Holiday in Wales (day 1)

Wales is castle land (from their tourism site their are over 600 castles in Wales, most per square mile than any country in the world).
We knew there were castles but we did not know how impressive they would be.

We arrived on Saturday morning after a ride on the quick ferry from Dublin (around 35mph... 2 hours long). I had planned to start with a castle that looked good on paper Conwy Castle. On the way we saw a sign for Beaumaris castle and thought after a 2 hour ferry ride why not a quick castle stop on the way to the next castle which was 40 minute away.

Beaumaris turned out to be huge. A moated castle with a giant inner green space. Rooms in the walls.
Unfinished in the end but spectacular nether the less. Sarah read more signs than I did (designated Jack chaser that I am) so she can pipe in on the history.

and to be kid friendly they add a playground outside...

Next stop Conwy Castle

Just as grand as Beaumaris. This castle was finished and was on the water which makes for a picturesque castle. The walls at Beaumaris were high but the turrets on Conwy were really high and it turns out wearing a hat is dicey. Mine blew off, but luckily right into Sarah's hands.

Gorgeous views from up top

a rare shot of The photographer with family

Day 2 to hopefully follow tomorrow...

Rob

Welsh for beginners

Our first out of country holiday...
Ferry to Wales for a 4 day trip.
I will post more about the trip but first a few images of welsh an unusual language where "y" is used quite liberally as well as ll, dd which don't sound like they look (and we thought irish was weird)

Castles vs Beer (Game on)

To the side of the blog is now a list of castles visited during our tenure here in ireland. Castles from previous visits don't count. All of europe (and US I suppose though I only know of Hearst Castle ) are in play.
The challenge to see more castles in Europe than the number of breweries I visited in beer club.
You  say how hard can that be... Well the magic number is 41 assuming I did my math right (Todd may correct me later). So 24 months or so to hit 41 castles...

Current count is 10 after 3 months . Not bad. If we can keep up the pace of 3 a month then in a little over a year we can the mark...

Number 11 is next weekend Dunluce castle.

Rob

how long is two months, really?

Well I was walking to pick up the kids from school the other day and was wondering why it feels like we've been here in Ireland for such a long time.  When people ask me and I respond "two months" it sounds like a very short time, but somehow it doesn't feel that way to me.  I think I know why.  It's the chores.

My life here in Ireland, although very different in many ways, is also very much the same life I lived in Portland.  In between meeting new people, seeing amazing things and hearing that beautiful accent all day long, I do chores.  The same ones over and over.  Not that it's a problem, it's the life of a housewife and mom, and most days it suits me just fine.  But, here is why it feels like 2 months is a long time indeed.  Since we moved to Maynooth:

I have prepared and cleaned up at least 144 meals - that's assuming that we eat out at least once a week. We don't.

I've swept the kitchen floor at least 56 times - and that's assuming I only did it once a day.  You know me and you know that's not true.  But for the sake of science we'll go with it.

I've done at least 48 loads of laundry - many of those hung out on a line to dry.

And I've "hoovered" the carpet at least 20 times (see previous post on appliances for more information on "hoovering) - that doesn't include the little carpet sweeper thingy that I use every day at least once on the heavily trod upon areas.

And finally I've walked to the Presentation Girls National School and the St. Mary's Boys National School and back home again approximately 40 times.

So, that's why it seems like we've been here a while and why I feel like I already know my small corner of Ireland very well indeed.  Soon we will get to know the rest of the country and Europe....But maybe not by doing chores in them.