August 12th. More Dublin

We did a lot of walking around the city today. Don’t want to get into too much detail. In sum, Dublin is a place to go to. Perhaps we can get to stay here one of the summers. It has so much to be discovered. It is a bit far from everything though.

Some of the highlights from today are St. Patrick’s Cathedral and the Christ’s Church crypt, views along the canal and its many bridges, Temple Bar again, and the street of Antiques with its lovely Zozimus Gallery. For a city this size a lot of government infrastructures are somewhat exposed and we got to walk around the backyard of Irish FDA. They got themselves a very interesting looking property. Department of Education and Skills has a sculpture in its courtyard chosen with a good sense of humor – opened up hand. We went inside a few smaller churches. Liked St. Nicolas Church.

We wanted to see the Riverdance but they did not have any performances today and tomorrow’s does not have any good seats left. There are a few other dancing venues but they all require dinner to be bought and run somewhat later. So we had skipped on the cultural life from that standpoint.

On the eating side of things. As we walked around we saw four Polish deli shops. Apparently the area is very popular. The entire staff on the ferry that we interacted with was Polish. Bad Ass bar we went to for dinner is run by the Polish owner as well.

For lunch we went to the Mongolian BBQ. Conceptually it was pretty interesting. A large metal cooking surface where a chef stir-fries your selection of tired and anti-sanitary looking veggies and meat. One has to spice it themselves when they bring it for the grill, which is a bit of an iffy idea. You really have to know what you are doing to pick the right spice combinations and not to overdo on the spice side. Dan was a bit put off by that and the first thing. Just like yesterday, Isabella surprised us by eating a few new things. 

A major highlight was Murphy’s ice-cream made from milk that comes from Kerry cows, supposedly even rarer than great pandas. It was awesome. I had caramelized brown bread flavor. Kids had raspberry and black currant and those flavores tasted like the real thing.

The people seem warmer and more approachable on one hand. But on the other, they are cautious of the many panhandlers in the area. Many of those are young and capable looking. There is plenty of mullets and fashion seems to be in all directions.

In retrospect we should have covered museums more but after counting our steps we did about 30k+, most likely much more for the little feet who did not complain. So we took it easy towards the end of the day and gave them the time to enjoy themselves at the playground until the rain had started.

Going to explore the countryside tomorrow.

August 11th. Dublin

We left at 6am to drive up to Holyhead and then take Swift ferry to Dublin. It is about 4:45 hour ride covering 300 miles. Kids were very good. They kept busy consuming all the perishables we packed and looking at a could of new things on iPad. The road kept pretty monotonous for a while until we passed Warwick castle.

After that it got very pretty. North Wales has plenty of scenic hills with yellow or bright green grass, featuring grazing black and white cows or sheep or both. Every now and then we saw a castle on those hills. A few are Unesco sites. We may have to come back here as well :)

Approach to ferry was very organized. Similar to Eurotunnel we got routed to our lanes to wait for our ship. About 150-170 cars seem to fit on the ship. After we parked, we went to the waiting deck on the fourth floor where lots of diversions, in addition to the view kept us busy for the next two hours.

The approach to the hotel from ferry was somewhat rundown. There were huge crowds of soccer fans predominantly dressed in red and white coming from the city center that horrified us with the thought of how we will look for parking and seemed to have explained by hotel availability was so scarce.  But surprisingly we were able to park right in front of our Beldevere hotel. They gave us quintuple room.

Hotel is located possibly 15 minutes from the center. As we walked passing even more more fans going in the opposite direction the area seemed to have improved only marginally. We also passed a guy who was playing "Million Red Roses" the old Russian song from the eighties. Kids excited to be able to finally stretch their feet were running in all directions.

After we crossed the river, the city got much nicer. It did not have the manicured scrubbed look of some of the other Western European cities. But it had some interesting and distinctive character that is hard to explain.

We headed straight for the library and see the book of Kells. They do a good warm up where in the series of rooms they show enlarged reproductions of various sections of it with explanations. And, finally, showing the books under the glass somewhat is not as impressive because you obviously cannot see all those interesting other pages. And the crowd seemed to permanently glued to it. It is amazing that the book is a thousand years old and the colors are as vibrant. Quoting the Greek tour guide last year "ancient people were not stupid."

The enormous library impressed me more than the one in Coimbra. It is not as lavishly decorated, and it does not look like they would be able to save all 200k volumes stored there but the sheer size of it, and very well presented exhibits of organic and mineral coloring materials used in decorating the Book of Kells, and also the oldest harp in Ireland (that will turn 1000 years old next year) were really memorable. The university buildings, a combination of classical and cement seventies styles, had faded to a point of stained gray and have pleasant comfortable look.

Next we walked over to Temple bar area. Originally there was William Temple Barr who was associated with St Patrick's cathedral who got this land. Over the years the land had expanded and one of the r-s was lost. So now it is a beautiful area filled with atmospheric Irish Bars. There was music coming from bars son either side of the road. We hopped in and watched live performers and cheering crowds. We eventually came down to Fitzsimmons and sat down. Isabella went dancing. Dan and I had some beers and snacks.

Musicians stopped playing and came down to say thank you to Isabella :).

We relaxed and continued our walk stopping by the castle to see the incredible sand structures, Cathedral to feed doves, and the Queen of Tarts to replenish our carb levels. There was a billboard at one of the area theaters, Olympia, stating that Regina Spector was performing on the 19th of August. Not only are we in a very nice place, it is very happening too :) At the theater there was a crowd of college students dressed predominantly in black waiting for the theater doors to open to see the Lambs of God. There were some kneelings when the doors opened.

As we got to Stephen's Green past the lovely shopping street that resembled the one in Seville, we saw a group of musicians with some serious equipment and a puppet theater finish setting up. The area, for Sunday night, was already somewhat deserted so we stayed to see what will happen. First there was a fun puppet number and a small crowd had built up. And then one of the musicians made a little speech saying the CDs that are given out are free, and she is not religious, but she will now sing a few songs for our lord Jesus Christ. The last two statements did not jive together so we got on our way disappointing Georgia who was ready for a good show.

By then the kids were tired so we headed back. Parking was expiring early tomorrow morning so we drove around looking for a place to park. There were plenty of parking spots around but all had the same issue. We tried nearby Qpark but it was 25 euro per 24 hours. So we just left it downstairs and went to our hotel. Dan found out that if you reserve spot online on Qpark website it is 12 euro. So we made a reservation for tomorrow.

August 10th. Greenwich

In the morning we took the train to Waterloo station and met with Ricardo and his family. After that we did a mad dash to subway then another train DLR from the financial district to get to Greenwich. DLR was pretty cool. It is unmanned and we sat in the first car with a large glass wall. So first we enjoyed the scenery as it was going above ground - all the skyscrapers and new neighborhoods. And when it got underground the view got even cooler. Kids huddled up in the front and enjoyed the view.

When we got there, it was almost lunch time. We walked around Greenwich in search of the interesting place to eat and eventually navigated to Zizzy, the Italian place. Isabella had macaroni with nothing on them.

Greenwich is beautiful. Every place had a fascinating story to tell about Maritime history of England and world in general. We passed the impressive Cutty Sark, and the observatory and the museums. Seen a little of Greenwich on the way. Saw a great view of London from the observatory hill and took a picture of us standing on the meridian line. And did not feel like we did the place much justice. We will come back and revisit everything including the food :)

Tomorrow we are going to Ireland. Hopefully everything will be OK with our rental car. We have reserved hotels for the first five days. We will be moving in the counterclockwise direction around the island. We don't know yet whether all the places have the Internet so we may go off grid for some time. Will try to provide updates when possible.

August 9th. New Places in London

Today we worked out of London. We should do it again. Kids went to Albert and Victoria museum with Irina and her boyfriend Ryris. They all really liked it. Afterwards they walked around in Hyde park and gradually walked over to St James park where we met them towards the end of the day. There is a great fountain in Hyde park for kids to splash in. It even has lifeguards on duty.

We hopped to Covent Market and Festival Gardens.What a beautiful happy area. There were multiple street performances taking place. Interesting stores and restaurants. Great place to come back to with kids. We also visited Camden Market. Another area not to miss. It is fascinating in its own way.

Real Doshirak

For lunch we went to Kimchi - elegant, great tasting and beautifully presented Korean fast food place. They take fast food to the new level. After this the local Jiki completely started to feel on the dumpy side. Here are some pictures of it.

Dan found some awesome bookstores. He was very excited. We got some good books to take home.

Baby swans are growing up fast. They are a bit smaller than grown swans. Their bellies and wingtips are starting the lighten up. I wonder how fast the beaks will turn orange. Their baby gray color is probably to make them less visible to the predators. They spend all their awake hours grooming. It feels like they much be constantly itching. Both parents continue to accompany them everywhere fiercely pecking other swans when tourists feed them.

Almost forgot. Last night there was a night market at our Market square. A bunch of food restaurants completely filled the little space available. We tried lots of things but the best thing was the DJ playing old style honky tonk music and a bike that was rigged to the bubble machine. Kids were going crazy over there .

We enjoyed watching them have fun. There was a mature local flower child who tried to party too under the discouraging eye of parents. There were also some grown up people without kids watching. Local pedophiles? Probably not all of them. 

August 6-8. New Malden and Other Places

We set a new goal yesterday - to find a Polish deli, Polski Smak. After wandering through some non-interesting residential neighborhoods for several miles we found it in New Malden. It is nice but Lithuanian Papa Karlo was better. We kept going and were rewarded with finding the whole little Korea. There is a slew of restaurants that offer traditional Korean delicacies, an absolutely gorgeous supermarket Seoul Plaza, and some travel agencies and TaeQuonDo studios. Alas it may be far for us to take Georgia classes here. But we will definitely definitely come back for dinner. As discoveries go, you may set out to find this one thing, and then you find a whole world out there.

We hopped on the 2-story bus to get back to Kingston. Kids rode on those before, but it was the first time for Dan and I. Awesome vantage point to enjoy the scenery. And yes, bus driver's job sucks and I think they know it! It is scary to watch them navigate the narrow street, and light poles, and tiny cars below.

In the evening we went to see Red2 @ Odeon. Very nice. They still did not fix A/Cs so I fell asleep toward the end but it was really good! On second thought, John Malkovich has ripened up to pay touchy feelly roles. He and Mary-Louise Parker stole the show. Bruce Willis just like Johnny Depp do not add value any more. And I would see brilliant John Noble replace tired old old old Anthony Hopkins at any time.

Romik and Polinka are really coming early in November!! Hurray!!

Some other observations in no particular order. Thanks to electric wheelchairs and other similar devices, handicapped and elderly are able to get around much easier so there are more of them that we typically see in other cities. On one hand it is sad to see some of the children with special needs out there but on the other it is great that they are able to enjoy the nice weather and partake in the celebrations around just like everyone else and not be cooped up at home somewhere. I even saw an elderly guy in motorized chair with full rain canopy so that he can be out and about in any whether.

We thought it was unusual seeing a full kitchen with the microwave and fridge right in the middle of AllSaints church some weeks earlier, but since then we had seen many more churches feature eating areas right inside the church. St. Thomas' in Salisbury went further and even had children's playing area there. I guess it could be either a way to keep parishioners warm and coming back. And make guests feel at home too.

Last final bit of moving joy

As we did our planning for going to Ireland we found out that you need to fill out special paperwork to take the car out of the country and some brands, ours included, could not be taken out. "We know that you went to Belgium without the paperwork" told us the rep from the car rental company. I bet he also personally knows what we ate that day. So we had a few tense pre-vacation moments when we watched hotels availability disappear right before our eyes and could not get a definite answer from the rental company "who had customers they were helping." In the end, we just did some bookings of the hotels for the first few days and got a ferry from Hollyhead to Dublin. And according to our HR found out today we are OK to go as is. They've sent us a copy of company car insurance and that is supposed to be the magic salve that will open up the way for us.

Dan and kids went to see Despicable Me a day before. They had a blast. Isabella kept talking asking lots of questions about the cartoon. Georgia was trying to answer those questions and also tell me various details about it. The variety of concessions offered by far exceeds ours. I guess if one adult and two kids had splurged $35 to go see a movie, it would be best to try to offer as many options as possible to get them to continue the trend.

There are a lot more bicyclers and runners around. We even saw one at close to midnight last night, but its the opposite side of the spectrum seems to be filling the streets. I can't blame them. With fresh crispy buns waiting for us @ Tesco nearly every morning, and fresh fruit market always open across the street, and Patisserie Valerie greeting our every trip outside like Odysseus siren, it is a challenge everyday to not give in and fall into the sweetly beckoning arms of gluttony.

We got kids school uniforms today. At St. Lukes they are supposed to wear navy skirts or pinafore with blue blouse, navy cardigan, black shoes, and grey or white socks. There are several department stores that sell those things. They are inexpensive and there are several designs of each available. Georgia was very excited. Isabella did not care for hers.

August 5th. Preparing for the New Adventures

On Monday we got up at 4:45am and went to drop of Michalka at Luton airport. Unsurprisingly M25 towards London was already bumper to bumper at 5:30am. I don't know what they to do make it happen. There cannot be that many people in England going to London every day and at any point of the day. One of the issues may be that they have digital displays that flash suggested speed based on the pattern ahead. To some people "suggested" may mean "required" so they slam on the breaks and so does everyone else around, and then it propagates. I don't know how long they will be watching this pattern for prior to arriving to some resolution - like turning off the displays.

At the airport they route cars with drop off passengers to a special zone and collect 2 pounds upon exit. If you pay with the credit card, that's another 1.35 pounds. And if you linger in that area for 15 minutes, you pay 80 pounds for parking. A brilliant example of nickle and diming.

Another interesting local specialty is that road construction projects display informational signs that state the start dates and the length of the project. As we started to notice those signs we also saw that everyone of those is late on delivery.

It was very very good to have Michalka with us! Kids loved her and it was so relaxing to sit together in the evening watching the swans in the river. Sorry about the biking injuries!!

Having seen how busy hotels get at this time of the year, we started to think about our next bit of travel. Next week Irina is leaving and we will go on vacation. Ireland sounds like a great place to go to.

Went to the local Korean take out Jiki for lunch. Deep fried stuff floating in oily orange goo. However here is another little delicacy we found. Tastes like caramelized condensed milk but the texture is much lighter. Check out the sign in Russian to confirm. Can take orders to staff our fridge for the guests :)

August 4th. Exploring the Southwest - Part 2

And here is what we did on Sunday. We started with some breakfast. It was similar filling but uninspiring fare as at the farm last week. Egg and sausage were even more practical: fried egg plopped next to two sausages with no decoration or spices. But after a while we got in the mood and sampled all the cereals, toast, yogurt, preserved, and fruit. And then after it was all gone it was time to move on.

As we headed toward Shaftebury, we passed a sign for Walled Garden, English Heritage site. We just purchased our annual membership at the Stonehedge and were eager to try out all the free admissions and parkings. We did not find Walled Garden but did find St. Leonard's church in Semley. It had a scenic looking dilapidated gravestones at the surrounding cemetery.


We decided to keep it going and visited the nearby Wardour castle. Driving there through the overgrown tree tunnels we wondered if that was the intent all the way. One of the ways to protect it is to hide it. It is a pretty castle but unfortunately it was too early in the day and it was still closed. We tried to scale the wall, but just like in the Sleeping Beauty there were thorn bushes planted all around it. And we did not have the sword :)
 
The next stop was Shaftesbury, a small town with a beautiful hill views and a very steep hill. One other notable feature about the place was that it originally hosted the richest and largest Benedictine nunnery in the country. It became very powerful gradually acquiring more and more of the surrounding lands. Until one of the Henrys had dismantled it to the point of ordering to utilize the stones with which it was built for the surrounding construction.

On that happy note, we headed down to the Jurassic Coast. One interesting feature of driving in the more remote parts of the country is that farmers plant tall bushes on both sides of the road. They may be protecting the fields from the dust and poachers. But they obscure the view of the surrounding scenery and contract already narrow roadways. It is like driving through the winding green tunnels for miles and miles to no end. Some of them are also one way so one of the cars has to practically climb into the bushes to let the other one through. Cyclers add another note of complexity to the richness of experience. And it rained too!



We were not sure on the best point to start and so arrived to Exmouth first. A local at the fishing store there suggested to go to Sidmouth since it has more fossils and interesting things to look at. So we drove over there. The views are absolutely amazing and pictures do not do them justice. Just as we approached the town we parked and walked down the hill toward the beach enjoying the view. The rain had stopped and we spent about an hour and a half at the rocky beach to the right on the fortress.

We found fossilized corrals and some pretty rocks but none of the stuff sold by the professionals at the stores. It was very relaxing though. Next we decided to explore the left side of the beach and found that there is actually a fairly large town on the other side and they were having a folk festival there!

We walked through town watching different performances along the way. At some point Isabella ran out of power and went to sleep. We carried her back to the car through town and headed home.


Skye Terrier

As we deposited Isabella onto her car seat we told Georgia that she can play on the iPad. Isabella immediately woke up and requested her turn. We did not make it to Glastonbury again but will try again next time!! When we got into the town, the workers were still breaking down the barricades from the bike event.

August 3rd. Exploring the Southwest - Day 1

We just came back from our weekend of exploring the Southwest and I am trying to get it down before the next week begins and details start to slip away. Here is our itinerary from Saturday.

We had started toward Avebury but had stopped on the way at Cobbs Pick You Own farm. I know mom would have enjoyed it very much. It truly was the best PYO we’ve ever been to. First, they had an interesting way of cultivating blackberries, raspberries, tayberries, black and red currants. The bushes were very tall and with a good distance from each other providing more comfortable and spacious picking. I don’t know what they do to get them to produce this much but on some bushes, you could barely see leaves.

Tayberries were really interesting. They are a mix of raspberry and blackberry. They are not easy to pull of the branch without bruising and that could be a reason they are not sold commercially. Dan said it was the best berry picking in in life.

The farm shop was a medium-sized tightly packed an assortment of every delicacy possible. From delectable selections of Asian sauces in bright boxes, to ginger cookies dipped in dark chocolate, to the mini meat pies that looked like munchkins, and much more.  Fortunately we were not very hungry when we came in so we were able to leave relatively unscathed.

The next stop was Avebury circle. Similar concept and timing as the famous Stonehedge. Except zealots and others over the years did too good of a job pulling it apart. Now you can hardly see the original circles. But some of the surrounding structures like Silbury hill are very impressive. We also liked the actual stones, some of them resemble monsters. I think the organization that manages the site did a good job too commercializing the place with all sorts of museums and other paid sites around. On the other hand, this, like many other sites, is well maintained and informative.

After that we headed to the Stonehedge. In contrast to our earlier visit in April where were came very late in the day, this time around we spent over 30 minutes waiting in traffic on approach. It is located on some major (one lane) regional roads and is very visible from the road, so if not for anything else, there is always traffic because of the cars slowing down for the passengers to take a look. A warning to anyone passing through that area, to try alternative roads if at all possible. On the way back home on Sunday we passed it again from the other direction, and this time spent one hour driving through a 3 mile stretch.

The site is awesome. Definitively one of the highlights in all the travels we did. Don’t know why really. Despite many theories no one knows for sure why it was built and perhaps it is that mystery that makes it so fascinating.

On the way, we've stopped to look at one of the White Horses cut into surrounding hills. Russian translation on the Wikipedia attributes them to some unknown and mysterious origins. But based on the English version and some local tourist information board, it looks like the first one could have been the work of a crazy local doctor and others just followed the suit. If that's the case, what next - crop circles a hoax?? :)

The Old Sarum was a bit disappointing after seeing so many well-preserved castles and seeing some impressive aerial photos possibly made from flyovers from a small local airport. We saw a number of interesting small planes in different makes take off from there while we were at the castle.

At the castle there was an event for children going on. Two actors in costumes told the story of Gawain and Green Knight. Dan, Georgia, and I really enjoyed it. It was done very dramatically with no amount of bloody detail spared. Isabella did some drawing at one of the crafts tables in the meanwhile. After the story the kids were called to do a bit of fighting. They were equipped with some foam swords and all went at it with surprising devotedness. I guess the story has helped to put them in the mood. Isabella asked if they are planning to kill Georgia. But everyone had survived. After the fight the kids did Celtic weaving. The lady in charge of crafts told us the blue paint used to paint the faces of the warriors also contained a clotting agent to help reduce the bleeding. Pretty cool. 

Salisbury cathedral was very impressive. Even so we are trying not to get them confused as there are a lot of them and every one seems to be the “largest,” “oldest,” “Gothicest .” This one had the tallest spire and largest close (territory surrounding the main building). And it has one of the four copies of Magna Carta. And it was featured in the Pillars of the Earth. What was also memorable about this one was that stained glass featured the first ever sponsored mentions we saw: “This window made possible by Lord X and Y.” This was very prominently displayed on the bottom. Also some of the epitaphs were really interesting as were the changing fashions on the sarcophagi. From multi-color hyper realistic medieval likenesses with staring eyes of the dead ones, to the scary skeletal looking ones with gaping mouths.

We walked through the pretty town to take a look at the Doom painting at St. Thomas’s church. One of its famous features was medieval Doom painting. Here is a helpful PDF they also have displayed at the church. It is really cool too. Somewhat similar in spirit to Bosch. Interesting story of the double-white washing. Definitely worth a look.

Next on the agenda was some gastronomic discovery. We discovered a local fish and chips place and shortly after discovered that all fish tastes the same, no matter what it is called.

By then it was already around 6 pm. Too late to go to Glastonbury. We were thinking of going to see it tomorrow but it would be impossible to get out of the Kingston due to the bike event. So we tried to get a place locally. Remarkably, the town was fully booked. We tried every hotel, and inn, and bed and breakfast. Then as we headed back to Kingston, we stopped by at the Holiday Inn in Amesbury by the Stonehedge. They did not have any rooms either but provided a printout of a local hotels to try.

We finally found 2 rooms at Hotel George. Dan was a bit hesitant on account of this hotel being pretty full of character. But kids and Irina were tired and it was a good location to continue our exploration on Sunday, and so we stayed. A choice Ralph Waldo Emerson might have approved because he stayed there too according to the plague downstairs at the bar.

This link portrays hotel as something that could possibly be four stars. This link covers it on a bit of the opposite side of the spectrum (maybe Mr. Emerson trying to do a bit signaling here). In reality it was somewhere in the middle. Beautiful old building with cool fireplaces, exposed black beams, and pretty blue wallpaper. But it is dated and could use some fixing and upping.

We put kids and Irina to sleep and had some beers at the bar downstairs. Decided to go to Jurassic Coast tomorrow and finish off with Glastonbury. 

As we walked around town in the evening, we saw a picture of beautiful sculpture of an archer. It was called “An Archer of Amesbury.” A quick online search revealed a fascinating story of a local discovery just over a decade ago featuring some of the richest finds in the country. The place was indicated to be right next to the Holiday Inn we visited earlier today. Inspired by the natural curiosity and beer, we set out at 10:30pm to find the statue of the Archer about a mile and a half away. At the convenience store, I’ve asked casually where the statue of the Archer is at, and the clerk sent us to the place we had been to earlier. They do have a statue there. Except it is an ugly one that looks like a giant colossus. Another quick search online indicated that the real statue is at the gated housing development nearby. For those who want to repeat to keep in mind :)

We went back to our room. There was karaoke party going on downstairs. They’ve stopped at 2am aided by some cops. There were some good singers out there but not too many of them. I guess that may be one of the reasons it will be hard to add stars to George the Hotel.