September 13th. Green Thames

Yesterday Thames river turned green. Some green algae must have grown or was brought up by the river. It also looks like the flow of the river has slowed down somewhat. Swans had been feasting on the greenery the whole day.

We had uneventful last couple of days. It has been raining every day pretty much most of the day. But it is not cold, so it is not so bad. It is just we cannot ride our bikes and it is kind of quiet when we get out in the evenings for a walk. Next week we will have to plan more interesting evening activities. We got Georgia taken care of somewhat in terms of extra-curricular activities for one afternoon during the week - she will be taking Judo for an hour after school. If nothing else, we will probably do a lot of reading this fall.


The sail had reached our window

This Wednesday we went to see Snail and Whale play at the Rose Theater. Beautiful production just like Aliens love Underpants last time. It is remarkable how they were able to extend and interpret a pretty small children's book. The show lasted an hour. We noticed that in the surrounding towns there are other theaters, with some even specializing in children's shows. Tickets are around 9-12 pounds. We could see a different children's play each week. Of course we would have to drive to see the other ones.


Tomorrow we are going to Warsaw for a weekend. We got 50 pound round trip tickets about a month ago. We are planning for more trips like this one if we can find similar fare and can manage a trip to the airport some 100 miles away :)

Getting more acquainted with schools here. As I may have written before, Georgia has "numeracy," "literacy," "worship," and lots of PE. I attended parent-teacher conference and got the feeling that school will not be particularly straining. For math, they are looking to work on addition/subtraction and will start looking at the multiplication tables. On the reading front, the kids are starting chapter books and expecting 1/2 page read per day. Maybe they are starting the kids out slowly. Means more fun stuff at home.


The baby is all grown up

In Isabella's school, they talked about Humpy-Dumpty for two days and followed up with omelet cooking demonstration. This is nice. They did comment on her broken English twice. It is pretty natural for her to lose some of that over the summer. The kid had no exposure for several months. You don't hear English even at playgrounds here. But her teacher's feedback sounds all to familiar to the stuff we heard in US daycares and schools about Georgia in the past. Just to be sure that they don't think she is developmentally challenged, I relay every morning to her teachers what she shared about the prior day.

On the eating front, because we are going to be away for a few days, we've started to work through our stock of dumplings from the Korean supermarket.  I'd say they are right in the middle between the koldunai from Papa Karlo and khinkali. If they were bigger, they would be khinkali!! I have to look for some Georgia's restaurants around :)

And since I've started with the colors, cannot resist sharing this one, sent to me by Yana. Sheer brilliance. Sorry about proximity with food!

September 9th. Leeds and Dover Castles

On Saturday we went to Hampton Court park with parents. They did not expect the massive hordes of deer we had encountered there. It looked pretty cool. There are some perfectly lined up alleys of immaculately manicured trees, each within its little box, and then there are fields and fields of tall grass. With the heads of deer sticking out from the grass, those fields look how I imagine African bush does.

After that we had a decent lunch at Brown's downstairs. It is not thrilling but for convenience sake, it is an OK place to go to.
And then we saw parents off to France and just relaxed for the rest of the day. We even watched the Fifth Element with kids.

We are too old and have to get used to the HDTV. It makes everything so hyper-realistic that movies and news look like cheap theater production in your living room. Still, nothing can touch this movie, it is super green! It was the first "grown-up" movie that kids had seen and we are being bombarded with questions about the plot. Isabella is certain that all the aliens are real.

On Sunday we started our exploration of the Southeast and went to the Leeds Castle in the Southeast. The admission fee for the three of us not counting Isabella was incredible 50 pounds. Seriously there are not that many amusement parks in US that charge 75$+. A small consolation is the fact that we would be able to use the same entrance tickets for the rest of the year.

Check out the last item on the menu

The grounds are extensive and well kept. It is possible to spend a good amount of time walking through lovely ponds and wooded areas. They have a different kind of swan, a regular white one called Cygnus cygnus in Latin. It is mostly found in Scandinavian countries. It has a small yellow nose and black beak as opposed to the mute white ones we had been seeing. Those have orange beak and large black nose. Yellow nosed swans somehow look like large geese. There are also pretty black swans around the castle. They are small with red noses and eyes.

Leeds castle used to belong to a number of queens over its long history. They converted what used to be a strategic fortress into more of a beautiful castle. The most recent owner, rich socialite lady Baillie, with a great eye for husbands, used it during the war to house wounded soldiers for a period of time, and more recently (until early 70s) to entertain famous visitors and even for some of the King David accord negotiations. We really liked how the castle looked from the outside.

But inside, was an interesting effect of what happens when you try to adjust the ancient structure to the modern times. Due to the small windows it is pretty dark inside. The owner tried to correct it by white-washing the walls and removing some of the ancient castle look in the process. Add to it furniture and bathroom fittings that used to be chic in the 70s and you get a large, depressing, and dated apartment.

We continued our exploration outside and came upon a large maze. It was really fun. Kids started getting worried when we continued walking in circles for some time. Ultimately we reached the middle of the maze whether they had a raised enclosed platform to watch and direct the other mice :) Apparently the maze was much larger than we thought.

Below the platform was an underground grotto with "scary" figures made from seashells. An audio was reading something from the Flying Dutchman. Isabella would have none of this so Dan carried her out while Georgia and I enjoyed our leisurely walk. Kids spent some time at a playground designed like an obstacle course through a castle and we headed over to our next point: Dover castle.

Dover castle atop the white cliffs facing France has been built and used for military purposes until very recently. The hills are covered in tunnels. During the WWII that was one of the key operating centers, and a hospital, and it even housed nuclear bunkers briefly.

We watched falconry presentation before visiting the castle. It was very interesting and informative.

A couple of falconers showed their birds and talked about working with them for hunting. They are even starting to work with owls. Contrary to the popular opinion, owls are not purely nocturnal. It is just their sense of hearing is so much better than their sight that they can pinpoint their prey with extreme accuracy based on that alone. And it is safer to do it at night while other predators are not active. Working with owls is more challenging because they get easily distracted by sounds, but if you are able to train one, you get all the benefits of the "regular" hunting bird plus extreme sound sensitivity.

In the end they showed us their star, a peregrine falcon. The bird put up an amazing show. It is able to dive and come of the drop in split second. There was a guy in the audience with the largest camera lense I've ever seen - probably half my height and very wide too. The falconer challenged him to capture the moves the bird was making.


We liked Dover castle more than Leeds. It is a giant stone box filled with rambling passages, galleries, and chapel. We wandered around peeking in the narrow passageways and finding large banquet rooms. They had a giant kitchen with huge plastic pork carcasses hanging down, large cloth bags filled with glued rice and beans, all sorts of cleavers also glued securely to the tables, and other decorative elements entertaining for kids and adults. Décor was very simple and "castle" like and it fit just right.


We did a quick tour of the underground war-time hospital in one of the tunnels. They did a great job re-creating the environment of that time, complete with the furnishings and things, and with the audio of the air-raids and failing lights, and even with the smells of food and operating room. Georgia really disliked the smell and Isabella hated the sounds. So it was so so on the amusement scale. But at least they did drew the line on the smell of smoke, undoubtedly the primary smell at that time.
Afterwards we spent several hours walking around the White Cliffs next to the castle. The views of the cliffs, the sea, and light green grass in the setting sun were incredible.

Sept 6th. Georgia's First Day of School

As I mentioned before, we were very nervous. We all showed up and waited at the back of the school: parents, us, and Tanya, our new babysitter. The other kids and parents were rolling in as if it was an ordinary day. Girls were dressed in checkered blue dresses and navy cardigans and boys in gray shorts and blue shirts. Some came in with their scooters or on bikes. It looked like an ordinary day and everyone looked like they knew what they were doing. We were directed to wait outside the third grade area. We spoke with Georgia's two teachers and were re-assured that everything will be OK.

At the end of the day Georgia looked very relaxed. She liked the school a lot. They played "ice-breaker" games for the larger part of the day. She got a buddy to play with - a new girl to school and her class. That little girl is from a British military family. This is her 7th school. Teachers were pleased with her as well. There were a few things we forgot - like PE uniform as they start having gym on day one. Art apron. Kids are also asked to bring colored pencils and no-mess sharpener. I think it would be less mess to have one of those large industrial ones like in US. And kids have two healthy snacks such as fruits and veggies with their lunch. I liked the last part the most.

About Isabella. For a few weeks I kept asking in school about when her nursery start date and was getting vague answers like "teachers will follow up with you." On the first day of school I went back to the school office to check on the start date again and got the same answer. I also asked if it will be possible to move Isabella up once she turns 4 next month. After all, she knows colors, shapes, can count to 10, and read small words in Russian. But they told me that it is age specific and no can do. So we are back to Educare. I signed her up this morning. She will start next week. I feel we are doing things right for her.

Forgot to write about our Jewish New Year's celebration. We went back to New Malden for Korean. But we came too late in the day that we did not want to walk to a new place identified as promising by Yelp and instead ended up in the same old Yami. It is yummy all right :) I've had Korean steak tartar and raw egg and at this point I think we have exhausted their menu :) Need to find new places around here.

Sept 4th. Swans Can Fly

I feel slightly guilty about not checking in but then again I want it to be a matter of substance. So today I'll comment about swans: gorgeous giant creatures fed bread by the adoring public around the clock. White swans had been historically the property of and under protection of the Queen. Presumably only she could eat them. Other than the ugly recent incident (warning, very graphic!!), I could not imagine anyone doing anything bad to those undoubtedly saturated fat saturated darlings.

One of our enjoyable pastimes this summer was watching them "fly" over the water. It looked very dramatic with the powerful thrashing of wings and the sound of a torpedo as swans made a mad dash and were unable to break the bond with the water. We were sure that after decades of wonder bread and whatever preceded that they were unable to fly any more and just went through the motions for the photographic effect. Well, we were wrong.

As of September 1st apparently they can fly. We've seen them do it with much less sound volume and over 30-50 meter stretches. Which brings up a horrifying question - do they fly away in winter?

Another, less horrifying question, is what is the thrashing was an attempt to make some kind of a communication?

Which brings me back to the horrifying concept: Georgia is starting school tomorrow. We are very nervous about how she will be: will she like the new school and kids, will they like her.  Having been through this as children a number of times brings all sorts of possibilities to mind and we probably worry way more than her. Will send out an update tomorrow.

P.S. Found a new Polish food store .5 mile from our home. It is called Samy Smak :) Dan's mom will find a few tasty things in it. They do not have the right bread, white cheese, and beer and salami though. Had to go to Papa Karlo for a refill.

P.P.S. Parents are taking London by storm. They are approaching it very thoroughly: after our walk on Sunday, they took a bus tour to cover the entire list of highlights available on all the routes, and now they are systematically visiting each location and providing feedback. I wish I had their stamina far as food exploration is concerned.  

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.