Can opener not required

Day to day life is about the little things, here are some of those that are different

In the kitchen:
cans: the cans all have pull tops so no can opener required

yogurt: not fruit on the bottom, its fruit on the side. The upside is you don't get the handle of your spoon covered as you try and mix

coffee: as maybe mentioned in previous posts, instant is king. Upside no coffee maker
potato crisps (chips): They don't have big american bags. When you buy a big bag it is just a bag containing 6 mini bags (the US snack size)

Elsewhere:
newspapers: All magazine style (1 fold on side), I have heard the Oregonian recently switched. Once you get used to it it does make for an easier to handle the paper.
kids magazines: like National Geographic Kids, Highlights, etc... every one has a toy. Will kids not read without a toy?
shopping carts: all require coins to use, (you get back, the coin is like one of those locker room locks)
Taxis : only Ireland will you a taxi line at the mall
floors: first floor is the second floor. Ground floor is the first
Front door knobs: in the US knobs are on the side of door, in Ireland the door knob is right in the middle of the door
Inside rooms: In Ireland every room has a keyed door (including most closets and bathrooms). we have a key at our house for every room door that is 12 interior keys. Key is on both sides (not a key on 1 side switch on the other ).

there are many more , but of course they are all mostly natural to us now.

Rob

I know a Lady...

Today I had an amazing experience.  I was given a private tour of Dunsany Castle in County Meath by none other than the Lady Dunsany herself.  Just the Lady and myself spending two hours in a leisurely stroll through her family's current home.  I described it to Rob this way:  "you know how we get tours through great houses and castles and see all the beautiful furniture and artwork behind the velvet ropes? Well, in this tour there were no ropes."

Original artwork from the 17th century, weapons used to defend the castle against Cromwell's attack, and family photos of Lady and Lord Dunsany and their two sons all mixed together in amazing rooms with 20 foot ceilings and hand carved wood and plasterwork.  In the dining room I asked Lady Dunsany if she ever ate there.  "Sure," she said and pointed to a slightly smaller square table in the room "this is the breakfast table".  At which point she rubbed at a teacup ring on the wood.  Sadly, because of the staggering collection of priceless pieces, I could not take photos of the interior.  Lady Dunsany said that security was an issue for them. She doesn't want pictures of what is there to be stolen posted all over Facebook.  Seemed silly to me until we got past the foyer.  Then I understood.  Standing next to an original Van Dyke from the 17th century I understood why she wouldn't want photos all over the web.  This is what the place looked like from the outside.

Lady Dunsany invited me to return next summer and to bring Rob and the kids next time.  She's so nice.  

Sarah

our stay in Ireland, broken down

Added a few more list to the blog site to track our stay.

In our 11 months to date

• We have made it to 23 castles in Ireland and Europe so far 
• We have visited destinations in 12 counties (out of 32) which makes for 37%...
• We have been to atleast 8 houses/estates (this one is harder to track since some castles are actually houses , decorated to look like castles)
• We have been to 5 countries (or 3 if you count Wales and Northern Ireland as part of UK)
• We have been to 4  beaches (Skerries, Howth, Grange, Sintra (Portugal))

We will be starting or second 12 months with a trip to Barcelona in 2 weeks (beaches, castles, ...),  A trip to Kilkenny for a hurling challenge match (Maynooth U8 GAA hurling vs Black and White GAA in Kilkenny) (yet another county to the list)

Should count the number of pictures taken, that is probably quite a number...

until next time

Rob

Of Ice Cream Trucks and 99's

First, the 99.  It is the UK and Irish national treat as far as I can tell.  It is perfection.  It is ice cream. Specifically, a soft serve sweet cream flavored cone with a small chocolate bar called a "flake" sticking out of it.  A search for the origin of the rather odd name left me flummoxed.  But it is delicious.  It can be served with sprinkles or other bits and bobs on it, or it can be served with strawberry sauce drizzled all over it.  Any way you have it, it's lovely.

Now, on the Irish Ice Cream Van.  Just as in the US, it shows up in your area on any warm day with music blaring and temptation in it's wake.  It plays, here on the Emerald Isle, just one song.  La Cucaracha.  No others, just La Cucaracha.  Now I can't say what a song about a cockroach has to do with food products, but it seems to be the siren song of the Ice Cream Van driver nonetheless.  Here the ICV does have one distinct advantage over its US cousins.  When the Van approaches, the driver pulls into a safe spot - in our case along side the green space directly in front of our house, and stops.  The music of the cockroach continues for a minute or two, then the driver turns off the music.  He waits a few more minutes to see if the bait is going to be taken, and if no potential customers approach, he moves on. In silence.  So, a more judicial use of the music sets the Irish ICV on a pedestal high above the US equivalent.  

If I were a rich man...

turns out there is a website for historic properties
http://www.formerglory.ie/property-rathville-house.html (€595,000 )

http://www.formerglory.ie/property-ballindooleycastle.html(€599,000)

http://www.formerglory.ie/property-rathclare-house.html (€595,000)

http://www.formerglory.ie/property-creaghhouse.html (price on inquiry)

fixer uppers are a little cheaper

http://www.formerglory.ie/property-belvelly-castle.html

only €275,000...

a little out of my pocket change level, maybe after this years raise

Rob

What is a holiday?

What makes a holiday or vacation...
holiday: an extended period of leisure and recreation, especially one spent away from home or in travelling.
vacation: a period of time that a person spends away from home, school, or business usually in order to relax or travel
A little distinction between the 2 terms. For a holiday the goal is leisure and recreation. This would match up to a typical Irish holiday where they will often rent a self-catering cottage at the beach in ireland or in one of the easy sun countries (Spain, Portugal). I suppose that a vacation doesn't have to be leisurely, as long as you are away from work.
Also saw somewhere that holiday is a day off chosen by others (work, school , government) while a vacation is a day off chosen by you..

So far our holidays while living in Ireland have been focused on seeing things (tourism) .
We have been to UK (Wales and Northern Ireland), France and Portugal,also many sites in Ireland. A list of a few sites seen on holiday
Beaumaris Castle, Conwy castile, Penryn Castle, Caernafon Castle, Llechweld Slate Caverns, Belfast Castle, Giant's Causeway, Dunluce Castle, Carrick Fergus, Innis Oirr, Cliffs of Moher, Burren, Hook Head, Moors Castle, Pena Palace, Sao Jorge Castle, Monument of the Discoveries, Santa Justa Lift, Eiffel Tower, Sacre Coeur, Athenry Castle, ...
The busy tourist calendar does not leave a lot of extra time for the relax and leisure components. Do we need a new term for time away from work spent touristing and educating kids?

Might be time for a relax, leisure holiday.... though as Sarah say that is a little more challenging with 2 little people in tow

Rob

Where have we been, where are we going

Summer is upon us, the Irish holiday season. The last day of primary school (elementary school for the americans out there) is today.The summer break for the kids is shorter here , only 2 months, end of June to end of August. Most of the Irish will take their holidays in the summer when the kids are out, usually week or 2 week long trips. Portugal is one popular choice

What will we do this summer?...We have lots of camps scheduled- hurling/camogie, gaelic football, football (soccer), art, etc... Camps are usually 10-2 so not all day affairs like they would be in the U.S. We will probably do 1-2 day trips around  Ireland and maybe UK on the weekends. We are also planning to do a barge trip though ironically some recent good weather (almost 2 weeks of sun 60s-70s) may make that not work due to too many weeds in canal.

The map below red represents some of the places still on our to do list. The blue represents places we have already been. We will see if we can make the Ireland map more blue.

For the big picture, here is Europe. The blue is where we have been so far, Red are some of the to do's.
Still need to add some more red targets , such as Italy, Greece, Germany, etc... Will tackle some of these in the fall and spring

that's all for now...

Rob