September 1st. The Round in London

We went to London with parents and did our introductory of round of arriving to the Waterloo station, having lunch at the outdoor market by the river, walking to the Tower bridge, ice-cream stop, across the river, fish and chips to replenish our energy levels, and back via the Cannon street & St. Paul's.

We stopped along the way to check out various interesting places we did not go to before. Even scaled a 300+ stair Monument to commemorate a fire in 16 hundreds. They did a good job :)

Interestingly there were very few people around on Sunday afternoon. We could have easily gone inside the Tower Museum without any lines but did not want to drag kids to yet another museum in 3 days.

We even caught the Festival in Kingston when we came back. They had a live band in the market square and lots of Caribbean snacks.

We have a new house guest: a crow that comes to drink rain water from the bowl on the balcony. Last time it braved a few jumps towards the window to get a better look. Next time we will take a new pictures.

August 31st. My parents are here!!

Today was a very exciting day. We had breakfast early and headed out to Heathrow to pick up my parents. It is great that they decided to come! They had a good flight and were ready for adventures so we headed out to Oxford.

Oxford is a wonderful place to visit. It is a very large university town that consists of 39 colleges comprising 2 universities and other smaller learning institutions. It is the oldest university town in the country. Most of the buildings are yellowish-rose, a color that looks really great in the sun.

We sort of did a mad dash through town trying to filmed at/based upon,  Merton College, Virgin Mary Church, Bodleian library. We did not get to go inside the library because guided tour is required and for whatever insane reason children younger than 11 are not allowed. I just want to know why??

Lunch eating options were remarkably scant in the center of town. Parents were starting to wilt so we went home. Will definitely come back to Oxford for the overnight trip to do some more exploring and to watch the students go to their dining halls in the evening wearing hats and gowns. For real, they do it every night for dinner according to the guy in the boiler hat giving a tour of room that was the inspiration for Harry Potter's dining hall. If boys could dress in tux in Eton on a regular day, I am thinking that it is reasonable to expect that they pull off a gown in the evening.

At home, kids were lost in the Magformers set that parents brought with them. I took parents out for a walk around the neighborhood. The market on High Street was busier on account of the weekend and we got some Spanish honey, and strawberries.

For dinner we went back to Yami. We extended the selection of dishes to try some new things and were very pleased with those as well. As if that was not enough, we did a quick run to Papa Karlo and emerged with Lithuanian bread, white cheese, salami, herring, and beer. Somewhat embarrassing. Goodies this good had to be consumed upon arrival. Parents are exhausted and happy. We let them sleep.

A few quick updates. Went to London on Friday after work to see Albert and Victoria museum. It is open until 10pm on Fridays which is very convenient. We were very impressed. It looked like the place where all the things that could not fit into the British museum are stored. The quantity and diversity of exhibits is staggering. For example there is a giant hall filled with medieval sarcophagi of exquisite beauty and detail. No wonder there is like 1.5 of those left in Ireland. Dan noted that it would be a good idea if UK shared some of this historical wealth with the world - not everyone can travel here and keeping a treasure this great in one spot in our turbulent world is not the safest approach anymore. On the way to the museum we spent some time in the Carnaby area, a little Mecca for fashion lovers who might be visiting us some day.

Unusual Things About the UK

I've been meaning to write this for a while as we encounter strange and unusual things that may be a way of life here and even could be in place in US but having encountered them in a different context does make them stand out. Maybe there is an explanation for some of these things.

So, first, a "Family Butcher." The sign is prominently displayed on, yes, butcher shops. I'the ve tried to find out why these two words, and if there are varieties like "Adult butcher," "Child butcher." And did not find anything. Edited on Oct 1, '13 Mom said that perhaps family means this is a family business? Maybe?

TV License. One of our friends grumbled about the same thing. If you get a TV and/or TV service you are responsible for 150/50 pound annual license fee for color/bw respectively. You just don't expect that kind of fee coming. If you are a senior citizen you get a discount. But the lucky break of 50% off comes if you are blind or visually impaired. So imagine the choice the blind person has to make - color or no color?

No Fishing! There is a long (500 meters or so) pond near the Hampton Palace. Towards one end, there is a sign on one side that says "No Fishing to the Right of This Sign." Correspondingly, there is a sign "No Fishing to the Left of This Sign" on the other side. The sign effectively removes about of 5 meters of the pond from the fishing operations. What is so special about these last 5 meters of the pond?

Separate cold and hot water faucets. One produces scalding hot water, the other, the opposite of that. Washing ones hands and face becomes a special experience designed to try to break the sound barrier in the 8by8 inch space. This design seems to be predominant at homes and in restaurants. Dan's parents explained that this may go back to the times when hot water was really expensive and you really wanted to make sure you only use it at special moments. And you generally filled up the sink with some warm water to wash your face, brush your teeth, wash your hands, socks, underwear, feet, children, dishes. Given that we are in the 20th century and this building was built 10 years ago, it must have been left here to keep the beautiful tradition going.

No complaints! Sometimes I go on and on about how the state of customer service is comparatively awful. Our TV still does not work.. and the engineer had failed for show up to 3 appointments already. It is an act of god to get a service person to visit. And trying to return anything to the store in an exercise in unthinkable. There is apparently very simple explanation for this. Calling the company to make a complaint costs money. Sometimes the prices start at 80 pence ($1.30) per minute. And mind you they do keep you entertained while you are waiting on the line. So that may be why no one calls to complain... and service just does not get better. I was watching the news this week (Dec 11-12) and heard the announcer say that thanks for the government action for some industries the price will be reduced to 10 cents per minute. We are spoiled rotten in US. Calling the customer service in the UK is ungrateful and expensive proposition, much like trying to flash the toilet.

Will add more as we remember some old ones or find new ones

August 28th. It's Christmas in Kingston!

It is August 28th and Christmas Tree is up at the market square in Kingston. But first, a quick catch up and a few logistical items.

My last post was on the 24th as we were getting ready to leave via Rosslare Ferry. We've stayed at Killane Castle and hotel. It was very comfortable and eerily quiet at night. In the morning the hostess, while looking a bit disturbed at the sight of 2 rather than 1 children nevertheless served wonderful breakfast consisting of the home made/grown fruits, yogurt, and bread. 

Ferry was much larger than the one in Holyhead. If Holyhead seemed to have supported 200+ cars, Rosslare's was certainly big enough for 1000, with cavernous 5 floors cargo bays with 5 lanes. Passenger sections with restaurants, bars, stores, and private cabins went up to 11th floor. 

There was a funny moment in the play areas. A boy Georgia's age started throwing soft blocks at her. Georgia looked distraught. I've asked Isabella to help her sister. So Georgia started handing out soft blocks to Isabella to defend her own self. A true pacifist :) Isabella tired herself out in the first hour since she and  the little boy had the same amount of energy and had slept most of the rest of the way. The ride from Pembroke was very long. We missed nearly empty Irish roads. 

At night we headed out to the supermarket only to find it closed on account of Sunday. So instead we went to New Malden to start our research of Korean Restaurants. The first was Yumi. It was the highlight of the long day. As they say "the best of the best of the best."

The next day we took it easy spending most of the time going through our rich spoils of shells, semi-precious pebbles, and almost 2500 pictures. At night we realized Georgia's long dream and went to Richmond park on bikes. It is hillier than Bushy park and made for a more challenging ride. Apparently Irina and kids were all over it in the summer months. Maybe that's where Isabella got up to speed on walking. 

On Tuesday we started catching up on the work. In the evening we walked over to Richmond checking on the progress of the many blackberry, apple, pears trees/bushes along the way. Blackberries are OK to go. The rest will be perfect in a few weeks, just in time for parents' visits. Dan even found a few plum trees.  

Finally, on Wednesday we worked. At lunch we saw a big operation in the Market square setting up and decorating a large Christmas tree and a few smaller ones. At night we went walking along the river on the other side and accidentally stumbled into Hampton Court park. Apparently the entrance is right across the bridge. If the queen still lived there, and got up on the roof and took out her binoculars - she could see us waving from our apartment :)

Back at the market square, filming of a Christmas commercial was in progress. A group of people dressed in the winter clothes pulled up the tree straight as some church in the background started to ring. It was pretty cool to be watching the car with the camera, extras, and other staff working. It is like we are in Hollywood :) Concierge said two years ago they did a shoot with even the fake snow.

So about logistics. Since the new year is starting and things are starting to settle down I will try to write as much as possible but probably not every day. The easiest way not to have to check the blog every day would be to follow the blog.

August 24. The Southeast

Today was an intense day as we tried to complete the circle around Ireland and visit the remaining sites on our agenda.

We started with a visit to Cahir castle at Cahir. We were the first ones to get in. The highlight of experience was a kitten who followed us around. He started to chase the kids and Isabella ran away squealing with delight. Except as she went further away she realized that the kitten is now in between her and us and is gaining on her. At that point she looked back terrified. Laughing we rescued her. The kitten continued to follow us around.

The castle, wonderfully preserved as it is, is boring. There are staircases leading up to large rooms and little passages that are invariably locked. Since those are really the most fun part about castle you feel stupid to have been led on. No wonder Cromwell decided to leave this one intact. In Blarney, you feel you can go everywhere, including underground passages to a good enough point. The only thing that we found interesting was the gate release mechanism. I never saw one up so close. We got on our way to the next point - the Rock of Cashel.

Cashel complex is a set of monastic ruins on top of the mountain. It was very impressive despite a portion of the cathedral being hidden under scaffolding to help restore the last remaining frescos. It is definitely a site to visit. We stayed for the tour and learned more about this place that used to the the site of coronations initially and later was given over to the area Bishops who ultimately decided to build a spanking new place at the bottom of the hill and just abandoned the site. It puzzled us why not try to improve/restore? But maybe, like with software, it is easier to just re-write from scratch.

We got an explanation why there are so many modern graves at these sites. Because the government allows to bury relatives of those already buried on those sites. So, if a family can prove that its ancestors are at the site, they can add new ones. Supposedly there will be eventually an expiration to this rule. Next we walked over to a set of scenic Franciscan ruins visible from the Rock of Cashel.

The next stop was the Killarney, a picture perfect medieval town with its own castle. We caught lunch and kids ran around the giant lawn in front of the castle. It used to belong to the Anglo-Norman family who sold all the contents and left after Ireland split with the royals. Eventually one of their descendants gave the castle to the Irish government who, according to the video presentation, lovingly restored it to the former glory.

We walked the streets enjoying the scenery, like this double mural of a witch, and occasionally hopping into interesting stores. There are a lot of children's clothing boutiques we did our best to resist. There was music playing and people walking around and we wondered why some towns are gloomy like Cork and others are fun and light. But maybe it was just us.

For those who are still reading almost the final stop was Jerpoint Abbey ruins where one can find some interesting medieval carvings. Isabella has had enough and went to sleep and Dan stayed with her. Georgia and I went to see it.

On account of this being Heritage week they had a treasure hunt going on - you had to find specific images and report on them. It is a perfect activity to keep kids (and adults) engaged. It was raining but we did not notice since we were too busy examining every available surface. Georgia recited the images and locations lest she would be tested. She got her prize - a poster of Gvendalough ruins we visited during our first week. The poster has a bit less tourists and sites are easier to see :) Georgia was extremely proud. She wanted to wake up Isabella and show it to her.

The last stop before our hotel was Kilmore Quay, a fishing town in the South East. We were hoping to get the best seafood dinner as advertised in our guide and spot some puffins. Negative on the puffins. And seafood was not anything to write home about. We went to the Silver Fox that had inviting signs all over the town.

Even though the seafood was fresh it was nothing like what we had over in Carnaween in Narin. All the salads and associated decorations were exactly the same. It is a small thing but taking a bit of extra effort to have some variety and to have the salad relate to the dish could make it really special. The actual dishes were kind of bland. We were hoping for more given that the owners are Malaysian and Irish. But maybe our expectations were too high. And service was impeccable. And it was not very expensive. I guess something to write home about afterall :)

After some driving around we got to our hotel for the night - Killane Castle and Farm. The portion of the building we are staying at is adjacent to the actual castle, which is pretty neat. The inside decor is probably what Cahir House used to be before they went downhill. And, in contrast to the last hotel, they do have hot water! The only thing that hits you the moment you get out of the car is the ambiance of possibly over 33 cows parked on the fields in front of the hotel. You cannot smell it inside the hotel though. And it is kind of cool anyway to make the experience more "genuine."

It is our last night in Ireland. We did a full loop in two weeks and are heading back to the UK. It is a beautiful country with generous people and very good food. We will miss it!!

August 23rd. The Semi-circle of Kerry

Murphy's Guest House knows how to pamper its guests. The included breakfast featured the most complete version of Irish breakfast complete with the usual sausages, egg, pork beans, and also black and white pudding, a.k.a my favorite blood sausage. Only it tastes a tiny bit better in Latvia. Georgia's and mine breakfast included enough smoked salmon to fit a medium fish each.

Much satisfied we drove out to Dunloe Gap - a picturesque gap between the mountains a dozen km away. At the site there was a large parking lot and horse park. There was also a sign suggesting that the road to the gap is of very poor quality appropriate only for pedestrian, horse traffic and local cars only. Horse drivers came to life offering their services. We asked them how far the gap was and were told it was 3 miles. This clearly was a local gimmick so we got on the way with our 8 feet.

The view was very scenic. And other than having to walk on the road that served also as a horse toilet really did not mind the walk. A few passing cars were kind of annoying and we wondered if we made a mistake by following the local "regulations." After a while we were passed by a horse-drawn carriage and asked how much more. He said 3 miles. We walked for another 15 minutes until the gap was visible within 300 meters.

Then it started to drizzle and we gave in and for 20€ got into an empty carriage driven by a friendly looking fellow. Kids loved the ride back. Our horse Jo-Jo was young and the driver had to walk along side for a portion of the way to urge it to go down the hill. On the way we saw some tourists who decided not to follow the guidance and drive up. They nearly ripped off their bumper trying to dodge our carriage. So in retrospect it was a good call on our part not to try it too. But locals are clearly not fixing the road to continue milking it. 

Irish Wolfhound (on the left)

Next we drove over to Muckross House, the centerpiece of any Kerry vacation. Check out its somewhat lame history on Wikipedia. Basically it was a small estate that spent 6 years preparing for and bankrupted itself for queen Victoria's 2-day visit. Ultimately Guinness bought them out like seemingly most things on the island.

What was interesting was that unlike other places the tour covered a lot of intimate details such as the night pots, kid's rooms, and servants quarters. Kids liked that. But it was presented with such an aplomb and the great vision of the owners who got the running water on the second floor in 1910 that Dan and I felt a bit sorry for them. In comparison Kylemore Abbey in Connemara had a hydro-electric plant that kept the 70 room estate and 20 glasshouses producing exotic plants through heated water tubes in late 18 hundreds.

We stopped by on the way at Toy Soldier factory. It was really neat to see all the different designs, shapes, colors. They also allow you to pick from several figurines to cast and color yourself. Except they picked the most boring ones possible.  

The next stop was Blarney castle. There is a well developed track through "fairy lands" complete with the druid circle, wishing steps and more. We enjoyed it equally with the kids.

The castle itself was very enjoyable too - there is a narrow staircase leading to the roof where one can kiss Blarney stone to get the gift of eloquence. You have to lay down on the ground and lower your head across the hole in the floor to kiss the stone on the outside wall.

Both Dan and I did it but I am not sure it is working already. Following that we explored the poison plan garden. I question the validity of the claims of tea and juniper being really deadly plants alongside with some others whose descriptions really me want to wash my hands more often when going through the forest. They have a well-maintained canabis plant growing there as well in a middle of a large metal cage. 

Kissing place upstairs

The last stop was supposed to be Cork. The guide listed it as the second largest city with tons of character. As we drove through it it did not seem so inviting. We stopped at trusty Jurys Inn to try to get in and were told that the city is fully booked for what ever reason. So we parked at Merchants Quay mall in the center and at the closest coffee shop with wi-fi confirmed with Booking.com that the city is indeed booked. So we reserved a room in the town of Cahir on a way to Cashel tomorrow and went out to walk around the city. It is much more pleasant to walk around knowing that you have a place to stay. In this regard booking.com is really helpful. We used it extensively in the last two weeks. 

Cork we saw was disappointing. We covered most of suggested walking areas in about an hour. It is really big and has some interesting streets but it does not seem to have the character or we did not give it enough time to uncover it. Dublin has Temple Bar at its heart, and then everything else. And Galway has its Latin quarter. Even tired Belfast has its spirit. And we could not find this kind of place for Cork. So we left without regrets. As we drove out we saw a cavalcade of cars including some gorgeous race cars enter the city. That may explain why the city is booked out. Maybe it has a soul after all or will acquire it for this weekend.

Ha ha

Cahir is the first really small town in Ireland we stayed at. We are staying at Cahir House hotel that used to be the place descendants of Cahir castle owners lived at before they too bankrupted themselves into the ownership by the most powerful to the point of monopoly beer company in Ireland. Since then it was turned into the hotel and even Jackie Kennedy reportedly stayed there. But she must have stayed in a different wing. Because ours, nice as it is, it 3 stars tops.

We went out for a walk in the evening. There was a concert in the square across the hotel. A small crowd locals gathered around and some kids were playing in the blocked off area in front of the stage. Georgia and Isabella went running around too and Isabella accidentally bumped into another girl, both girls falling down. We apologized and stayed around a bit more. But we really stuck out in the crowd.

The predominant outfit for people between 10 and 25 is Adidas track suit. Even though none of us are in that age frame there must still be some differences. And if anything after two weeks  on the road homelessness is somehow written all over us. So we decided not to wait for the possible punishment and continued our walk about a very pleasant town. Of course no city is complete without its Polish store. It is amazing.

Incidentally, I keep forgetting to write that in larger cities young girls have their eyebrows done dark and thick to rival Madonna in the 80s. We must be behind fashion because it is pervasive.

Eventually we made it back to our hotel and after the last final meal of baquettes and cream cheese had some Irish coffee (what a marvelous drink!!!) and more beer in the bar.      

August 22nd. Dingle

Today we did a round around Dingle peninsula. It was a very enjoyable ride. First we stopped at Inch beach and spent several hours walking around a wide strip of low tide sand. There were lots of long shells of the type "sea maiden's nails. We even saw a few live crabs.

Then we went to Dingle marveling the views - purple mountains with bright green fields separated by dark green bushes, unusually blue sky and dark blue lakes. This area of Ireland is very busy with tourists, there were multiple buses, cars, and too many cyclers sharing a new narrow road. However the road quality is almost universally really good.

We walked around Dingle and had some Murphys ice-cream - the same one we had in Dublin almost 2 weeks ago. Next we went around the tip of the peninsula enjoying more views. Here there are a few more prehistoric sites.

They are shamelessly being charged for at every turn. One can see that the people selling the tickets could not care more about these sites and I am not even sure they are all authorized to do it. But what can you do? Once you are inside the loop that's all you do.

Another highlight was Connor's pass - horrifying one lane drive on the road along the mountain ridge.     The views, again, were incredible. We stopped at another beach and Georgia tried ice-cold water. There were too many vacationers to find any shells or shipwrecked gold - our new beach spoils target.

Then we got to another place with a waterfall and did something we did not expect ourselves to do - dragged the kids halfway up the mountain. As it was we were pretty high up. But there were lots of others walking up and taking pictures so we thought why not. And they did not have the common sense to complain. The climb was not very difficult though - mostly rocks and some mushy soil. We would have kept going but wanted to get to other sites.

The next stop was Killarney. We wanted to make a semi-circle around the scenic ring of Kerry today and this would be the starting point but e got here too late. So we found a hotel for the night - Murphy's guest house and went Ross castle some 6 km away in the park. Kids really wanted a ride on a horse drawn carriage but there were none at horsepark when we were leaving. Fortunately Dan asked passengers at one of the passing carriages to give us a lift and they agreed. Kids loved it. We walked back. Kids were absolutely not complaining but I was ready for a break :) and some food.


We found the only Thai place in town - Genting. And were disappointed. They did not even try to make the food look good. And pricing and service was not up to par either. Not like we walked oit hungry :) but fortunately we got some ginger cookies and baranki and fresh duona from a Polish sclep across. I wrote about it before, you can find at least one Polish food store in every decently sized town. Yesterday in Tralee there was a major warehouse one that rivaled the size of Costco. Globalization rocks!!

But now we are back in our room struggling to stay awake. It was a good day :) hoping to complete the loop tomorrow and get to Cork in the evening.

Forgot to mention, yesterday's hotel Manor West Hotel tried to masquarade as 4 stars but we could see it through past the brand new decor. However it had one great thing - awesomely maintained pools - child and adult with laps, little lagoons even.

Isabella took over the children's one and even was able to swim with with a board. When we are back we will have to get the kids signed up for the pool. Though Irina heard from other moms at the playground there is a waiting list. The local custom requires all to wear a swimming hat. So now we have 3 of them.