30 June 2006

French spoken here

Last night we went to dinner at Nancy's Pub in Ardara. According to Frommer's it's the smallest pub in Ireland. The main room is crowded with a bar and two tables-for-four. We knew it was a small place, and were pleased to discover a second, slightly bigger, room opening off the first, with three more four-top tables. At one of the tables was a family who turned out to be French. They told me they were from Bretagne. They didn't appear to speak any English, so I chatted with them a bit in French.

We went ahead and ordered dinner. Nancy's was the first place in Ireland that I saw a Ploughman's Lunch on the menu, so I ordered that. The French couple were very interested in what I was having. After I told them what it was, they asked me to translate various other items on the menu for them.... "What is... chow-der?". The best explanation I could give was that it's un soupe made from poissons, which I think they understood. They nodded and smiled, anyway.

Then, another French group came in, and they began to ask Tod to translate the menu for them. Tod referred the question to me. I didn't know how to say "tuna", so I told them it was un sorte de poisson. And then I had to explain Ploughman's Lunch in French. Unfortunately, my plate had already been taken away, so I couldn't just point at it.

Oddly enough, I used my French more in Ireland than I probably have since I left Boston. At the BnB in Kenmare, our fellow guests were a couple from Strasbourg. The woman spoke French and fairly good English, and her husband spoke French, German and no English at all.
I chatted with her in pidgin-I'm-not-really-awake-yet French. Katy talked to him in German a bit. Everything else, she had to translate from English for him.

I was disappointed in my performance in Kenmare, but I think I made up for it last night in Ardara.

Right now, we're at the BnB in Shannon. Tod and the kids are watching the World Cup. Our plane leaves at 9 a.m. tomorrow. I've really enjoyed the trip, but I'm really ready to get home and see Nacht and my roses and sleep in my own bed!

29 June 2006

County Donegal

We arrived in Ardara on Tuesday afternoon. Staying in a huge BnB called Bayview Country House. Yes, it does have a view of the Bay, and yes, it's in the country (about 1 km out of the village).

Tuesday night, Tod and I went into a pub in Ardara for some music. The musician was Euann McIntyre (sp?), who played guitar (Tod was really frustrated, because it was out of tune, and he never tuned it all night) and sang. He did some trad stuff and some of his own stuff, which was not too bad. It was fun because he encouraged us all to sing along with the trad songs.

We were seated right in front of him, and he could hear Tod pretty well. He asked Tod for a song, so Tod stood up and did Great Big Sea's "River Driver". He was great, and he got a very enthusiastic round of applause.

We enjoyed it quite a bit, so went back last night. The music was provided by a couple, who reminded me very much of Mitch and Mickey from "A Mighty Wind". They started out doing some lively trad stuff, but after about 5 songs, drifted into the maudlin, so we left.

Earlier yesterday, we had driven up to Crolly, to Leo's Tavern, home of the Brennans of Clannad fame. We expected it to be a real tourist destination, but oddly enough we were the only people having lunch there. We thought about going back for the session, but the road was narrow and twisty, and the idea of driving back in the dark was not very attractive. Although, after the experience last night in Ardara, we are semi-seriously considering it for tonight. However, we are doing the long drive to Shannon tomorrow, so we may not want to be out too late tonight.

So, Shannon tomorrow. Flying home on Saturday. Can't believe it's almost over, but looking forward to getting home.

26 June 2006

Kenmare --> Galway

Left Kenmare this morning.
What a lovely place that was. The owners of the BnB advertise that they have "probably the best view in Ireland", and I think they're right. We took dozens of pictures from the balcony at the front of the house....evening, afternoon, morning... I'll post them when we get home.

We found a fantastic little bistro in Kenmare, called Bacus. Tod, Sean and I went there on Saturday night for a light supper. I had an amazing carrot-ginger soup. We saw that they were open for Sunday brunch, so we tried to eat a relatively light breakfast, and went there around one-ish. I had French toast made with brioche, Tod and Katy had waffles. Katy actually managed to eat a good portion of her waffle and keep it down. Sean had a hot roast beef sandwich, but had trouble eating it because the Irish don't seem to like the idea of giving customers knives that are sharp enough to cut meat. (Everywhere we've been, we've been given butter knives only.) Before we left, we made a reservation to have dinner there Sunday night.

Katy was starting to run down, so we took her back to the BnB before we went for our cruise around the Bay. Tony, our host at the BnB, had sung the praises of the tour operator, and he was right. Raymond, the skipper, is a marine biologist, very much in to conservation, and very knowledgeable about the flora and fauna of the area. His assistants were two young men named Patrick and Sean, who appeared to be around 10 and 11 years of age. They served us orange juice, when we set off, and later went around with candy. About halfway through the cruise, they served us tea, coffee and cookies, and then went around with a bottle of what Raymond called "medicine" (rum) offering us each a capful to flavour our hot drinks. (As far as I could tell, they didn't offer any to the kids who were passengers.) On the way back to the Pier, the boys performed for us. Sean sang an odd ballad about a monkey, a spaceship and mountain dew, and Patrick played the button accordion.

We did manage to see some seals, but since it was high tide, they were swimming rather than sunning on the rocks. Tod and Sean got some shots of them poking their heads out of the water. We were told there was one mum with a pup, but I didn't get a glimpse of them. Tod got a picture of a white horse on one of the small islands. At least, we think it was a horse; we didn't see a horn. The cruise was supposed to take 2 hours, but it was closer to 2 hrs and 45 minutes.

On the way back to the BnB, we stopped to see the stone circle in the middle of Kenmare town. Fairly small as stone circles go, but very cool nonetheless.

Back at the BnB, we watched the Canadian Grande Prix with our host, and then went for dinner. It was a great meal. The menu concentrates on foods made with fresh, organic ingredients, and they were nicely prepared and presented. This was, I think, the first time we actually had dessert after a meal. I had a wonderful chocolate orange truffle cake, Tod had a berry crumble, and Sean had homemade vanilla ice cream that really tasted like vanilla. Katy was feeling a little tired by this time, so we went back to the house. While Tod and Sean and Tony watched soccer, I went out on the balcony and took lots and lots of pictures of the sun setting on the Bay.

It was sunny this morning, so before we headed out to Galway, I took about 10 more pictures of the Bay.

The first part of our drive consisted of very narrow, twisty roads. We saw cows and sheep, and once actually had to wait for a sheep to cross the road in front of us. I didn't have my camera, and I'm not sure if the kids got photos of it or not.

We're now at an Internet Cafe in Galway, having checked into our BnB and had lunch. Heading up to Ardara (Donegal) tomorrow, where we will spend 3 nights.

Friday will be our longest day of driving, from Ardara to Shannon. We'll fly out of Shannon Airport on Saturday morning.

24 June 2006

Just finished reading....

Making It Up as I Go Along by Tara Heavey.

Picked this up in a bookstore in Kilkenny, because I really wanted to read something current and popular and Irish.
Set in Dublin in the present day, this is the story of Liz Clancy, a bookseller who also happens to be the author of two published novels. She has been raised by her mother, since her father was killed when she was a babe. Her mother has nothing good at all to say about him. Liz is having an affair with the owner of the bookstore, and thinking they have a future, she is devastated when he breaks it off because his wife is pregnant.

Oops, gotta go... the place is closing. Just want to add that this is a great book, I finished it in two days.

Blarney ---> Kenmare

Left Blarney this morning, heading to Kenmare.

Blarney is a lovely little village; mostly a tourist place, home of the Blarney Woollen Mills and Blarney Castle.

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At the top of Blarney Castle

We didn't tour the Mills (though we did spend some money at the shop), but Sean wanted to kiss the Blarney Stone, so we had to visit the Castle. I hadn't planned on climbing to the top of the Castle, because I have such a hard time with stairs these days, but the line was moving so slowly that I decided to give it a try. It took nearly 1/2 hour to reach the top. My legs were okay, and so was the rest of me as long as I didn't look down. Katy and I decided we didn't want to kiss the Stone because we didn't have any wet-naps with us. (Who knows whose lips have been there?) Sean did, and so did Tod. The really hard part was going down the stairs. I was very proud of myself, but my knees nearly buckled when we got to the bottom.

Katy had had an upset stomach since we left Kilkenny on Thursday, so we didn't do very much else. Went to dinner at the Blarney Woollen Mills Hotel, but Katy couldn't eat very much, so we headed back to the house.

Oh, what a cool house!! It was out in the country, about a 5 minute drive out of the Village. Extensive grounds and beautiful gardens. I got a few pictures. They had a dog named Betsy, were looking after another dog named Mikey, and had a 17-year-old black cat with no name who was very shy and skittish. She'd come and knock on our door and run away when we opened it.

Thursday night, Tod and I went into Blarney Village to a pub called the Muskerry Arms. They were advertising a band at 9:30. We got there about 9:15, but the gig room was already packed. We went into the back to watch the end of the soccer game. The band didn't start till the game was over. We squeezed into the front room to listen to the band. They were pretty good; mostly trad Irish music, but they did play Babylon by David Gray.

Friday morning, we drove into Cork City, hoping to score tickets for something at the Cork Midsummer Festival. Unfortunately, the only thing we wanted to see was a production of The Tempest, which was already sold out. Katy was starting to feel ill again, so we went back to the house. It was a fairly quiet afternoon and evening. Tod and I walked around the grounds of the house a bit.

We arrived in Kenmare around noon. After checking into the BnB we headed directly to the laundromat, because we were all running out of clothes. Thence to a pub for lunch (so frustrating how so many of the pubs stop serving food between 3 and 5), and then a rush back to the house to watch the Germany-Sweden match.

Tomorrow, we're going to take a boat tour of the Bay. They say we should be able to see baby seals and sea lions.

BTW, Katy is feeling much better. Hopefully, all of us can hit a pub for some music tonight.
7-4-06 update: For pictures from Kenmare, please click here.

21 June 2006

Newgrange & Kilkenny

Yesterday, we toured Newgrange, which was very cool. We actually got to go inside the mound... a passageway so low that I had to bend over, and so narrow that I had to walk sideways to get through. The afternoon was spent back at the house watching the World Cup.

We arrived in Kilkenny around 1 p.m., then spent the better part of a half hour trying to find our BnB. Street signs? What street signs?
We finally ended up phoning our host to get directions, and found we were 3 minutes away. We parked at the house (what we saw of it looks charming!) and walked back to the High Street for a pub lunch. On the way we discovered why we couldn't find the street we were looking for: it was blocked by an SUV. But street name signs are very rare and very poorly placed to begin with.

We're going to spend the rest of the afternoon touring Kilkenny, then off to Blarney tomorrow.

Oh, too bad the Oilers lost the Cup!

19 June 2006

We're here!!


Well, we arrived safely in Dublin very early yesterday morning.
Got to our BnB before they were ready for us, but the very kind hostess gave us tea and biscuits while we waited. She had the rooms ready for us in less than an hour!

We napped, showered, went out for a pub lunch, came back and napped some more.
When the kids finally woke up around 8 p.m., we went out for a Thai dinner.

Today we toured the Guinness Storehouse. We got to taste some freshly brewed Guinness. Tod is still laughing about the face I made when I tasted it. I am definitely not a beer drinker! (On the other hand, I am certainly appreciating the tea here!)

We found Murder Ink on Dawson Street. I must say I was disappointed. It was an attractive store, but didn't seem to have a wide variety of stock. The proprietor seemed unfriendly, and stood in the doorway smoking a cigarette the whole time I was there. Oh, well. I'm sure we'll come across many more bookshops on our travels.

We popped into the Clarence Hotel for a short rest. Katy read the World Cup results in the Irish Times. She's really getting into it.
In other sports news, I had to wait until about 20 minutes ago to find out that the Oilers won the hockey game on Saturday night, and I probably won't find out about today's game until sometime tomorrow afternoon when I can get on the internet again. Sigh.

Tomorrow, Newgrange and environs.

Update 7/3/06: For photos from Dublin, please click here.
For photos of Newgrange, please click here.

15 June 2006

Just finished reading...

Piece of My Heart by Peter Robinson.

I wanted to finish this before leaving on our trip, and didn't have any trouble. This is one of Peter's best; a real page-turner.

Alan Banks' investigation of the murder of a freelance journalist links to the decades-old murder of a young woman at a rock festival in North Yorkshire. The connection? Nick Barber, the writer, was doing a feature on one of the bands that played at the Brimleigh festival in 1969.

Obviously, Banks would not have been a policeman in 1969, since he was the right age to be attending the fesival (though there is no indication that he did). We are introduced to DI Stanley Chadwick who is in charge of the investigation into the murder of the young woman. Unlike Banks, Chadwick is very strait-laced and by-the-book. He's also kind of old-fashioned, not understanding the hippie to drugs, music, and sex, an attitude that is complicated by his 16-year-old daughter who is experimenting with those things.

The narrative switches back and forth between 1969 and the present day. As with In a Dry Season, Robinson does this very successfully. He is one fantastic writer!

Now to decide what books to take with me on the plane....

10 June 2006

One more week....


Wow! We'll be heading off to Ireland in one week... actually, less than, because we're flying out at around 8 a.m. next Saturday. I'm excited, but it still doesn't feel real to me, and I don't think it will until I actually step off the plane in Dublin.

Tod and I went to Book 'Em Mysteries in South Pasadena, because Peter Robinson was there discussing and signing his new book. It was good to see him; I think it's been a couple of years, cuz I know I didn't make it to the Strange Affair tour. I'd met Jean, one of the staff on DL, and we've had lunch, so I wanted to check out the store. It turns out it's a "clean, well-lighted place", and easy to find. I'll have to go back there again.

We also did some shopping for our trip Picked up a few things at The Citadel outlet mall near LA, and stopped at Distant Lands. And then we came home and watched the Oilers beat the Hurricanes. It was a close game, and I nearly had a heart attack, but they came through.

06 June 2006

Just finished reading....

Curiosity Killed the Cat Sitter by Blaize Clements

Really enjoyed this first-in-a-series about Dixie Hemingway. Once a Sheriff's Deputy in Florida, she's left the Department due to stress resulting from the deaths of her husband and daughter in a car accident. She now makes her living pet-sitting for people in her affluent community of Siesta Key.

When she finds a dead body in the home of one of her clients, it leads her to discover a lot of things about her fellow townspeople (murder, blackmail, child abuse) that she wishes she hadn't. Then she finds the body of that client in the woods. When other clients start avoiding her because of her connection to the deaths, she decides to investigate on her own.

Two things: 1 - the title is totally misleading: Dixie does not get killed, and
2 - hopefully, the second book in the series will tie up a lot of the loose ends that are left at the end of this one.

A rose is a rose?



Neptune

04 June 2006

Just finished reading....

Music to My Sorrow by Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill.

I know, I said I was going to read Catsitter next, but I was at work and needed something to read during my break, and picked up the above title.

It's the latest in the Bedlam's Bard series, about Eric Banyon and his friends. In this installment, Eric is trying to gain guardianship of his recently found brother Magnus, but their parents are putting up a fight. In a parallel story, Magnus' friend Ace is trying to become an emancipated minor, because her father, televangelist Billy Fairchild used her Talent to influence people to donate money to his "ministry".

What none of them knows is that Eric's parents have allied themselves with Fairchild, who is, in turn, being used by a Prince from the Unseleighe Court. This Prince, as well as loathing all humans, is trying to get revenge against Eric, whom he thinks has kidnapped his son.

Lots of variations on strained/dysfunctional familial relationships here. It's a very good read, though.

Caution: this is one series that has to be read from the beginning to be understood and appreciated.

Next up (really): Curiosity Killed the Cat Sitter.

01 June 2006

Just finished reading....

Dirty Blonde by Lisa Scottoline.
(not part of a series)

Wow! What a page-turner!

The story revolves around Cate Fante, who has just been made a federal judge in Philadelphia. One of her first cases involves a Richard Marz, who is suing Art Simone, a hotshot Hollywood producer, for stealing his idea for a television series. The letter of the law forces Cate to rule against Marz, who is almost immediately accused of murdering Simone, and then committing suicide.

Simone, it turns out, was also planning a series about judges, with a central character who is eerily like Fante.

This is a tough book to review, because there are so many spoilers early on in the story.

I love Scottoline's work, and I think this is one of her best.


Next up: Curiosity Killed the Cat Sitter by Blaize Clement.

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