Monday, May 05, 2008
Friday, May 02, 2008
Even more pictures
This set of pictures will be great for anyone who loves flowers since it's all of the pictures from our Amsterdam trip.
http://picasaweb.google.com/Greg.Ware/Amsterdam
http://picasaweb.google.com/Greg.Ware/Amsterdam
Monday, April 21, 2008
More Photos
Getting caught up with photos, so here are two more Albums.
Cork
http://picasaweb.google.com/Greg.Ware/CorkIrelandApril2008
Stratford Upon Avon
http://picasaweb.google.com/Greg.Ware/StratfordUponAvonOtherMarch2008Pics
Cork
http://picasaweb.google.com/Greg.Ware/CorkIrelandApril2008
Stratford Upon Avon
http://picasaweb.google.com/Greg.Ware/StratfordUponAvonOtherMarch2008Pics
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Cuckoo for Keukenhof
Sunday April 13, 2008
We got up not quite as early and started to get ready at a leisurely pace, expecting to catch the Ferry into town. While I was in the shower, Tami realized that the schedule for the Ferry was different on Sundays and that it wouldn't be running for quite awhile. She called down to the front desk and found that a shuttle was leaving in 5 minute or in 45 minutes. So, we rushed really quickly to finish getting ready and made it to the shuttle (which actually took 20 minutes before they were ready to leave).
We walked through downtown and through the canals on the way to Anne Frank's house. Anne Frank's house was really impressive, although there was already a line even though we were early on a Sunday morning. It wasn't too bad though, so we didn't have to wait too long. We then walked around the canals a bit more, taking in the scenery a bit more and seeing things like the Prison Bridge, a cage built into the base of one of the bridges. We then got caught in a hail storm and ended up standing in a doorway for 20 minutes waiting for it to pass. After that, we ended up having lunch at the Pancake Bakery. Tami had a tomato and cheese pancake while I had a ham, cheese, and mushroom pancake. The pancakes are much different from pancakes in the States... they are closer to crepes although not quite as thin. While savory pancakes seemed really weird, they were actually very good.
Statue of Anne Frank
Tami's tomato and cheese pancake
We then walked around a bit more and ended up going to a brown cafe called Cafe Papaeneiland where Tami had a Kriek (cherry) beer and I had a Palm lager. After that, we headed down to Winkel for an apple pie, which is much different than our apple pies. It was good, but no match for an American apple pie :) We then walked off the pie before taking the bus out to Keukenhof.
Keukenhof is about 50 minutes outside of downtown Amsterdam. It is known as the "World's largest flower garden" and is next to the Tulip fields which were very impressive. Just rows and rows of flowers. Keukenhof is only open for about two months out of the year, so we were pretty happy that we were there at the right time. Unfortunately, it had been a cold spring so far, so some of the tulips hadn't bloomed yet. However, there were still plenty that were in bloom. Inside Keukenhof, there was tons of flowers arranged in lots of different garden arrangements. There also was a windmill that you could walk up and see the tulip fields from higher up. We stayed there for 2 1/2 hours and you could easily stay there for longer.
Flower fields
Gardens in Keukenhof
Tami in the flowers
Tami wearing her new wooden clogs
After we got back into town, we figured we would have a snack, so we got frites (french fries) in a cone which is a speciality over there. They were good, but the ones in Bruges were better. We then did a canal boat trip around the city that lasted about an hour. It was pretty nice, but we'd already seen much of the scenery walking around town earlier in the day. After the boat trip was over, it was dark so we walked through the red light district, which was quite interesting. After that, we stopped in at a pub and had Bittenballen which is a snack food you can find all around Amsterdam. It has pieces of meat surrounded by some kind of flour mixture that had consistency of melted cheese, rolled into a ball and fried. You dipped it in mustard and ate it. It's not healthy for you at all, but it was an excellent bar food. By then, it was getting kind of late and we had to wake up at 2:15 in the morning to head back to London, so we headed back to the hotel.
A blurry picture of the streets along the red light district
We got up not quite as early and started to get ready at a leisurely pace, expecting to catch the Ferry into town. While I was in the shower, Tami realized that the schedule for the Ferry was different on Sundays and that it wouldn't be running for quite awhile. She called down to the front desk and found that a shuttle was leaving in 5 minute or in 45 minutes. So, we rushed really quickly to finish getting ready and made it to the shuttle (which actually took 20 minutes before they were ready to leave).
We walked through downtown and through the canals on the way to Anne Frank's house. Anne Frank's house was really impressive, although there was already a line even though we were early on a Sunday morning. It wasn't too bad though, so we didn't have to wait too long. We then walked around the canals a bit more, taking in the scenery a bit more and seeing things like the Prison Bridge, a cage built into the base of one of the bridges. We then got caught in a hail storm and ended up standing in a doorway for 20 minutes waiting for it to pass. After that, we ended up having lunch at the Pancake Bakery. Tami had a tomato and cheese pancake while I had a ham, cheese, and mushroom pancake. The pancakes are much different from pancakes in the States... they are closer to crepes although not quite as thin. While savory pancakes seemed really weird, they were actually very good.
Statue of Anne Frank
Tami's tomato and cheese pancake
We then walked around a bit more and ended up going to a brown cafe called Cafe Papaeneiland where Tami had a Kriek (cherry) beer and I had a Palm lager. After that, we headed down to Winkel for an apple pie, which is much different than our apple pies. It was good, but no match for an American apple pie :) We then walked off the pie before taking the bus out to Keukenhof.
Keukenhof is about 50 minutes outside of downtown Amsterdam. It is known as the "World's largest flower garden" and is next to the Tulip fields which were very impressive. Just rows and rows of flowers. Keukenhof is only open for about two months out of the year, so we were pretty happy that we were there at the right time. Unfortunately, it had been a cold spring so far, so some of the tulips hadn't bloomed yet. However, there were still plenty that were in bloom. Inside Keukenhof, there was tons of flowers arranged in lots of different garden arrangements. There also was a windmill that you could walk up and see the tulip fields from higher up. We stayed there for 2 1/2 hours and you could easily stay there for longer.
Flower fields
Gardens in Keukenhof
Tami in the flowers
Tami wearing her new wooden clogs
After we got back into town, we figured we would have a snack, so we got frites (french fries) in a cone which is a speciality over there. They were good, but the ones in Bruges were better. We then did a canal boat trip around the city that lasted about an hour. It was pretty nice, but we'd already seen much of the scenery walking around town earlier in the day. After the boat trip was over, it was dark so we walked through the red light district, which was quite interesting. After that, we stopped in at a pub and had Bittenballen which is a snack food you can find all around Amsterdam. It has pieces of meat surrounded by some kind of flour mixture that had consistency of melted cheese, rolled into a ball and fried. You dipped it in mustard and ate it. It's not healthy for you at all, but it was an excellent bar food. By then, it was getting kind of late and we had to wake up at 2:15 in the morning to head back to London, so we headed back to the hotel.
A blurry picture of the streets along the red light district
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Pictures for February
Well, we're way behind in posting pictures, but here are all of our pictures from February. Enjoy!
http://picasaweb.google.com/Greg.Ware/February2008
http://picasaweb.google.com/Greg.Ware/February2008
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Amsterdam you Heineken
Like most of our trips, this one again started very early in the morning, 2:15am in fact. After a taxi ride, a coach ride, a plane trip, and a train ride, we arrived in Amsterdam around 10am. We took the Ferry out to our hotel, which was on a large boat, and then came back into the city to really get our trip started.
Our first stop was Oude Kerk, an old church that we wanted to see because they had a nice organ. It was rather strange because the church was undergoing renovations, and they had a photo exhibition going on so large photos were plastered on most of the walls. The organ was nice, and there were some other nice things in the church, but on the whole it wasn't too impressive. Afterwards, we walked around the Nieuwmarkt area, looking for someplace to have lunch. We settled on De Jaren, a large cafe that had excellent views on one of the canals. The food was rather simple, but that was OK since we didn't really want anything too heavy.
The organ at Oude Kerk
We then walked over to the Bloemenmarkt, which was a large flower market where they sold all kinds of flowers and bulbs so that you can grow your own. We bought a boquet of tulips, we are in Holland after all. We then headed towards the Heineken experience, but I got us lost. We ended up on the wrong side of town, so we went to Dam Square instead. They had a bunch of living statues there, including Darth Vader for some reason. We also saw the National Monument, which was kind of nice. We were starting to get tired of walking, so decided to ride one of the trams down to the Heineken Experience. I'm glad that we didn't walk down there, because they were closed for remodeling. I swore never to drink Heineken again (which didn't last very long since we were in Amsterdam) and we moved on.
Flowers at the Bloemenmarkt
We ended up walking up the Amstel River, seeing the sights. Unfortunately, Tami's back started hurting, so we ducked into a cafe across from the Opera House and took a break with some coffee and hot chocolate. After Tami was feeling better, we took another tram out to the De Gooyer Windmill and took a few pictures. We noticed a street market going on close by, so we walked around there, but didn't see much that interested us so caught the tram back into town and went to Begijnhof, which is similar to the one that we saw in Bruges. It was very nice and tranquil, except for the fact that the other tourist were pretty loud. They did have the oldest house in Amsterdam there, which was pretty cool.
Tami and the De Gooyer Windmill
We then made our way to Wijnand Fockink, an old fashioned tasting house. It is very interesting, a small building (most of the people actually drink outside) with a little bar. However, behind the bar there are tons of bottles of different flavored liquors. It's overwhelming trying to decide what to get, especially if you have no idea what to expect. Tami ended up trying a Forget Me Not (cherry and orange flavored jenever, which is Dutch Gin) and I had something else which I can't remember.... either way, it was way too sweet for us. Our next round, we tried Oude Jenever and Jong Jenever which is straight gin, and it was much better. The atmosphere was really cool and everyone there was friendly. We struck up conversations with several people and had a great time. After we were done, we headed out for supper. We ended up going to the Sea Palace, a large Chinese restauraunt. The entire restauraunt is in the shape of a pagoda and floats on the water. The food was excellent, but the only beer that they had on tap was Heineken, so I had to break my vow from earlier in the day. After we were finished, we were so full and the weather was so cold, we decided to go ahead and head back to our hotel.
The bar at Wijnand Fockink
The Sea Palace
Our first stop was Oude Kerk, an old church that we wanted to see because they had a nice organ. It was rather strange because the church was undergoing renovations, and they had a photo exhibition going on so large photos were plastered on most of the walls. The organ was nice, and there were some other nice things in the church, but on the whole it wasn't too impressive. Afterwards, we walked around the Nieuwmarkt area, looking for someplace to have lunch. We settled on De Jaren, a large cafe that had excellent views on one of the canals. The food was rather simple, but that was OK since we didn't really want anything too heavy.
The organ at Oude Kerk
We then walked over to the Bloemenmarkt, which was a large flower market where they sold all kinds of flowers and bulbs so that you can grow your own. We bought a boquet of tulips, we are in Holland after all. We then headed towards the Heineken experience, but I got us lost. We ended up on the wrong side of town, so we went to Dam Square instead. They had a bunch of living statues there, including Darth Vader for some reason. We also saw the National Monument, which was kind of nice. We were starting to get tired of walking, so decided to ride one of the trams down to the Heineken Experience. I'm glad that we didn't walk down there, because they were closed for remodeling. I swore never to drink Heineken again (which didn't last very long since we were in Amsterdam) and we moved on.
Flowers at the Bloemenmarkt
We ended up walking up the Amstel River, seeing the sights. Unfortunately, Tami's back started hurting, so we ducked into a cafe across from the Opera House and took a break with some coffee and hot chocolate. After Tami was feeling better, we took another tram out to the De Gooyer Windmill and took a few pictures. We noticed a street market going on close by, so we walked around there, but didn't see much that interested us so caught the tram back into town and went to Begijnhof, which is similar to the one that we saw in Bruges. It was very nice and tranquil, except for the fact that the other tourist were pretty loud. They did have the oldest house in Amsterdam there, which was pretty cool.
Tami and the De Gooyer Windmill
We then made our way to Wijnand Fockink, an old fashioned tasting house. It is very interesting, a small building (most of the people actually drink outside) with a little bar. However, behind the bar there are tons of bottles of different flavored liquors. It's overwhelming trying to decide what to get, especially if you have no idea what to expect. Tami ended up trying a Forget Me Not (cherry and orange flavored jenever, which is Dutch Gin) and I had something else which I can't remember.... either way, it was way too sweet for us. Our next round, we tried Oude Jenever and Jong Jenever which is straight gin, and it was much better. The atmosphere was really cool and everyone there was friendly. We struck up conversations with several people and had a great time. After we were done, we headed out for supper. We ended up going to the Sea Palace, a large Chinese restauraunt. The entire restauraunt is in the shape of a pagoda and floats on the water. The food was excellent, but the only beer that they had on tap was Heineken, so I had to break my vow from earlier in the day. After we were finished, we were so full and the weather was so cold, we decided to go ahead and head back to our hotel.
The bar at Wijnand Fockink
The Sea Palace
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Olympic Torch Relay Videos
The torch going through China Town
The Chinese dragons dancing by
The snaking dragons
The Chinese dragons dancing by
The snaking dragons
Monday, April 07, 2008
An Unexpected and Amazing Day in London
Sunday, April 6, 2008
We didn't really have any plans for today, except dinner plans at 6:30 p.m., so we weren't really sure of what we were going to do. When we got up we got a major surprise, almost 2 inches of snow on the ground, and more snow continuing to fall. It was so beautiful. We weren't going to let that stop us, we wanted to get out in it. We took the dogs out, and Daisy Adair enjoyed playing in the snow for the first time, while Willow continued her favorite past time of eating the snowballs.
Some of the snow around our place:
A beautiful snow covered tree:
When we got inside I looked on the internet to see what the best way to get to Benihana for dinner was and noticed that there were a few bus routes that were going to be interrupted today so I looked further and found out that the 2008 Beijing Olympic Torch Relay was passing through London at 11:00 am. As it was 11 am at that time we decided to get ready real quick and go into town to see it pass. We decided we would go to China Town to watch it. We were glad we did, there was so much more ambiance there than just on the main streets.
Greg at the torch relay:
Tami at the torch relay ceremonies:
There were Chinese dragons and tigers entertaining the massive crowd until the torch arrived. There were thousands of people in China Town to watch the torch go by, and lots of them with flags for Tibet. After the torch had gone by the 5 mascots for the Olympics went by as well, dancing and bouncing down the street in their inflatable constumes. My favorite is the panda bear, although the flame had a lot more bounce and energy.
Here is the main mascot:
The flame mascot:
The cute Panda mascot:
A 4th mascot:
Once the torch went by we decided we would go up to Trafalgar Square, since that was the next stop, to see it go by again. Here there had to be over 10,000 people around. When we got there we were trying to find a spot to watch the torch go by and about that time someone took off through the route and was tackled and dragged away by a bunch of cops. This was apparently the theme of the day, the "Free Tibet" protestors were constantly trying to get the flame or put the flame out, one person even tried to use a fire extinguisher to put it out, to no avail. We started walking down the stairs to the main part of Trafalgar Square and we saw some protestors who swam through the fountains to the top to wave their flags and shout.
Protestors in the fountain:
We began to wander through the massive crowds and realized that most of them were just there to protest and not really there for the torch, so we decided we didn't want to be any part of that and headed out of there.
We first walked over to Covent Garden and had a snack and some tea at Paul's, a great patisserie. We then caught a bus, one of the Old Routemasters, out to Harrods. This was exciting because it was the first time that we had actually gotten to ride on one of the old buses. When we got to Harrods we walked around and killed time, only buying some tea and triple sec, before heading across the street to rest our feet and have a drink.
The view from the window of the Old Routemaster:
After our drink we caught a bus down towards Regent Street and Oxford Street to kill some time before dinner. We went in to Godiva, Apple, and Hamley's. Hamley's is almost the equivalent of FAO Schwartz, it is London's very large and popular toy store. I was able to get a couple Hamley's Ty Beanie Babies and a pound puppie, I named him Torch. Then it was time for some food, we had both been looking forward to Benihana for a couple of days, and man was it worth it.
We were soooo stuffed when we left there but man was it good. When we got back to our flat we saw Jamie in his kitchen so we spent a few minutes with him, catching up, before heading back to the flat to finish watching the race and to get ready for bed.
We didn't really have any plans for today, except dinner plans at 6:30 p.m., so we weren't really sure of what we were going to do. When we got up we got a major surprise, almost 2 inches of snow on the ground, and more snow continuing to fall. It was so beautiful. We weren't going to let that stop us, we wanted to get out in it. We took the dogs out, and Daisy Adair enjoyed playing in the snow for the first time, while Willow continued her favorite past time of eating the snowballs.
Some of the snow around our place:
A beautiful snow covered tree:
When we got inside I looked on the internet to see what the best way to get to Benihana for dinner was and noticed that there were a few bus routes that were going to be interrupted today so I looked further and found out that the 2008 Beijing Olympic Torch Relay was passing through London at 11:00 am. As it was 11 am at that time we decided to get ready real quick and go into town to see it pass. We decided we would go to China Town to watch it. We were glad we did, there was so much more ambiance there than just on the main streets.
Greg at the torch relay:
Tami at the torch relay ceremonies:
There were Chinese dragons and tigers entertaining the massive crowd until the torch arrived. There were thousands of people in China Town to watch the torch go by, and lots of them with flags for Tibet. After the torch had gone by the 5 mascots for the Olympics went by as well, dancing and bouncing down the street in their inflatable constumes. My favorite is the panda bear, although the flame had a lot more bounce and energy.
Here is the main mascot:
The flame mascot:
The cute Panda mascot:
A 4th mascot:
Once the torch went by we decided we would go up to Trafalgar Square, since that was the next stop, to see it go by again. Here there had to be over 10,000 people around. When we got there we were trying to find a spot to watch the torch go by and about that time someone took off through the route and was tackled and dragged away by a bunch of cops. This was apparently the theme of the day, the "Free Tibet" protestors were constantly trying to get the flame or put the flame out, one person even tried to use a fire extinguisher to put it out, to no avail. We started walking down the stairs to the main part of Trafalgar Square and we saw some protestors who swam through the fountains to the top to wave their flags and shout.
Protestors in the fountain:
We began to wander through the massive crowds and realized that most of them were just there to protest and not really there for the torch, so we decided we didn't want to be any part of that and headed out of there.
We first walked over to Covent Garden and had a snack and some tea at Paul's, a great patisserie. We then caught a bus, one of the Old Routemasters, out to Harrods. This was exciting because it was the first time that we had actually gotten to ride on one of the old buses. When we got to Harrods we walked around and killed time, only buying some tea and triple sec, before heading across the street to rest our feet and have a drink.
The view from the window of the Old Routemaster:
After our drink we caught a bus down towards Regent Street and Oxford Street to kill some time before dinner. We went in to Godiva, Apple, and Hamley's. Hamley's is almost the equivalent of FAO Schwartz, it is London's very large and popular toy store. I was able to get a couple Hamley's Ty Beanie Babies and a pound puppie, I named him Torch. Then it was time for some food, we had both been looking forward to Benihana for a couple of days, and man was it worth it.
We were soooo stuffed when we left there but man was it good. When we got back to our flat we saw Jamie in his kitchen so we spent a few minutes with him, catching up, before heading back to the flat to finish watching the race and to get ready for bed.
A day in the life of William Shakespeare
On Saturday, March 29, 2008, we decided to take a bus trip out to the lovely town of Stratford-Upon-Avon, this is the birthplace of William Shakespeare. We arrived around 11:30 am and headed straight for the town centre and information center. We opted to take the hop on hop off bus around town, since we didn't have too much time. We were very glad we did, since some of the houses were quite a way's drive.
We started our journey at Anne Hathaway's cottage (William Shakespeare's wife). The cottage was very cute, and proved how small people used to be back then. Right about the time we arrived it started to rain, and it pretty much continued to rain the remainder of the day, oh well, you still make the best out of it. The cottage and the grounds were very nice, especially seeing the inside of the cottage. The beds were so small and the mattresses were basically suspended by ropes, not boards, I was surprised.
Anne Hathaway's Cottage:
We got back on the bus and went to Mary Arden's farm. This house was much larger than Anne Hathaway's cottage, mainly because it was an entire farm. The house itself was not bigger but there was much more on the land, more buildings, more space, and more animals. We started out by having a light lunch in the cafe before starting to wander the farm. After lunch we went to the falcon show, but we were disappointed because he would just have the kids take turns to put on the glove and have the falcon fly to them. We had seen much better bird shows so we decided to continue on around the farm. We went into the tudor house, which was very small, but the upstairs was not sturdy enough any longer for human traffic, so it was closed off.
Tami walking through a kid's maze, apparently, in the Orchard:
Outside of the tudor house was the stables, where there were 2 very cute cocker spaniels, and a pig sty. We got to the sty and there were no pigs to be seen, so I started making kissy noises for them to come out, and low and behold 2 very enormous pigs came charging and snorting out of their hiding place in my direction. Well, needless to say they scared me and I jumped back a few paces. Oh well, they were still cute.
The attacking pigs:
We then walked over to the open pastures and orchards to see lots of sheep, even baby sheep in jackets, donkeys, more pigs, horses, and even a few longhorns.
Cute baby sheep:
We then caught the bus to go back into town where we went to Shakespeare's birthplace. We toured the inside of the house and the grounds, it was very quaint inside and all of the furniture was still authentic. It was neat even seeing how the walls were kind of crooked, since everything was built by hand, with logs and mortar and such.
The back and grounds of Shakespeare's Birthplace:
Next door was the Creaky Cauldron, the museum of witchcraft and wizardry. We went inside but were running short on time so we did not take the tour, next time we will. They had lots of Harry Potter memorabilia in there, so I can't wait to be able to take the full tour.
We walked through town to see many old buildings, Nash's House and Gardens, the Old Theatre, the Avon River, and onto Holy Trinity Church. This is where William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway are both buried, so we went inside to see their very unimpressive graves. There was however a very impressive bust of William Shakespeare, along with a beautiful organ. I have realized that the organ is my favorite part of churches.
Shakespeare's grave:
Shakespeare's bust in the Holy Trinity Church:
We left the church and continued our walk through town heading by Hall's Croft, Mason's Court (a very very crooked house), and the American Fountain, which was very nice.
It was getting close to time to leave so we stopped in at the Pen & Parchment for a quick drink before catching the bus back to London.
Greg sitting back and enjoying his beer:
We started our journey at Anne Hathaway's cottage (William Shakespeare's wife). The cottage was very cute, and proved how small people used to be back then. Right about the time we arrived it started to rain, and it pretty much continued to rain the remainder of the day, oh well, you still make the best out of it. The cottage and the grounds were very nice, especially seeing the inside of the cottage. The beds were so small and the mattresses were basically suspended by ropes, not boards, I was surprised.
Anne Hathaway's Cottage:
We got back on the bus and went to Mary Arden's farm. This house was much larger than Anne Hathaway's cottage, mainly because it was an entire farm. The house itself was not bigger but there was much more on the land, more buildings, more space, and more animals. We started out by having a light lunch in the cafe before starting to wander the farm. After lunch we went to the falcon show, but we were disappointed because he would just have the kids take turns to put on the glove and have the falcon fly to them. We had seen much better bird shows so we decided to continue on around the farm. We went into the tudor house, which was very small, but the upstairs was not sturdy enough any longer for human traffic, so it was closed off.
Tami walking through a kid's maze, apparently, in the Orchard:
Outside of the tudor house was the stables, where there were 2 very cute cocker spaniels, and a pig sty. We got to the sty and there were no pigs to be seen, so I started making kissy noises for them to come out, and low and behold 2 very enormous pigs came charging and snorting out of their hiding place in my direction. Well, needless to say they scared me and I jumped back a few paces. Oh well, they were still cute.
The attacking pigs:
We then walked over to the open pastures and orchards to see lots of sheep, even baby sheep in jackets, donkeys, more pigs, horses, and even a few longhorns.
Cute baby sheep:
We then caught the bus to go back into town where we went to Shakespeare's birthplace. We toured the inside of the house and the grounds, it was very quaint inside and all of the furniture was still authentic. It was neat even seeing how the walls were kind of crooked, since everything was built by hand, with logs and mortar and such.
The back and grounds of Shakespeare's Birthplace:
Next door was the Creaky Cauldron, the museum of witchcraft and wizardry. We went inside but were running short on time so we did not take the tour, next time we will. They had lots of Harry Potter memorabilia in there, so I can't wait to be able to take the full tour.
We walked through town to see many old buildings, Nash's House and Gardens, the Old Theatre, the Avon River, and onto Holy Trinity Church. This is where William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway are both buried, so we went inside to see their very unimpressive graves. There was however a very impressive bust of William Shakespeare, along with a beautiful organ. I have realized that the organ is my favorite part of churches.
Shakespeare's grave:
Shakespeare's bust in the Holy Trinity Church:
We left the church and continued our walk through town heading by Hall's Croft, Mason's Court (a very very crooked house), and the American Fountain, which was very nice.
It was getting close to time to leave so we stopped in at the Pen & Parchment for a quick drink before catching the bus back to London.
Greg sitting back and enjoying his beer:
Sunday, April 06, 2008
Put a Cork in it........
Sunday, March 16 2008
On our last day in Cork, we got up and had a full Irish Breakfast at the B&B we were staying at before heading into town. Everything was very quiet on Sunday morning, so we got a chance to go see many of the sites that we wanted to without worrying about a crowd. Our first stops were St. Patricks Catholic Church, Trinity Presbyterian Church, and St. Mary's Dominican Priory (you can hardly turn around in Cork without seeing a church.) We then walked over to the Cork Craft Center and St. Ann Shandons, which is also known as the "four-faced liar" since it has a clock on each side of the tower and the times on all of them don't always match up.
Greg with the Beamish brewery in the background
The four faced liar
We continued to walk through town, enjoying all of the colorful houses and buildings like the Cork Vision Center and Bishop Lucey Park which had a really nice crane fountain. We also went by the Beamish Brewery and I was surprised to see a Miller flag flying above the building.
St. Finnebarre's Cathedral
We then walked over to St. Finnbarre's Cathedral which had beautiful architecture and statues before walking over to Elizabeth Fort. On the way, we saw a really funky crane sitting on the wall, which was more exciting than the actual Fort. Afterwards, we headed down to the Red Abbey, which consists of the ruins of an Abbey that used to be on the site, and saw a small church that had a cute bell in the bell tower.
We then continued our tour of downtown by heading over to Holy Trinity Church, Parliament and some of the bridges in the area leading over to the National Monument, which would have been more impressive if they weren't doing repairs in the area which required them to put barricades around the actual monument. We walked by yet another cool looking church near Paul Street, and saw the Father Mathew Statue at St. Patricks Street.
Holy Trinity Church
One of the bridges around town
After we had seen pretty much everything we wanted to see, we went to the small street market that was up for St. Patricks Day and had a hot chocolate (since it was cold). We walked around and looked at all of the vendors, then headed over to Clancy's, the oldest pub in Cork, for a drink and a little relaxing. After that, we headed back to the market and grabbed some lunch from the street market.... a tomato and cheese crepe for Tami and a toasted ham and cheese panini for Greg. While we were there, we also saw some people who had decorated their bicycles as animals and were driving them around, as well as some singers and a puppet show (which wasn't as creepy as you would have expected.) After that, it was time to collect our luggage and head to the airport to come back home.
One of the animal bikes roaming around the city
On our last day in Cork, we got up and had a full Irish Breakfast at the B&B we were staying at before heading into town. Everything was very quiet on Sunday morning, so we got a chance to go see many of the sites that we wanted to without worrying about a crowd. Our first stops were St. Patricks Catholic Church, Trinity Presbyterian Church, and St. Mary's Dominican Priory (you can hardly turn around in Cork without seeing a church.) We then walked over to the Cork Craft Center and St. Ann Shandons, which is also known as the "four-faced liar" since it has a clock on each side of the tower and the times on all of them don't always match up.
Greg with the Beamish brewery in the background
The four faced liar
We continued to walk through town, enjoying all of the colorful houses and buildings like the Cork Vision Center and Bishop Lucey Park which had a really nice crane fountain. We also went by the Beamish Brewery and I was surprised to see a Miller flag flying above the building.
St. Finnebarre's Cathedral
We then walked over to St. Finnbarre's Cathedral which had beautiful architecture and statues before walking over to Elizabeth Fort. On the way, we saw a really funky crane sitting on the wall, which was more exciting than the actual Fort. Afterwards, we headed down to the Red Abbey, which consists of the ruins of an Abbey that used to be on the site, and saw a small church that had a cute bell in the bell tower.
We then continued our tour of downtown by heading over to Holy Trinity Church, Parliament and some of the bridges in the area leading over to the National Monument, which would have been more impressive if they weren't doing repairs in the area which required them to put barricades around the actual monument. We walked by yet another cool looking church near Paul Street, and saw the Father Mathew Statue at St. Patricks Street.
Holy Trinity Church
One of the bridges around town
After we had seen pretty much everything we wanted to see, we went to the small street market that was up for St. Patricks Day and had a hot chocolate (since it was cold). We walked around and looked at all of the vendors, then headed over to Clancy's, the oldest pub in Cork, for a drink and a little relaxing. After that, we headed back to the market and grabbed some lunch from the street market.... a tomato and cheese crepe for Tami and a toasted ham and cheese panini for Greg. While we were there, we also saw some people who had decorated their bicycles as animals and were driving them around, as well as some singers and a puppet show (which wasn't as creepy as you would have expected.) After that, it was time to collect our luggage and head to the airport to come back home.
One of the animal bikes roaming around the city
It's beginning to look alot a like Christmas!!....in April
Well, we woke up to the most beautiful white surprise, it had REALLY snowed over night, and everything was covered. So, what a way to torture the dogs, by taking them out in it, but they did have fun.
All 3 girls in the snow:
The spastic Daisy Adair:
All 3 girls in the snow:
The spastic Daisy Adair:
Friday, March 28, 2008
Kiss my Blarney Stone
On Friday, March 14, 2008, we headed to Cork, Ireland, in preparation for Saint Patrick's Day. Friday was a pretty uneventful day as Greg had to work still, so we sat around a hotel lobby (not where we were staying) for some free wi-fi. I read and did crossword puzzles while Greg worked. Once he was done working we decided to walk around a bit and grab some dinner before heading to our hotel. I want to start off by saying that Cork was very odd in the fact that it was trying NOT to be Irish, therefore, it was impossible to find some good Irish food. Friday was Cork's late night shopping night so most stores were open to 9 or 10 pm, which was good for us. We went to several stores and Greg made up my boring day by buying me some Rocket Dog satin black ballet type shoes, they are so cute. After hitting all the major stores there (though not buying anything) we decided to have dinner at Star China, the first Chinese food we have had (other than Wagamama's) since we moved to London; even though we did have curry there, it was excellent Chinese food.
Saturday was a much more exciting day. We got up early and got on a bus to Blarney, we missed our stop and had to ride the bus to the end of the route and wait for him to come back, oh well 5 others on the bus missed the stop as well. So, we get to Blarney and we go to the Blarney Castle, before any of the major crowds. Right as we arrived it had just started to drizzle, but that was okay we were in Ireland and we expected that. We walked around the castle, making our way up to the very top. The Blarney Castle was more of ruins of a castle, rather than an actual castle, so there isn't a roof which meant that everything inside was wet, including the very slippery, spiral stairs. That's okay we took our time and finally made it all the way up. Once we got there we went to kiss the blarney stone.
The Blarney Castle:
Looking up at the top of the castle, where someone else is kissing the Blarney Stone (as you can see also it is pouring down rain):
For those of you who don't know about the Blarney stone, let me tell you, it is not a simple matter of walking up to a stone and kissing it. You have to lie down on your back, on the side wall of the castle, where someone will hold your feet while you grab on to 2 metal bars behind your head, and you slide backwards over the wall to kiss the blarney stone, you don't stay down very long as you would get a severe head rush. Once we both kissed the blarney stone we headed back down the castle and to the Rock Gardens, which was probably the coolest part of the castle.
Tami kissing the Blarney Stone:
There were 8 stones that make up the rock garden. My favorite ones were the Dolmen, Wishing Steps, Witches Kitchen, and the Witches Stone. The Dolmen was pretty cool, it was the large rock that was just kind of perched on a few other rocks and just suspended in air. It has been there for centuries and still kind of rocks back and forth but never actually falls.
Greg holding up the Dolmen:
The tree at the Witches Kitchen (the actual kitchen is underneath at the left of the picture, but it is very dark):
The Wishing Steps are rock steps that legend says if you go up and down them with your eyes closed and you think nothing of a wish the entire time then you will have a wish granted. It is also underneath a beautiful waterfall.
The Wishing Steps:
The Witches Kitchen was my favorite area. You walk to this very old creepy tree with lots of creeping roots coming out of the ground and going back in. The tree looks very dark and twisted, reminds me of Sleepy Hollow. Well, the best part is under the tree, the back side of the tree is on a hill and underneath that part of the tree the hill is carved out and there is a cave there. In the back of the cave is a dug out kitchen, where you can see things that have been burned, as in a kitchen.
The last favorite was the Witches Stone. This is a natural stone that looks like a witches face. The legend is that there was a witch that lived in the woods outside the castle grounds and would go in and steal things from the castle, including animals for food and plants.
The Witches Stone....see the face of the witch in the right side
We got back on a bus to Cork where we took another bus to Middleton. When we got to Middleton we actually got off the bus too early (afraid we were going to miss our stop again) and had to walk to into town, no big deal. Once we arrived it had really started raining and we were pretty soaked. We were trying to find the Middleton Distillery but were having no luck so we decided we needed to eat lunch and regroup. We went into a local shop that had pizza and sandwiches and such. Everyone in there eating was local, so we knew it was a decent place to eat. Once we were done we decided to look for the distillery again, and low and behold we were only a block away, oh well. We went in and got ready for the tour of the distillery. This Middleton Distillery was closed in 1975, and a new one is just down the road, but they keep this one open for tours and such. The Middleton Distillery is where Jameson is made. The tour was very cool, we got to see how they used to make whiskey and even see a large water wheel that was used to power the plant. There was the largest still in the world as well here, in held over 300,000 gallons, it was gigantic.
Not the largest still but a pretty big one, can you see Greg in the picture?
The large water wheel that powers the plant:
At the end of the tour they ask for 5 volunteers to do a whiskey taste test, I assumed that people would be jumping to fight for the chance to do the whiskey test, but no, only 4 people, including Greg volunteered, so I decided not to let the tasting be wasted so I did it as well, I was the only girl. It was good, you have 3 Irish whiskies, 1 Scotch, and 1 American whiskey, of course it was Jack Daniels. Greg still liked the Scotch the best and I chose the Jameson. During the tasting we met 3 people from Philly on vacation, Peter, Joey and Robert. We ended up riding back on the bus to Cork with them and just talking to them.
Our whiskey tasting:
When we got back to Cork we ended up walking to McCurtain Street where we went to a couple of pubs before heading to dinner. We ate supper at Isaac's, which was recommended in several places that we had seen, and the food was worth it. I had large crab claws and Greg had risotto cakes. We topped it off with a Banoffee Caramel Cake (to die for). We then went to another pub and met some people from Seattle, before heading back to our hotel for the evening.
Saturday was a much more exciting day. We got up early and got on a bus to Blarney, we missed our stop and had to ride the bus to the end of the route and wait for him to come back, oh well 5 others on the bus missed the stop as well. So, we get to Blarney and we go to the Blarney Castle, before any of the major crowds. Right as we arrived it had just started to drizzle, but that was okay we were in Ireland and we expected that. We walked around the castle, making our way up to the very top. The Blarney Castle was more of ruins of a castle, rather than an actual castle, so there isn't a roof which meant that everything inside was wet, including the very slippery, spiral stairs. That's okay we took our time and finally made it all the way up. Once we got there we went to kiss the blarney stone.
The Blarney Castle:
Looking up at the top of the castle, where someone else is kissing the Blarney Stone (as you can see also it is pouring down rain):
For those of you who don't know about the Blarney stone, let me tell you, it is not a simple matter of walking up to a stone and kissing it. You have to lie down on your back, on the side wall of the castle, where someone will hold your feet while you grab on to 2 metal bars behind your head, and you slide backwards over the wall to kiss the blarney stone, you don't stay down very long as you would get a severe head rush. Once we both kissed the blarney stone we headed back down the castle and to the Rock Gardens, which was probably the coolest part of the castle.
Tami kissing the Blarney Stone:
There were 8 stones that make up the rock garden. My favorite ones were the Dolmen, Wishing Steps, Witches Kitchen, and the Witches Stone. The Dolmen was pretty cool, it was the large rock that was just kind of perched on a few other rocks and just suspended in air. It has been there for centuries and still kind of rocks back and forth but never actually falls.
Greg holding up the Dolmen:
The tree at the Witches Kitchen (the actual kitchen is underneath at the left of the picture, but it is very dark):
The Wishing Steps are rock steps that legend says if you go up and down them with your eyes closed and you think nothing of a wish the entire time then you will have a wish granted. It is also underneath a beautiful waterfall.
The Wishing Steps:
The Witches Kitchen was my favorite area. You walk to this very old creepy tree with lots of creeping roots coming out of the ground and going back in. The tree looks very dark and twisted, reminds me of Sleepy Hollow. Well, the best part is under the tree, the back side of the tree is on a hill and underneath that part of the tree the hill is carved out and there is a cave there. In the back of the cave is a dug out kitchen, where you can see things that have been burned, as in a kitchen.
The last favorite was the Witches Stone. This is a natural stone that looks like a witches face. The legend is that there was a witch that lived in the woods outside the castle grounds and would go in and steal things from the castle, including animals for food and plants.
The Witches Stone....see the face of the witch in the right side
We got back on a bus to Cork where we took another bus to Middleton. When we got to Middleton we actually got off the bus too early (afraid we were going to miss our stop again) and had to walk to into town, no big deal. Once we arrived it had really started raining and we were pretty soaked. We were trying to find the Middleton Distillery but were having no luck so we decided we needed to eat lunch and regroup. We went into a local shop that had pizza and sandwiches and such. Everyone in there eating was local, so we knew it was a decent place to eat. Once we were done we decided to look for the distillery again, and low and behold we were only a block away, oh well. We went in and got ready for the tour of the distillery. This Middleton Distillery was closed in 1975, and a new one is just down the road, but they keep this one open for tours and such. The Middleton Distillery is where Jameson is made. The tour was very cool, we got to see how they used to make whiskey and even see a large water wheel that was used to power the plant. There was the largest still in the world as well here, in held over 300,000 gallons, it was gigantic.
Not the largest still but a pretty big one, can you see Greg in the picture?
The large water wheel that powers the plant:
At the end of the tour they ask for 5 volunteers to do a whiskey taste test, I assumed that people would be jumping to fight for the chance to do the whiskey test, but no, only 4 people, including Greg volunteered, so I decided not to let the tasting be wasted so I did it as well, I was the only girl. It was good, you have 3 Irish whiskies, 1 Scotch, and 1 American whiskey, of course it was Jack Daniels. Greg still liked the Scotch the best and I chose the Jameson. During the tasting we met 3 people from Philly on vacation, Peter, Joey and Robert. We ended up riding back on the bus to Cork with them and just talking to them.
Our whiskey tasting:
When we got back to Cork we ended up walking to McCurtain Street where we went to a couple of pubs before heading to dinner. We ate supper at Isaac's, which was recommended in several places that we had seen, and the food was worth it. I had large crab claws and Greg had risotto cakes. We topped it off with a Banoffee Caramel Cake (to die for). We then went to another pub and met some people from Seattle, before heading back to our hotel for the evening.
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