Dingle

We finally found the 'real' Ireland. Joined some friends for a holiday weekend on the Dingle Peninsula and have not been so delighted since I arrived on the Emerald Isle. The Dingle Peninsula is the Westernmost part of Ireland, and is the Westernmost point in Europe. It's just due North of the famous Ring of Kerry, and in my opinion, a far more authentic destination. We arrived late on a Friday night, and had been given instructions to go to a pub just opposite Foxy John's (another pub). So, the town of Dingle is not huge, but we could not find a Foxy John's pub. The only thing we could find was Foxy John's hardware store. At the end of the day, it turns out that most of the pubs in Dingle are hardware/miscellaneous stores by day and pubs by night. There's only space in most of them for 30 or so people, and the store counters turn into Guinness taps in the eveningtime. And in Dingle, there are always old men, tweed caps and singing - in such a thick brogue that it might be Gaelic. Fantastic. The next day, we hiked up to the top of Mt. Brandon in the rain, hail and wind (good test for the rain gear). And on our last day, we toured the peninsula by way of the Slea Head Drive (their own 'Ring'). Bonus... Dingle actually has real beaches. And Murphy's Ice Cream (so good that I need to give it its own post).......... More Dingle Photos here

Foggy hiking on Dingle's Mt. Brandon

Belgium and Amsterdam

Reuben and I recently took a long weekend to visit Amsterdam, somewhere we've been wanting to go for quite a while. It just so happened that flying to Brussles and driving to Amsterdam was cheaper than finding a direct flight to Amsterdam for the times that we wanted to go. So, we had a really nice side trip to Belgium while we were at it. We flew into Brussles on Friday morning, and spent the afternoon drinking Belgium ales and eating mussles and pommes frites. Topped it off with some gorgeous chocolates before heading to Amsterdam in the rain.

In Amsterdam, we took the first morning to do a bike tour where we rode out of town along the canals to visit a cheese factory and wooden shoe factory. Reuben is a HUGE Dutch cheese fan, so we bought several kilos of cheese to bring back with us. On our way back to town, we passed the Amsterdam Hilton where John Lennon and Yoko Ono spent their honeymoon on their infamous "bed-in for peace." In town that evening, we met up with a local Dutch friend, Roger Klaassen, and two other ex-pat friends from Scotland, Ron and Laura Patterson. Roger is the consummate tour guide and had arranged a private canal cruise and dinner for us at a fantastic little French spot. Great to see Amsterdam from a local's perspective. For the rest of the weekend, Reuben and I rented bikes and cruised around the city, making sure to see the Anne Frank house, Oude Kerk, the Heineken Brewery and of course the Red Light District, etc., etc. Driving back through Belgium, we had a late lunch in Antwerp and lazed a bit around town. I can't say enough about this part of the world - deserves another trip. More photos of Belgium and Amsterdam

In front of the Anne Frank Huis

Breaking the Blogging Ice... and Election Night Chic Rock

With voting out of the way last week via fax back to NC (who knows if they actually got it or counted it...), we were off to an Ida Maria concert downtown on Tues. night. It was fairly rockin' show and we showed our age by hiding back under a balcony stage right away from the main speakers in an attempt at hearing longevity. The venue was The Academy just a few blocks from Temple Bar and O'Connell street in Dublin. Here's a piece of the show:

Stella by Ida Maria




Seriously... It sound a lot better than that live. Great show.

Crossing the Ha'penny after the show...