottish Giant came bursting into Finn's house, and Finn's mother told the giant to go quietly because he would wake the baby. (Finn in disguise!) The story goes on to say that the Scottish Giant said that if this what what the baby was like, he wouldn't want to meet the Father, so he went back to Scotland, never to be seen again.

The scenery at the Giant's Causeway was again truly magnificent. The rugged coastline, and the unusual rock formations were complemented by the hills that swept down to the sea.

Then tonight after our arrival in Derry we all went out for dinner, which was lovely. Tomorrow we do the walking tour around the walls. They no longer call this Derry (Catholic version) or Londonderry (Protestant version), because they are seriously trying to heal the rifts caused by all those years of fighting. It is now simply called "The Walled City".

We have a two night stay here in Derry, so I'm off to do my washing now. On to the practicalities of life....

Belfast

2009-10-20T03:49:00.012+08:00

On the road again....

New bus, different tour director, different driver, different group. There was almost a grieving in me this morning as I started all over again. I really enjoyed our first tour, and the people on board were just lovely. I'm sure this group will be too, but it's a bit of an effort to start all over again. And each time there are different things to adjust to. Last time the bus was full and I had to share my seat with Larry from New York. That was an interesting experience in its own right. Most of the time he was quiet, but sometimes he was a very loud New Yorker who had long legs and used to spread over to my side every now and then! This time there are quite a few single people, and there is plenty of room on the bus, so I have a seat to myself. There are always little mini-adjustments to do...

Our tour director, Bernard, is definitely related to the Leprechauns... he's also kissed the Blarney stone several times over! He talked almost non stop from Dublin to Belfast - a journey of about 2 hours!!! But he's entertaining and interesting, and he tells good jokes! The driver is not quite as smooth as Alex was in Europe, so it's all a matter of adapting.

Today we started with a tour of Dublin and then yet another drinking session. I think I'll roll out of Ireland!!! This time we went to Jameson's whisky distillery. It was an interesting tour, and of course we ended up with the free whisky at the end! Bit early in the morning though to be hitting the bottle (it was about 10am!)

Thye tour of Dublin was very similar to the one I did on the Hop on and Hop off bus. But it helps get the city in context. We were taken up to Phoenix Park, a massive open space in the middle of Dublin, and were shown the spot where the Pope said Mass and had a crowd of over 1 million people. Il Papa seems quite big over here and on the continent. They come in their millions to see him.

Phoenix Park

Papal Cross at Phoenix Park

Next was the Jameson tour and that was interesting. And always the exit is through the souvenir shop! I've resisted quite well so far. I will wait until later in the tour. My case is getting heavy enough already!

Then we went back into the heart of Dublin to Trinity College - Dublin's University - to see the Book of Kells, which is one of the earliest versions of the gospels written down, inspired by St Columb Cille. Complete with the calligraphy and illustrations. Again, it was very interesting, and again we went out through the souvenir shop. This time I succumbed and bought a book about Irish B&Bs to prepare me for when I go on my hire-car section of the tour.

Trinity College - no photos allowed inside

After a break for lunch, we hopped on the bus for the drive to Belfast. There is now a motorway nearly complete which connects the two cities. We went across the border and didn't even notice we had done so. Apparently in previous years we would all have had to get off the bus and take all the luggage out and have the sniffer dogs etc... Times have certainly changed here in the North!

A Belfast Police Station. Notice the big fence for security!

We arrived in Belfast about 4.15pm, but it was a bit stange then, because we were dropped in the city of Belfast and given one and a half hours to cruise around, but none of us knew where to go much. Bernard more or less just pointed down the street and said "The shops are that way"!!! It was getting a bit cold by then, and threatening rain so we were all a bit bemused by this delay. There were a few theories that maybe the hotel wasn't ready for us..???

Belfast City Hall

Belfast Street

We all agreed though that Belfast lacked the atmosphere of Dublin. Maybe it was arriving late afternoon, or maybe we didn't know where to look but we all preferred Dublin by a mile. Dublin was alive and rocking. To us, Belfast seemed like a dead city. Maybe my opinion will change after a tour tomorrow. But that was first impressions.

Belfast City Hall and Ferris Wheel

Our hotel is very nice, but it's about 15 mins out of town. It's called the Stormont which is named after the Northern Ireland Parliament. We're right in the heart of the Protestant area. Bernard was saying that even just 5 years ago there was no way you would bring a vehicle with Republic of Ireland number plates into this area - let alone a tourist bus!

Now down for dinner, and purchase an Internet card. No freebies here unfortunately!

Dublin Day 2

2009-10-19T03:52:00.012+08:00

You know there are many traps for the unwary traveller.... even a simple thing like going to Mass..

The day started with Mass at St Mary's in Haddington St. Normally we just go along and blob out a bit and more or less do it by instinct. But when you're in a strange place to have to work out what the "natives" do. Each country is slightly different... Do you shake hands at the sign of peace..?? Do you stand, sit, kneel at the same time...??? Are the responses the same....?? You really have to be one your toes... When I walked in and saw the hymn sheet I thought -Yep, songs I can do, it's all good. Stuff like On eagle's wings and Sing a new song - standard stuff. But when Mass began, out walked this choir all done up in the black soutanes and white surplices, and sang the most beautiful 4 part harmony songs all in Latin. The acoustics in that Church were just magnificent, and it was just lovely to hear such wonderful singing.

St Mary's Haddington St

But the surprises didn't stop there... at the end of Mass, someone walked up to me and said "Hello Moira"... it was Agnes Gleeson - a Sister of Mercy from Melbourne. Couldn't believe that on the other side of the world, you would meet up with someone like that. She was staying at Baggot St, so I was trying to angle to get that comfortable cup of tea, but they don't do that on weekend!!!. I ended up shouting Agnes a cuppa instead!!

Inside St Mary's

Next thing was to go into town. I worked out the bus ok and got off at Grafton St - one of the main shopping streets in Dublin. It was Sunday of course, so not everything was open but you could get a good feel of it. There are lots of souvenir shops, and I was nearly tempted a few times, but I figure I should wait until later on the tour to see what else is available.

Grafton St

Then I went into town and just cruised up and down O'Connell St.

River Liffy and Halfpenny Bridge in background

Statue of Molly Malone - the tart with the cart!

Then came the highlight of the day... the trip to the Guinness factory. Mind you, I'm not a great lover of the Black Stuff. I've really tried hard to get into it, but I have to admit I would prefer a beer anyday. it was interesting enought to see how it's all made etc.. The original Mr Guinness certainly had his business head screwed on right, because he made and agreement with the Govt to get a 9000 year lease at 45 pounds a year... and also got a free supply of water from the Wicklow mountains. I forget how much water they used each day, but it was lots!!! All for free.

We got to pull a pint or sample a pint, so I chose the sample option! There was a beautiful view from the bar at the top. 360 degrees views of Dublin!

View from Guinness Factory

We're off again tomorrow. Met the new tour members tonight. Again a mixture of Aussies, Canadians, Kiwis and Yanks. Our tour leader's name is Bernard Creegan and he's very "Oirish".

And again, you wouldn't believe it. I saw this girl, and she saw me and we both said "I know you"... It turns out she is a teacher at St Luke's Woodvale in Perth and she was in one of my classes when I was in the CEO. She is travelling with her twin sister who works for St Vinnies. Truly amazing!!!

So, back into routine tomorrow. Bags out 7.30am and on the road by 8.30 am. Here we go again....

Dublin Day 1

2009-10-18T04:23:00.009+08:00

Relatively quiet day today. Had a sleep in, then first priority was to find the laundromat. Had a few good clues yesterday, but each one led to a dry cleaner shop. Finally I found one this morning that actually had washing machines, so I thought I was in luck. But they weren't for public consumption. So I asked the lady how much it would cost to do my two bags of washing including my shirts and jeans and various other bits and pieces. She quoted me 11 Euro, so I jumped at it! Getting all my washing done for me was worth every cent.

Having got the essentials of life sorted out, my next task was to orient myself. So I bought a Dublin card for 25 Euro which gave me all day access to the Hop on Hop off bus and free public transport for 3 days. It was a perfect Autumn day here in Dublin. Sun shining brightly. A little chilly but still very pleasant. So I braved the open top deck of the bus. I just sat there for the whole round trip. I didn't hop on and off because I just wanted to get my bearings. There were a few times when I was very tempted to hop off - the Guinness factory and the Jamieson Whisky Distillery. But they are included on my Trafalgar Tour which starts tomorrow night. Aren't you proud of my self discipline...?????

Some of the places we passed were St Stephen's Green (see pic above) Beautiful autumn colours. In the tourist blurb it says this is the biggest town square in Europe. Contrasts against the cobble stones of the Eastern European ones I've seen lately.
Also the usual places like Trinity College, National Gallery, Phoenix Park, Halfpenny Bridge, Temple Bar etc.... Lots of Churches included too.. I was surprised by how many of the big Churches were Protestant. I suppose once again it reflects their occupation by the English. Couldn't believe that their St Patrick's cathedral was Church of Ireland. Seems almost like a sin to a catholic!

In the afternoon I went back into the city to meet up with Mary and Nicky - the sister and brother-in-law of my friend Bernadette. We had coffee in Eason's bookshop. So while I was there I took some pictures of O'Connell Street and the Michael Collins statue.

Michael Collins Statue
O'Connell Street

Tomorrow I hope to go back into town and the central city trick. Grafton Street is the big shopping area, so I hope to have a cruise around there. I meet my new tour friends tomorrow night and we're off on Monday morning. I'd better enjoy the sleepin tomorrow because once you're on the tour, it's back to those early starts.

Thanks to everybody who's still reading. I'm enjoying keeping a track of where I've been. It's good for me to look back too and see the record of my trip.

Dublin- arrival

2009-10-17T00:09:00.007+08:00

Last night in Vienna

Having worked my way through the Vienna airport and Aer Lingus, I arrived safely in Dublin. It's good to be in a country where they speak English again!

The flight was good, although it was like being on Virgin Blue - pay as you go. The flight was about two and a half hours - no TVs or entertainment. But it was all good.

Arrived in Dublin, and my travel agent had pre-arranged a pickup from the airport. He was an Irish guy and he talked the whole way to my hotel. At one stage I must have drifted off a bit while I was looking at my new home for a few days, and he said to me "Are you not talking to me now then...?" I only had to say Yes and No and grunt at the appropriate times... But I made sure I did that from then on...

My hotel is fine. It has no fridge, no iron and has an interesting way of flushing the toilet, but hey - it's got free Internet access so I love it already! It's just around the corner from quite a few shops, so I can take my pick for dinner. My most immediate need is to find a laundromat. There are quite a few dry cleaners, but I think I've sussed out a laundromat for tomorrow. Doing your washing while you're on the road is an interesting experience to say the least. Mostly I take it into the shower/bath with me and just do my best, but I'm going to try and go all out tomorrow and put things through the washing machine.

When I was exploring the shops I looked up at the street sign, and you wouldn't believe where I am... around the corner from Baggot St. All my Mercy friends will recognize that address already, but for those who don't know, Baggot St is where Catherine McAuley founded the Sisters of Mercy. I've been there once before, and when I found out where I was, I thought I'd just go down about 100 metres, and there it was - the House of Mercy. It's a sign!!!!

Now I have my can of Heineken from Tesco and I have a lovely view of Autumn leaves outside my window. The weather is much warmer here - about 16 degrees today. I didn't even need my jacket! A bit different to the snow.

Off for dinner now - I think I might get some bangers and mash tonight! Or perhaps some irish Stew!

Vienna - end of tour

2009-10-15T21:47:00.003+08:00

Vienna 3

The day of the snow. Today it didn't just pretend to snow, it really snowed, and it was absolutely freezing again. The outside temperature was 1 degree, but I think that was an exaggeration!

We started the day by visiting Schonbrunn Palace, the summer home of Empress Marie Therese. it was a magnificent building and the history of the Hapsburgs is truly amazing. She had 16 children and spent nearly 20 years being pregnant. Then they married off all the kids into other rich and powerful families so that the lineage could continue. Apparently they had to prove they had at least 16 aristocractic descendants before they could marry, so in the end they were becoming quite incestuous. But that's how all the dynasties began - through arranged marriages with contracts about what happened if someone died. That's how the Austrian Empire became so big and powerful. Apparently this Austrian Empire even included Spain at one stage, so they automatically inherited all the South American outposts of the Spanish regime. The Austrians used to boast that the sun never sets on their empire, because it was always daylight in some part of their Kingdom.

We had to walk across a very big courtyard to get into the Palace, and it was really snowing by this stage... I guess it's all part of the adventure! It was an experience just to walk in snow.

Our next stop was the Imperial Treasures where we had a look at some of the jewels and clothes of the Austrian past. The Church was intimately involved in all this, because they had their finger in the pie of power too, of course. Many of their vestments were very regal and embellished with all sorts of embroidery.

We even saw the crown of the Holy Roman Empire. Apparently the Emperor an the Pope were having arguments about who was the most powerful, because when the coronation was to take place, each insisted it be held on his patch. Nothing like a Pope being a humble servant of God, is there...????

We also had a very unfortunate thing happen here, as one of the group, Mary, who is a doctor in Sydney, had her purse stolen.
They had warned us about pickpockets in Prague so we were all super-vigilant. But poor Mary had her bag zipped up and all, and it was just lifted out. Of course it had her credit cards, and she had just been out to get some cash. So that's gone to God!

In the afternoon, we went for a drive to the Vienna Woods. It was truly magnificent because the snow lay everywhere, and allthe Aussies were drooling about how lovely it was. It was so picturesque - just like postcards.. All the blokes acted like the big boys that they are and began to make snowballs and throw them at each other. We have two teenagers on the trip, and they are delightful. They also had a ball just playing in the snow!

I forgot to mention my "kultcha" from last night, when I went to the Concert. it was lovely. It was a mixture of the music of Strauss and Mozart, and they also had two opera singers and two dancers. I could have lived without them, but the music itself was fantastic. You won't know me when I return- I'll be so posh!!

Hope I can get this uploaded. I bought 1 hour of Internet time and I have 15 mins left!

Can't believe it's the end of the tour. We are all going out for our final dinner tonight, then tomorrow I fly out for Dublin. Look out Ireland - here I come! Not sure where my next Internet access will come from, so it might be a little delay. Who knows....

Prague to Vienna via Cesky Krumlov

2009-10-14T23:33:00.005+08:00

Yesterday had a bit of a sad ending to it, as one member of our tour group was taken off to hospital last night. She and her husband were both in their 80s and the tour has been quite vigorous in spots. There has been a lot of walking and Doris has had two knee replacements. Every time we went through a security walkway, she took out her little picture of her re-constructed knees, because they invariably set all the alarms off. No-one is quite sure what actually happened to her last night, but she has had some sort of an operation already today. I actually had lunch with them yesterday, because we were both interested in seeing the Church of the Infant of Prague. But we all decided it was too far out of the way, and a little too far for them both, so we had lunch together in a coffee shop.

The awful thing though this morning was that we had to leave them both behind in Prague. Her poor husband was left in the hotel and was going down to the hospital. But there were language issues as well as the normal medical complications, so they both have a very rocky time ahead.

So after that unhappy start, the big highlight of today was the snow!

It's snowing!!!

We left Prague and journeyed along to our first stop which was Cesky Krumlov (pronounced Ches-cky Crumb-lov), and it was just as freezing as yesterday, but this time we actually experienced snow. We have 39 members on the tour and at least half are Aussies. And we were all ogling at the snow. The Yanks and Canadians couldn't believe that we were all so excited at a phenomenon that they just take for granted. I took some pictures from the bus because it was starting to leave its mark on the ground. Then when we arrived at Cesky Krumlov, it was actually snowing on us. Nobody was particularly interested in the castle... I think Claus said it is the second biggest in Europe after the Prague Castle. We were all far more interested in the snow and getting back on the bus out of the cold.

Snow beside the road

Claus, our tour guide

It was a delightful bus ride through the Czech countryside, and we eventually reached the Austrian border. (See pics below) This, of course, used to be one of the borders of the so-called Iron Curtain and used to take some time to cross. We just sailed through though, and the toilets in Austria were free!!!! yee haa!

Czech-Austrian Border

Speaking of toilets, I took a picture of the WC block at Cesky Krumlov. Luckily we got in just before this crowd, but they had all come off one of the Danube cruise ships, and there were 4 coaches travelling in tandem. So four lots of people got out and had to queue forever. They also had to pay their 5 Crown. Everyone was rumaging for coins... So glad we got in before them!

Toilet queue

We're back in Austria tonight. I'm going to a concert featuring Strauss and Mozart music... You may have noticed I've become a bit of a culture buff actually... (Not!!) Tomorrow is our last full day on this first tour. I can't believe the time has gone so fast. We've had a terrific crew on this tour. Claus, our tour guide, has been fantastic. His knowledge of the history and culture of Europe is unbelievable. But he also knows the other important things like where the rest rooms are, and the ATMs etc...

The other people on tour have been wonderful. There has been a very happy atmosphere on the bus, and everyone has gotten along really well. We've had 4 doctors and 2 nurses too, which is always comforting (especially after last night!)

So that's nearly it for this tour. One more day with the highlights of Vienna. No free Internet tonight. I could go down to Maccas, but I have to get dressed up tonight and have dinner first, so i'm going to splurge and pay for the Internet access in my room. Its 10 Euro for one hour, but tonight it will be worth it!

Prague

2009-10-13T22:34:00.019+08:00

What a freezing cold day! In the morning, they put the weather forecast in the elevator. The forecast for the next 3 days in Prague is for a maximum temp of 4, 3, 4 with the likelihood of snow! What a bummer! It was so cold today. I haven't felt that cold since last time I was in Melbourne in the winter at the footy!

At least the rain was only intermittent today, and we were able to mostly keep dry. Today was mainly a walking day, so rain would have created big problems.Prague City in the background

Just a quick word about that "Romantic Tour of Prague" last night. It wasn't all it was cracked up to be! It was raining quite steadily last night, and we were supposed to go on a miniature train ride through Prague. But because of the weather, they put us in a mini-bus and we were all a bit jammed in. Then we went for a cruise along the river, but again it was too cold and wet to go outside, so we were all glad to get home to our warm hotel room. we had a really cute guide today, Karel - means Charles. I'll put his picture in because he was a lovely young man.

Prague Castle by night

Karel - our guide

Today we started out from the Castle (our hotel is right beside the Castle) and worked our way through all bits and pieces. Our first stop was to watch the changing of the guard. It wasn't quite like Britain, but it was impressive...

The pics are a bit out of order... too hard to change. You can get the drift...

Next we went to St Vitus Cathedral which is part of the Castle. Beautiful Church. Lots of lovely stained glass windows. We got to hear about a very popular Saint (Karel was a very good story-teller. Studied Performing Arts!) This Saint was called St John of Nepucek (I think!) Anyway, the King and Queen were having arguments - and St John was the Queen's confessor. So the King wanted the low-down on the Queen's confession. And of course, good St John wouldn't do it, so he was thrown in the river. The picture below shows his story. (Don't forget you can click on the pics to make them bigger!)

This is how they do Confession in Prague!

Then we continued on our walk down to the city centre, and cute Karel took us to "funny place". We didn't know what he had in mind - he said it was an example of Czech humour. Have a look at the pic to see what we all had a good laugh at...

We then went on to the town square to see the Astronomical clock which not only tells the time, but shows how the planets are aligned and the phases of the moon.
Then we had time to wander around the square and have lunch.
I forgot the mention too, we have yet another currency here in the Czech Republic. We are now using Czech Crowns. You get around 25 Czech Crowns to the Euro, so about 12 to our Aussie Dollar. Everything is very expensive over here... Our bus guide Claus, explained that not everyone has converted to Euros because their own economy is not strong enough yet. In order for the Euro to be a strong currency, all countries that use it have to abide by certain rules and have a depth to their finances, so it doesn't get dragged down by the less strong countries.

That's it for me now. I'm going downstairs to have a beer before tea. I have the luxury of free Internet access in my room again - sheer joy!!! Caught up on all the footy goss and read all my emails. I really do appreciate your feedback. When you're on the road it's good to keep in touch with those who matter to you!

Berlin to Prague via Dresden

2009-10-12T23:38:00.007+08:00

The bus trip was shorter today - thank God! Only about 300km all up.

It's been a cold and wintry day today. It was freezing when we got off the bus. We stopped for a rest stop about 50 kms out of Dresden in Germany, and sad but true there no toilet tales to tell. The only thing I'm going to do at some stage thought is add up how much a weak bladder is costing me....!!! At 50c a pee, it all adds up!

Dresden was an interesting town, but it was so cold, that it was hard to get too enthused. (They are predicting snow in this area in the next little while!)

Catholic Cathedral Dresden

As I'm sure many of you know, Dresden is famous because the Allies bombed it to the ground, not long before the end of the war. In fact, because there was a great deal of wood in the town, they actually used inciendiary bombs to make sure it all burnt down.

Our guide had an interesting perspective on the morality or not of such a decision. He is of Austrian descent, so you would think he would be against any needless destruction. But he is very well versed in history, and he explained that the Russian army were pressing from the Eastern front and the Germans were retreating. Their place of retreat would have been Dresden, and by removing this from the Germans, it actually helped the Russians to continue their charge and ultimately "liberate" Germany a lot quicker.

Martin Luther Statue

The whole "old town" was almost totally razed, and as at Berlin and Warsaw it has been reconstructed. Phoenix rising from the ashes. The building have remarkabke character. Many of the bricks look black, and I was under the illusion this was left over from the bombing (because they used many of the bricks again - like a giant jigsaw puzzle, they put the buildings together again!) But apparently it was only from the= sandstone ageing. But on a freezing cold day, with a dark wintry sky, it certainly gave the city a bleak look.

Arrived in Prague and I'm going on a "Romantic Cruise " to see Prague by night.

More to come later. :)

Berlin

2009-10-11T23:39:00.011+08:00

Here we all are in Berlin.

We started the day by visiting the Reichstag which is the Parliament building of Germany. I'm still learning so much history. After WWII, when Germany was divided, the capital of West Germany was Bonn, but after the re-unification in 1990 they decided to move the capital to Berlin. This Reichstag building was almost completely destroyed during the war, but it was rebuilt and the seat of the Lower House of Parliament was moved from Bonn to Berlin in 1999. The building itself is remarkable. You can still see the burn marks and the bullet holes on the outside of the building. We went right to the top where there is a glass dome, and took a heap of photos of views of Berlin.

Our next stop was to see the former Berlin wall - but there's not much left! People were so keen to tear it down that they actually had to fence some off to preserve it. We went to a museum at the place where Check Point Charlie was - where American troops guarded their side of the wall. It was horrifying to see and read about the people who tried to cross and were just shot down. There wa also the story of an 18 year old boy who was caught on the barb wire and was severly bleeding, but the East German Troops wouldn't come out of their hiding place to rescue him, and by the time the rescue team came, he had bled to death. These last few days have really opened my eyes to the horror of war.

Checkpoint Charlie

Next we went to the Brandenburg Gate, which became a symbol of freedom for the German people. It was on the East side of the wall and although it was restored in 1950s it was closed in 1961 when the Berlin Wall was built. When the wall fell in 1989 it became a symbol of freedom to be ablt to walk through the Brandenburg Gate. I walked through it today, just to say that I
had also done this!

The afternoon was a little less confronting! We went out of Berlin about 30 mins to a place called Potsdam which is yet another palace. This one called Cecilienhof was commissioned in early 1900s by Kaiser Wilhelm II and was a residence for Prince Wilhelm and Princess Cecilie. Which is all not very big deal, but its claim to fame was that it was the meeting place of Stalin, Churchill and Truman when they tried to sort things out after the war, including the carve up of Germany, and the boundaries of Poland. We went on yet another guided tour, but they showed us the room where all these negotiations took place, and how each of the leaders had to enter by a separate door, so that no-one could be seen to be first or following anyone else. Imagine the egos of these big honchos!!! They all brought their own entourage, and apparently the Yanks had over 600 people in their party!

Before we went to the actual palace though we had lunch in Potsdam. It was freezing today. Really bitterly cold, And you couldn't pass the day without yet another toilet story. I took a photo of the queue today... It cost 50c (half a Euro). I know you shouldn't be stereotypical, but..... all the Fraus who collect your money are a bit scary. They tell you where to stand and when you may enter the toilet. And some poor soul tried to get in without paying..... you didn't need to understand German to know she didn't have a hope!!!

Toilet queue

Berlin has been an interesting city. I didn't quite know what to expect. I can remember Mum and Dad telling us how grim East Berlin was, but they visited while the Cold War was still going on. It's actually very pretty with lots of gardens and trees. And there is just so much history on every street corner.

This trip has been just so good for me to understand the history of Europe. It is so complex and intertwined. I'm not sure I'll remember it all, but at least I have a far broader notion now of some of the reasons why it is like it is.If you're considering a visit, it's definitely worthwhile.

Now - down to Starbucks for the free Internet access. it's just around the corner. You get good at finding these things after
a while!

From Warsaw to Berlin

2009-10-11T02:38:00.005+08:00

Big day on the coach today. Drove nearly 600kms. Only had three stops.

And the first one involved a toilet, of course! We stopped at a service station that had a McDonalds and the normal Servo shop. Everyone headed to Maccas, so I thought I'd be smart and go to the Servo shop. Very good move, except for one small thing. The door on the toilet didn't have a handle, and it opened outwards, and the toilet itslef was further inside, with no door either. So I weighed up the odds and thought I'll be quick!!! But sure enough, the door opens and there I am sitting in all my glory! Embarrassing all round! But that's the fun of the journey!

Stopped at another charming little town for lunch - Pozan. Again it was centred around the town square. The weather is cold today, and the wind was biting. There were all these stall holders though braving the cold to sell their wares. They must be used to the weather! I went to the pub for lunch - toasted ham and cheese and Cafe Latte. At least you know what you're getting with that!

More driving, then next stop was the border between Poland and Germany. The countryside was very flat and green. Typical agricultural country. The were many roadworks in Poland. Apparently roads weren't high on the agenda in the Communist regime. The roads in Germany were better, but we entered Germany from the East, which used to be EAst Germany, and our guide was telling us that the re-unification of Germany has taken hundreds of millions of dollars. At first all Germans were delighted with Germany coming together, but apparently it has sent the country broke, and they've even had to add a special tax to all Germans called the re-unification tax.

Poland - Germany Border

Another interesting thing that our Guide, Claus, shared with us was about the airport called Tempelhof, on the outskirts of Berlin. Apparently just at the end of WWII, Stalin had surrounded Berlin and was prepared to starve the Berliners out. But the Americans co-ordinated this big food drop at Tempelhof airport, so much so that planes were landing and taking off every 2 minutes - it was so minutely co-ordinated. The Berliners have not forgotten that, and have good feelings towards the Americans.

Not much else to say tonight. Lots of driving, not many highlights.
So, that's all folks!

Warsaw

2009-10-09T23:22:00.011+08:00

Here's me in my posh hotel - The Sheraton! Might as well enjoy the tour cos I could never afford to stay here normally!

Had a bit of an easy day today. I chose not to go on two of the optional extras, but we did have an orientation tour of the town which was good.

Charles De Gualle Roundabout and the Palm Tree

So the day started about 10.30am. We had a different bus and a different driver today, because our normal driver Alex, must have a day off. The regulations are very strict about all that sort of stuff. He is only allowed to drive a certain amount of hours, and must have prescribed rest breaks. There is some sort of computer built into the bus which even tells how fast he was driving, so the police can check on him for lots of things.

Statue of Copernicus

Our first stop was Lazienki Park where there is a massive statue of Chopin. He apparently was born here, but later had to move and his music was banned during the German Occupation because it was seen to be rebellious and nationalistic. Obviously the Poles love him. He could not return to Poland for political reasons, but when he died, they buried his heart in one of the pillars in one of the Churches here (there is a Church on every street corner.... bit like the pubs in Ireland!)

Staue devoted to Chopin in park

We had our tour photo taken in that park - beautiful place.

Our local was telling guide was telling us about the history of Poland. It is a country that has continually been divided up to the surrounding powers - in particular Germany and Russia. It's hard for us in Australia to realise the impact of the many wars over here. For a long time, Poland just didn't exist. It finally was reclaimed as a country after WW1, but then the Nazis invaded Poland in WWII and once again it became occupied. Warsaw was almost totally destroyed during WWII, but it was patiently rebuilt after the war, in the same style as it was before it was destroyed.

Our guide told us about the Polish uprising in August 1944, during which the Polish people tried to reclaim their land. Inevitably they lost the battle (and 200,000 lives in the process), but Hitler was so annoyed that before he retreated from Poland he virtually blew up every building in sight.

Restored buildings

We also went to see where the Warsaw Ghetto once stood - the place into which the Polish Jews were herded to keep them away from the general population. There was a very big funeral on there today - apparently the last of the survivors of the Ghetto died this week, and there was a massive Public funeral.

Memorial to the heroes of the Warsaw Ghetto

Later on we went to the Old Town Square which had been reconstructed after the War. As in Krakow it was a charming cobblestone square surrounded by cafes and little shops. I've discovered one of the traditional Polish dishes here, Pierogi. I'm not sure that i'Ve ever seen them in Australia, but the Americans on the tour are very familiar with them. They are like a pastry dumpling with a variety of fillings. I had some filled with meat today, and they were lovely, but filled tthe stomach right up!

Warsaw Old Town Square

Then I walked back to the hotel ( about 2km) along the main street and it was good just to feel the life of the city. Like everywhere else there were statues and Churches and Presidential Palaces. It's good just to see them as you pass.

So it was a nice easy day for me. Going down now to have a beer before dinner. The Internet access has been great so far. It's free in the lobby of each hotel so far, so I hope that keeps up. Otherwise these blog posts might not be quite so frequent. Thanks to the people who respond with comments and emails. Love to hear from you all.

From Auschwitz to Czestochowa

2009-10-09T03:51:00.008+08:00

Here's a map of Europe so you can see where I've been and where I'm going! Warsaw is North of Krakow. Just cut off the top of the map. I'll see if I can get a better one later.

Today we travelled from Krakow to Warsaw, and what a day of contrasts.

We started the day with a visit to Auschwitz. What a sombre and thought provoking visit that was.

Our guide was a young-ish Pole who's great-grandfather was a prisoner in Auschwitz. Thw whole magnitude of the extermination of Jewish people was just mind-blowing. You hear these things on TV and you read about it, but when you actually see the rooms full of old glasses and human hair of the people who were murdered here, it's just staggering. And as they kept telling us that what we were seeing represents only 5% of the people who died here.

Over 1 million Jewish people were gassed or tortured in an extraordinary variety of ways. They showed us the room where Maximilian Kobe died. (In case you don't know he was a Franciscan Friar who volunteered to take the place of another prisoner sentenced to death, because some other prisoners had escaped. He's now a saint) Maximilian was just about starved to death but they eventually killed him with an injection into his heart.

They also showed the cell where they suffocated people to death, by allowing only a minute amount of air into the cell. And other cell where they made 4 people squeeeze into a 3x3 area, so they had to stand all the time. It really makes you wonder about the inhumanity of mankind.

Airholes for the suffocation cell

They also took us into the only remaining gas-chamber. The Germans actually destroyed the ones at Birkenau before they retreated,but one survived at Auschwitz 1 (there were 2 camps at Auschwitz). It was so eerie and spooky being in the place where they killed 700 people at each time. Then they showed us the ovens where the bodies were cremated. The Germans took everything from the people before they were killed, including their hair (which was on-sold) and the gold from their teeth, and even things like prosthetic limbs, which were passed on to soldiers coming back from the wear with injuries.

Birkenau Railway

It really was a very sobering experience, and one I don't think I will ever forget.

The next stop on our journey was Czestochowa (pronounced chest-o-hov-a) where the painting of the Black Madonna is housed in the monastery of Jasna Gora.

Black Madonna Icon

But as they say in Little Britain "What a schemozzle"!!!There were at least 100 or more coaches filled with both tourists, but especially school children! Eeeeekkkkk !!! I was trying to get away from this! Everywhere I go there are kids on excursions! I thank God every day that I'm not the teacher who is with them!

But this place was absolutely crazy. You literally could not move. Talk about the "buyers and the sellers in the temple". It was frightening! Our guide took one look and quickly rushed us to see the picture of the Black Madonna that we could photograph, and then we moved on. We were supposed to have our toilet break there, but queues stretched for miles, and there was no hope of lining up for food, even though it was 1 o'clock and time for lunch.

Toilet queues at Czestochowa!

So he decided to go the local McDonalds, which are everywhere here. And we couldn't even get in the door there because of the hordes of school kids. We ended up having lunch at some roadhouse on the highway about 3.30pm. And even then there were buses of kids pulling in. Luckily we got to the food before them, but we left it too late to go to the toilet. The queue was out the door again! This blog should be subtitled "Tales of the Toilet"!!!

Eventual Food Stop

We didn't arrive in Warsaw until 6.30pm, so it was a big day on the bus. Tomorrow at last I get a sleep-in. I'm passing on the optional excursion to the local Castle with antique furniture, and I'm also passing on the Chopin concert. I think we're about half way through this tour, so it's good to have a rest day. Touring can be a little tiring. But I wouldn't swap any of these experiences, especially today's.

Krakow

2009-10-08T03:48:00.011+08:00

Lots of walking involved today in Krakow.

Started today with a tour of the salt mines. Very interesting tour. Had to go down the elevator underground into the actual mine. It was not only interesting hearing all the information about the mine, but there were all these beautiful statues carved out of salt. There were also lots of caverns, often with life like statues depicting what life was like in the mine.

Salt mine carving

Surprisingly there were lots of chapels throughout the mine, some were fully laid out with an altar and all the trappings. The most impressive of these was St Kinga's chapel which was literally a Church underground. It was massive, over 50 metres
long and 20 metres high. They have weddings and concerts and Mass is celebrated there each week. This is all 100 metres or so underground. They even had their souvenir shops and loos right at the bottom of the tourist area.

Underground Chapel

After a very short rest, we went on our walking tour of the Wawel Castle (pronounced vavel). It was a massive strucuture and the home of many Polish kings. Poland is a very Catholic country, so I would love a few dollars for every Church I saw today.

Wawel Castle

The Cathedral in the Castle grounds is the place where Kings were crowned and was a beautiful (if not a bit gaudy!) Church. It was also the seat of the Bishop of Krakow - the most famous one being Pope John Paul II.

There is a great legend about the Castle of Wawel. There used to be a dragon who eat everything in sight, including men, women and children.The guide had great delight in telling us in particular the dragon liked virgins! Anyway, some famous king
(forgotten who!) tricked the dragon by feeding it a sheep filled with sulphur and tar! This made the dragon so thirsty he kept drinking water from the river Vistula, and he bloated up so badly that he exploded and died. The bones of this dragon are now found over the door of the Cathedral, and the legend continues that when these bones are no longer there it will be the end of the world.

We then kept walking (the poor oldies on tour were struggling a bit by now!) and went along the street where JPII lived when he was just a priest here in Krakow. JPII is very big here - obviously everyone is very proud of their Polish Pope! The streets are really unique - with cobble stones and old style buildings. That was why we were walking! A lot of the old town was just for pedestrians. Our walk led us to a beautiful square - the Town Square - which was ringed by cafes and Churches.

This is the house where Pope John Paul II lived when he worked as a priest in Krakow

By this time I was getting a bit weary myself, so I treated myself to a very big beer and a toasted sandwich.

Krakow Town Square

Tonight we are went out to a dinner with Polish folk singers and dancers for entertainment. Unlimited drinks included in the price!!! Woo Hoo!! Lovely way to finish the day.

Driving through Slovakia

2009-10-07T02:32:00.009+08:00

Had a long day on the bus today.

Basically we drove through Slovakia, with only a few stops for restrooms, lunch and a short photostop in Podbiel.

We left Budapest at 8am and stopped just over the border in Slovakia for our first toilet stop. However, toilet stops are always interesting! Our guide, Claus, warned us that we would have to pay for our use of the toilet, but he also informed us that he would "shout us" for this stop, because it all got a bit complicated! So we pull up after about an hour and half driving, only ot find that we can't use these toilets, because there was something non-functioning. So, there were a few worried faces, when Claus announced we would have to go on another 6 miles to the next petrol station. Actually it was just as well, because the toilets where we eventually stopped were excellent. But there's something about borders and toilets that we have experienced... they seem to save the worse ones for your first impression of that company!

Toilet stop!

Fortunately in Slovakia we could use our Euros once again. This currency changing is all a bit confusing. So after buying next another bottle of water (we've been warned about drinking the water in a few of these places) and a coffee we were straight back on the road again.

Our Bus

We had an interesting history lesson again about the countries in the Eastern Bloc and how they were dominated by Russia. Apparently Czechoslovakia was formed in 1918 after WW1, but Slovakia wanted out, and eventually became its own republic in only 1989 (I think! - can't always remember the exact facts!) Our guide, Claus, is a wealth of information about the whole Europena history, and I love hearing him describe how the nations began and then were dispersed and then lost part of their land, and re-formed boundaries etc...

Geographically Slovakia has quite a lot of mountainous country, and today we drove through the lower Tatra Mountains. Apparently there are bigger ones, but we only went through the smaller ones. Claus, who is Austrian by birth, was poh-poohing their mountians. He thought in comparison with Austria, there were pretty average. Reminded me of Crocodile Dundee - "That's not a knife"!!

it was a lovely drive through the mountains. Lots of pine/fir trees, and lots of autumn colours. We stopped at a place called Donovaly for lunch. It's right at the top of the range, and obviously a skiing resort, because you could see the ski lifts. Even though it's a bit chilly today, it's nowhere near snow weather - the hills are very much covered in green.

Donovaly

Back in the bus for more driving - seemed to be a lot of driving today! We stopped at a little village called Podbiel where there were many wood carvings and thatched houses right next to the road. Perfect for dorky tourist to take pictures!!!

Next stop was the Polish border, and once again we had to change money. This time the currency is Zloty. You get about 4 Zloty to the Euro. Once again we had to pay for the toilets, but to break the cycle, these toilets at a border crossing were actually very nice. But I went into the restaurant to buy a coffee, and I couldn't understand what the girl was saying, but body language is universal!!! She was not happy that she was only one serving a bus load of tourists, when these other two employees were sitting down eating their lunch in front of us all. Sometimes you don't need to know the words!!!

Now we are in Krakow for two nights. Very nice hotel again. I've managed to pick up a cold and my nose dripped all the way through Slovakia! (Too much information!) I'm glad we're not going anywhere tonight. it's a good night for sleeping!

That's it for now. Hope you are all well....

My hot dates in Budapest!

2009-10-06T03:36:00.006+08:00

Abel and Marton

Well I caught up with my boys, and how lovely it was to see them, and reminisce about days at St Paul's. We shared a drink at a lovely outdoor bar near the Opera House - that was Marton's choice. Abel picked me up at the hotel and we took a tram for only a short ride, then we had a few drinks and a few laughs about times at St Paul's. The boys send their love to all the St Paul's teachers who might read this. Here are some pics with "Emilie" the little travel buddy who is touring Europe with me.

Budapest2

2009-10-05T21:17:00.017+08:00

We're keeping up a cracking pace here - so much for being on holidays! Wake up call 6.15am, breakfast any time after 6.30am, then on the bus by 7.45am. It's all in a good cause though!

Today I took another optional extra, and we went to the Parliament House, St Stephen's Cathedral, then to Gundel's restaurant.

Parliament House is such an impressive building. It's the second biggest Parliament in Europe (literally!) The guide told us that Vienna decided to build a Parliament House, so Budapest decided to build a bigger one. the same with the Cathedral - Vienna built a Cathedral so Budapest built a bigger one. The history of this place is amazing. There is so much to learn about the various Kings and conquerors of this land. Hungary has been conquered by the Romans, the Huns, the Turks, and by the habsburg Empire. And more recently of course, by the Nazis and the Russians, with the Hungarian Republic only proclaimed in 1989.

The Parliament building was absolutely magnificent. Apparently they had lots of money when it was built, and used actual gold and pure marble in its construction. The inside is just so oppulent - we can;t imagine today ever building anything so grand.

We were shown into the actual House where parliament sits. When the building was constructed there were 2 Houses - Lords and Commons - same as the British system. But now they are a republic, there is only one house.

Next we went to St Stephen's Cathedral which is built to house 6000 people. Unlike Vienna, this is free to enter, and still maintains a "Church" feel. Mass is celebrated there daily and apparently gets a full house every Sunday for Mass. St Elizabeth is big here, as is St Stephen, who was the first King of Hungary, but also a Saint.

We then went off to this Gundell cafe / restaurant where we were given these chocolate pancakes. No good for my interior so I passed on that! They looked lovely though.

After that we set off for Szentendre (St Andrews) which is about 30 mins outside Budapest. It's a quaint little village which obviously caters for tourists, as the buses were all lined up! It's a little village with cobblestone streets which has heaps of shops with beautiful Hungarian lace and of course all the usual temptations for tourists! I have to admit I succumbed! I bought a water colour painting of Budapest and a lace doiley for keepsakes! And a book about Budapest to remind me of all the things I'll forget as I move on to the next town.

Tonight I am going out with two attractive young men! For those from Mt Lawley, you might remember I taught Abel in my first year there, and also Marton Eder. Abel had come over from Hungary for one year to learn English, and I taught him in Year 6 in 1993. He didn't speak a word of English when he arrived, but he was a lovely boy and we had a good year together. Marton is his cousin and I taught him and his brother Zsolt in later years. Zsolt is now studying the violin in New York.
I think I have a date with them tonight after dinner. More news on that in the next Bulletin!

It's been wonderful having this Internet access in my room at the hotel - for free! Highly unusual. And I've even been able to keep up with the AFL trade week. (I see we got Josh Gibson!)

Thanks for all those adding comments, or sending emails. I love to hear from you. Keep them coming!

Budapest1

2009-10-04T23:20:00.011+08:00

What a day! First day of the tour and we were off early. So much information was shared today, I feel like I'm a bit overloaded! There is so much history and antiquity in Europe that we are just unaware of in Australia, which is such a young country in comparison.

We left Vienna and the first stop was the border crossing between Austria and Hungary. One of the joys of travels is the toilets you experience! here, you have to pay 50c (half Euro = $1) for the second worst toilets in all the world!!! We were hearing about the Communist occupation of Hungary, and how the border crossing was closed for so long, and it certainly was a reminder of those days!

We had to change currency again. hungary has its own unit of currency the Forint. I changed 20 Euro and received 5040 Forint. It's all a bit confusing. Luckily most of the costs can be made by credit card, and the money is exchanged automatically.

Budapest is such a beautiful city. We started with a quick orientation tour of Buda. (This city is made up of two cities on either side of the Danube River, Buda and Pest). We went up Gellert Hill which was nnamed after the Roman Catholic Bishop of Hungary who had an unfortunate end at the hands of the Turks.... they put him in a barrell and rolled him down the hill! he died - poor chap! But they named the hill after him!

Our first Optional extra for the tour was a cruise down the River Danube, with lunch provided and free drinks! Woo hoo!!! it was a glorious day too, sunny and warm. Perfect for a river cruise. The guide gave us a commentary about all the lovely buildings that line the river banks. There is so much history attached to all the buildings. He also talked about Hungary's involvement in WWII and how it had been bombed etc... There are so many things I am so ignorant about!

After our lunch we went on a tour to the Buda's Castle District which offered breath-taking views of the cities and the Danube. Also in this district is the Church called Matthias Church, named after the King who wanted a nice Church for his two weddings (his first wife died!) so built this lovely Church on top of the hill. I'm having bad luck with Churches, because this one is also getting renovated. But the roof is covered with ceramic tiles. The inside is lovely and has stained glass windows depicting the life of St Elizabeth of Hungary.

Lastly we went over to Pest and were driven through the town and ended up at Heroes Square. Here again we heard about the 1956 Revolution when Hungarians tried to move away from Communist rule. Our guide told us that Hungarians have not won any wars since 906, so they don't have a lot to celebrate on their national days!

Now I've found that I have free interenet access in my room, so I'm away! Off for dinner soon.

Happy days.

Vienna 2

2009-10-03T23:37:00.006+08:00

Day 2 in Vienna. Beautiful day - just right for sight-seeing. Blue sky and just a little bit cool.

Started off on the tram again and went back to the buildings I missed yesterday. Saw their Parliament, which is a very impressive building. Then walked along the tree-lined street until I came to the Town Hall. The square in front of it is to be used for the people, hence the circus is there today. I loved the trees along this street. it reminded me very much of Melbourne, because the leaves were changing colour. They really "do" autumn here. It's a bit like Sydney Road outside Princes Park in Melbourne.There are beautiful parks all over the place, and I stopped at this one (Volksgarten) because of its roses. Apparently there are over 150 types of roses in here.Next I navigated the tram system, thinking myself very clever, until I ended up somewhere, and I wasn't sure where I was!!! But a sharp bit of detective work and some map reading skills got me back to the city safely. I actually had ended up in the Prater Park, but it's so big, I had no idea which part I was in. Again the autumn trees were just magnificent. There were lots of people in the park, runners, families, and people with what I presumed were Skiing sticks. Maybe they're getting ready for the snow season??? They were just walking along but moving their arms with these sticks as well.

My next stop was the Donau Tower. (Donau = Danube here). It was worth the very long walk to get there. Again it was through beautiful gardens. The lift takes you quite quickly to the top, and the view was superb. You could walk right around 360 degrees, and gave a fantastic overview of where things are in Vienna.
Had lunch when I came down, but the menu was all in German. (Eva I need you!) But I saw the word Hot Sandwitch, and hoped for the best and sure enough it was a toasted sandwich.

On the way back I stopped at the Railway station just beofre the River Danube, and walked across it. There are two parts ot it in Vienna - the Neue Donau ,and the Donau, with land inbetween which I presume is an island. I saw all the river boats lined up at the dock, and thought of you, Denise!

I was a bit weary after all that walking, so I decided to come home and have a rest! I join the tour tonight, so I'm not sure how often I will be able to get the Internet access to keep on uploading these musings from abroad! But I'll keep ploughing on and see where it takes me.

Thanks for all the feedback so far. Love to get your emails in return. I'm going to take the comment moderation off, so people can just add comments directly to the blog if they wish.

Vienna 1

2009-10-02T21:27:00.006+08:00

Here I am in Vienna. The weather is overcast and showery - a bit like Perth when I left. Good for sight-seeing though!

Had an early start to the day, as I was in bed and asleep by 7pm last night. I don't think my body has adjusted to the difference in time zones! (Vienna is 6 hours behind Perth). Started the day by buying a "Vienna" card. This give you free access to all the public transport in Vienna. Very handy! Caught the "Ring Tram" first which goes round the outside of the old city, and gives you a running commentary on all the notable spots. That was a great introduction as I was able to go back later and catch the ordinary tram and knew what I was looking at.

My first port of call was St Stephen's Cathedral which is virtually the heart of Vienna - Stephansplatz. I was a bit disappointed for a few reasons... it had scaffolding around the outside, and there were too many tourists inside! They make you pay to see all the special places in the Cathedral, and I will never pay to go inside a Church! Goes against the grain!

Next I went to the Prater which is a bit like Luna Park. It is famous for its ferris wheel, and I was going to go on it, but a busload of tourists arrived just before me and the queue looked a bit long. Lots of groups of school kids. Felt sorry for their teachers!!!!

My hotel is right opposite theStadt Park. They are beautiful gardens - remind me of the Fitzroy Gardens in Melbourne. Lots of statues of musicians around here. They're big into Mozart!
Too many photos to include in the blog - I'll just upload a few. I'm putting most of them at Photobucket, so you can go in there to see the rest if you wish.

Gutentag for now!

Dubai2

2009-10-01T12:22:00.004+08:00

I can get some internet access here at the airport, so I thought I'd just upload a few more pictures...

For any of the teachers on my list (or anyone else who is interested!) I'm making a blog called Emilie's Ed-ventures. You can access it by clicking here Emilie's Ed-Ventures

Here's the pics of my hotel. Everthing is bigger and better in Dubai!

Dubai

2009-09-30T21:52:00.003+08:00

Arrived safely in Dubai. The trip over was very good. I think I ate my way across the Indian Ocean. Watched three movies on the way over and read two newspapers. The hotel is lovely. After I arrived I caught the bus downtown to their big shopping centre called City Centre. It's way bigger than either the Galleria at Morley or Chadstone in Vic. I was surprised how western it was though... you could have just as easily been in Australia.

Dubai itself is a strange mixture. It is very Arabic in both architechture and culture, and there are many Arabs walking around in their flowing white robes, and the corresponding women covered from top to toe with black. But, conversely, there are also many Western style shops and people. It's a strange mix!

The pollution is very obvious too. As we descended through the fluffy white clouds, we became immersed in the murky brown haze. The weather is hot here - 36 today - but in summer it averages around 45.

That's it for today. Had a very early start this morning, so will be glad to hit the hay. Wish I could say something in Arabic to sign off but I don't know any.

First tour - Highlights of Eastern Europe

2009-09-12T16:30:00.001+08:00

My first tour begins in Vienna. Here is a map that outlines that tour. Click on the map to make it bigger!

My next tour is around Ireland. Here is a map of this tour

And my third tour is of France. Yet another map....

Bon Voyage!!!