We're on a Road to Know Where

Day 22 - Lisbon

2009-08-07T16:33:00.022-04:00

We woke up in time to get the car returned to Peugeot.

We added a night in Lisbon, so we had to re-register first thing this morning. The John Stamos man at the desk who had been so snooty since we arrived (but fun snooty), took one look at Laurence and said “hey Duff man!”. Too funny.

Side note: The English signage surprised us in Lisbon. Everyone here that we’ve spoken with speak very good English as well.

We had a few reservations because while the lady I spoke with on Monday spoke excellent English, the directions had a whole lot of different words in them in Portuguese!

We found the office without too much trouble and when I went up Ricardo was on his way out to meet us - he saw us drive in (and looking confused no doubt!). I signed over the lease, he drove us to the airport and we were done! He recommended we take the cabs are departures, because the cabs at arrivals are crooks! Auto Europe were great. Highly recommended.

We cabbed it to downtown to find yet another bus tour. Thank you Patricia for taking on our first one in Dublin, because without that experience we never would have thought of it!

Side note: two accidents occurred in the roundabout - one as we got there first, and one as we returned on the bus tour.

The first half of the tour wasn’t so great, but the second half was awesome.

Bull fighting ring : (

We got off in a square in the old part of the city for lunch. I was whiny and starving.

After last night’s pasta I wanted a sandwich. I ordered a cheese sandwich on a baguette and the boys ordered hot dogs and fries. This continued the ’a la vile’ menu from last night. The hot dogs and fries were cold and absolutely terrible. The cheese baguette came with complementary ham. We made them take it back and they didn’t make a new sandwich, so I ate the bottom bun.

We walked around the square - very beautiful, but a little run down. Lisbon struck us as a city that didn’t have the wealth of the other cities we’d visited.

Shoe shiner guys

A lot of tile everywhere - the sidewalks, some house walls, overpasses, pretty much everywhere!

The bridge which was renamed the 24 of July after Independence. It’s huge!! Modeled after the San Francisco Bay Bridge.

A really interesting mix of the old and the new. We saw a lot of very old buildings held up by scaffolding while the inside was gutted.

I'm not sure I got all the photos in the right order, but I'm too tired to double check.

We dined at the hotel again tonight, Steve had the beef with foie gras, Laurence the same chicken as last night because he liked it so much and I had the cream of veggie soup and the vegetable grill. And sascher torte for dessert. I'm stuffed and ready for bed.

So this is the last of the touristy blogs. Tomorrow I will try to post from the airports if we have time.

When the dust has settled and the laundry is done, we'll post a post-mortem. Because that's how we roll.

Thanks for following along and all your great emails.

We toasted at dinner tonight - a great vacation. We have seen and done more than we thought we could in a lifetime. It's been a blast!!

Night!

Day 21 - Madrid to Lisbon

2009-08-07T13:57:00.008-04:00

Getting out of Madrid was much easier than coming in. And much much easier than coming out of Barcelona!

Again, beautiful countryside.

Best sign ever!

Driving into Lisbon was amazing. The bridges are enormous! For a second I thought we were in Brazil. This is Cristo Rei

We fluked our hotel again and took the night off after our long drive, hanging out in the hotel lobby while I got caught up on the blog.

Oh there’s a good look. Reading the menu - a premonition of the meal to come?

Steve promised to ride the fish, but didn’t. Boo.

Our hotel is a little close to the airport ;)

Which is good because we leave tomorrow!

We had dinner - the boys loved their meals. Laurence had the vegetable panache to start, and the chicken with asparagus. He LOVED it. Steve had the duck salad to start and the rock bass for dinner. He loved his. I ordered the spaghetti with tomato sauce because I was feeling a little spinny after the long drive. Apparently I ordered the Pasta a la Vile because it was disgusting! The sauce was Campbell’s tomato soup. I swear. Laurence and I shared a bottle of wine, it was very good, though I was a little drunk.

After dinner we went to bed.

Day 20 - Madrid

2009-08-07T13:06:00.023-04:00

Our hotel in Madrid was difficult to find. Then we realized that we need to learn to look up more, as most of the hotels have the name on the roof. Duh.

We were hungry so went down to the bar to have lunch. The only thing on the menu that I could have had was a cheese plate at 30 Euros. Um, no thanks. The bar was horribly smoky - we didn't stay long. Laurence had a burger (left in the photo, no buns!) and Steve had the club sandwich. Nowhere on the menu did it say it came with an egg.

We left the hotel to go on a bus tour to get a quick idea of the city. It was 37C, but we found it pleasant. We are going to freeze when we get home.

Is it sad to say I got a kick out of some homeless folks who were sitting in a park sharing watermelon and a bottle of wine? The reason I got a kick out of it is because they were sharing the bottle out of glasses. :D

Some shots of the tour

This castle, no longer lived in but used for state functions only, has 2100 rooms.

In case of emergency, break glass. With tiny hammer. In an open topped bus with windows that open?!?

There’s a ham museum?!?

Turns out it's some restaurant chain!

The street signs are tiled!

Oooh a store for Laurence and I!

Day 20 - Valencia to Madrid

2009-08-07T13:00:00.007-04:00

We ‘enjoyed’ a very overpriced breakfast - our worst breakfast since leaving home. Apparently Laurence parked in the wrong spot, turned left instead of right (or something) and couldn’t get out of the parking lot. Eventually he did, and we were on our way.

The landscape got dryer and more barren as we got closer to Madrid. It was beautiful. Steve and Laurence kept repeating ‘the rain in Spain, stays mainly on the plains’. Less Eliza Doolittle, but more Wilma Flintstone.

HUGE wind farm.

We saw lots of solar farms too, but no photos of those.

Lots of graffiti, but at least this was focussed

It took us some time to find our hotel, but eventually we did. Again, issues with roundabouts and street signage, but we did it!

Day 19 - Barcelona to Valencia

2009-08-06T16:20:00.018-04:00

We had a leisurely last morning in Barcelona. We walked to the McDonalds hoping for a McMuffin, but they don’t have our traditional breakfast. We did have lattes at the McCafe.

We then walked to pick up some wine from the Torres wine store. I could live there :D

It was interesting, must have been break time because the streets were filled with construction workers on break sitting on the sidewalks having coffee. We didn’t see any street vendors any time we had been out over the past few days. Turns out the purse knockoffs are sold before 10AM on the streets. Once the stores open they all leave.

The boys were very sweet to take me back to the Segrada Familia. We drove around, first trying to find it, and then to find a place to stop where we could run out to see it. We found a perfect spot around the corner. Laurence stayed in the car.

Steve and I walked through the park behind the church. The park here was very sandy, whereas the parks in France and Italy were almost exclusively rough sand/rock. I found the Segrada Familia interesting, but in my opinion it is much more interesting unfinished. I’m really glad I got to see it.

No poodles?

Ham flavoured chips?

All the Gaudi architecture makes it look like Barcelona is melting…

It took us forever to find our way out of Barcelona, the maps we had from the hotel only show the main streets, but eventually we found the road out - Diagonal road disappeared on us. We then saw the Barcelona FC stadium - huge!

Out of Barcelona, now on our way to Valencia. Uneventful, great highway, expensive tolls. Lots of orange groves though. Very pretty country.

We had a bit of trouble finding our hotel, the street signage wasn’t the greatest and the hotel signage even worse. We arrived at 4PM, and everything was closed. Steve and I were not happy with the hotel staff, they sure say no a lot, and even less so with their 24 hour menu, which only applies to 4 sandwiches, the rest of the menu must have been a mistake (!!). We paid our 10 Euros each for a crappy toasted sandwich and bowl of potato chips. At least the corn nuts were good. Neither Steve nor Laurence slept well the night before, so Steve went for a nap, and Laurence and I chatted for about an hour. Laurence then went to his room to relax and I went to catch up on some blogging., though not online because I was not going to pay 17 Euros for 24 hours thank you very much. Strange that the same hotel chain in Barcelona has free interet. When we asked the staff their response was ‘we don’t’ do that here’. Thanks.

The view from our room - earmuffs!

Steve woke up when I got to the room and we decided to go out for a walk and search for a grocery store. We are really sick of restaurant food. We found one now open right around the corner where we picked up baguette, cheese, yogurt, peaches, and some Fanta lemon. At the cash the cashier yelled at us in Spanish because we didn’t put a label on the peaches (we didn’t know) and then again when we didn’t on the baguette (stupid foreigners we are). She huffed and told us our total, we gave her our 11 Euros, smiled and left. Big line up behind us. Oops!

Steve and I went back to the room for a picnic, and decided to watch a movie on the laptop instead of the CNN we had been watching for the past two weeks.

I was disappointed that we didn’t have a chance to see or do anything in Valencia, though we probably needed a day off. We did see some pretty scenery though. In retrospect I would have preferred to stay another night in Barcelona and check out Gaudi Park. Next time.

Day 18 - Barcelona

2009-08-06T16:11:00.018-04:00

Steve and I woke feeling a little oily after our paella. During breakfast my eyes were really funny and I was feeling off. Crap, migraine. I went straight to bed with my eyemask and kicked Steve out. The boys went for a walk and stumbled upon the Sagrada Familia. Laurence’s comment ‘it’s got warts’ - it didn't do much for him, it looked out of place, and a little too odd. Steve said that it was something to see, but I would have to wait for that.

I woke up and made the car arrangements for drop off in Lisbon, then the boys arrived just as I was going to go explore on my own. I felt horrible, but I think I nipped the migraine in time. We walked around and took some photos. We got completely turned around in Barcelona.

We walked through the parrot park that Laurence and Steve discovered in the morning. What a pretty little park. It hurt to look up though. From what I could see the birds were mostly conures, though I saw one cockatoo.

Some photos along the way

Laurence felt we should probably lean towards home foods so we walked to the Hard Rock Café. The nachos at this one were really really good, and no bbq sauce but real salsa! Steve had the cobb salad, Laurence the burger with the giant onion ring on it, and I had the veggie burger. My burger wasn’t that great, but the grilled veggies on it, and the fries were great. I was feeling almost myself. We even had dessert, or rather Steve ordered a hot fudge sundae. Two spoons thank you very much :D

On our way back from the restaurant we tried to find the museum of contemporary art - we were looking for gifts. We ended up in a bit of a run down part of the city, but it was near the university so not surprising. The museum was closed, so we went back towards the Rondo, lots of activity near the subway, with police and other emergency vehicles. Everything was blocked off. Some trucks had ’bomber’ written on them - we think they were pumper trucks, but being Spain, they could very well be bomb squad.

We also noticed the number of bookstores in Barcelona - they are everywhere. We looked up some Barcelona facts when we got back to the hotel (cia.gov), turns out the literacy rate is 98%. Explains all those bookstores.

Barcelona has these great promenades in the middle of the streets for walkers and cyclists. The traffic here is much more like home, with the vespa/motorcycle drivers following the traffic laws. The streets are also very wide. On the promenade we were walking on, there were loads of people (I tell you, the streets are dead during siesta, but once 8PM rolls around, all of Barcelona come out to play), there were vendor after vendor of birds and other animals.

We got back to the hotel, joined up with our friend Fausto and I had some red wine. I could get used to this. My head was feeling much better.

Barcelona is absolutely beautiful - would love to go back. It was an amazing day.

Day 17 - Barcelona

2009-08-06T15:58:00.009-04:00

We were ready to look for dinner around 6, but in Barcelona they take the siesta seriously. We had a bit of a hard time finding anything that was open, most establishments were closed until 8PM. We did find a place just down the street from the Gaudi museum

Our waiter spoke in a barrage of Spanish so fast, and finished his sentence with ‘Signora’ and I looked at him, terrified, and all that came out of my mouth was “OH DEAR GOD”. Laurence and Steve burst our laughing at the expression of terror on my face. Then our waiter said “It’s ok Signora, I will speak English” to which I replied “we were practicing in the car”. Next stop, L-O-S-E-R tattoo for my forehead.

We asked our waiter to order for us. Steve wanted seafood, Laurence wanted meat, I wanted vegetarian. We ended up with Tapas: a wonderful salad, grilled vegetables, tuna and egg, and potatoes with spicy mayonaise. I was stuffed by the time the main course arrived - they made us seafood (Steve), chicken (Laurence) and veggie (mine) paella. Oh my god was it good. But very oily. Steve has a problem with oil, and even I found it too heavy, though very very tasty. We’d never had paella before.

Our waiter suggested a wine for me, and it was so delicious, I bought a big girl bottle before we left Barcelona.

This was my dinner size:

I hope we can get this at home!

We walked back to the hotel, or rather rolled, I was so stuffed. We sat in the bar where Fausto, our wonderful waiter, took care of us. I tried to catch up on some blogging - well mostly uploading of videos of the Tour. Videos slow you down. But at least the internet was free!

View from the room

Day 17 - Driving to Barcelona

2009-08-06T13:45:00.005-04:00

The drive to Barcelona was uneventful, the toll roads in Europe, while very very expensive, are fantastic, for the most part three lanes. I would recommend they take the Irish model of tolls, wherein they capture your plate and you have until the next evening to pay by computer, phone, text or in any gas station. Fighting for position at the correct toll booth is an accident waiting to happen.

The Pyrenees were really beautiful, but we only drove beneath them, not through or over them.

Driving though the Spain border was a hoot. The two custom guards were the smiliest happiest of men waving us through. I wish we had taken a photo!

Charlie Brown crossing

We did encounter our second accident of the trip in Spain, an SUV had flipped over. Looked like everyone was ok though.

Finding the hotel in Barcelona was again a challenge, but once again we somehow managed to find the street we needed right away. We parked out front, checked in, and decided to meet for dinner in 30 minutes.

This vacation is all about the food isn’t it?!?

Day 16 - Nice

2009-08-06T13:06:00.031-04:00

The next morning I was feeling much better. Steve and I were up early to do our laundry and afterwords we went for a walk. Laurence slept off big beer night, then went for a walk.

Nice posture

We turned the corner and tada - the Mediterranean! All the beach names that we saw are all named after famous US beaches (Miami, Pompano)

McDonalds right at the beach

Walking back

We got back to the hotel and Laurence was ready to go and waiting for us. It was 34C with a breeze and just gorgeous. We got the car and decided to drive to Monaco.

The filthy rich!

The broke and filthy at our car. This would be the car we drove around the F1 track for one loop, as well as this year’s Tour de France time trial. :D As we drove in front of the Casino Royale, Steve cut off the Monaco PD (all four them in their Renault), we think since they honked at us and started screaming at us in French through all four windows. They followed us for a bit, but then drove off, we assume when they realized we actually didn't have George Clooney in the back of the Peugeot. We still have no idea what we did wrong!

Teehee, gas station in a building

We drove to the other end of Nice by the airport. Wow, that's some airport right over the Mediterranean. A whole whack of private jets!

We went back to the hotel and walked to the main square for dinner.

We had a laugh over the police - they zoomed around on segways! I wish we had a picture.

After dinner we wandered back to the hotel and sat in the bar for the evening chatting and planning our following day - off to Spain.

To finish off Nice, the next morning Steve and I went for a dip in the Med

Very very salty! We were surprised that the beach was river stone and not sand. And OH.MY.GOD that hurts the feet! We would have stayed on the beach longer except it hurt so much. Next trip we bring water shoes! But it was very very beautiful.

We stopped at a fruit market for some France peaches - the best peaches I’ve had in forever. The peaches at home taste like dust. Yum.

We were sad to leave Nice, it would have been great to spend the rest of our vacation here!

Day 15 - Nice

2009-08-06T13:03:00.007-04:00

The hotel staff pointed us in the direction of restaurants. We had a pretty sketchy view of Nice until we walked three blocks and saw this

Wow, it’s beautiful!

We found a restaurant and as we sat there, the room started to spin. And spin. I decided I needed to lie down. A nine hour drive including the mountain switchbacks was too much for my head, and my stomach. I left the boys and walked like a drunk to the hotel. That wasn’t fun at all. I could only lie in a certain position to make the room stop spinning, and that was on my side diagonally. Strange.

Steve and Laurence enjoyed their dinner of French food. They each had two beers in giant glasses (two fisters) and probably walked like drunks too ;) Steve a foie gras salad avec toast, and Laurence had the spaghetti bolognese. After they finished dinner Steve went to the washroom and when he came back Laurence was looking a little uncomfortable because the blond male waiter was winking at him. As Laurence says “he had an eye for true beauty”.

Day 15 - Driving to Nice

2009-08-06T12:39:00.019-04:00

We were up bright and early to start our drive to Nice. As Laurence started to load the car, some guy in a laundry truck smashed into one of the cars on the street. His biggest concern? Tearing the door off his truck and throwing it in the back and then he drove off. The café guy came out to talk to him, so hopefully he gave him his information (if that’s how they do it here). The police were also standing nearby, but they just drove away. There was serious damage to the other car. Truthfully, there is damage to every car in Italy. Not surprising considering how they park and drive. Similar to Paris, once you find a spot to park, you never leave it ;)

We got in the car and found our way out of Florence, fluked it again. Once on the highway we stopped to get some lunch. I found a baguette and some cheese, Steve some sausage, and Laurence a couple of bagel sandwiches. Here's a picture of Steve's sausage.

Geeze people get your mind out of the gutter!

Oh yeah, the Italians don’t believe in toilet seats in their public washrooms. Thank you pee-mate!

We drove through Milan to Torino hoping we’d see some of the Italian Alps. We ended up changing our route to go through Cunio. Oh Cunio. You don’t really exist do you?!? Every time we’d follow a sign for Cunio, we’d get close and the road would close and put us on yet another circular toll road. I think Cunio is Italian for cash grab.

Anyway, getting closer to the Alps:

To go through the mountain we had to wait, almost half an hour to get the go ahead. There’s a helicopter pad here. But no washrooms. Sigh.

We’re pretty high! Very very windy switchbacks.

And some people take huge risks. Not only was Laurence Andretti racing down the hill but he got passed on one of the curves. 1:25 for the impatient.

We finally make it down to near the bottom, and I was pretty green in the back.

Nice!

Finding the hotel took forever. There are no street signs it seemed, but we fluked it again and found the hotel. After checking in it was time for dinner.

Day 14 - Firenze

2009-08-06T11:53:00.026-04:00

Our hotel was a 15th century monastery, updated of course. It turns out that we were smack dab in the middle of the old part of Florence, and a 5 minute walk away we found a fantastic little restaurant.

I ordered the pasta pomodoro, Steve had the spaghetti with meatballs and Laurence the chicken with olive and pepper dressing. The food was delicious (to die for, LB says). The coffee, not so much. Not a fan of the evaporated milk they use for the coffee!

After our meal we wandered out to explore. The only sight we really wanted to see was the Duomo, though all we knew about it was that it was a big church. We turned the corner at the Piazza Del Duomo, Steve was ahead of us, and then he turned around and looked shocked. He said “wait until you turn the corner”.

OH.MY.GOD.

It was beautiful. And huge. So huge you can't get it to fit within a camera frame.

We then we went shopping. Here is my rear end.

There was the best apron, which I wish we'd bought

A little girl in a white dress was walking by the aprons and by fluke pulled this one out. And you should have seen the smile on her face as we walked down the sidewalk! Her parents never knew. It was priceless!

Laurence bought a Homer very similar to this:

and another shirt you will see in later postings :)

We then stopped for gelato. Mmmm. Steve and I shared lemon, and Laurence had the strawberry. So good.

The square

The Ferrari store

Motorino is the way to go

Florence misc

We made or way back to our hotel, and sat in the pretty courtyard drinking red wine and beer. This became a nightly routine. We were really thrilled with Florence. Wish we had another day here! Even after being surprised in the washroom while going for a pee when a little newt went running by! Yeah, I screamed like a girl. Only in surprise though, I like newts!

Day 14 - Driving to Firenze

2009-08-06T11:49:00.003-04:00

Our driver was waiting for us when we checked out of the hotel, so we made him wait a few minutes until we could have coffee. Oh yeah, there are no Starbucks in Rome.

He didn’t seem too happy to have us in the car, he sure sighed a lot. Steve told him at the outset that we needed to go to the Bancomat if he wanted to get paid. He never stopped. So at the airport Steve ran in to find one. After about ten minutes I asked if he took credit cards. He said yes. So Laurence paid him - told him to make it out for 60 Euros (we were quoted 50 at the front desk). He said “the fare is 52 Euros” so Laurence gave him a look, which was a lot kinder than the look I gave this guy, and said “then make if for 62 Euros”. Steve eventually came back, having had no luck with finding a bank machine.

We then headed to Arrivals to try to find the guy from Peugeot. We stood in front of the Café Chef (or whatever it was called) and Steve looked for a phone. None of the payphones seemed to work, but then Steve finally found one that did and called them. They seemed surprised that we were there already. This was not a good omen since we’d made arrangements to meet him at 10AM and it was now almost 10:30. He showed at almost 11AM with a sign saying “Beaudry” and we followed him into his van. We hopped on a highway - we were going to the office. Ok fine. Until we saw where he was taking us. I figured we’d seen the last of anything on our trip, because we he took us could double for cock/dog fighting areas. Scary. But the car was there, shiny and new, and we were off.

The drive to Florence was uneventful. Beautiful scenery, lots of sunflower fields, pear orchards, olive groves, and vineyards. Fantastic.

Getting to our hotel was a little more challenging. Lots of tiny winding streets that only go 100m before ending and merging into another. But somehow we found the hotel. Fluked it, Laurence called it. We checked in, waited for one of the rooms, and then went off exploring.

Day 13 - Rome

2009-08-05T17:20:00.055-04:00

When we got up we tried to sort out the car pick up with Peugeot. We had had no luck the night before even getting through to Peugeot in France, and when we finally got a number for Rome they were closed. Steve quickly discovered after being yelled at by the man on the phone in Rome, that if you shout back you get some respect. We arranged to meet the rep at the DaVinci airport the next morning at 10AM.

Side note; Rome drivers are freaken crazy! But we never saw one accident. The motorinos have full reign of the road, zipping in and out. So cute to see the women with their handbags on one arm, a shopping bag on the other, a briefcase between their legs, in a little dress in high heels. Awesome. We did see some lady cops directing traffic, it’s pretty funny because they are shouting at everyone. Probably means good morning ;)

After breakfast we decided to grab the bus tour of Rome. We picked it up at the piazza we were at the night before. The boys were in long pants and sleeves, I in a long dress, because we were planning to visit the Vatican. We sweated it out on the bus before getting to St. Peter’s.

Some of the tour before the Vatican.

We’re at the Vatican. St. Peter’s Square is smaller than we thought it would be.

Hard to do a panorama shot into the sun

There was a bit of a line-up, but it zoomed by really quickly (maybe 15 minutes). There were a lot of tour reps approaching us telling us that we could skip the lines and have a private tour for 35 Euros but we opted to wait in the line. SCAM.

Inside St. Peter’s you can take photos, but without flash.

St. Peter’s was truly amazing. We saw frescos in the ceiling, but we were convinced that we still hadn’t seen the Sistine Chapel. We asked at the gift shop (which incidentally don’t sell Vatican shot glasses much to my chagrin) and were told to walk around the block. And it was some block!

I had no idea that the Sistine Chapel was inside the Vatican museum. There was no line up for the museum, so again, those selling tickets in the square was a sham. We didn’t tour the museum, we had our sights set on the Sistine Chapel. To get there though we had to go through halls of tapestries, paintings and sculptures which were really beautiful. Every square inch of the halls had something decorated on them, The ceiling frescos were just gorgeous.

After going up some narrow stairways we made it to the Sistine Chapel. It’s much smaller than we expected, but that could be due to the number of people in the room. And they keep you moving, there will be no dallying.

After the Sistine Chapel we left the museum to get back on the bus. But first more water. It was 38C and sunny.

We saw a lot of beggars, almost exclusively women, dressed in black and completely cloaked (the epitome of the Italian widow). New style of begging here, no puppies, instead these women would lie on the ground with their canes under them, or next to them, with a cup for change. And they lie there, as if they have just fallen, for hours. It’s so sad. And so pathetic.

We got back on the bus and stayed until we got to the stop nearest our hotel. We showered and changed again, and made our way to find some lunch. We decided on the Trinity College Pub, which we expected would have Irish food. Not so much. Steve and I had salads, and they were really good. Best buffalo mozz ever. Laurence had a hot dog. He said it was delicious.

After lunch we got back to the bus. Our next get off point was the Coliseum. Wow. We took some shots of the outside then waited in line for a good 45 minutes to get our tickets inside. It is so worth it! What amazing feats of engineering. Reading the exhibits you could picture how life was. It was overwhelming.

New excavations!

Outside the Coliseum we checked out the fallen stones, which Padraig had told us about.

They were filming a commercial outside

I was thirsty, again, so I went to the stand and requested a freddo Schweppes Limone from the Signore. Mmmm my new favourite drink. Afterwards we waited for the tour bus. They were supposed to be every 15 minutes or so, but it was 7:30 and we had just missed one. We were told originally that the last bus left stop 1 (Vatican) at 8:30PM. We waited until 8:00 then started to try to hail a cab. At 8:15 we did, we got in, and the driver took us over a hill and said “we’re here”. HOW.FREAKEN.EMBARRASSING. The cost was less than 5 Euros, so we gave them a 10. We started to laugh, and made the walk to the hotel.

After another shower we went down to have dinner. We were hot and tired. We were given complimentary champagne (as we were the night before), then had birra and vino rossi while we waited for our dinner. We ordered more vegetarian antipasto and our meals. I had pasta, Steve had gorgonzola chicken, and Laurence the angus beef gnocchi. Seriously good food, again.

We didn't want dessert, but Allessia our server (a real sweetheart) gave us something she said we'd like. As soon as we saw it I knew - Limoncello! Steve called it paint thinner. I could only drink a little, so Laurence had the rest, so we wouldn't insult Allessia!

After a bit more drink it was time for bed. We had a shuttle taking us to the Fiumicino (sp) airport first thing in the morning.

Tour de France Videos

2009-08-05T16:44:00.001-04:00

May or may not have uploaded... http://una1967travels.blogspot.com/2009/08/day-10-paris.html

Off to bed!

Day 12 - Rome

2009-08-05T08:39:00.038-04:00

We met to go find some lunch. About 15 minutes away we stumbled upon this little restaurant on the left.

There was so much that looked great on the menu, then we realized they only took Amex or Diner’s Club… hmmm, no Bancomat around, so we counted our bills and realized we were good to go. Steve ordered gnocchi, Laurence fettuccine and I had risotto. The best food we’ve ever eaten. Ever.

We finished off with dessert, Steve had the fig zabaglione and I had the peach and the raspberry granitas. Ok, I almost went blind with mine it was so sweet. Kept me humming for hours.

We reluctantly left the restaurant because it was cooler in the shade. On the street it was 38C. HOT. We wandered around and got some photos

That’s a lot of steps for 38C.

Oh good, there’s a ramp too.

Unlike the buffed out statues in London, Rome lets it all hang out. Laurence said “I can see your doodle!”.

The picture doesn’t do it justice, maybe if you click on it… but it looks like the statues at the top are doing YMCA.

Really nice piazza. Wait, what’s he holding on the right?!?

Oh. Ok then.

More of the piazza.

Behind the piazza, the Forum.

Romulus and Remus

I can see your bum!

Steve’s improvising the young Italian male... did I mention it was 38C?

You can take your dog on the bus!

We went back to the hotel to shower again and have a little nap, before we headed out to find some dinner. We walked around some piazzas before deciding on Bibo’s.

Vino rosso

You should have seen the woman driving this tiny electric car... she was on the phone yelling at someone!

Too much vinno rosso… back at the hotel

We were pooped, so off to bed. LOVE ROME.

Day 12 - Paris to Rome

2009-08-05T08:00:00.012-04:00

We had arranged for a taxi to pick us up at 5:15 AM to take us to the bus to get us to the airport. We had high hopes that we would be able to sleep on the bus, but the seats did not recline and were very uncomfortable. I guess that’s what you get for 13 Euros.

We were able to catch the earlier bus and were on the road for 6AM. Beauvais is far enough, and we didn’t arrive there until a little after 7AM. We didn’t see anything interesting along the highway so nothing to report there.

The airport is really tiny. We sat and had a coffee, then started our way to security. Unlike the RyanAir staff in Dublin, these were pretty rude. First they would only allow each of us to carry one carry on. In this case, my purse had to be stuffed in Laurence’s carry on because I had a real carry on too. Steve was nearly strip searched by security, and finally we were through. The bathrooms were disgusting, no toilet seats or toilet paper. Thankfully I planned ahead and bought a pee mate type of gizmo at MEC before leaving Ottawa for just such occasions. TMI, sorry. But I highly recommend it to any women who travel!

We finally lined up for the flight, crammed ourselves on (must say I love that RyanAir has both front and rear entrances) and I put on my iPod, sleep mask and neck ring. Steve and I both slept a little. Good thing that no one had a camera handy because I was sleeping with my mouth open. I didn’t need to be told this because I woke myself up a couple of times and closed my mouth. The flight was excellent, though RyanAir became a flea market mid-air, selling everything from perfume to jackets duty free. Bizarre. It would have been nice if they kept the announcements to a minimum though, because they kept waking us up.

After landing in Rome we found a shuttle to take us to Termini station for 4 Euros each. Cheapest ticket in town. The roads to Rome were very cool, lots of aqueducts to see along the highway. Then we got a taste of Roman traffic. Yikes!

We finally got to Termini and hailed a taxi. Our driver was a really nice young guy, who drove like a maniac. Happy to be in the back seat! So Rome drivers are as crazy as they say, but there were no accidents that we could see. Not 5 minutes into the taxi ride that we turn the corner and there’s the Coliseum. HOLY CRAP!!

We got off near the hotel because he told us it was a one way long way around, or 20 metres away, and walked it. On your left, the Kolbe Hotel Rome. On your right, the FORUM. AWESOME.

We checked in and agreed to meet in 30 minutes. We were originally booked for a triple room (it’s a very pricy hotel) but Laurence wanted his own and to give Steve and I some privacy too (I think he was sick of us). Anyway, Laurence got a nice room with a view of the Forum. We got the honeymoon suite, complete with Jacuzzi/shower and blue ceiling lights!!

Day 11 - Paris

2009-08-03T15:11:00.045-04:00

We woke on Monday morning and started to plan our way to the airport for the next morning. Um… Beauvais is 80km outside of Paris!! There were no trains, but we did find a bus shuttle that would get us to Beauvais. We decided we’d better try to get tickets, which we couldn’t do online because one, we didn’t have a means to print the tickets, and two, the website wouldn’t let us do it within 24 hours. So we planned to take the Metro to ‘Pershing Parking’ near the Hotel Concorde Lafayette.

Ever the optimist I figured we could walk up the nice Metro attendant like we did in the London Underground and they would give us directions to the stop we needed, and we could pay our tickets there. Um. Not so much. The attendant was looking bored and had a buddy there on our side of the glass staring at the monitor. I stood there and waited to be acknowledged and he finally said “oui” and I asked him, in French, if I could get tickets to Porte Maillot (I think it was) and he mumbled something. I had to ask him three very pointed questions to which he would only answer in one word answers. Thanks for your help loser. Turns out he didn’t sell tickets. I’m not exactly sure what he does for a living because it sure isn’t helping passengers. There were other tourists around us looking just as lost. We went to pay for the tickets at the machine and we didn’t know what zones to buy for. I went back to Prickhead^TM to ask if it was in zone 2 and he grunted. Thanks.

We got enough tickets to get ourselves there and stood at the pit of a platform and got on the bus. Again, slum on wheels. Man oh man does Paris reek of urine. We did see that they clean the streets by opening the sewer main which rushes ’clean?’ water and the street cleaner people smoke, listen to their iPods, and sweep the cigarette butts and dog poop down the drains. They should extend it to sidewalk washing because it sure is a smelly city.

Anyway, it took us about 20 minutes to get out of the stinkin’ roundabout, then we walked completely around the Hotel Lafayette (once Laurence spotted it). Apparently this is where many of the Tour sponsors were staying.

We asked the door man where ‘Pershing Parking’ was. He told us to keep walking and we’d see it. Which we did eventually. Nothing is easy in Paris. We were able to get our tickets and were told to be at the station at 6:15 for our 9:30 flight. Rah.

We then went to find breakfast. This place looked good. For Katie, Omellete Du Fromage!!

The first of many expensive cars we were to see in France

At least we knew which direction to go to, because we saw l’Arc de Triomphe in the distance.

Getting to l'Arc de Triomphe was a bit of a challenge because the roundabout was 6 or so lanes and from what we could see, once you get in, you ain't gettin' out. Bicyclists fared ok mind you, one group was filming themselves as they zipped around. Crazies!! Luckily us pedestrians were able to go underground to get there thankfully.

Um… I think I might be drooling a little.

Steve, look, I am drooling…

We were very very impressed with the history and beauty of l’Arc de Triomphe. We decided to walk to the Eiffel Tower to check that out. It started to rain a little, but it was warm enough.

Um. Ok.

Baby cop car

We decided to take the bus tour, since the one in London was fantastic. This one, not so much. A total of 6 or so stops. Of course it started to rain… where can I buy one of those ponchos?

We hopped off at the Louvre, because I really wanted to see it. But the lineups were as expected, so we decided to warm up at Starbucks, have a pee, and move on with the tour. I can say I was at the Louvre and we saw pictures of the Mona Lisa ;)

We were impressed with the Starbucks in the Louvre though...

While waiting for the bus, a young girl went up to Steve and tried to give him a gold ring. This was the second time that day that someone ‘found’ a gold ring on the street and tried to give it to us. Google informed us, as we expected, that this was a scam. A lot of beggars in Paris, even more scams in Paris.

We got back on the bus and got off at Notre Dame. It was spectacular.

Oh cute! A little whimsical guy on a horse amidst the gargoyles and religious statues

The gargoyle next to it has boobies!

Sometimes it’s best to not lose your head. Even if you need to hold on to it.

We then stopped at a café until the rain subsided - Steve and Laurence had a beer each, and I an Orangina = 25 Euros before tip. Yikes. Down the street we stopped at a crepe stand and ordered the French equivalent of the Killaloe Sunrise beaver tail - lemon and sugar. It was delish.

Beverly Hills Beach Club - or the closest thing to it in Paris, along the Seine

Back to the Opera

Another baby car

La Haut!

Expensive real estate in the Rome district of Paris where we were staying

Royale with Cheese!!

Our last night in Paris we had dinner at the Hard Rock Café. Steve and Laurence had enormous burgers, I had nachos - they were stale and came with really good guacamole and bbq sauce (!!). Steve led the way this night, and eventually we found the hotel. In Laurence’s defence, Paris is not an easy city to navigate without a map!

We had an early night because we needed to pack for our 4:45 wake up call.

Other than the rudeness we encountered on occasion, which we totally expected, and the smell, which we also expected, Paris was ok. I would definitely go back, to see more of it. Laurence was very happy to leave, he’d had enough.

We all agreed that the worst part of Paris were the beggars. The biggest concern though, was what was going on with the animals. Almost every street had someone begging for money with either a puppy, or many puppies, and kittens, ‘asleep’ under blankets. Only a handful of dogs (maybe 3) we saw were sitting up. I honestly thought all the others were dead. L It was very very distressing. Steve looked a little more closely and did see that they were breathing, so either they are very malnourished, or these poor creatures were drugged to lie still under blankets. Whatever the reasons are, it was horrible to see. For this reason I was glad to leave Paris. It was just too sad.

Day 10 - Paris

2009-08-02T15:19:00.036-04:00

On our second day in Paris we woke early because we had a big day ahead of us.

First up was finding our way to Angelina’s. I had printed the directions before we left as we were meeting my colleague Jenny for the best hot chocolate in Paris. Wow, Paris was built on the pie system… each street branches off to two streets, etc, etc. Had we not had the printed map to tell us to turn left turn right or continue on some street that changes names 6 times we never would have found it.

Some shots along the way:

But we did :D

Jenny had made reservations so it was easy to meet up with her other friends who happened to be in Paris - Adam, Chloe and Sarah. Their being there was a surprise for Grant, Jenny’s boyfriend. Our joining them was a for me - and Jenny. They are really great people, all doing very interesting things. The hot chocolate was ridiculous - basically the richest chocolate fondue and full fat whipped cream. YUM. Each hot chocolate was 16 Euros each, and worth every penny. The snooty waiter, and he was definitely the epitome of the snooty Parisian waiter (rolling his eyes as the table next to us ordered) was smart enough to give us a pot to share. We had a really great time and the company was the best. Jenny looked amazing.

We said our goodbyes and headed out to find a spot to watch the Tour de France. The last day is on the Champs Elyssee and we were going to witness it!! Since we didn’t actually have breakfast and I was feeling a little sick from the hot chocolate, it was a very very rich breakfast, Laurence and I split a baguette, again, tomato, lettuce, cheese and egg. Yum!

Oh look the Eiffel Tower!

This is the spot we selected - a few blocks up from Angelina’s.

And in front of Dolce and Gabbana

Lots and lots of Gendarmes (14,000!) which is to be expected when you 700,000 people in one place without metal detectors!

We sat in our spot from 11:45 and there was nothing going on for the longest time.

Mmm, chocolate milk. Oh, the milk in Paris is disgusting to us. Smells rotten! So disappointing because I was really looking forward to café au lait.

Tribute to ‘Nana’s thumb goes to Paris’, ‘Steve’s finger goes to Paris’!

Happy

A couple of kids races - awesome!

The parade came through at around 3:00

NOTE: We have a whole whack of movies to upload, but they are taking over 30 minutes each so will do that when we get home :)

You get the idea. This lasted about 45 minutes or so.

Then finally, at 4:30ish, the team cars came blazing through, followed by the camera guys, and then the Tour!

After one lap we had a lead pack

And a solid chase pack

8 laps total and the race was over. And IT.WAS.AWESOME. Totally worth it. Even though standing for 6 hours in the heat, with very little water, and I felt faint a couple of times and sat it out in the shade 2 ft away. But I saw what I came to see! We had some great people next to us from the US who had been to the mountain stage the day before. Definitely do that again.

It was now 6PM and we were starving. We wandered our way back towards the Opera area where our hotel was to find a place to have dinner. On our way:

Olive tree

We had dinner at a place called Indiana’s. Steve was so disappointed that his fried chicken was chicken fingers, my enchilada was cold, and Laurence had a burger. Overall the food was terrible, but we were hungry.

Laurence led us back to the hotel, but we didn’t seem to be getting any closer. We did find where the Asian prostitutes hang out though.

Eventually we gave up and hailed a cab, which took almost 30 minutes. We had gone in the completely wrong direction, and we laughed over this. Our Sherpa led us astray.

When we got back to the hotel we wanted to enquire about laundry. Steve stood on the stairs shouting 'LAVAGE' over and over again. Laurence, myself, and the girl at the desk just laughed at him.

Day 9 - Paris

2009-08-01T14:40:00.022-04:00

Once we recovered from our trek up the stairs to our room, we headed out the door find some dinner and figure out where we are. Every building in Paris looks the same - like this:

Oh, the view from the 5 flights

Motorcycles with a roof and windscreen.

We wandered about 15 minutes and noticed there were a lot of ‘sexy shops’. Then we realized we were in Montmartre - and in front of the Moulin Rouge.

We found a café across the street and sat for dinner. Every chair in the café points to the street. Of course - we’re in Paris and that’s what it’s like! We loved our waiter who we affectionately named Jean-Phillipe.

We don’t look so hot do we

Steve and Laurence ordered the hamburger with fries. And a complimentary fried egg (!!)

Yes my friends, the burger is very very pink. But they ate it anyway. The fries were great though. I ordered a vegetarian sandwich. It was very yummy. And I wasn’t worried about spending the next 48 hours in the bathroom!

Jean-Phillipe was a hoot. He shoo’d everyone from ‘his’ sidewalk, and between customers he would stand on the sidewalk and smoke like a chimney. He definitely kept us entertained, and was a fantastic waiter. He told us he’s coming to Canada in November with his nephew to ‘motoneige’ J. When we went to pay, Steve handed him his credit card and Jean-Phillipe gave him hell, and said “I’ll explain why in a minute”. He came out with the debit machine and showed us how in the EU you can multi swipe a credit card and only the last transaction is printed for the customer to sign. So he warned us to never ever let a waiter take the card, to just show it to them and they bring the machine to us. I love Jean-Phillipe.

Sightseeing train

Lots of chimneys and a bridge between buildings on the 5th floor!

Our first Paris prostitute, she had business cards!

Teehee! Baby car!!

Speaking of cars - I think if you find a parking spot in Paris, you keep it forever, because you’ll never get out. It’s unbelievable how closely they park. And how scratched the cars are.

We walked back to our hotel for the night, and Laurence snapped this shot of us.

Laurence is the Terminator!!

Happy Hour in Nice...

2009-08-01T13:20:00.003-04:00

A little out of sequence, but playing with the webcam while taking a blog break during happy hour.

Day 9 - London to Paris

2009-08-01T13:03:00.004-04:00

We slept in on Saturday morning knowing we weren’t going to do much other than get ready for the train to France. Flights to Paris from London were non-existent through RyanAir, so we decided early on we’d take the Eurostar and experience the Chunnel.

We arrived at St. Pancras station in London early enough that we had to wait an hour to board the train. The customs officials looked bored and frankly wouldn’t speak to us at all, an indication of Paris to come. We did however get a stamp in our passports. Oh forgot to mention I think, when coming from Dublin to London we filled out landing cards and then walked straight through customs while saying hello to the officials. We were sure that the customs for London must actually be further on, but nope, we walked out. Our whole time in London until we had dinner with Una and Gordon we were expecting to be arrested for illegally being in the country. Gordon explained to us that since we were in the EU, that you didn’t need to go through customs at all since we were already landed in and EU country. Very efficient, but we were hoping for more passport stamps. Oh well.

Back to the Eurostar. WOW. We seriously regretted booking our flight from Paris to Rome since the Eurostar was so awesome. The food was fantastic and the service even more so. Gave us a chance to practice our French. I ordered the salmon (they didn’t have a veggie dish) and gave it to Steve, while both boys gave me their salads with ‘rocket’. We’re big fans of Jamie Oliver and he always made salad with rocket which we didn’t know what it was. I like it! Lots of beer and wine on the train and as much food as you wanted. And dessert. And chocolate. And really, really good coffee.

We were disappointed that it didn’t announce our entrance to the Chunnel, and only realized that we were in it after about ten minutes. Nor did they announce that we were in France, I guess that was a given.

A funny: Steve had gone to the washroom and then I went after him, but to one the other direction. When I got back he said “did you use your foot?” I replied “no, my urethra. What are you talking about?!?” Too funny. Apparently his bathroom had a foot flush mechanism, mine was the usual push on the wall. We laughed about the for quite a while. As I type this, almost a week later, we are still laughing about it.

Our only complaint was the ear blocking when we entered the tunnels. Way worse than flying. But overall experience was amazing.

We arrived at the Paris-Nord station and were shocked by the graffiti. There is next to none in London. And the filth. And beggars. Laurence was immediately met by a woman who gave him a note telling him she had 8 children to support. There were several others with similar notes. We met up with a nice Metro attendant and she told us which train to take and which stop to get off at. Same as what I had planned, so we were off to a good start. Paris is not at all handicap-friendly, which meant we had to hoist our bags up several flights of stairs. We got to the platform and stuck close together, expecting to be mugged. This station was really grungy. We got on the train and felt even more concerned. Beggars on the train, with open sores on their hands, hanging off the same poles we were. I promised Laurence Purell as soon as we got off. It was really sad. But not the saddest we’d see in Paris.

We got off the train at Rome station and our hotel was within a couple of blocks in the Opera district. We checked in only to find out the lift was out of service for 60 days for “renovation”. Um, ok, so we haul our suitcases up the 5 flights of stairs, with the exhausted porter taking the heaviest one. Yikes. We needed the exercise though.

The room was ok, though Laurence joked the carpets were original 1600’s. We dropped our stuff and headed out to experience our first night in Paris.

Day 8 - London

2009-07-30T14:49:00.030-04:00

Steve and I decided that we would go to Harrod’s and Buckingham Palace on Friday. Laurence opted out, he was very tired and wanted to do laundry and wander around Canary Wharf.

We took the Tube to Green Park to transfer to the Piccadilly line. The train was very very warm and crowded then Steve noticed why… there was a notice on the train of signal failure so the train wasn’t going anywhere. We decided to hoof it. It was looking a little overcast, but we lucked out by walking though Green Park. It is really pretty.

We knew we were getting close to Harrod’s when Steve spotted this car:

Steve navigated us to Harrod’s just as the rain started to pour. Again the weather cooperated.

Harrod’s was everything we thought it would be and more. The tackiest place on earth. There were a lot of tourists like us, but just as many real shoppers dropping 2500 Pounds (still can’t find the symbol) on a bag. It was fun to just look at the prices and giggle. Can’t even imagine. We eventually found the Dodi and Diana memorial. Catherine was right - creepy.

We left Harrod’s to find London had been drenched. We walked to Buckingham Palace through Green Park again. One of these chairs can be yours for 2 Pounds for 4 hours.

Here is the Canada Gate (I think it was called).

The happy tourists again

And Steve in front of the Palace, practicing his Napolean.

We found the Palace to be quite a bit smaller than expected, like the White House.

The Guards looked like toy soldiers.

We had a feeling someone of importance was going to leave the building when we saw this:

Then the helicopter overhead.

A car came out with an SUV right behind it and there was the Queen waving at us from the back seat! We were really surprised that she came out at the very moment we arrived at the gates. The crowd went nuts. Steve tried really hard to get a photo but it didn’t turn out.

Now there’s a good look ;)

We tried to get in to the State Room tour but it didn’t open until Sunday. Since we’d already seen the Queen herself we thought we’d just start making our way back to the hotel slowly and do a bit of laundry too.

This is the Canadian War Memorial in Green Park

We thought this picture was funny - the Quebec building next to the Commonwealth Information Centre

On Wednesday Steve was reading the paper and noticed that Usain Bolt was in London on Friday night. After googling we found out that the Aviva World Cup track and field championship was on at the Crystal Palace. After some difficulties buying the tickets online - FYI you can’t call Canadian Tire Mastercard from overseas even though it says you can on the back of the card - we got the tickets paid for.

Steve and I headed out to Crystal Palace which involved the Tube and the National Rail Service. We missed the train, and the train conductor told us to relax, we could take the train on the next platform as long as we sat in the first 4 cars. So we ran for that. And then we sat there. Almost everyone on the train was going to the event, many people getting on board with Jamaican jerseys and flags. We got off the train and found the epitome of organization - off the platform is the stadium. We were given leaflets advising to follow the blue line after the event to the train.

16000 people attended, sold out, and we had fantastic seats. London was expecting huge rain storms so we stopped for clear garbage bags earlier in the day. We never needed them! London was very good to us. There were 12 or so events on the Friday night including the shorter track distances up to the 5000 metre. We sat right at the finish line

Gary Reed ran and won the 800m. Go Canada Go!

We regularly watch Track at home and were very excited to see Yelena Isenbyeva, who uncharacteristically came in second. Even more exciting was the high jump when our favourite, Blanca Vlasic (who we call Ivanka Blanca ;)) who went for the record, but didn’t quite make it. It was really windy.

Last event was the big one, the 100m with Usain Bolt. Steve tried to catch it on video, but the girls in front of us were so excited, he didn’t catch the finish! He won by strides and didn’t even try.

When it was over we left and followed the queue to the blue line and were on the platform within minutes. Everyone on the platform was able to get on the train and we were back at London Bridge. Are you listening Scotiabank Place? We still wouldn’t have been out of the parking lot there by the time we were back at the hotel! We stopped for Steak and Ale pastry for Steve and then then went to M&S (Marks and Spencer Food) and picked up a greek wrap for me, some fruit salad, cheesecake and cold beer at the checkout. We found heaven at M&S. Oh yeah, I got OJ with bits :)

We got on the Tube to our hotel, enjoyed our dinner, and went to bed.

Day 7 - London

2009-07-28T02:12:00.008-04:00

Did I mention Laurence’s need for IV Starbucks in the morning? And he HATES Starbucks, but our hotel makes the worst coffee ever. The breakfasts are not great, but not horrible either… meats, poached eggs, blood pudding, beans (yum), hash browns, and cereals. And horrible coffee. Starbucks was our first stop every day.

We had two stops planned for today - Westminster Abbey and Harrods.

We took the Tube to the Westminster Abbey stop, and again, jaws dropped. I can’t imagine living here and seeing that every day on my way to work! Stunning.

We paid for the tour of the Abbey, led by Jeremy Irons. Ok, he was the audio guide. I hope the Louvres has Gerard Depardieu. No pictures in the Abbey, but it was very very impressive. I need to read up on my history because I really didn’t know it was one big tomb.

The architecture was truly amazing, and each of the little chapels very different. I had no idea there were authors and musicians buried there too!

We took a few photos from the courtyard on our way to the tomb of the unknown warrior.

The back door

The admiral from Get Smart… he walked so slowly, but he kept on going!

We then went on our way to Harrods. And I got us lost. So Harrods tomorrow.
We stopped at Victoria Station to take the train to Chorleywood to visit with our cousin Una and Gordon. We love the train system, did I mention this? Are you listening OC? We got off the train and called Una and Gordon who came right away to pick us up. Chorleywood is so ‘quaint’. Exactly what we expected.

It was so nice to see Una and family again! Una visited us last in 2004, her husband Gordon and their two children came in 1980 I believe it was. Aiden joined us for dinner as well, how cool to see him all grown up. They are all lots of fun.

We had a fabulous dinner, then walked to the pub. It was dusk and I noticed these pods on the ground so made sure not to step on them. Then my brain caught up. I asked Una if these 5 inch long pods were slugs and she replied “did you slip?”. EWWWW!! I could never be a gardener in the UK!

The pub was awesome. We walk in and there’s a dog sitting at one of the tables. Cute! There was very little room so we sat at one of the picnic tables outside. Other than a small bit of rain going into Westminster Abbey earlier in the day, we had perfect weather. I got sunburn every day on my face, even with sunscreen. I didn’t expect that.

We did notice in London that there were no garbage cans. Gordon told us that they took them all away about 20 years ago because they kept getting blown up. Makes sense!

We said our goodbyes and got back on the train. The whole trip back took about an hour, which is amazing. We had a great time with them, it was so nice to catch up.

Day 6 - London Bus Tour

2009-07-27T16:10:00.024-04:00

We had plans to meet a former Nortel colleague but that fell through (ok, he forgot!) so we gave him until 9:30 to respond to my email before we headed out on our London day.
We took the Tube to hook up with the hop on / off bus tour and got off at Piccadilly Circus. Emerging from the subway this is what we saw:

WOW. We stood in the middle of the sidewalk with our jaws dropped. BEAUTIFUL. We got our tickets for the tour and while walking to the pick up spot we discovered London drivers are insane. But thankfully, London was very helpful to us idiots who are prone to walking in front of traffic from looking the wrong way:

Bus Tour Photos:

Canada Building:

Lot's of tour bus pics:

horse may kick or bite? Hahahahaha!

At London Bridge we got off the tour and had some lunch at a pub. I had the ‘Jacket Potato’ which apparently means inches of cheese on a baked potato, Laurence a burger, and Steve Steak and Kidney Pie. He really liked the steak and kidney pie.

At the Tower of London, the happy boys

After lunch we hooked up with the Jack the Ripper walking tour. Highly recommended! Our guide was really terrific at setting the scene and the mood. We walked all over East London hearing about the conditions at the Doss Houses, Leather Apron, the murder victims and the conditions they were found, and then finally the suspects. So glad we went on it!

The first stop of the walking tour was the Roman city wall… very cool to be around something so old.

We got back on the bus to finish the tour.

Fence around the palace

Happy tourists

Ok, one happy, the other asleep I think.

London politeness

When we finished the tour we went for dinner. It was Laurence’s turn to decide on where we were eating dinner, and we ended up at TGI Friday’s. He needed a good burger, he said.

Called Una from a cute red phone booth outside the restaurant to make arrangements for Thursday night - dinner at their house.

Side note: Londonions (?... mmm onions...) are very snappy dressers. We felt like such slubs.

We got back on the Tube and crawled back to the hotel. It was a great day, and we are absolutely in love with London!

Day 5 - Arriving in London

2009-07-27T02:37:00.002-04:00

Laurence had figured out our route from Gatwick to the hotel the night before. Must say it was a little confusing when we got off the plane to find the Gatwick Express, though we weren’t confused for long… over and over again throughout our stay in London security would come up to us and offer us directions. We must have either looked really lost, or really sinister.

We talked about taking a taxi to the hotel, but the quote of 92 made the decision for us. The ticket attendant gave us 3 tickets for the price of 2, and we were off. The train and tube system in London is incredible. OC could stand to learn a thing or two… or ten. We changed trains at London Bridge (!! Hee hee!!) to the Jubillee Line of the Tube to Canary Wharf. Just a few minutes walk later (ok maybe a little longer because we got lost and security came with directions, again) we were checked into our hotel. We wandered around Canary Wharf for a little bit, then had dinner at the hotel - pizza with wayyyyyyyy too much cheese - and off to bed.

Day 5 - Leaving Dublin

2009-07-27T02:33:00.002-04:00

We were up fairly early on our last day in Dublin. We had time only to speak with Uncle Joe and Auntie Breda on the phone and say our goodbyes. It was sad, we did really want to see them one last time, but in a sense easier, because goodbyes can be hard.

We said our goodbyes to Sheila and Conor, and we were sad to leave.

Driving to the airport was uneventful, thanks to Conor’s great directions (with illustrations!), and we were at the airport with 30 minutes to spare before boarding. Just enough time to have some lunch and write out postcards.

The flight to London on RyanAir was great, other than having to pay 45 euros for our bag being too heavy. Oh well, the tickets were ridiculously cheap, so that was ok.

Day 4 - Allihies

2009-07-25T16:45:00.036-04:00

Saturday night after the Dublin tour we took a taxi back to Sheila and Conor’s for dinner. The boys went with Connor for their first Irish pub experience. Sheila’s daughter Catherine was at the house and we chatted while waiting for the boys to return. We had a fantastic dinner, Steve lasted until midnight, I until 2AM, and according to Connor Sunday morning, had he not pulled the plug, he and Laurence would still be at the table laughing. Apparently they went off at 4AM.

Sheila drove us to the airport to pick up our rental car. The directions we were given from the Hertz counter were horrible and we wandered around for half an hour before finding the Hertz counter. They told us to go back to the platform and take the Hertz shuttle. This was the first we’d heard of the shuttle. Not impressed. 90 minutes after Sheila dropped us off we had our car. The fun begins.

Poor Steve - he volunteered to be our driver to Allihies. Laurence was still suffering a little from the night before. It was good of Hertz to plaster the car steering wheel, console and front windshield with arrows and text to remind you to drive on the left. Driving on the left was, to quote Steve, “more difficult than it looks”. I believed him, especially since on the way out of the airport we hit the barrier a couple of times. Not enough to sustain any damage. At least we didn’t get charged for any :D On that note, we’d like to thank the city of Dublin for their rubbery barriers.

The drive to Allihies through Cork City took a little over 6 hours. We were warned, repeatedly, that the trip would be a long and windy one, and to be especially careful of the corners. Steve didn’t have a chance to test the cornering of the car with miss white knuckles in the front. The road to Cork City is a very fast 4 lane highway, but once you’re out of it it’s very slow and windy, but most of all narrow. I’m surprised we had any paint left on the left side of the car from the brush that hit us along the way. This is a very wide road...

Some pictures along the way:

Steve and Laurence finally understood what I meant by the sheep with the painted bums, one of my memories of Ireland as a child. Laurence thought the sheep were really cute, but spoken for ;) The sheep have free reign of all pastures in the area, so they are identified by paint colour by their owners. Much more civilized than branding, and easier to spot.

On our way we pulled over to see the Inchigeelagh church and cemetery. We were really wowed by the history of it all.

Cool way to build a fence.

Back on the road, we wound our way to Carriganass Castle. I’m so glad we missed our turnoff at Crookstown because we would have missed it. Since we were on our way to meet up with our O’Sullivan cousins, it was pretty neat to stumble upon the O’Sullivan Beare castle.

When speaking with our cousin Annette, she mentioned that she’d never seen it and would need to check it out.

The change in landscape from Dublin to Allihies was very cool. Dublin, so green and lush, then towards the coast, so rocky and windswept.

In Castletownbeare,

the last town before the village of Allihies was so quaint and beautiful, we thought about spending the night, especially when we finally found the sign to Allihies left 6, however there was a three pronged fork in the road so we didn’t know which way to go. We do know that the first road we took was the wrong one, but we succeeded on the second.

We were stopped just above the village (apparently we took the high road - for a change, har har), by a farmer because a cow had gotten loose. We waited for a few minutes and decided we should probably make our way down. The farmer came over to speak with us and as we were told to expect, had a very thick accent. He asked where we were going - when we told him he gave us directions to Annette’s house - 2 up from the church if you’ve gone past the church you’ve gone too far. He also knew where Padraig lived. He knew everyone actually, including their parents and ours.

The cow found her way under the fence by the way.

Once in the village we drove past the house - the M. Kelly that was above the door had been painted over, but we knew that going in. The house was easy to spot regardless.

We stopped at the store to call Annette. Note of interest - you can’t buy a pay as you go phone in Ireland. At least not in any of the dozen or so places we tried, including the airport.

Annette met us with big hugs and a huge meal. It was so neat to be there, I remembered so much from when I was there 34 years ago. It seemed more populated now though, Annette said the population was around 800.

Annette showed us the cabinet where she keeps the books our parents used in school. We opened them up and looked at the names, each one handed down from sibling to sibling. Some had notes in the margins. Annette gave us one from the collection, a book written in Irish with Mom’s notes throughout in English. Her writing, even then, was the same. What a treasure!

After catching up over dinner and wine we went to Jimmy’s pub. This was exactly how one pictures an Irish pub. It was packed with people. Everyone knew we were coming as many of the people there asked how our race went. Such nice people! We made a huge faux pas - Laurence left a 5 Euro tip on the bar. It sat there until we left and picked it up. One does not tip in a pub in Ireland. Who knew?!?

We got back to the house and went to bed. Steve and I slept in Granny’s room, Laurence in Uncle Michael’s room. We are so lucky to have the opportunity to not only see the outside, but visit and sleep in the house our mother was born in! The house was re-built in 1921, but the front face was original. If you look really closely, you can see the M. Kelly painted over.

Annette opened the pub side door for us. When we visited in 1975 the pub was open and run by Annette’s family (I think). Annette did have it rented out as a business up until 5 or so years ago. Our grandparents ran the pub and the small farm when Mom was growing up.

We were in Ireland for 3 days before we figured out that this sign meant exit, and not 'the loo'.

We then had breakfast - Annette again went our of her way. Laurence had had blood pudding / boudain (or black pudding as they call it) before, but it was new to Steve. Steve preferred the white pudding to the black.

After breakfast we walked to the beach. The sand from the beach is very coarse, and is not really sand but rather where they pile the run-off from the mines. The tide lines on the sea wall were huge - we estimate at 14 feet or so. Here we met the happiest dog in the world.

He guided us through the seaweed and rocks. We found the best sign ever, which was pretty much hidden by the tall grasses. Considering there are seemingly no street signs in Ireland, it’s good to see one so important we could barely see :D

Walking up from the beach Annette introduced us to Willie and Jimmy, two farmers who knew both our parents. They had very good memories of the mine work, and of Dad. That was very cool.

Steve made a friend, or at least he thinks he made a friend… the cow didn’t look as impressed.

We then went through the cemetery and found our Grandparents, Great Grandparents and Great-Great Grandparents' graves.

We stopped in at St. Michael's Church, where Annette showed us the original organ, one that Mom played.

Walking up the hill we went to the mine museum. It was in a converted Anglican church. We stopped in the café and Annette introduced us to John. Right away he commented on how I looked like a Kelly, and very much like Padraig’s little daughter Mary. Annette said the very same thing when she saw me. She also noted how much Laurence looks like Dad.

After the café Annette got keys to the old school.

I remember spending a morning (I think!) when I was 8 in Padraig’s class. We talked about how our parents must have found the school cold in the day. The school is now a language school, opened several years ago.

From the school we met up with Padraig and his daughters Mary and Christina for lunch at O’Neill’s pub. When you google Allihies, you get O’Neill’s pub. We were still stuffed from breakfast, but good thing we did eat… more on that later. Padraig is a terrific guy. We had a terrific conversation and his girls are adorable. He mentioned that tourists often ask if they can have a photo with Mary, because she looks so Irish.

After lunch Annette drove us to the mines. Wow.

It was now almost 4, and time we made our way back to Dublin. We can’t wait to go back.

Annette gave us directions for the fastest route to Dublin. We missed the fork after the blue pub and after an hour of very mountainous driving, we wondered where we were. Change of plans, we were now en route through the Killarney National Park.

We were stopped by a farmer who was herding his sheep across the road. Laurence called him Mary.

We made it back to Dublin for 10:30, good thing we ate at the pub! We had a short chat with Conor and Sheila and we were off to bed. We were sorry that we took a wrong turn because we really wanted to visit with Uncle Joe and Auntie Breda before we left.

Day 3 - Dublin - City Tour

2009-07-23T03:52:00.008-04:00

After saying goodbye to the family Patricia suggested we go on the hop-on/off bus tour. Steve and I never wanted to do bus tours because you see them in Ottawa and the people on the buses always look trapped. This was so different! We sat on the open top of the double decker and as the name suggests we can hop on or off as we want. It really is the easiest way to see Dublin!

We didn't actually listen to the guide recording, Patricia knows Dublin inside out! We were awed by how beautiful and old the city is. We know nothing like that in Canada - an old building is 100 years old in Ottawa.

We stopped at Trinity College to walk around. Wow. I can't imagine what it must be like to study there. The history. The architecture! Steve and I took a tour of the Book of Kells. It's amazing how that history has not been lost.

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The boys went shopping for rugby shirts, and were really disappointed that there are none at the moment because the team has a new sponsor. The new shirts will be out in October. Oh well, they found shirts they liked. They also liked the sculpture of Molly Malone.

From here we got back on the bus and looked at more sights.

We stopped again at the Guinness Store. What a fabulous building. The tour was so interesting, though the 'floating' escalators made me dizzy. Or maybe that was the Guinness, which apparently tastes very different than what we brew in Ontario - it's so much better, as Steve and Laurence's livers will attest.

The recipe:

The view from the top:

Steve and I stepped behind the bar to learn how to pour the perfect pint. And we have certificates to prove it!

Day 3 - Dublin - The Get Together

2009-07-23T03:25:00.003-04:00

After the race Steve and I squeezed into the handicapped washroom to change and towel off a little. Baby wipes only got us so far, but no one complained.

We had planned to meet for lunch at the Phoenix Park Visitor's Centre, while waiting for the rest of the family Sheila picked us up some coffees and cakes. Mmmm. Dessert before lunch? Steve felt yet another connection to Ireland. We were sitting outside and managed to get hold of a great long table, and then the skies opened up. Luckily the upstairs opened up and we found a table for all of us.

We were shocked at the turnout. Uncle Joe and Auntie Breda, Maria, Robert and the four kids, Sheila's daughter Catherine, Patricia and her husband Bert, our cousins Mary and Domnhall (with his wife and daughters). There were two other women sitting at the table and I wasn't sure whether they were family or not but turns out they were just watching the mayhem. I think we all had time to talk with everyone.

As you can see from the photos below, we were having a fantastic time catching up with everyone.

Day 3 - Dublin - The Race

2009-07-21T16:34:00.006-04:00

We woke up surprisingly early on Saturday. Steve and I had a very light breakfast and then we, Laurence and Sheila went to the Phoenix Park as we had registered for the Irish Runner 5 mile race. Steve was a little concerned that there didn't seem to be much room for parking, but it appears that you can park anywhere in Dublin, and in any direction. While on the subject of drivers in Ireland, they are the most polite I’ve ever seen!

We picked up our race kits and made our way to the start. There were somewhere around 5900 runners. The course was absolutely stunning, and I was feeling absolutely fantastic for the first 15 minutes. Of course I was, it was all downhill! Naturally we turned the corner and there it was - the uphill for the rest of the race.

Steve had a great run, mine not so much, but expected considering my lack of training. It was just so great to be there. Within the last km a young woman and I started chatting and turns out she is from Toronto. Steve and Laurence commented that it was no surprise that the one person I chat with on the race was Canadian. It’s how I roll.

The finish chute was badly planned, with runners coming to a dead stop while we handed off our chips (which are part of the bib, which we found interesting), and then we received your lunch and goody bags. It took almost 30 minutes to get through the chute and another 15 or so to meet up with the others. But we are now the proud owners of Irish Race shirts :)

I am really happy with my race, and I think we found a cure for jetlag!

On an interesting note, in the race results, I'm listed as being from Sligo, and Steve from Dublin. :)

Laurence took a bunch of photos, or so we thought... we have many movie snippets instead ;)

Before the race:

After the race:

Day 2 - Dublin

2009-07-21T13:36:00.010-04:00

Patricia was kind enough to drive us to see our Uncle Joe and Auntie Breda. We hadn’t seen them since they came 3 or so years ago to Ottawa. We went for a quick walk to Bushy Park - so pretty and as expected, so green. Unexpectadly we found that Ireland has palm trees. Had no idea!

Later in the afternoon their daughter Maria arrived with her four children. I met Maria when I came to Ireland at 8 years old, and again when her family came to Canada 5 years later. She really hadn’t changed at all.

In the photo above we're catching up with Maria, her daughter and Uncle Joe.

Her children were immediately enamoured with Steve, though the picture below doesn't show the kids using Steve as a jungle gym :)

After more catching up we went to Maria’s for dinner, and to meet her husband Robert. More fabulous food and our cousin Sheila came to pick us up.

Staying with Sheila and her husband Conor was fantastic. They are so much fun. Unfortunately, I became narcoleptic on Friday, falling asleep in mid-conversation - I have never been that sleepy in my life. I guess 2 Gravols will do that to you. We were up until about 11, and then we were all completely done.

Off to bed.

Day 1 - Ottawa

2009-07-19T04:42:00.003-04:00

Everything was off to the typical Una and Steve vacation involving an aircraft. We're sitting on the plane waiting to take off in Ottawa to Toronto, and we can't take off because part of the ceiling came off... it was someone's oxygen masks. Awesome.

Once they duct-taped that sucker back in place we were off. Great flight though the landing was pretty rough. So was the sound of what the boys assumed was a faulty wheel bearing, followed by the smell of burning as we were getting off. Not liking that too much.

Our flight to Dublin didn't look too promising either when our seats were changed. Originally Steve was sitting behind me. They were great though and got Steve and I a seat together. Laurence was sitting with a very nice man further back. We did have some concerns over the rugby team on the plane sitting all around us, but they were all immediately asleep. The flight was uneventful, and they overfed us.

After 6 hours we were landing, so excited to hear some Irish accents, only to find what must have been half the population of Italy as we got off the plane :). Only hiccup then was Laurence's checked bag was missing, but after 45 minutes out it came.

We were met by our Cousin Patricia who recognized us right away. She looks so much like Mom - Laurence spotted her immediately.

We had a coffee and off we went to Uncle Joe's and Auntie Breda's.

More on our visit later... off to breakfast!

Waiting in Ottawa

2009-07-16T17:01:00.004-04:00

So we're sitting in the airport waiting for our first flight - to Toronto. So far some problems with the wi-fi, but obviously sorted out.

Here we are!!

Next post probably from Dublin!!