Correction to 5 and counting..

Need to work on my world geography, make that 6 because Vatican City is the smallest country in the world. So we have matched in a little over 1 year what I did in 5 years...

go team

5 and counting...

Okay yes 2 blog posts in 10 minutes... kids quiet for now...

So we have now been in Ireland for 15 months and have made it to 5 countries (Portugal, France, Spain, UK (3 times), Italy). Pretty impressive considering that I loved in England for over 5 years and made it to 6 countries give or take.

Next up on the list is visit to Cologne (Germany) early December to see the Christmas markets ( there are 7 in Cologne...) . We will then have visited all the EU leaders than we can just fill in the gap countries for the rest of our visit...

Those passports are going to run out of pages at this rate.. We are grabbing ornaments from each country, so far sardines from Portugal, welsh dragon, venitian mask, titanic ball... More to follow from Germany

Before our Germany trip we have 1 birthday party ( Audrey's), Disney on ice, late late toy show, an Irish wedding ( will post a review after..,)
After Germany pre Christmas we have 2 panties, Peter Gabriel concert, Jack's birthday party....

Will be a busy month

Rob

Random stuff

So some things that need mentioning

Ireland -
1) not sure why but they seem to have rampant inability to pick up dog poop

Italy -
1) the taxi drivers follow the stereotype of Italian driver., crazy! And in case you weren't concerned they are pretty much looking at their phones the whole trip
2) chihuahua - who knew this seems to be the dog breed of choice, they were everywhere
3) pope - popular dude, everyone likes pope Francis

That's it for random thoughts

Rob

Trip report - Italy

Well unlike the last post I will this one is pronto...

Kids have their fall midterm break every year in the last week of October. The last Monday in October every year is a bank holiday, so kids are always out of school during Halloween. Last year we went to Wales pre-Halloween, came back for Halloween (Thursday) and then to Northern Ireland after.  This year I decided to book the whole week away instead of trying to constrain ourselves with Halloween  (kids not so happy with my ambitious idea).

After some research I decided on an Italian holiday. I was able to find flights to Rome and return from Venice for €160 per person. 

We landed in Rome Sunday afternoon. No big plans for the day, so we went to the Time Elevator. A 40 minutes movie with effects (moving seats, air jets, etc...) Not as good as the Gaudi 4D experience but kids enjoyed. We also had our first of many Gelato treats during the week. For dinner we dined next to the wall of the Vatican. Kids had pizza , adults pasta. I also decided to order some foccacia with rosemary and sea salt , this was spectacular.

Monday, we were off to the coliseum  We had pre-booked tickets (see lessons learned from Barcelona). Almost no wait and we were in. Spectacular views all around. After lunch (more pizza, pasta- best food hear was bruchetta with balsamic reduction, bacon, arugula) we were off to the forum. Audrey enjoyed this somewhat, Jack was getting a bit squirmy.  After the forum we were off to gladiator training. This had received mostly good reviews and we thought kids would enjoy. I'd say they would give it a B. Audrey thought instructor was a bit harsh. I enjoyed the comedy of the kids training.

The next day was our planned vatican day. The morning we spent wandering around. We went to the bone church where Cappuchin monks had made crypts with over 4000 bones

 In the afternoon it was off to the Vatican. We splurged on a private guide. It turns out if you have a guide you get to skip lines, so entry was painless. Guide was pricey. She did provide some good info, but a 3 hr tour through the Vatican was not Jacks idea of fun . There was tons of great artwork , but with so much to see 3 hours can end up feeling rushed.

Wednesday was our last full day in Rome. No scheduled activities, so a chance to see some of the stuff we missed. We wandered through Rome center to a great Gelato place I had read about (Fridgidarium) , it was as good as the hype. We then went to the pantheon where we ran into some people we had met on the airplane (with their kids). After the pantheon we went to a Leonardo DaVinci machines exhibit. Kids were excited for this after watching Sherman and Mr Peabody movie recently. The exhibit was quite good with many hands on exhibits.

We then went to Il Parco Scuola del Traffico (traffic school park) for the afternoon. This is a park with a full driving course with roundabouts, stop signs, cross walks, etc... The cars has proper accelerator and brake bedals and kids were taught to use properly with one leg. This was good fun and educational.

That pretty much wrapped up Rome for us,  

Thursday we took the high speed train (155mph) up to Venice.

Venice was a whirlwind trip. We stayed out on the lido, an island next to Venice island. We ended up arriving there late afternoon, so just had time to unpack then head out to dinner. The venice trip was full of water bus rides, walking, shopping and to finish a gondola ride.

Venice is truly a beautiful city. The gondola ride was a nice memory to close out the trip.

lessons learned in italy

-study menus before committing 

-portion sizes can often feed 2, we went from ordering 1 pizza per person to 1 for two, same with pasta.

-be watched for nickel and dime charges. A bottle of still water with dinner was €4-5. A basket of bread was €4 at one place and the would keep bringing more unasked. A single espresso shot cost anywhere from €0.80 to €2.50

-ask taxi cost first (we asked 2 different drivers a block apart the cost of a ride to the gladiator school. One driver €40 , the next €25)

-gelato is cheap (€2-2.50), but portion sizes are large ( would have been happy with half the size)

and there you have it Italy in 6 days. According to the phone that was 36 miles walked, and not a single complaint about walking from the kids. Maybe if you had gelato stops during a marathon people might do better

link to pictures

Google+ Italy Story

until next time

Rob

Trip report - Barcelona

I realized on our recent trip that I had been remiss in a recap of our last holiday. We decided that we should try and fit in a holiday before school starts, and not just make it the summer of camps.

After some research I decided on Barcelona, fun in the sun, 

Tickets, booked, apartment near the beach all reserved....

The flight was an evening flight so late arrival. We had to pick up the keys to apartment at apartment office . So we grabbed the keys and headed to the apartment. First impression, smaller than the pictures, dirty floors... Wait 10 minutes just starting to put on p.j.s then we see a roach stroll across the floor. With screaming children we quickly vacated and back to the office.

The person in the office did give us a refund but would only give us name of a hotel (not make any calls), so we were sent packing at 11pm at night to find a new hotel. We did find one which had 2 neighboring rooms (not cheap) but worked for 1 night. So moved in got kids to sleep, then frantically searched phone for options for the next day,

 We found a self catering apartment available in Castelldefels , Masd Mediteraneo apartment 22 (same as out house in ireland) . 

Turns out this was a big win. Great pool, close to beach. We did get to visit the beach for a couple of the days. Got to see what the locals wear or don't (nudity, James Bond swimwear, speedos,...) 

We did do 1 day in Barcelona via bus. Unfortunately we hadn't planned well and many of the attractions had huge lines >2 hours. In hot weather (30C) with kids waiting was not an option. We happened upon the Gaudi experience 4D movie. Kids loved this (moving seats, water spray, 3D glasses) . The Gaudi architecture throughout the city was amazing , we only really got to enjoy the Casa Bastllo because ti didn't have huge lines. We did try the hop on hop off bus, sicne that was really good in Dublin, but unfortunately in Barcelona it wasn't nearly as good. Buses were crowded, the audio headset commentary  was underwhelming.

Weather was hot , but being on the coast was great, Food options were decent , better than Paris. 

 I got to sample tapas, paella, cerveza clara (beer with lemon). Prices were mixed, some meals ended up surprisingly expensive (Tapas) , others were fine. 

Lessons learned in Barcelona...

Check if attractions can be pre-booked 

Read reviews carefully

Keep parent friendly touristy stuff to 1/2 day

Kids love pools

Barcelona pictures

Google+ Story - Barcelona

on to the next trip

Irish dictionary redux

A return to the Irish English words to help you survive your day to day life in Ireland.
handy for all you visitors (yes we have a room ready...)

takeaway > to go
ready-made > prepared meals at grocery store, or frozen/tv dinners
lift> elevator
jumper >sweater
coach> bus
estate car> station wagon
saloon car> sedan
film > movie
maths > mathematics
trainers or runners> sneakers
Series > season on tv
Revise > to review
car park> parking lot
multi-storey> parking garage
plaster > band-aid

thats all for now

Rob

at the grocery store...

As we have said before, it is the little things. Here are some insights on how a grocery shopping experience is different here

Shopping carts : you need a €1 coin to unlock / use (you do get coin back at the end)

In the bread section
     Pancakes ( precooked in an 8 pack)
     Waffles ( precooked, smaller)
     Brown soda bread
     Wholemeal bread
     Brown and white bread (labelled best of both worlds)
     White pan bread
     Wraps (tortillas)

Eggs
      usually in the baking section, refrigerated

Produce
      A whole aisle of potatoes. In big sacks, labelled by purpose ( frying, baking, roasting, etc...)
      Local and seasonal vegetables
              - countries of origin prominently labelled

Alcohol
       restricted shopping hours due to blue hours, but they sell beer, wine and liquor at all the grocery          stores

Drugs
      no prescriptions at grocery stores. Ibuprofen only available behind the counter at grocery stores.         Paracetamol would be their pain killer of choice

At checkout
       Bring your own bag or you have to buy bags, or just carry what you bought.
       Bag it yourself (so race the cashier game, can they sscan items faster than you can bag... hint they             always win)

it seems like most foods have expiration dates that are only 3-4 days after purchase so small grocery runs are a little more common.

that's all for now

Rob