Oikofugic Ortega

2007-03-12T16:07:00.000-07:00

Whistler, BC - Day 2 and 3

The pictures from day 2 are here.

Elias and Miranda decided not to do the ski school on Sunday, so we all went up together. We took it a little too easy in the morning (especially waiting for the two teens) and wound up seeing a HUGE line for the gondola, so instead went for the Fitzsimmons Express instead. At the top we popped right onto the Garbanzo Express up. A quick trip down Lower Whiskey Jack and we took the Emerald express to the Roundhouse lodge... were we immediately wound up having lunch.

Elias had been concerned about the chair lifts, but a few lifts with mom and papa and it was all good.

After lunch, Ruben and Matthew headed off to the terrain park. Pablo and Andy had gone off before - Andy's doing terrificly well with linking her turns. Elias fell often at first, but really got the hang of it after a while. He's very good at pointing himself down the mountain. Jonas had a bit more fear of pointing himself downhill (wouldn't any sane older person?) but he was much better at stopping himself.

Elias, Jonas and Lauren who were making their way down the mountain to the learning center (at mid-mountain) slowly. At one point the camera guys stopped and asked if we wanted a picture of the boys. They snapped this terrific picture.

Soon after they spotted Matthew and Ruben heading up the Emerald Express chair lift. Jonas decided to take that chairlift back to the Roundhouse and then take the Gondola down because his knee was hurting him. In retrospect, that was a very wise decision. Lauren and Elias continued down to the learning center.

Ruben and Matthew split up and Matthew went down the mountain. Ruben caught up with Lauren and Elias just as Elias was starting to get a little tired and the snow was getting icier. This was problematic for Elias who was falling more and more. Shortly after Ruben caught up, Elias fell hard on his back knocking the wind out of him and really hurting his bottom. One of the instructors who was coming down the mountain heard him cry and asked if we wanted him taken off the mountain. He set Ruben's skis up in a cross - while we evaluated Elias. We were pretty close to the mid mountain gondola entrance, so Elias said he'd have papa ski him down.

Ruben carried Elias while skiing down, which was a bit scary on the icy conditions (for me who was behind them). But they made it down safe and sound. Next time Elias gets a helmet.

Ruben took Elias down to the hotel, while Lauren took the gondola back up to the Roundhouse. From there she took the run to the Harmony Express. At the bottom of the run (a very easy green run), she saw they were closing off the Harmony Express, so she skated as hard as she could and slipped in just before they taped off the entrance to the lift line. She got on the lift at 2:59 pm exactly - the lift purportedly closes at 3pm, but they let the people in line behind me get on as well.

The run from the top was a good one - not nearly as windy as the last run the day before and the snow wans't quite as beautiful, but it was completely enjoyable nonetheless. There were very few people on the run, which made her nervous being up there "alone" - still she had no problems and didn't fall until she was 5 feet from the bottom of the mountain.

Exhausted she called Ruben for a "boot rescue." He came (with Devon in tow) bearing boots, and a very welcome apple for some energy. Then they all went to the Columbia Sportswear shop to help Devon choose a new jacket.

Learning from our mistake of the previous day, we left for dinner around 5:30 pm and had dinner at the Mongolian barbecue place.

After dinne we went to watch the Sunday night "Fire and Ice" show - where various folks who work at the mountain jump through a firey hoop.

The next day Ruben and Pablo woke up early and paid extra for "First Tracks" - breakfast and the ability to be the first folks on the mountain. They skied more Monday morning than (practically) the first two days put together.

Meanwhile Lauren, Devon and all the kids had breakfast in the village.

Noon had us checking out of the hotel and heading southward. We wound up stopping in Vancouver for some Crepes and almost had our car towed by being parked in a place we shouldn't have been at 3pm (around rush hour).

The rest of the (long) drive home and dropping off the skis was completely uneventful. All and all a fabulous trip.

2007-02-17T23:05:00.000-08:00

Whistler Ski Trip

I should preface all this with the fact that Ruben went to Tahoe for a skiing trip just a week ago with an old buddy of his. He had a great time, skied a bunch of runs for his first time on the newer parabolic skis.

One of his goals of his sabbatical was to take me and the kids on a trip to go skiing - like up at Whistler. I was a bit resistant at first - basically not wanting to take another trip, yet here we are.

We left a little late from Seattle (seems familiar no?) - around 4pm after collecting Matthew's friend Jonas from his house and then Elias from school.

Traffic in Everett sucked as usual. It took us nearly 2 hours (at least 45 minutes longer than normal) to get to Mt. Vernon - our first scheduled stop - to pick up the lift tickets at the Haggen grocery store.

We got off at the main exit for Mt. Vernon and found the Haggen, up the hill a couple of miles. We also stopped here for dinner at their cafe - which was quite nice.

Little did we know that there was a Haggen JUST off the very next exit. Oh well, live and learn.

We hit a bunch of traffic at the truck crossing border (there's road construction up here), and even with the rainy, foggy weather and twisty windy roads, we made to to the Village at around 10pm. This means that a normally 5 hour drive took us 6 hours. Oh on the way we saw the 7-11 in Squamish where you can also buy the tickets for less money than on the mountain.

We arrived and checked into the Coast Whistler Hotel - the rooms are nice, clean but a little small. We do have 5 people in this little room, but it works. We just have to schedule bathroom time.

Today we got up at 7 to get Elias up and ready for his full day snowboarding lesson. Pablo (our friend from CA who met us up here with his family) brought us yummy fresh pastries and even yummier hot out of the oven croissants.

Elias was with his ski school at 8:30 and we ran back to the hotel (about a 3 minute walk) to get our gear on. Pablo, Ruben and I got back to the gondola around 9am and after 40 minutes of waiting in line (and quite a few interesting discussions, including a very existential one) we were actually on the thing. I could feel once we got above around 4500 feet because I started to feel a little queasy.

Ruben's GPS kept track of our movements for the day - I'll link to that when I can upload the data. We started out by going straight from the top of the Gondola down the Marmot or G.S. to the Harmony Express (quad) lift to the top of the mountain

At the top we were treated to an amazing view of the peak (picture to follow). It was windy and cold, but not too bad. We went "off the back" side of the slope through the Sun Bowl - which is a black diamond. Pablo attacked the run. Ruben was confident, but it was a little much for me - first time on parabolic skis and still learning how to deal with good turns in deep(er) powder. Ruben and I "escaped" on Burnt Stew Trail (because I was burnt) and we missed the turn that would have taken us to the Symphony express chair. That was probably for the best though - I think that whole back area would have been too much for me. I was already bonking and it was our first run.

Ruben and I stopped at the base of Harmony and got some water and a cookie. This helped me tremendously. I think the altitude issues were being exacerbated for me by dehydration.

Ruben and I contacted (by SMS) Matthew (and Jonas) and Pablo to tell them to meet us at the top of the Gondola at The Rendevous for lunch at noon. Then he and I went on another run of off Harmony, even though the lines were huge. The wind and clouds were picking up at the top and I did overhear someone say "you can really feel the storm coming in." Now I knew that there was more snow on the way, but I didn't think it was coming in that early - I thought we'd be getting a pretty good day of skiing in.

We took the Saddle run down to the T-bars, then those back up to Pika's traverse and the Ridge run. A quick swoop down and we were at a lunch table at 12:05.

Lunch was fine - uneventful. Ruben and I stuck with Matthew and Jonas for 2 runs - but it was obvious that Jonas' cold was not helping the fact that he has less experience on a snowboard than we do on skis. We took the Jolly Green Giant run to the Emerald Express lift, back up and then we went down Marmot again to Harmony.

Along this route I heard someone comment "wouldn't it be nice to have some kind of magnetic binding?" - So Ruben and I started to figure out if electromagnetic ski bindings would work... my comment was that the battery would have to be in the boot.

At this point it was really obvious that Jonas needed to head down the mountain for some rest and recuperation. Matthew was also tired, so they headed down the nice mellow Sidewinder while Ruben and I waited in line one more time for Harmony Express. In hindsight this was exactly the right thing to do.

We hooked up with a guy who was from east LA (Chino Hills) on the lift and chatted with him. He, Ruben and the other guy had all been to Tahoe and could compare notes about the runs there. Meanwhile, the weather was frightfully cold. I bundled up the best I could, but it was still biting through everything - the wind was intense. Towards the top the ice spray burned and the winds were pushing us UP the hill on the chair lift.

We immediately got off and followed signs to the Harmony Ridge run. The blowing snow was ... well it was intense. I suddenly could understand how people can get lost in bad snow conditions very quickly on a mountain. I even (at one point) looked for a spot of shelter out of the wind and made the mental image of clearing out a nice spot to keep the wind off of us.

No one else was on the run. I did feel very alone - but the snow was incredible. I felt very isolated, but at least Ruben was with me. He and I just kept plowing down the mountain, enjoying and yet fearing the solitude of the slopes.

Finally we got back down to the Harmony Express chair to find the line completely cleared out and the chair not running. It was only 2:43 - the chair wasn't supposed to close until 3! As we skied past we heard that they had to close the entire top of the mountain due to high winds: at least 70kph.

The run down from Harmony via side winder was ego skiing, except that there were so many people. Quite a contrast to what we found at the top. Also the run was a bit chewed up from all the skiers and snowboarders. There were a lot of mountain safety type hosts on the mountain tot make sure people weren't being stupid.

A little bit down the hill the snow turned to the round ice granuals that you mostly see in Snoqualmie pass. Still, good skiing, if a bit more icey in patches.

The bottom was a MESS - too many people and slush for snow. Still we made it down just after 3pm - in time to pick up Elias from camp (around 3:30). Ruben returned to the hotel with the skis and cleaned up while I waited for him.

He had a great time, but didn't want to do a 2nd day of classes. We'll take him up to the magic carpet and family ski area tomorrow. Pablo and Devon picked up their kids too - we all reconvened at the hotel and hung out until dinner. We were surprised by a BIG basket of fruit and snacks sent to us by my parents. It was incredible and perfectly timed. The fruit was a hit.

We attempted to go to dinner around 6pm - big mistake with 5 hungry children. We opted for plan B - get the kids pizza (and the bigger kids Japanese food), pay the bigger kids and go out to eat a placed called Seven for tapas. It was very very good - and the hotel supplied van (and driver) to get us there was a huge win in the pouring rain.

Tonight we're all tired, but the plan is to go back up tomorrow. The time and the configuration of kids and adults will all be dependent on the weather. But more tomorrow... right now everyone is asleep except stupid me :)

2007-01-10T17:35:00.000-08:00

Photos from the road

They're located here.

2006-12-18T23:38:00.000-08:00

This time we're on the road to California - first to the bay area to visit friends, then to east LA to visit family. Our hope was to get on the road early enough to make it all the way, but we didn't leave Seattle until 10:30 am... We stopped once in Portland to see a friend, and another time just north of Roseburg, where Subway was a hit with the little one for dinner.

The Siskiyou pass was completely clear and bright. Actually we only saw a little bit of snow - some on the side of the road just south of Portland (like it had just snowed earlier - or maybe the fog had frozen everywhere)... And then a couple of clumps in the pass.

The bambino started to get car sick just north of Redding so we stopped here for the night and stayed at our "usual" place - the Red Lion Inn on Hilltop. This time no McDonalds for breakfast though (the last time we did that both of the guys got violently ill).

2006-10-08T21:00:00.000-07:00

Where have we been?

Lauren
(who lived in the NE and drove to Washington via the Northern route).

Ruben
(who lived in CA and WA, and has driven across the country via the southern route and back via the northern route)

create your own visited states map or check out these Google Hacks.

Lauren

Ruben

create your own visited countries map or vertaling Duits Nederlands

2006-09-03T22:14:00.000-07:00

Never again through Heathrow part II

We woke up really early, and caught the shuttle to terminal 1/2/3 at 6:20. We were at the terminal around 6:30 and took the free shuttle to Terminal 4. We were there more than 3 hours ahead of time for our 9:55 am flight to Amsterdamn. International flight. 3 hours right?

KLM wouldn't let us check in. There was an earlier flight. They had a limited number of workers checking people in.

So we waited and had breakfast. We got in line early, before our alloted 8am time. Given the crowds, that didnt' seem like long enough, so we snuck in line early. But we couldn't tell which line was which - there was a flight to Africa that was going through check in at the same time and it was also a very long line right next to our line.

Once that was sorted out, we waited and waited and waited. There was one set of people checking in that had to completely rearrange their bags to get under the 25kg weight limit. I swear they spent 1/2 an hour with 1 person behind the counter. Then 2 of the maybe 5 attendants were shifted to working for Air Malta instead of KLM. There was still like 2 of them on the "business and first class" section, but only like 2 or 3 for coach.

All in all it sucked.

On the counter when we finally got to it was a notice about planes being delayed for bad weather and they couldn't guarantee connections. We had maybe a 1 hour layover. If everything went well. Bad idea on our part.

They booked us on the flight, and said we'd just have to check in Amsterdam about our flight.

We got on the flight and the on board computers that showed connection information were saying we had to check our arrival gate. It also showed that the Seattle departure gate as E17.

E17 was empty as we rolled passed when we finally landed. The plane had left. And it wasn't even due to leave yet. It left 15 minutes early.

So we had to work with the transfer agent who was going to put us on a plane that went through Minneapolis and got us into Seattle around 12:30 am. That would be 10 hours later than our original arrival time. I asked if there was a flight through Detroit and if so, what time did that leave. She said 5 minutes before the Minneapolis flight. I asked for that one, but she said that there were no connecting flights to Seattle that same day. I asked for it anyway, because my parents live 30 minutes from the Detroit airport.

So much to Matthew's chagrin (he wanted to get home on Sunday), we stopped in Ann Arbor for a night. My parents were so happy to see us! We flew home the next day and arrived about the same time (one day later) we would have if we had caught the direct flight from Amsterdam to Seattle. So all in all that worked out - Amsterdam's airport rocks.

2006-09-02T21:17:00.000-07:00

Never again through Heathrow (If I can avoid it).

Now this has nothing to do with the recent terrorist activities or terrorism in general. I just can't believe the incompetence. I mean we saw it just a bit when we first got to London two weeks prior and it took for ever for the Enterprise rental shuttle to pick us up. That should have been the hint. But I'm getting ahead of myself

Yeah, we started the day again with breakfast (with, surprise, more bread!), packing up and checking out but storing our bags for a few hours while we did a little shopping on Grafton and playing at St. Steven's Green. We met back up at the dorms at noon and took a very cramped cab ride to the airport. The ride took about 1/2 an hour but cost us <>Oh and that wonderfully tastey Irish brown soda bread? It got lost. Well not really. Kate and Michelle wound up with it over night and left it with the people at the desk at the Jurys Inn the folllowing morning. Well they were completely useless and didn't pass it on to us, literally 1/2 an hour later when we checked out.

At dinner we discussed some of our favorite parts

Ruben: The Castle (Bunratty)
Elias: The London Eye
Matthew: The Food
Lauren: Meeting Sheila and her family and seeing David and Sian and Cambridge.

2006-09-01T19:41:00.000-07:00

Dublin

Today was our day to wander Dublin, and there are a bunch of pictures starting from this page. We walked and saw the Book of Kells at Trinity college. Then we walked to the Four Courts and took some pictures for Michelle. Eventually we wound up at the Guiness Brewery and Storehouse for lunch. There we met Ruben's co-workers from Amazon.ie, Jean and Craig. We had lunch at the Storehouse and got our free beer.

We spent some time doing the Guiness tour: as much as we could given that it wasn't that thrilling to the kids. Ruben had a beer (with a shamrock in the foam) at the Gravity Bar up at the top of the Brewery.

Instead of walking back we took a tour on a double decker Green and Yellow bus. This way we could see much more of the city, including the huge park.

Kate went to see the National Gallery and we took the next stop. Ruben took the kids back to the rooms while Michelle and I shopped on Grafton Street for an hour. Then we rested as well.

We had dinner at Luigi Malones in Temple Barf ... I mean Temple Bar. We didn't want to stay long past dark because it was getting a bit seedier, although Ruben went on Walk-a-bout to see the area after he had gotten us back to the rooms.

2006-08-31T14:23:00.000-07:00

Limerick to Dublin

Another travel day. First breakfast in the hotel (not included as this wasn't a B&B, but expected). Then we checked out, put everything and everyone in the van and I dropped them off at the train station. Then I drove to the car-rental-hole-in-the-wall-not-connected-to-the-auto-dealership place to meet Sheila and drop off the car. Low and behold, Rory wasn't there. No one could find him. Finally he sauntered up at 11:15 am and didn't do anything to officially return the car. I asked him why I was pre-charged for the gasoline (no one had told me I was going to be and at 87 euro this also pissed me off), and we had only used a half a tank of gas. He said he'd change the charge to reflect that I only used half, but I'll believe it when I see it on the charge card. He gave me no receipt different from what I had and I didn't have time to argue. We had an 11:30 train to catch.

Sheila saved the day by driving me to the train station. That also gave her the opportunity to say goodbye to everyone.

The first train to Limerick Junction was pretty rickety in comparison to most of what we had ridden on this trip. The second train was much nice are rocked back and forth less.

We arrived in Dublin at 2:30 and walked to the taxi stop. Fortunately we were able to get just one cab to the dorms. Ruben worked his magic and got the driver to give us an impromptu "tour" of the city as he was driving by various points of interest.

The dorms at the Royal College of Surgeons are located on Lower Mercer Street, near Grafton street and St. Steven's Green. The college apparently rents out the rooms during the summers when the students aren't there. The prices are relatively cheap, but they're spartan - dorm rooms, but they gave us really nice sheets, pillows, duvet and towels. The bathrooms are tiny, but each room has one. We came up the stairs, opened a door to find two more doors, one on each side of the hall. The rooms are clustered in groups of 4 behind these locked doors. We were all on one floor, but the problem was that Elias and Matthew were in one set of 4 rooms and we were in the other. Plus there weren't any phones to call between. This is the one place I worried aobut the kids being "separated" - but in the end it was fine. Michelle was in the same group of 4 as the kids (in a single) so there was an adult available for them if there was a problem. Kate was in a single room in our group of 4.

After settling in we wandered Grafton Street. We found McDaids where Kate and Michelle were going to meet Kate's friend Laura. Our family was too hungry to wait long for dinner, so we went to a great place called Wagamama. This place was great, I wish they had them here. (Addendum! Apparently they are opening one in Boston in early 2007. We may be taking a trip there!) I tried a drink while I was there called Kombucha - I have to find that here as well.

We walked around a bit and found yet another internet cafe, hung out by St. Steven's Green (while Ruben took Elias to the park inside). Weirdness: The sign states you can't have playing balls in the park. Funny: Matthew decided he needed to bring a frisbee into the park. It's not against the rules! We had desert at Butlers Chocolates. Then we went back to the dorms for bed.

Dublin

Aug 31, 2006 - 102 Photos

2006-08-30T13:58:00.000-07:00

Ennis to Limerick

Bunratty and Limerick

Aug 30, 2006 - 85 Photos

The morning was the usual: breakfast, then we packed and were on the road at 10am. We hung out at Bunratty castle and village for much longer than I had expected - 3 hours. It was raining when we got there but we didn't let that hamper our fun. Nor did we let the obnoxious German tour group spoil our fun either (did it say this was an entrance. No, it was an exit. Would you please get out of my way. This staircase is for going UP not down.) Sigh.

Remember to click on the photo at the right to see more interesting shots.

We drove to Limerick and checked into the Jurys Inn. Then we followed Kate and Michelle to drop off their car. Somehow we had thought the car drop off was at the train station, but it turns out it's no where near there, but in an auto dealership. However, as we found out later, the car dealership has nothing to do with the car rental place and the car rental place never seems to have anyone behind the desk. We had to wait and wait when we dropped off Kate and Michelle's car. It was worse the next day when I was trying to catch a train at a certain time and the guy was no where to be found and not answering his cell phone. Like I said, I'm not renting from Irish Car Rentals again.

We all piled into the van and followed Sheila's directions to the University of Limerick - where she works. We had a blast the rest of the day with Sheila and her family. First we puttered around the campus, had a snack at the coffee shop, saw the installation of self portraits (some were pretty weird, some were pretty good), drove to the Hunt Museum and went through those exhibits. They had a good "treasure hunt" activity for Elias who really got into it. One of the questions was "how old is the vase in the picture of the Hunt family." I guessed maybe 100-150 years old. Elias put down 1200 years. I sort of chuckled to myself. It turns out the vase was over 2000 years old (might have been older than that, but Elias was the closest).

Then we walked to a tavern, had a drink while Elias and Ruben made a came of coasters, then Ruben and Sheila made eyes at each other.

Dinner was fantastic at a place called Copper and Spice restaurant. The only weird thing there was apparently you had to be buzzed in to enter the restaurant. They must have had some kind of break in...

After dinner we went to have some tea and coffee at their lovely house in the country. Matthew and Finn hit it off really well - Finn was teaching Matthew how to do Hurling and Gaelic Football. Matthew hit a tennis ball with the hurling stick like he would hit a baseball and managed to hit it out of their back yard (going, going, gone). Then they came inside and proceeded to dessimate the chocolate bread and tarts that Sheila had laid out for us. We also shared in some tea and coffee I had brought from Bus Stop Espresso. I was so glad to be able to meet Sheila and her family in person and I hope we get to visit them again either in Ireland, the states or anywhere in the world.

2006-08-29T23:04:00.000-07:00

Ennis day 2: Quin Friary and Craggaunowen

5am. I’m woken up by Ruben’s going to the tiny bathroom because his stomach just went into a revolt. It was either that he got what Elias had, or the sausage or the Jameson’s from the day before but Ruben’s stomach just revolted on him. He was for the count for the rest of the day.

I went for a run around 6:30 am by travelling up and down the path by the river a couple of times. It still was only 2.8 miles. After I showered, I had breakfast with the girls. Matthew and Elias ate separately (and were apparently pretty well behaved) while I took the laundry to be washed. We had to leave the laundry, but tha tgave us the time to find coffee and internet access.

Around 11, all of us (except Ruben who was asleep in bed fighting off whatever it was he had) drove towards Craggaunowen (or as we said, with as much as much of the backs of our throats as possible, Cragannnnnnowowowowowen). On the way we stopped at the Quin Abbey - the last Franciscan Friary. There was an incredibly cute pup hanging out there, and he had somehow managed to get behind the locked gates. No one could figure out why it was closed - all indications said it should have been open, but we walked around outside anyway.

We had a great drive to Craggaunowen and stayed for a few hours. First we went through the castle and then followed the path to see the ring fort, farmers house, etc. We even saw the stinky boars. It was much better when we got up wind of them. Seriously.

Quin Friary and Cragganowen

Aug 29, 2006 - 58 Photos

On the drive back we had a bit of an incident though. An oncoming car was across what you could call the centerline (if it existed) of the road. There was a slight pull out on my side, so I pulled to the left. After the oncoming car passed, I pulled out of the pullout, but apparently there was a rock right at the corner. I hit the side wall of the tire on the rock, popping it instantaneously. I pulled over (and back into the pull out) and we started to change the tire (or tyre as the case may be), but there was NO documentation in the car. It turns out the tyre is under the back of the car, and there are covers over the lug nuts. Some very nice older Irish man came by and helped us out. I think it was after that that we stopped at the pub across the street from the Abbey and we had lunch. The little pup wasn't anywhere to be found though.

Once I had dropped everyone back at the hotel, I called the car company. It turns out that even though I was paying an extra 15 euro a day for insurance, "tyres, windscreens and wing mirrors aren't covered." And as a matter of fact, the woman I spoke with at Irish Car Rentals wasn't very helpful at all. In fact, we had a number of problems with the, including the rental car return in Limerick, so I doubt I'll rent from them again.

I drove around Ennis on the spare and found a small tire shop where they were able to fix the tire very quickly for 110 euros. An older gentleman from the north part of County Clare (and a friend of the owner of the tire shop) was looking at a phone book in the spot where I was waiting. It was a bit difficult to understand him, but I got most of it. He asked if I had "relations" in Ireland and I said no, but that my friends did and that their last name is Mulhern. He immediately said "Oh from Galway."

He also suggested that if you ever drive to the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren, to go from West to East. He says that way you're not on the cliff side of the road AND the sun is not in your eyes.

Another short, older gentleman (also difficult to understand) asked me to dance while I was standing there. He's apparently a taxi driver who is also a matchmaker and a dancer. It was funny, and it did get me into a better mood (I was pretty steaming about the car rental/tire/insurance thing).

Ruben got out of bed for a while when I got back and we walked to pick up the laundry and hit the internet again. He faded pretty fast and went back to the B&B while we stayed a little longer in town, looking for a converter for Matthew's game boy which was out of charge.

For dinner, I took the kids to the Town Hall. We had a really good time together. The food was fancier than the kids were interested in, but it was good. It was apparently owned or run by the same Corner House where the Poets Corner is located.

That evening, Matthew convinced me to see Snakes on a Plane. I told him I didn't know why I was going, and he asked me "Why *are* you going?" to which I replied "To do something with you." Pointless movie, but we had a good time.

2006-08-28T23:03:00.000-07:00

London to Ennis

Most of today was spent traveling – a taxi to Victoria Station, a train to Gatwick, plane to Shannon, shuttle to the rental car place, and a rental car to Ennis. The taxi driver in London tried to give me a “discount” fare of 80 pounds (down from 100) straight to Gatwick. I happened to know that it was only going to cost us 20 to Victoria station, and less than 40 for the tickets since the kids are half of the 14 pound fare. I didn’t take his “deal.” He later commented to Ruben (in the cab while we were all there) that I didn't take his incredible deal.

We had lunch in Gatwick airport – and once again Elias ordered lunch and didn’t eat. Matthew only ate part of his lunch – the mashed potatoes and peas, and a bite, maybe of one of the sausages. Elias ate one of his other sausages. On top of that, Elias threw up. Fortunately we had a bag available. Ruben took him to the bathroom, we finished up and went to the gate.

Ennis Ireland

Aug 28, 2006 - 47 Photos

Ennis is a small sleepy town. Well it was pretty sleepy by the time we got there because it was after 6pm and everything seems to close up after 6pm except for the pubs.

Our B&B (The Clare Rose Cottage), is really great, very clean, cool rooms. The kids were just down the hall in their own room with 3 beds (although they used 2). Our bathroom was small, but very clean. The showers were a little weird – they had instant on hot water tanks and very low flow.

We caught up with Kate and Michelle at the Poet’s Corner in the Corner house. Great food. Elias was better, but still complained about the smell of beer in the taverns and almost refused to go in. He did eat though. After dinner we walked around town and I started to notice that shops were more heavily protected – things like grates that cover the windows, etc. which is something that we didn’t really see in England. I think it was Kate that said that the personal crime rate (theft) is higher in Ireland than in England.

Then we got a call from our good friend Sheila who was shopping with Finn on the “Shannon side of Limerick” and would we want to meet near Bunratty. Of course we did. We piled into our van (it was a bit cramped) and drove less than 20 minutes to Bunratty and Durty Nellies. We had some drinks and some yummy apple pie a la mode and talked to Sheila about whether or not we could make it to her place on Achill Island. Unfortunately we couldn’t make the logistics work, so we’ll have to visit the next time we’re in Ireland.

Once back in Ennis, I stayed with the kids and Michelle, Kate and Ruben went to Cruises (est. 1658 next to the Abbey). Ruben said he had a blast, but that could be the 2 shots of Jameson’s talking. They listened to some Irish music and claimed it was like the Prancing Pony from the Lord of the Rings.

2006-08-27T14:02:00.000-07:00

Cambridge

We woke up and had another dull breakfast in the hotel, then we made our way to Paddington station. There we paid our homage to St. Arbucks, the Patron Saint of Coffee. It wasn't Bus Stop Espresso, but it worked in a pinch.

Our friends, Griff and Sian told us to take the train from King's Cross, so we took the tube to that station. We found out once we got there that it was closed, which was really a bummer since we wanted to take a picture of Platform 9 3/4.

We took another tube to Finsbury park and bought our tickets to Cambridge, only to hear from a rather rude rail operator "Why are you going up there" (to visit a friend) and "What did you do that for? You should have taken the train from Liverpool Station." So now we had to change in Stevenage. The rails were closed at Kings Cross for maintenance and they were doing electrical work on the line so the train from Finsbury to Stevenage was a slow diesel train. We didn't care much though, our ignorance tax was only our time.

As an aside here, text messaging in Europe is totally the way to go. I found that we had no delays in terms of sending or receiving messages. That's how we communicated with friends while we were there.

We arrived shortly before noon and got picked up by Griff in their $1400 van, bought off ebay. My first impression was how much the kids have grown! We had seen them over a year ago and Ceri and Annie were still young and Dylan hadn't even been born. Dylan is now a year old!

We had a yummy and tumultous lunch (what do you expect with 4 kids under 7 years old and a 15 year old). Elias was pretty wired and although he didn't seem to remember them, he had a good time

We spent the afternoon on a long walk around Cambridge, marvelling at the age, the multitudes of bikes, the recycle bins and of the buildings and saw some of the 26 colleges there, including the one Sian attended. We also saw the cheese shop owned by their friend, but it was closed, what it being a Sunday and a bank holiday weekend.

We finally hired a punt and went boating down the river Cam. Griff it quite good at it, Matthew, Ruben and I were barely passable, but all took our turns. The only problem was that after the soda and nachos, Elias got another stomach ache. We even went under the Mathematical bridge at Queen's College, which originally was not held together with any bolts - just interlocking pieces. Now it's bolted together because too many people were taking pieces out.

We had a snack at a Mexican café. Hrm. a Mexican café in England. They used what looked like Doritos for Nachos, but at least they used white cheese. We missed the 6:51 return train and aimed for the 7:45 supposedly to Kings Cross (which was still closed). Apparently that’s the faster train back to the city, even with a change. We stopped at their house for a while to visit. It wasn’t until we were at the station that we found out that the trains still weren’t running to King’s cross, so we took the one to Liverpool. Elias slept most of the train ride, but he woke up will the stomach ache flaring. He moaned and held a bag to his face, but didn’t throw up, the entire way through the tube and back to the hotel.

Griff told us a few interesting things:

Why there are no garbage cans in London. It’s because terrorism, terrorism pre 9/11, terrorism from the times of the IRA. They used to throw bombs in trash cans.
When we told him we were impressed with how the trains ran on time, he told us about a job where they needed to work on the timing for the tubes. He said that during peak rush, people pour down into the tubes at a rate such that the platform will fill up every 30 seconds. If there are too many people on the platform and more come down, people could potentially fall on the tracks, which would force them to shut down the line. So it's important that the trains show up every 30 seconds and no later. If a train is 10 seconds late, they slow down the the escalators that bring the people down the stairs. 15 seconds late, and they stop the escalators, which buys them about 15 seconds as the people will stop at the top of the escalators for about that long before they just walk down anyway. 30 seconds late and they have to shut down the line.People as fluid dynamics. Simulations are fun (and useful)

Click on the picture below to see all the photos from our trip to Cambridge.

Cambridge

Aug 26, 2006 - 81 Photos

2006-08-26T11:38:00.000-07:00

Salisbury and Stonehenge

I'll admit, we got spoiled. Breakfast at the Hotel Averard is a bit more spartan than the one at Old Boroughs Arms where we could have eggs, porridge etc, complementary with our stay. Here we had to pay extra (like 6 pounds, which is the equivalent to us to $12.) So we stuck with Wheatabix (one of my new favorites), more toast that we knew what to do with, cereal, and grapefruit sections. Oh and weak french press coffee (because we're too impatient to wait for it to get strong).

Ruben was a good boy and ran the 4 mile loop in Hyde park to (and I kid you not) "Impress his GPS unit). Silly geek boy. My GPS is far more impressed, running twice in Rye and once in Ireland. :)

Michelle and Kate left right after breakfast to go to Gatwick for their flight to Shannon, Ireland.

Salisbury

Aug 25, 2006 - 55 Photos

We, on the other hand, took a series of tubes and trains and made it to Salisbury before 1pm. I now understand why most of the tours to Salisbury and Stonehenge start so early in the day!

We had lunch in a terrific spot - someplace Ruben found in a brochure called the Haunch of Venison. I don't generally go off of a brochure's recommendation, but this was cool. It had a Pewter bar and a mummified hand, purportedly cut off during a game of cards.

Elias wasn't happy though. He claimed his stomach hurt and he wouldn't stop complaining about the smoke. He ordered chicken nuggets and proceeded to waste almost all of it. Ruben had to take him outside.

We toured around the town and went into the Cathedral. There was a wedding in the chapel that day, so we were a little restricted, but it was impressive to hear the choir and the organ playing. Then we went in to see the Magna Carta. Elias mostly ignored it and hung to the side at the time, but once back in Seattle, he mentioned it in the context of something old on TV - so we know he learned something. We definitely need to explore this area of England more, maybe using Salisbury or Amesbury as a base.

One of the things Matthew wanted to do is see Stonehenge, so we took a bus there. It was a nice ride that went past old Sarum (something else to explore when we have more time), and through Amesbury (a very cute little town, about the size of Rye from what I could tell).

Stonehenge: well like everyone else had warned me. It's not worth it. Elias was still feeling sick so Matthew and I were the only two who paid to get in. Ruben could see it from the street anyway. We basically paid $30 to go in a circle around the rocks. Because we were on one of the last busses there, and Elias wasn't feeling well, I rushed and didn't get the audio commentary... which would have helped me understand the history a bit more. My dad had sent me the book on it though, so I had a chance to read that later. Matthew took a ton of pictures and has an idea of what to do in Photoshop now that we're home.

Stonehenge

Aug 25, 2006 - 68 Photos

The bus ride back was nervewracking for me because Elias felt so terrible. His stomach was really hurting, but I thought this was more due to him not eating or from gas pain.

Getting on the train wasn't too much fun either. We couldn't find a seat in the train car we first got on. Ruben was helping and carrying Elias, and I had his bag, my bag and the camera. Plus we had to chat with each other up and down the aisle, so people could definitely tell. Yes we stood out as tourists. Well as we're walking down the aisle, I turn to see a woman following me. At first I shrugged my shoulders because I thought she was as frustrated as we were trying to find a good seat and it was taking us a while to walk down the aisle with Elias feeling poorly. Well when we finally found a group of four seats almost at the end of the train and sat down, she stopped right next to us and asked the the women across the aisle some random question that I didn't hear. One of the women, who had just taken a bite of apple, looked at her very strangely and said she didn't understand (later I realized they were probably Israelis speaking Hebrew). This strange woman then just turned around and walked towards the front of the train. I firmly believe she was a pickpoket trying to get into one of the bags I was carrying. I immediately checked everything and all was well, but it really pissed me off.

London Eye

Aug 25, 2006 - 25 Photos

The rest of the train ride was fine - Elias didn't get sick and slept. We came in at Waterloo station. Ruben was really excited to realize we were right next to the London Eye. As Ruben put it, if we couldn't see all of London by foot, we might as well see it by air. Convincing Elias, who has a slight fear of heights and still wasn't feeling well, was a bit of a challenge, but we took it slowly. I sent Ruben to buy the tickets while we went to the bathroom. We got in line and Elias was still crabby, even as we got to the front of the line, until all of a sudden it started POURING on everyone who wasn't under the overhand. Out popped all of the the umbrellas. We got into our little pod and went for a ride through the London skyline.

We took another tube trip back to the hotel and ate at a nearby restaurant called Olio. It was good and Elias at a bit, but not much.

2006-08-25T10:57:00.000-07:00

Rye to London

The kids and Ruben arrived today, but more about that in a moment.

We started the day the usual way: waking up. We did actually get dressed for running AND find the footpath in question. We started to run down the path only to find...

THE PATH WAS UNDER CONSTRUCTION.

That's right. Not 1/4 mile down the path, across the next main street, the path was closed for probably 100 feet, and under construction with no way around it.

So we decided to run down the road to Dover and back. It was a busy noisy road, but I managed to get in almost 3 miles of running.

After breakfast we checked out of the hotel and did two more loads of laundry. We were on the road at 11am with delicious warm scones from the Mermaid Tea House. I also bought a flapjack which is like a thick, slightly sweet oatmeal bar. It was very tastey.

Ruben, Elias and Matthew to London

Aug 24, 2006 - 5 Photos

We had an uneventful drive back (a small bit of traffic) and Michelle managed to return the car completely unharmed. During the drive I kept wondering where Ruben and the kids were. I even got a phone call from my mother who was up in the middle of the night wondering the same thing. I tried calling Ruben's phone a number of times, but it wouldn't connect (It turns out his "international dialing" option had somehow been turned off, a later phone call to Cingular rectified the situation). Matthew finally called from the hotel when we were trying to find the rental car return place at Heathrow. It turns out that their flight from Seattle to Amsterdam had almost run out of fuel - Hot weather and less tail winds than they expected and they had to land in Scotland for about an hour. They did make their connecting flight to Heathrow, but just barely, so their bags didn't make it on the plane. That was nice for them - they didn't have to lug their bags to the hotel! (Click on the picture to the left to see more from their travels)

We, on the other hand, had to lug our bags onto the Enterprise rental shuttle, TO the airport terminal, through the terminal to the Heathrow Express. We took that directly to Paddington Station, which was maybe 1/2 a mile from the Hotel Averard.. Unfortunately we got a little lost trying to find the hotel.

Our first impression of the hotel wasn't so great. All of the other buildings around it look like they have a fresh coat of paint, and the paint on this hotel is peeling. The interior is a weird mess of twisty windy stairs, elevators, and fire doors - and it took me until that evening to figure out the best way to get from our room to the kids' room (the kids were in a different room downstairs, but it was easy enought to call between the rooms). The decor is a old and gaudy, but it was fairly clean and the people there were courteous. The other plusses are that the hotel is located just on the north end of Hyde Park, close to a tube station (the Lancaster Station, which was unfortunately closed while we were there), the neighborhood feels pretty safe and it's relatively inexpensive. All in all the place grew on me, but I wouldn't stay there again.

Once we all had checked in and cleaned up, we took a walk through Hyde Park. Matthew was exhausted and had napped only an hour or two in the hotel. He was groggy until after dinner. Elias was full of energy and with no fear climbed to the top of the Peter Pan sculpture! We also saw the Princess Diana memorial, which I thought was perfectly fitting for her. Elias loved it, although the water was cold.

We walked clear across the park, and saw the Albert Memorial from afar. Kate and Michelle shopped at Harrods while the rest of us found a tiny downstairs (not very good) Italian restaurant and had some supper. Elias ordered and didn't eat. I chalked it up to jet lag. Little did I know.

After dinner we took the tube (including a change) to St. Pauls and the Courts. Michelle wanted some pictures by the Old Bailey. Elias wasn't feeling too good, so Ruben took him back to the hotel early. Kate left with him to meet up with her Keane friends. Michelle, Matthew and I poked around that section of town for a while, then took the tube back, getting off at Marble Arch instead of Queensway. Turns out Queensway is closer. We had a long walk back to the hotel. Ruben unfortunately had done the same thing but with Elias and his backpack on his back...

Click on the picture below to see our photos from London

London

Aug 24, 2006 - 46 Photos

2006-08-24T09:25:00.000-07:00

To Battle We Go

Despite best efforts, and getting up at 6am, I could not get myself to go running. It was raining and uninspring.

After breakfast we got into the car and drove to Battle where we explored the Battle Abbey. The ruins were very cool, but it was pouring. We were able to keep dry on the bottom floor of the old Abbey ruins, and I took a lot of pictures of the interesting ceiling architecture. Our made up quote of the day was "History is just gossip spread by nostalgic winners."

Click on this next link to see all the pictures from Battle.

Trip to Battle England

Aug 24, 2006 - 36 Photos

The rain let up a bit and we wandered through the town, which isn't as interesting as Rye. We wound up having a poor cup of coffee at the Cafe Belge while we waited for Kate's friends Jill and Helen. Jill caught up with us at the Cafe and we found Helen sitting in her sister's car in the car park. I decidced to ride with Helen and Jill to help them find Rye. Kate and Michelle left before us but got lost, so even though we had to park across the river in Rye, we got to the hotel first.

We had lunch in the Pumpmakers Arms, which because of the font and the angle I was reading it as the "Wanker's Arms" all weekend. I had a "jacket potato" (baked potato) with beans and cheese. It was passable, but pub grub nonetheless.

We wandered around town, then Helen had to leave to pick up their friend Margaret (who was at a train station in Battle). Jill stayed and we wandered Rye again in the rain. One nice thing: Jill had forgotten her umbrella at lunch and it was still their waiting for her when she realized it and went back to retreive it.

After getting Jill on a train back to London, Kate, Michelle and I tried to find the Camber Castle - which is out in the field just to the south of Rye. I have gotten really spoiled in the states: the paths here are just not well marked and maintained. We found the start of the path, but walking in the middle of the field it didn't feel like we were going on the right path. Also we weren't really dressed for the challenge that is avoiding sheep shit in the middle of a field. That and the menacing weather forced us to turn back.

Michelle and Kate went back to the hotel and I set out to find the elusive footpath for jogging on our last morning in Rye. Eventually I found the entrance near the Landsgate and walked back to the hotel. I am usually very very good with direction, but something about the layout of Rye really confused my sense of direction. I finally understood it all after walking around the day before we left.

After a brief rest and snooze in the hotel, we had a great but pricey dinner at a place called The George in Rye. We shared a bottle of slightly sweeter but a local wine from Bodiam Castle. Our nightcap was more geeking at the internet cafe across from our B&B.

2006-08-23T22:19:00.000-07:00

Rye - day 2

Today we woke up late after my second fitful night of sleep. I don't know if it was that I was sleeping close to the main road or those @)$* seagulls screaming at 5am but I felt like a zombie when I woke up. Kate would probably say it was the ghosts. She did say that I talked in my sleep again.

Another huge breakfast with even more toast (what is it with the toast?) where I had "porridge" (oatmeal for the rest of us) and tried this nasty stuff called Marmite. Kate and Michelle had eggs that apparently rival their mother's light and fluffy breakfast offerings. After we were stuffed we did the thrilling job of 2 loads of laundry. Kate and I thought about taking the train to Cantebury in the afternoon but those plans never quite were realized. Instead we puttered around Rye, visiting the Wednesday Farmers Market, the St. Mary's church (and bell tower) and a bunch of the wonderful little shops. The town was hopping - we didn't realize how popular it was because it had been dead quiet during the evenings when we were around since we arrived. (The pictures are all in this album)

From the top of the bell tower you can really understand why they built the town where they did - you can see everywhere. Just as I was climbing down, the clock struck 1 and my ear felt like it was packed with cotton the rest of the day.

We walked over to the Ypres Tower, where we saw the hoard or French teens. At least we assumed they were French as that was what they were speaking. They had invaded the town for the day. They were being... so... teenlike. I kind of wished Matthew was there to see how they acted because, well, it was so similar to him and his friends, it transcended cultural boundaries. It did make me miss the kids though.

We had lunch near the Rye Castle/Ypres Tower Museum at the Ypres Castle Inn. Kate and Michelle had an Asparagus soup and a pint of a different type of cider (it might have been Magners), and I had a Dover Sole that was litterally fresh off the boat caught in Rye bay. The sole was served bone in, which was ok, but there was also some guts or brains or something that was kind of gross which I could have done without. It was bathed in butter and lemon and was incredibly tender. The garnish was a seaweed called Samphire that grows only natively in the Rye marshland and (as the waiter claimed) one other place in Britain. The samphire was good, salty but a bit freaky to eat.

We all agreed that the bartender was cute.

After lunch we wandered back up the hill and around town some more, then Kate got tired and went back to the room to nap. Michelle and wandered some more and bought some very funny postcards for my friend Elizabeth and some jewelry from a second hand store. I'm not usually one to buy presents on a trip, but these were just too perfect to pass up. The woman in the second hand store, who was VERY chatty, apparently lived in New York city around the time I was born and lived there.

Michelle and I had fantastic tea with scones, clotted cream and jam up at "Simon the Pieman" - Rye's oldest tea shop. The scones were incredible.

For dinner we walked to the other side of town, marvelling at how quiet it is when the day tourists leave. Our walk took us to where the "Landgate" stands, something we had missed in previous walks. There used to be 2 gates - the Landgate on one side of town and the Strandgate on the other. The Strandgate stood on the site where the hotel's kitchen is today. It was demolished in 1708 because carriages had gotten too big and couldn't fit through. The Landgate must have been wide enough to last the test of time, although it's obvious that it hwas heavily damaged and burned over the years (from the Normans, apparently).

The Old Borough Arms is partially built on the old town wall, and you can see the old wall in the hall near the downstairs rooms. There was originally an old wooden building in front of the wall, but it was blown up in WW II. Glynne told us that the Germans were on their way to bomb London but they were overpowered and pushed back. They didn't have enough fuel to get back with all of their munitions on boar, so they bombed the town). One thing I'm wondering is if the bombing that destroyed the old building was the same day as the bombing that destroyed the garden house where Henry James wrote.

Anyway, dinner was at the Fish Cafe - the downstairs cafe was a little less expensive, formal and hopping as the upstairs, so we chose to eat there. It was fabulous. We had a great wine (Berticot Savignon Cotes De Duras 2005), taramasalata with breadsticks and olives. I had a dish of Lobster, Globe Artichoke and Roquette risotto with parmesane cheese for dinner and an "Iced Cherry Parfait with Vanilla Syrup Basil" for desert. The Parfait was like a frozen whipped cream "cake" with cherries in it. MMMMMMM.

Our post dinner activity included a bit of time at the internet cafe across the street and digesting.

2006-08-22T22:02:00.000-07:00

Rye - day 1

Kate and I woke up at 6am to find the footpath for a jog. We wound up finding a very short footpath that ended as abruptly as it started, so we wandered around a neighborhood and between running and walking did about 2.25 miles according to my GPS. Then we wandered around the town before anything opened and found things like the Henry James house.

Click on the next picture to see all sorts of photos from Rye:

Rye

Aug 22, 2006 - 93 Photos

We showered and went to breakfast with Michelle. Our host, Glynne, told us a few stories, including the fact that Paul McCartney came into the Mermaid store (downstairs) with his chauffer ("as you do"). He also said that Tom Chapin (of Keane) lives literally across the street from the place we stayed in. Not only that, we think Kate and my window looked practically into his window. Glynne said that Tom likes Rum Raisin ice cream and "fancies himself a bit."

Tuesday was the day we took the train to London to meet up with some of Kate's Keane buddies. The first train, the "Marsh Express" was a small two car train that didn't really honk at crossings. It was more like the train said "excuse me" in a soft little "beee-deep." We changed trains at Ashford International and took another train to Charring Cross. We waited in "the" Trafalgar square for a while for Kate's friends to show up. "The" is in quotes because it was a little sur-real that I was really there. You can see the photos from our trip to London by clicking on the next image.

Tuesday trip to London

Aug 22, 2006 - 31 Photos

For lunch we tried to eat in the Crypt (near by), but it was too packed and instead found an Irish pub near Leicester Station. After lunch a few of the Keanies split off, but Mel, Helen and Jill went with the three of us, past St. Arbucks (the patron Saint of Coffee) to take an open air double decker tour bus.

All day long there were a lot of helicopters and sirens, but we didn't quite know what was going on. It turns out that while we were there, they were arraigning 11 of the terrorist suspected in the most recent airline bombing attempt.

We all slept on the train going back to Rye and had dinner at the Ship Inn Pub across the street. That's where I had my first Scrumpy Jack - which was QUITE a good cider. I wonder if they sell it in Seattle. Kate sacked out right after dinner and I took Michelle on the same walking tour Kate and I had done that morning.

2006-08-21T21:35:00.000-07:00

Wolverhampton to Rye by way of Warick Castle

Michelle and I started the morning the usual way, waking up, bathing and going down to breakfast. We knew Kate had arrived sometime during the night because the deserts we left her from our dinner the night before were no longer in front of her door.

Breakfast included a choice of cereal, toast and more toast, OJ, and a "traditional English Breakfast" - more toast, eggs, bacon, banger and beans. The woman looked at me like I was nuts when I asked for no banger and bacon (I guess they don't quite understand non-meat eaters...)

As we were checking out, we found out more about our hotel. It's 325 years old. The owner claims it's haunted, even though she doesn't beleive in things like that. They had the Ghostbusters come out and apparently the ghost is a young girl who follows the owner around. The girl was puportedly killed and thwon down the well in back. I told them taht my electrical outlet (in the corner of my room) didn't work and they claimed the ghost was probably playing a trick on me. Yeah right. I think I just forgot to turn on the electrical outlet (later in the trip I noticed on/off switches on a lot of the outlets and I think that's what was going on).

The restaurant had an interesting history - or at least the name did. King Charles II - who in the picture in the restaurant looks like Jonathan Pryce in Pirates of the Carribbean - stopped at this farm to gather his troups on the way to France.

After our morning walk around the grounds (pictures) and bit of historical trivia, we whipped the poor hamsters under the hood of our Toyoda into shape and got on the road ("Run Forest, Run!").

We stopped at Warick castle in the Town of Warick. All through of us went through the tour of the staterooms. Michelle and I went up into the ramparts to see the incredible view while Kate went to the archery and Birds of Prey exhibitions.

An album of the castle and the surrounds can be found by clicking on the on the following picture.

Warick

Aug 21, 2006 - 50 Photos

After our explorations of the castle, we wandered over the river to see the trebuchet. The two guys who were "in period costumes" were pretty giddy. Apparently they had broken the worlds record for the longest toss of a 20kg ball, 228 meters. One guy said "Do you know any other world record holders? I think not!" They also said that "If anyone else comes along and beats their record, they still have 4 turns (of the trebuchet)" - apparently daring them to try to hurl the thing further still.

By this time we were all pretty hungry, so we stopped at the Thomas Oken Tearoom and had a great lunch and some tea. Michelle had a salmon salad sandwhich, Kate had ham and I had cheese and bread. Michelle's lunch included one of the best warm scones I've ever had, and a lovely rich brownie. I highly recommend having lunch there.

Michelle did the driving all the way to Rye - the "carriage ways" weren't a problem, minus the traffic on the M25 going "Anti-clockwise." A268 is a very twisty windy road and I was starting to have some problems with car sickness. The thing that did me in was when we got lost in Rye ... I finally had to jump out of the car and get some fresh air. It wasn't Michelle's driving, it was my really sad excuse for a stomach.

We finally found our B&B, run by Glynn and Lynn, called the Old Boroughs Arms. We had dinner qat a place called Simply Italian across the street - a suprisingly good meal with a very good bottle of Pinot Grigio - a 2005 Le Due Glare - Italian Tinazzi. The next day we found out that the owner of this restaurant is actually on the same Keane fan board as Kate.

2006-08-20T14:14:00.000-07:00

Amsterdam to London to Wolverhampton

Amsterdam was wet and green and flatter than I expected - even flatter than Michigan! At this point I wandered around the wonderful airport (Schipol is fantastic), found an place where I could access the internet and just let a few people know I was ok. I couldn't get in touch with Kate and Michelle - they were probably still in the air (their flight was from Chicago to Heathrow directly), and they didn't have a cell phone anyway.

Why do I mention this? Because my plane was delayed leaving Amsterdam. Why?
1. The original plane was apparently hit by lightning (it was quite stormy) necessitating a plane change which
2. Necessitated a crew change, which
3. Delayed us until we got caught in another thunderstorm and downpour, which
4. mean we were delayed getting into Heathrow because our gate was blocked for 15 minutes upon arrival.

I just wondered how I would tell Kate and Michelle I was late. I hoped they would find KLM and find out for themselves.

I walked off the plane and through customs easily enough. It seems my bag wasn't opened by TSA, which was good considering how packed it was. I tried to get money from the cash machine, but it wouldn't dispense any (something Dean warned me about)... As I turned to find out where the Enterprise counter was near the United flight I bumped into Kate who was looking for me!

We took the Heathrow Express (free from Terminal 4 to Terminal 1, 2, 3). That's when I had my first glimmer into the "hurry and wait" that is the joy of flying through Heathrow. First they had to clear the train. Then they had to inspect the train. Then the train took 4 minutes to get to the other terminals. FINALLY we met up with Michelle who was dealing with renting the car.

>After Michelle and Kate got the car stuff squared away, they called us a shuttle, which gave us more time to "hurry up and wait." We were finally on the road around 2pm with Michelle driving! Of course we got lost once near Heathrow after hitting our first roundabout. No great surprise there. Our drive up to Wolverhampton was pretty uneventful - except that we got lost again near Wolverhampton and wound up in Coventry. But Michelle was quite the "driving on the left" trouper.

Along the way we remarked how similar the countryside looked to that of Washington State. Particularly coming down into this valley, which really reminded us of going Northbound on I-5 into the Skagit Valley.

Over the week, our mantra while driving (and particularly making turns) was "left left left left left..." - like the Seagulls who say "Mine mine mine" in "Finding Nemo

The B&B in Wolverhampton was fantastic - the Featherstone Farm Hotel. There are some more pictures of the Hotel's grounds here.

We each got a separate room. Michelle had a very pretty room with a huge fireplace.

Kate's was just small.

Mine was upstairs and was a little odder than the other two. It's obvious that my bathroom was once a closet and it only had a tub, but I managed to clean myself up just fine anyway.

After we showered, I drove the car to drop Kate off at the V Festival so she could meet with her fellow Keane Junkies (tm). It was about 10 miles away, and she found she could take a cab back. Michelle and I stopped at a pub on the way back, but we found out they stopped serving food at 5pm. We wound up eating at a place called the "Spread Eagle" (I kid you not). Michelle had the Fish and Chips and I had a pretty good Chicken Tikka Masala and a very good Strongbow Cider. Thus began my "cider tasting spree" across England and Ireland.

What whe *should* have done was gone back to the Indian restaurant attached to the B&B called the King's Repose. Had we known that this restaurant was open before leaving to drop Kate off, we would have eaten there... It's supposed to be some of the best Indian food in the country. Instead we just had an after dinner drink there.

That night I was out like a light and slept very well.

2006-08-19T13:40:00.000-07:00

Seattle to Amsterdam

The take off from Seattle was completely uneventful, which is always a good start.

After the usual "blah-dy-blah" about the safety, they introduced the seat back video systems on KLM's A330. The flight attendant literally said "There is a delay when you press the buttons. That is how the system works." The "user interface expert" in me just found that amazingly funny. They didn't say "this is by design" - the usual cop out. No apologies for the delay, but it's bad enough that they had to mention it. If it's bad enough to mention, shouldn't they FIX it?

Then shortly after take off they said they had to reboot the seat back system. First off, they said it would take 20 minutes. I found that odd. 20 minutes to reboot a computer system? Then the further said that your seatback would not be able to move during this time. Maybe I misunderstood - but just how bad could they design this that the seatbacks are controlled by the same system as the seat back video system.

During the reboot, up pops the Linux Penguin. This of course made me laugh. (As an aside, this apparently also happened during the flight Ruben and the kids took, as well as our flight back from Amsterdam -> Detroit 2 weeks later.).

I couldn't sleep during the flight so I knit, watched "Thank you for Smoking" (a must see), "Akeelah and the Bee" (predictable, but still a good movie) and "Lucky Number Slevin" (whidh was also good, despite the violence. There's a bit of a twist to that movie that I figured out early, but it still was good).

Somewhere over Greenland we saw "Sunset" towards the back of the plane and we turned slightly south. It never got perfectly dark, however.

The cresent moon over the wing was really pretty though.

At one point I looked out the window and saw a city of lights in the middle of "no where" in the ocean - it may have been Iceland. Then An hour? or so later, the sun "rose" off the front of the plane.

As we were landing in Amsterdam, the sudden realization that I was vacationing solo in another country and continent really hit.

2006-07-11T22:22:00.000-07:00

Two friends gave me some advice about driving in Ireland. The first was from my friend who lives in Ireland:

The car you rent will probably base the main speedometer and distance calculator on miles, but our speed limits and roadsigns are now in kilometers. So when you see that the speed limit on open roads is 100, that really means about 60mph, and so on. there will be a smaller kph scale on your speedometer, harder to read, but there all the same
More or less zero-tolerance for drink driving here. The limit is about a slow beer, or a half beer, and after that it's not really on. So in choosing accommodation, if planning a drink or two, try to make them close together.
Irish town names are generally anglicized from their old Irish names. So, for instance, Galway used to be Gaillimh. Many signs will use the Irish name rather than the English one, so watch out for that. Mostly you can guess - Ennis is Inis, Limerick is Luimneach, all fairly similar. Sometimes, though, there's no real relationship. Like Waterford is Port Lairge, which looks more like Portlaois, so be careful. Roads are numbered though, so that's a good guide
If someone approaching you on the road flashes their headlights at you, it means slow down. There's either a hazard ahead, like a flock of sheep on the road or something, or there's a garda speed checkpoint round the corner.
We call our police Garda, short for garda siochána, or guardians of the peace. They're unarmed, but have plenty of attitude. If pulled over for any accidental misdimeanour, the best greeting is a big smile, and "Evening, guard!". They like that.
You'll see signs on the sides of the roads proclaiming how many people have been killed on the roads of that county in the last four years. The signs are erected by the NRA. This does not mean that right-wing gun-nuts are popping off Irish motorists. It stands for national roads authority
You'll also see signs all over the place warning of major roadworks ahead. Sometimes there are, more often there aren't. Better slow down a bit, just in case.
In some parts of Clare, bored youth no doubt related distantly to ate spend their time twisting roadsigns for their own perverse amusement. Get yourselves a road map.
Times don't relate well to distance out the West. A really good website for planning journey times and route is http://www.theaa.com/travelwatch/planner_main.jsp?database=I
The worst drivers are nuns and men in flat caps. Give them lots of space if you can. Nuns are harder to recognise these days, except by their driving.

Then I received the following things to remember from a friend who had visited Ireland a few years ago.

Major highways in Ireland make 101 (in the Pacific Northwest) look like an interstate. Except for the motorways around Dublin, expect a highway to be two lanes, no shoulders, and stone walls on the side. If you're lucky, you might replace one of the walls with a cliff.
Speed limit is 60 MPH, but you're unlikely to get near it. If you average 40, you're doing great.
Speed limits are marked below the national speed limit. There's an "end of limited speed" symbol which means you can drive 60.
Signs are sometimes in kilometers, sometimes in miles. Oh well.
Passing is not for beginners.
An Audi A4/Volkswagen Passat, which looks midsize in the US, looks huge in Ireland.
Couch == bus. Lorry == truck. Bonnett == hood. Caravan == camper trailer. Garage == car park. Etc.
Couches can actually fit in a lane. Believe it or not.
Car parks often have signs telling you how many open spaces are in the park.
Gas is priced in liters, so it actually costs 4X as much as you think at first. Fortunately, it's 95 octane, rather than the wimpy stuff we get here.
Sheep have right of way. Yes, there are sheep on the highways, especially at night. Imagine sheep wandering across I-5 between Portland and Seattle, it's kinda like that. Drive carefully.
Your first roundabout will scare the living shit out of you. Don't be ashamed to leave it immediately. Roundabouts range from 4 lanes deep near big cities to a yellow circle painted in the middle of an intersection. Same rules always apply: cars in the roundabout have right of way. And don't forget, on the big ones, you can actually go around again. Roundabouts are your friends. In the Republic, there's no limit on the number of times you can go around (I think you can only go around twice in the north).
This: http://www.swindonweb.com/life/lifemagi1.jpg is real. Fortunately, it's in England, not Ireland.
Get the spelling of wherever you're headed. The pronunciation may not make any sense. For instance, Dun Laoghaire is pronounced "Dun(e) Leary".
Signage can be confusing, until you get used to the way it works.
Have a navigator. Navigator is essential for telling you where to get out of the roundabout. Get directions like "1st exit", "2nd exit", etc. Also, "9 o'clock", "11 o'clock", etc can be useful.
Cities are evil. Don't drive there. Dublin is for pedestrians and taxis, not silly Americans in cars. Trust me, drive there and you'll be sorry. Don't venture inside the M50.
When you get to a corner, look right first, not left. In cars and on foot.
Cars with a big red L in the rear window have learners permits. They're probably still better than you on the left.
Take a drive the first day. We got our car in Galway, and headed north to Mayo. Great way to get used to driving on the left.
Practice driving stick in the US before you go there, if you're used to an automatic. Chances are you'll have a stick there, and you don't want to try to learn that and drive on the left at the same time.
All the controls are in the same place, except the stick shift. Turn signals, pedals, whatnot. But that stick in the left hand is entertaining.
Germans are as confused as you are. Just more aggressive and in an RV....