Nice Relaxing Weekend

Not much to say this week. Fully settled into the new place, relaxed and had fun for the weekend, getting ready for Christmas in Jax.

Have a merry one!

The New Place

What a weekend - I'm exhausted! It feels strange to sit down. The move itself was pretty easy. I ended up getting an upgrade for free from Enterprise, and although the parking at shopping centers for the rest of the weekend was a bit scary, it sure shortened the length of time it took to move my stuff. I had three *very nice* guys helping me out, and we got it transferred in two trips on Friday night. Sitting in traffic on Leeson Street was the longest part. By 2 AM on Saturday morning, I had found places for the majority of my belongings. It already looks like I've lived here for years. This place feels more like home, for some strange reason.

The rest of the weekend was a combination of Christmas and housewares shopping. I had to get a stepladder while I had proper transportation. I can't imagine lugging a stepladder two miles or so, much worse - getting it onto a bus or a tram! My kitchen cabinets and some of the storage closets are super high, though. The ladder is a definite necessity.

Oh, also - I almost forgot. I decided to do my first load of laundry in the new place. I washed some towels and was proud to have found the right settings. After the wash was finished, I dug out the manual because I couldn't find the dryer settings. I was shocked and apalled to find out I have a washing machine. Period. No dryer! I am not so sure I'd have moved in here if I'd known that before. Hang drying takes about 2 days at a minimum, and I'm sure towels will take even longer! I'll let you know. I have two bath towels and two tea towels hanging right beside the bathroom radiator.

Anyway, like I said, this place feels more like home, so I'm enjoying it despite the lack of a drying machine. Here are some photos.

Merry Christmas from Berlin

Berlin was amazing, but certainly more so because the town is exploding with Christmas spirit! There were lights, decorations and Christmas markets everywhere. All this on top of a city with such a history lesson – wonderful!
I went to Berlin with my friend from work, Mark, and his two friends Paul and Christina. Christina is German, so there was no language barrier whatsoever. We had our own personal translator!
Our first stop after checking into the hotel was a little family owned Turkish restaurant. The population of Berlin is approximately 30% Turks! We ate like kings for only about €8 each. We had a mixed salad plate, Turkish bread and Tzatziki sauce (my favorite) and these lamb sausages with potatoes. Beautiful! We sat for a while just chatting away and absorbing the very friendly atmosphere. They even brought us a complimentary Turkish pizza to try. So nice!
Next, we headed closer toward the Sony Centre in Potsdamer Platz, where we encountered our first Christmas market and where I tried my first mulled wine, or “Gluhwein,” which is red wine heated and spiced with cinnamon sticks, vanilla, cloves, citrus and sugar. I am sad to report that I didn’t like it. It reminded me too much of sangria heated in the microwave. Too sweet. However, we found a booth selling chestnuts (roasting on an open fire) and THEY were delicious!
After we left Potsdamer Platz, we made our way to the remains of the Berlin Wall. There were guys there offering to stamp passports with official East Berlin stamps. I didn’t get a stamp because it seemed a little shady.

Across the street, there was a snow slide set up near yet another Christmas market. We watched people sliding down on their rafts for a while and found out we could get tickets for just over a euro. So we took our turn sliding down ourselves! It was the most fun ever. We got going pretty fast down that hill and just as I was wondering how we would stop before sliding right into the intersection, the guys at the bottom sort of stopped us with their feet – possibly the most dangerous job ever – and dumped us out! I had images of Chevy Chase sliding through town on his greased up sled.
We met a friend of Mark’s and Paul’s (Azim) for dinner that night and just after that I got super-tired and went back to the hotel for bed.
The next morning, Christina had left to meet her brother and his girlfriend, so the guys and I went into town intending to get the hop-on, hop-off tour bus, but went for a walking tour instead after having brats and coffee for breakfast. Strange combo, but when in Berlin, do what the Berliners do.

The walking tour was really good. We started at the Brandenburg Gate, where the hotel where Michael Jackson dangled the baby over the balcony is located. You get all kinds of history on the tour I guess. We learned about the war, the wall, the Holocaust and the burning of the books in 1933. We saw more of the wall, the parliament house, the site where Hitler’s bunker used to be, the Holocaust Memorial, Checkpoint Charlie and more. It was an amazing tour.

We met back up with Christina and met her brother and his girlfriend and had a coffee with them, then went to another Christmas Market and got some more food – some kind of fried potato cake thing with bacon in it – to die for. Later we met back up with Azim and went to a club and had a great time dancing and drinking Beck’s. We stopped for kebabs on the way home and hit the sack shortly after.

Our last day in Berlin, we decided to take the hop-on, hop-off tour. We rode it around the city until the heat in the bus was too much for us, then got off on the Kurfurstendamm, which is the main shopping street in Berlin. We saw the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedachtniskirche, which is the cathedral that was bombed in 1943 and was allowed to stand as a memorial and museum. We had a lunch of ham, sauerkraut and potatoes, then went shopping at some funky shops for souvenirs and then to the biggest Christmas market of them all – the Gendarmenmarkt. We spent the whole afternoon there, trying food and wandering the various stalls full of jewelry, candles, Christmas ornaments and all kinds of other stuff.

Our last experience in Berlin was at Azim’s apartment, where he hosted a dinner to celebrate Eid ul-Adha, the Muslim festival of sacrifice, celebrated in honor of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son for God and marking the end of the Hajj, which is the pilgrimage to Mecca. He cooked Indian food, which we ate without forks or spoons, scooping it with pieces of bread. He told the story of Abraham to us while he prepared to serve us. The food was delicious and we all felt honored to have been invited to celebrate with him. The evening was relaxing, filled with conversations about differences in cultures, as there were six nationalities represented at the table. We are the world!

Poor Venice

Venice is in the news today with significant flooding throughout the city. It's pretty weird seeing photos of flooded streets there, where I was just wandering about 6 weeks ago!

Check out this photo. The guy behind the counter who is sort of looking at the camera served me a sandwich and a cappuccino on my last day in Venice!

Christmas in Dublin

A Trip to Eason's

My friend Janelle invited me to meet her at the Eason's on O'Connell Street just after noon today. She was going to have a book by Sarah Ferguson signed for her niece for a Christmas gift. So I got ready and as I put my jeans on I found €15 in my pocket! Happily, I walked out the front door and noticed frost all over the ground. Let me remind you - it was around noon!



I walked up to the bus stop in the bright sunshine and blue skies and thought 'what a great day!' It was super-cold, but so pretty outside. I had almost arrived at the bus stop when the 46A pulled up. My bus! No waiting! A miracle.
I got off the bus on O'Connell Street and walked into Eason's. The crowd in the store was thick and swarming around one particular spot in the middle of the store. Janelle called and I asked where she was and made a comment about the crowd and that even a television camera was there. She said, 'Well, it's the Duchess of York!" I felt so stupid. Before, I thought she was just talking about some Irish author and didn't make the connection. Sarah Ferguson - the Duchess of York! The original Fergie! (Not the Black Eyed Pea.)



I found them at the very end of a line for the signing. We waited for over an hour and there were several times we didn't think we'd get the book signed, because slowly we discovered the sad facts: she was leaving at 2, she was no longer taking photos, she was no longer writing dedications (only signing), then there was the fact that the line was barely moving.



However, good luck prevailed and we made it to the real Fergie. She was very nice, and since Janelle's niece's name is Ruby and the book is called Tea for Ruby, she dedicated it, signed it and smiled for a picture. Check her out!

Chilling Out in Amsterdam

I’ve returned from Holland! The weather was everything but warm. Michele and I enjoyed some moments of clear skies and sun, but we also experienced rain, sleet, hail and snow during the trip. All of these seemed to spontaneously appear out of nowhere. I have never been so cold!

We arrived on Thursday afternoon, and took the train from Schiphol Airport to Centraal Station – what a busy place! It reminded me of Grand Central in New York: not quite as busy, but in a grand building with a melting pot of people from everywhere going everywhere. We wound our way out of the station and into the streets of Amsterdam.

The first thing that blew me away was the sight of what looked like a billion bicycles, parked along the canal. Rush hour each day turned out to be more bicycles than cars, trams or buses. One of the highlights of the trip was seeing the evening commuting cyclists with their umbrellas in one hand and one handlebar in the other. I thought, “Bicycles and umbrellas don’t mix!” I couldn’t imagine being that coordinated.

The second thing that struck me was the shapes of the narrow old houses, leaning along the canal. Next I noticed that winter was in full effect in Amsterdam, as there was hardly a leaf to be found in the city. It was not too cold when we arrived, but then again we were carrying and rolling our luggage to the b&b, so our minds were occupied with the hunt for our destination. It was a struggle keeping the photo stops to a minimum as we journeyed through the charming city.

We arrived at the B&B Jordaan at 2:00, as scheduled, and rang the doorbell. Paul came to the door and introduced himself, shook our hands and led the way up the stairs to our room. It was a large, nicely decorated room with twin beds, a table, a wardrobe and a bathroom. Simple and sweet. Paul’s wife Charlotte came to check us in. She answered our questions about the city and when to see what, and after a pleasant conversation about what to eat, drink and see in Amsterdam, we were on our way to the Van Gogh Museum.

The walk was a bit long and a little confusing. We had to refer to the map several times as well as watching the directional signs pointing every which way. We strolled through a park and saw a dog swimming in a big pond, which made me shiver to think about it. By this time, it was around 4:00 and starting to get a bit chilly. Well, that’s an understatement. It was very cold. I almost never wear gloves, and I had to put them on as we wandered the streets. It only got colder during the rest of our time there.

The museum was amazing. I never get tired of seeing the paintings I saw in Art History books during school in real life – on the canvas right in front of me. There is something awe-inspiring about standing in front of the very canvas that Van Gogh toiled over before anyone – even he, himself – knew it would be a masterpiece. We saw his darker, earlier works right up through the beautiful, brightly colored irises and sunflowers he later painted, advised to use more color by his brother, Theo. We learned of his life and death, and the story of his collection.

When we left the museum, it was most definitely dark and we were feeling a bit peckish. We went to Wagamama, an Asian noodle place in Max Euweplein, a plaza near the southern central part of the city. It was nice to get a hot plate of fried rice and a cold Kirin and a much needed break from the cold. As we left the plaza after our dinner, we strolled up to the Dam, another large plaza in the very heart of Amsterdam. On the Dam are, amongst a host of tourists from all over the world wandering about, the Royal Palace, the National Monument and the New Church. That night it was a busy place, and unfortunately also the place where it began to rain on us.

I can deal with rain; after all, I have practice nearly two or three times a week living in Dublin. When you are sightseeing in the freezing cold, it’s not the most fun. We battled our hats, hoods and even my umbrella made an appearance. The whole thing was made even more comical since we had to constantly refer to the map, jumping under whatever awning was nearby. We accidentally ended up in the Red Light District, and I have to say it wasn’t my favorite place. Alas, we made it through the seedy neighborhoods and back to our own side of town. We found a bar close to the b&b, sat at the bar and ordered a Heineken. The music in this place was downright hideous. It sounded like we’d stumbled into an eighties movie – and NOT a fun one! It didn’t take me long to become completely uncomfortable when the hovering bartender and this old guy were sitting no more than two feet away from me all quiet and staring. We decided to call it a night when it was raining and hailing sporadically as we left the bar.

The next morning we got ready and went to Anne Frank’s house. The canal house was actually an office, and the secret annex where the family and others lived in hiding is the top floors of the old house. The tour was incredible. They had film footage of one of the helpers talking about the hiding period, and even a video of Anne’s father, who found and had the diary published after Anne’s death. There were clipped photos from magazines on the walls of the room that Anne slept in that she pasted there for decoration. The last room contained her original diary, which was particularly moving. I’m reading the book right now and it means much more since I was just in the house she wrote in and about. It’s hard to believe a little girl went through that kind of thing and captured the moments in a diary.

We decided to buy tickets for the “Fun hop on, hop off canal bus” (actually a boat) after we left Anne Frank’s house. This decision was made just after a pretty severe hail storm that left us soaked and freezing in a little stationery shop. We got warmed up and a little bit drier before walking to the boat stop. As soon as I bought my ticket, it was blown from my hands by the gusting wind and directly under the planks that served as the ticket office’s floor. Luckily, the ticket salesman saw it happen, so I was given another ticket. We soon learned that the tickets were fairly unnecessary because not one person ever looked at it again.

We rode the “fun” canal bus to the Rijksmuseum stop and walked over to the Heineken Experience, which lifted our spirits after the heavy tour of the Anne Frank house. I liked this better than the Guinness Storehouse. Heineken had much more to offer – a Brew You Ride, where you virtually experience being the beer as it is brewed, bottled, and sent off to a party. The floor beneath you moves and shakes! They also had places where you could bottle your own beer with your name on it, make a music video, and watch old Heineken commercials in a little green-lit pod. AND you get TWO free Heinekens!! Total score.

After our Heineken experience and getting caught in more hail (very hard this time) we ate lunch at a very cute café where the waiter translated the entire lunch menu from Dutch to English for us. He was friendly and we got our food quickly - I had chicken with mozzarella on a ciabatta with rocket and it was very good. Michele had a rib-eye sandwich that looked delicious too!

We got back to the boat and rode the entire tour around the canals, learning more about Amsterdam along the way. We discovered that the canals are over 100 kilometers in length and only nine feet deep. We learned that the houses all have hoisting hooks on their roofs to aid in moving furniture to the higher floors through windows. I can think of a couple of times that might have come in handy for my moves!

After we got off the tour, we strolled back to the b&b for some rest and I tried to plan out where we could go for dinner that evening. We’d been rained and hailed on all day and were wiped out and didn’t care to walk around much in the bad weather again. I found a couple of local places and we tried one first that was supposed to have bitterballen, which is a traditional Dutch dish of meat balls made with meat and potato, but they didn’t have it. We drank some Heineken and moved on. We came to a busy street and saw plenty of pizza places and cafes, but we ended up back near the b&b at a Tapas restaurant. The place was dark, barely lit by more than candles. Michele said it looked like a vampire place. I could see that. The menu, again, was in Dutch, so we ordered Tapas voor Twee (tapas for two) and hoped for the best. The wait was a bit long, but the restaurant was really entertaining, with a few big crowds being noisy, even singing Dutch songs that could have been school songs? We weren’t sure, but it was fun to listen to and even more fun to watch. After a salad, some calamari, some chicken, some sardines (only I ate those), some olives, some pork and some bread we left stuffed. It was pretty late so we went back to the b&b and hit the sack.

Saturday morning we watched the snow while we ate our breakfast, checked out and walked to the bus stop to wait for the bus to Centraal Station. While we were there, it snowed again, and I thought about how much nicer snow is when you’re watching it from inside a nice warm place. We rented a locker for our luggage inside Centraal Station and caught the canal tour again since our tickets were good until noon. This time we rode to Waterlooplein to see City Hall, the music theatre and the Waterlooplein Flea Market, where I am proud to say I bought a Big Lebowski t-shirt. I also bought some socks to replace the ones I had on, which were soaking wet.

After the market we sat inside a coffee shop for a while with a hot chocolate (Michele) and a chai latte (for me). I changed my socks and began to feel thawed. We walked to the Dam after our toasty beverages, to see it in the daytime. It was such a nice walk. We had blue skies for about two hours while we strolled and stopped into a few souvenir shops and markets along the way. As we approached the Dam, it began to hail again… the hard stuff! We hid under an awning and then ran into a store across the way.

It was at this point I realized my socks were not defective – my shoes were. Apparently they were leaking from the soles and my feet were again soaking wet and freezing cold. Beginning to worry about frost bite, we snapped a few photos and headed back toward Centraal Station to get into the lockers so that I could change my shoes. We had to pay again, but it was worth it. I had dry feet for the rest of the day and was a lot happier for it.

We asked for directions to a spot called Elf for lunch and took a long walk there only to realize it was closed. Anyway, it was a nice walk because it wasn’t raining, snowing or hailing and the sky was even a bit blue. We walked back into the center of town for lunch at this really weird place that had steaks and stuff. This place was near the touristy place with all the coffee shops, so we were a bit concerned about the quality. We had salads with grilled chicken and surprisingly it was very good.

We made a few more sightseeing stops and then headed for the airport, which we hate by the way. This place was monstrous, first of all. The signs are a little confusing and from what we could tell you can’t check in with a human, it is done only by the electronic kiosks. Therefore we were not able to sit together on the plane, since I had booked a seat and Michele had not. To make matters worse, the security checks happen at the gates, which you would think is more effective, but I now have my doubts. When we got to the gate, we went through security where I was yelled at not ABOUT my liquids, but about the container they were in. It’s clear plastic, but too big apparently. I have traveled to and from the US, Scotland, Austria, Italy, and Sweden and have never had a problem. Anyway, they let me through and I tried to get into the next part of a divided seating area but had to show my boarding pass, to which the man remarked, “We are sending you to London Heathrow.” I said, “I don’t want to go to London Heathrow.” He told me to go sit back down in the first area to wait for the Dublin flight. There were more seats in the second area, and no one was sitting in them because they were boarding the plane for London. Confused, I sat back down, enduring Mr. Jokey Jokemaker’s jab that I just didn’t want to go to London because Madonna had left. Hardy har har. Then another guy came up to us and told us we’d have to go through security again because they were going to close up again before the Dublin flight. Irate, we walked back out to the front and I HAPPENED to notice that the gate for Dublin had changed (no one told us, so I’m glad I saw it by accident). We proceeded to the new gate, where there were no chairs outside the security and boarding area. What confusion! Before too long, we were on the flight and all was well except for the dozen or so babies on the plane. But hey, that’s how it goes sometimes.

All-in-all, a really good trip despite the bad weather, wet socks and airport confusion.

Rainy Tour of Kilkenny

Even though it rained all day, we had fun in Kilkenny. We had a nice pub lunch and toured the castle and had a nice walk around town. Below are photos of the castle grounds, fallen leaves in a puddle and a spider web in front of a church.

A Quick Trip to the North

We made our way up north yesterday and saw Giant's Causeway and the northern coast. The weather was pretty decent, although at times we were freezing! That coastal wind will get right into your bones, and sometimes even seems to try to push you right over. Luckily at Giant's Causeway, we climbed about 200 steps to get to the vista so that warmed us up a bit! We had a good time and didn't even get lost. Kudos to Michele for lending her excellent navigation skills!

'Tis the Season!

Michele is visiting and we met some friends at the Duke last night. Fortunately (and I don't say that often about this) we got a bit lost and ended up on Grafton Street. It is all lit up for Christmas, and boy is it gorgeous!! This photo doesn't capture the full effect, because the lights twinkle. So pretty. I'll be strolling that way more often for the rest of the year.

An era has ended...

No more cold showers, folks - new shower installed today!! This may be the happiest day of my life.

Free Bus Trickery

Today I woke up early to take the first bus to work, and I made my way to the bus stop in the freezing, gusting wind. Our bus is wrapped in a Vodafone ad (the whole bus is an ad) that is bright red and very easy to spot as it approaches the stop. My friend Lee was there waiting already and we started chit-chatting away about his trip to Howth yesterday. Howth is just north of Dublin. He and his wife saw a seal!! So I was listening to his story about the seal and he looked over at the curb and turned back to me and said, "Sorry, I thought that was our bus." But it wasn't red. So I looked over at it and noticed a Vodafone logo on the side and just in time to see it pulling away, noticed that YES! It was indeed our bus. I guess they re-wrapped the bus in a Christmas theme and it looks nothing like it did when it was wrapped in red. So we missed the bus and had to wait for the next one to come by half an hour later. Of course this couldn't have happened on a milder day. The wind was at an all-time high and it felt so polar!! I bet that psycho bus driver was laughing at us as he pulled away. We call him Mr. Happy because he is the grumpiest person on earth. I am afraid of him. My bus stop is just before a giant s-shaped curve and as soon as the last person's foot is in the door he slams it closed and races around that curve, I think hoping that someone sustains an injury before getting safely to his or her seat. I have seen it almost happen quite a few times. We call the other bus driver Red, because he's a jolly fellow with red hair. But we do kind of make fun of him too, because he calls out "See-uh-laaahr" when we get off the bus. For weeks I didn't know what he was saying, but it sounded friendly enough so I didn't ask right away what he was saying. Then one day I asked someone and it turns out he's saying "see you later!" I love this country. I never get tired of the experiences.

Super Soaker

After stopping at the SPAR for a paper, I spent yesterday afternoon at a coffee shop with some friends, which could possibly become a Saturday ritual. While I was digging for the change to pay for the paper, the clerk handed me a free copy of Vanity Fair with the cover ripped off. One of my friends had picked up a DVD player for me during the week, so he brought that to the coffee shop. After coffee, we went to a bakery around the corner (walking past the Bernard Shaw birthplace) and I picked up a loaf of rye bread. I went back to Janelle's place because her boyfriend had a scart cord, which I needed for the DVD player. After eating some of the carrot cake Janelle had bought at the bakery to pass the time while it was raining, we headed for the tram. Right after we got out the door it started pouring and the wind went insane. In two blocks, my umbrella had turned inside out 4 times! With all of my bags of stuff, I decided to get a taxi. It was well worth the €5 I spent. However, I left my hat in the taxi, so now I have to buy a new one. BUT... my umbrella seems to have survived the debacle. I have had that umbrella for about 6 years now. Takes a lickin' and keeps on... well, working if the wind isn't crazy.

Disgruntled by yesterday's super-soaker, I stayed in most of today. I only went to the store to pick up some stuff for dinner tonight. Luckily, I made it out and back in between showers. There was even some sunshine for my stroll!

Shaw Birthplace

Yesterday I was out and about, as I sometimes like to be on the weekends here in Dublin, and stumbled onto the Bernard Shaw birthplace. How neat!

Jimmy Flynn

Holy cow - I almost forgot to mention this morning's bus stop run-in.

Ok, so I got up for the early bus this morning, and fortunately when I got there my buddy Lee from work was already there. If this had happened while I was standing there alone I would have been a little freaked. Anyway, I was standing there looking for my tic tacs (they help me not to cough) and I had my morning paper in my hand and this old guy walks up and starts talking to us about the sports headline! He asked us where we were from and started calling us Americanos and asked us about the election, "but I'm not gonna ask ye's who ye voted for!" Then he asked how we liked Ireland. He said Ireland was "HELL'S KITCHEN!!" He was slurring (obviously) and says, "ye's know how the Irish live? Ye's wanna see?" Then he whips a bottle of Smirnoff's out of his jacket and takes a big old swig on it. "That's how we does it! Eh heh heh heh heh!" He asked us all about our jobs and told us about his job (well, we think he did anyway. the slurring was pretty bad, I tell ya). He'd just eaten a full Irish breakfast at the Burlington Hotel, apparently, which is just up the street from our stop. He told us he was Jimmy Flynn and asked our names and we told him and he shook Lee's hand and then held my hand for about 3 full minutes while he tried to think of a song to sing to me. Luckily the bus pulled up at that point.

Now, I hate to paint a bad picture of Dublin. It's not all bad - you know I love it here. And in its defense, this is the only really urban place I've ever lived. For all I know, drunks could be wandering the streets in big cities everywhere at 7 in the morning. It's really hard to be bothered by them here. Jimmy was a jolly fellow. I guess you gotta do what you gotta do to get by. At least he was clean and didn't smell like pee. Hey - he was probably warmer than I was with that vodka in his system!

Flu Shot

Good news - I was able to get the flu shot. The lady took my temperature and I didn't have a fever so they went ahead with it. If only the flu shot covered EVERY kind of illness... still feeling bad today! The nose is slightly better and I've graduated to the tickly cough.

Sick.

Again!

I was supposed to get a flu shot at work tomorrow and now I can't because I'm sick. Again!

I think I'm just going to live through it this time. I am not shelling out any more money at the doctor's office.

Birthday Party

The St. Stephen's Green Shopping Centre is celebrating its 20th birthday, and had a laser show the other night. We stopped in just before watching the Arsenal v. Tottenham match at Sinnott's. This guy was living it up true stoner style. Check it out.

Amazing Day at Work

I was in the middle of a conference call today when it started snowing - huge, fluffy snow! In OCTOBER!!! Holy cow. You can kind of see it in this photo, but it really doesn't do it justice.



Remember I was here in Ireland this time last year, and didn't need to wear a coat the whole time I was here. People are saying this will be a cold winter for Ireland. Apparently it was the first time it's snowed in October in 70 years!

My heating is on and the fireplace is being used almost every night. Brrrrrr!

Loved Santorini!

My New Boyfriend

Trip of a Lifetime

Well, it’s been a decent week at work, considering I spent all of the previous week in the Mediterranean islands! Although I’d much rather be back there enjoying fun in the island sun, seeing beautiful places I’d only ever imagined, it was sort of nice getting back into a routine. I bet Dublin Airport will be calling me over the next few weeks, since I won’t be there again until November 20th. They’ll be wondering if something is wrong.

The trip was beyond my wildest dreams. First it was Venice, with its beautiful old buildings and endless charm, and the canal snaking through it. The first night, Friday the 10th I stayed in a hotel pretty close to the airport and it was adorable and the staff was very helpful, friendly and spoke English!! I ate pizza and drank a beer and fell asleep watching the only English channel I had – MTV, although I did watch a few minutes of Bruce Almighty in Italian. It was pretty funny.

The next morning after eating breakfast, I was on the bus to Venice. Getting that giant suitcase around was not my favorite thing, let me tell you, especially on and off of a crowded bus. I stepped off of the bus and into Piazzale Roma and made my way to the nearby information center. I was advised to take a water bus to Giudecca, where the Hilton was. This was where I was meeting Julie later. I thought €6.50 was a little steep for a little ride to the next island down, but whatever. The ride was nice and I got to see a lot of Venice from the canal and the lagoon between Venice city and Giudecca. When I got off the bus, I had quite a long walk to the hotel, and it included two bridges… with steps! So, I made it over the first bridge but I had to stop and rest twice. My suitcase was monstrous! When I got to the next bridge, I set the suitcase down and prepared to heft it over and this guy says, “Let me give you a hand with that.” I almost cried with appreciation and said, “Thanks so much – you’re my hero!” That was Mike, of Mike and Carol, probably one of the nicest couples I’ve ever met. I spent the whole hour I waited for Julie sitting with them in the lobby and chatting away. They are from Pennsylvania and were actually going on a cruise too! They had been on many cruises and just knew I would love my first cruise experience. They were interested in hearing all about my move to Dublin and my recent travels. They were so sweet!

Julie finally arrived at the hotel around 1:30 or 2 on Saturday. She had a rough time getting to the hotel from the airport – public transportation nightmare, which made me thankful I found my way so easily. Anyway, after she freshened up, we headed over to Venice on the free shuttle boat from the hotel. We stopped for gelatos immediately. YUM! I had forgotten how great it is to be in Italy with the pizza and gelato. I swear I could live on those two things alone! We spent the afternoon wandering the streets of Venice. We passed by countless glass shops and souvenir shops and stores with Venetian masks. The glass shops were beautiful. We found St. Mark’s Square (Piazza di San Marco) and went to the top of the Campanile, a huge tower that dominates the square (height-wise, anyway). The view was beautiful. After taking bunches of photos from our bird’s eye view of Venice, we went to Harry’s, where the Bellini was invented. We squeezed our way in and got yelled at by the waiters to wait until they wiped the table down to sit. We sat down and opened the menu to find the most expensive drinks I have ever seen. We ordered €15 Bellinis that were only about 8 ounces each, then abruptly left – after being yelled at again for trying to take a picture in the bar. We ended up eating full meals that cost less than the Bellinis at a restaurant in Rialto. I had pasta and Julie had pizza. It was good and fun to people watch while we ate and drank our wine. We found a complimentary bottle of Bellini in our room that night when we got back to the Hilton. We enjoyed it far more than our Bellinis at Harry’s, and no one even yelled at us!

The next day we wandered some more, enjoying the sights and great weather in Venice. We ate lunch at a little café on the sidewalk in a piazza and drank good Italian beer with our food. After lunch we went back to St. Mark’s Square and toured the Palazzo Ducale. It was a great time. We goofed around in the courtyard taking funny pictures of each other. The tour was great, too. We saw some courtrooms and a prison and the “Bridge of Sighs,” where they would walk prisoners to their execution. The day ended with slices of pizza and being a little lost getting back to the boat pickup, but we found our way eventually without too much aggravation and made our way back to the hotel. We had some wine at the rooftop bar of the Hilton before retiring for the evening.

Oh, and the whole time we walked around these guys were selling counterfeit bags on the streets, and kept asking us, “You know how much?!” We loved it and joked about it the whole rest of the trip. At one point, Julie answered the guys “One euro?” They didn’t think that was too funny.

On Monday morning, we walked around Giudecca, which we discovered was not too exciting, but we found a nice little bakery and had a sugary breakfast and a cappuccino, which is another thing the Italians have the prize for – their cappuccinos, no matter where you get them, are amazing.

We headed over to Venice for the last time on the free shuttle bus to have lunch and board the ship for our cruise. We had a great waiter at another sidewalk café. He asked us how we could leave him and Venice so soon. He was cute. The weather was so perfect, we enjoyed our lunch very much and decided we could have sat there all day. It was not to be – we had a cruise to get to!

We took a water bus to our ship’s port and I soon discovered that neither my ATM nor my credit card worked anymore. This is not a great thing to happen right before you board a cruise ship, especially with no cell phone minutes left. I was stuck making a very expensive ship-to-shore call to America, but got it straightened out eventually and rejoined the world of the financially sound tourists (days later). We checked in at the terminal and dropped off our suitcases.

The ship was amazing and enormous. Being an Italian cruise line, the cruisers were mostly Italian and Americans seemed to be a minority. Each time an announcement was made or entertainment was about to begin, it came to us in five languages. You can imagine how long things seemed to take sometimes. It was interesting, though. We explored the ship and got our bearings. Our cabin was on the 8th floor, and there were 11 floors all together. We put our stuff in our room and waited for our luggage to arrive. The cabin wasn’t as tiny as we thought it would be. The bathroom wasn’t even too bad. Soon our luggage arrived with Lowell, our cabin porter. After Lowell had shown us how everything worked, we headed up to the 11th floor and top deck of the ship to watch the departure from Venice. Everyone else was there, too. The sun was setting and the departure was pretty cool to witness. A tug boat took us out of the harbor and off we sailed into the sunset!

At dinner, we had been assigned to a table of six. One of the couples was there when we arrived – newlyweds from Fort Lauderdale. The other couple joined us a bit after we arrived and they were from Dallas. We all got along famously. We felt very lucky, considering we could have been stuck with a bunch of yahoos that we couldn’t stand. The dinners – every single night – were five courses. First an appetizer, then soup, then pasta, then the main course, then dessert. Salad and a cheese plate were options you could add if you wanted. YIKES! Most of the meals were delicious. It was most often Italian, and there was seafood and steak available nearly every night. Good stuff. After dinner, there was a show in the theatre. Some of them were good, others were TRAGIC. We went to the first one but walked out after the woman sang three songs. She looked like a drag queen but wasn’t a drag queen. It would have been better if she was a drag queen. So we played air hockey and wandered around some more until it was bed time.

The next morning, we were off on our excursion, having docked at Bari, Italy. Our tour guide was Francesca, and we decided that we loved her. All of her words ended with “–a.” For example, “in-a the village-a, the roofs-a were-a painted-a with-a symbols. Why? Because-a the residents-a wanted-a to feel-a closer-a to God-a.” She also said “Why?” after everything she told us before she gave us an explanation. It was so cute. We loved her. The excursion took us on a long bus ride to Alberobello, a beautiful old place filled with Trullo houses, which are white-washed stone with cobble cone-shaped roofs. There was a little bit of step climbing involved, so it was a bit warm, but absolutely gorgeous. We took lots of pictures in the village, then headed to the town square for a light pasta lunch with complimentary wine. It was mouth-watering pasta – perhaps the best I have ever had. I could have eaten about 20 pounds more of it! After lunch we went back to Bari, stopping at the Basilica of San Nicola (St. Nicholas – AKA, Santa Claus) which houses the grave of St. Nicholas himself. On the way to Bari, some of the people on the bus started singing Santa Claus is Coming to Town. It was pretty fun to laugh at them. The church was beautiful. After leaving the church, we went back toward the port and got back on the ship. Before and after every port, they scanned our cards out and back in. We also had to show our passports.

Wednesday was Katakolon/Olympia, Greece. This time our tour guide was over-informative, we thought. I stood there with my A.D.D., sweating while I waited to be able to walk around and explore the ruins of Olympia, but was glad we listened to him, because we learned a lot about the origin of the Olympic games. Apparently, back when they started, the athletes competed naked!! He mentioned this several times, which was funny. We saw the altar where the torch is lit for the start of all the Olympic games. It was pretty cool. Now I’ll appreciate it more when the Olympics are on TV. I will also appreciate the fact that the athletes are all clothed. After our tour of Olympia, we were taken back to Katakolon for lunch in a Greek restaurant, where we saw Greek dancing and tried some Greek appetizer-type food. It was fun stuff. We also bought some souvenirs at the shops after we finished eating, then we headed back to the ship.

And now, the moment we’ve all been waiting for… Santorini! What a gorgeous place. We rode a bus to the highest point on Santorini and took some photos, then headed down to a village called Megalochori where we saw the white-washed houses of the famous photos. We also got to see a vineyard up close. In Santorini, they wind up the grapevines into a sort of basket that sits on the ground. They do this to protect the fruit from the very high winds of the island. We went for a peaceful stroll and our tour guide, Luc, pointed out bell towers and told us about life in the village and showed us the only street sign in town. He said it’s very hard to tell people where you live there. After we walked through the village, we got back on the bus and rode to taste some of the wine. I tried the white, and didn’t even flinch about drinking wine at about 9:30 in the morning! We enjoyed the beautiful view from the winery, then took the bus to a Greek Orthodox church that began our free time. We sat for a while at a restaurant on a terrace overlooking the majority of Santorini, and marveled at the moment. I couldn’t believe we were there. I nearly had to pinch myself, again thinking I could have stayed there forever! Alas, we could not stay. We were due back at the ship at 1:00, and had to take a cable car down the mountain to the boat that would take us back to the ship. We wove our way through the village and before too long discovered that we’d be waiting a while for the cable car. The line was about five people thick and as long as about a quarter of a mile. We nearly saw fights break out while we waited in the line. We experienced boobs and purses and other personal belongings in our backs as well. I guess some people think they’re going to get ahead faster by pushing. Anyway, we finally made it to the cable cars and took a pretty, yet somewhat frightening ride down to the harbor and took the boat back to the ship.

We ate a buffet lunch and rested for a while until it was time to hit Mykonos that night. We had agreed the previous night to meet up with our usual dinner buddies for dinner on the island. We hit the harbor around sunset, and dined at a gorgeous restaurant with bright pink bougainvilleas and lights surrounding us. I had a lamb pastry dish, and it was so tasty I thought I might cry over it. We had a great time at dinner and a nice stroll around the harbor afterward. Then we headed back for the ship and shortly hit the sack.

On Friday our excursion took us from the port at Rhodes to Lindos, a village with narrow cobblestone streets and lots of shops and cafés. We did some shopping and sightseeing and then met back with the tour guide and got back on the bus. On the way back to Rhodes, we stopped at a really nice family-owned ceramics store where everything was hand detailed and painted by the family themselves. Afterward we stopped for lunch at a beautiful resort hotel for a Greek buffet lunch. It was really good food and I enjoyed tasting as many flavors of Greece as I could fit on my plate. Completely stuffed, we wandered around the hotel and its surroundings, including swimming pools and a lazy river where people were floating peacefully in the sun. We even walked down to the seaside for a few minutes and admired the shore, which is nothing like the beaches in Florida. We made our way back to the bus and fought snoozing as we listened to Dimitris, our tour guide, telling stories about his family and Greek heritage and weddings. His humor and storytelling skills were all that kept us awake while we rode to Rhodes that afternoon. We loved him too; he was our favorite. In Rhodes, we toured the Castle and walked the streets for shopping afterward. Then it was back to the ship again. We had dinner and watched a Hercules competition that was absolutely hilarious with men who were nothing like Hercules at all dressed as women in crazy outfits dancing around. We stayed up late for the midnight buffet, which was crowded and poorly organized. We were also disappointed to discover that the only food they had on the buffet were desserts. We went to bed after a very long day.

We spent Saturday at sea, and did a little gambling and some bingo and a little sunbathing until it was time for dinner again. It was kind of a boring day, but we passed it quickly and enjoyed relaxing. That night we had dinner entertainment as it was the farewell gala. The waiters had sparklers and the dinner crowd erupted in a congo line around the dining room. It was fun. After dinner, we saw a variety show and our own dinner table’s Melissa (the newlywed) was pulled onto the stage to participate in the show. She was a star!

Sunday we visited Dubrovnik. Our tour guide was too quiet to be heard effectively over the crowds all over the town. Dubrovnik is small and very pretty, with the cleanest streets I’ve ever seen anywhere. It’s as if they scrub them down every night. Despite the troubles hearing the tour guide, I enjoyed the city very much, and would love to go back someday. We visited monasteries, churches and a palace and all were beautiful. That night we went to dinner and later met with our group in the lounge for the cruise talent show. It was mostly Italian singing, but there were a few silly things the staff did during the show that were pretty funny. After the show, we had to pack and put our luggage in the hallway for disembarkation.

Monday morning we left the ship; Julie left a bit before I did since she had an early flight. We said our goodbyes and I waited for my color code to be called. I picked up my luggage and took the shuttle bus to Venice again. I found a place to leave my heavy luggage, and wandered the streets of Venice until it was time for me to leave. I walked so much that day I thought I might have to take a nap on a park bench. I made it the whole day with no nap and flew back without incident, even got back to Dublin early.

Sorry this was so long, and I can tell you there are even more details I left out but I’ll spare you for now. I had a great time – the trip of a lifetime.

Back from the Mediterranean

I am back in Dublin after 10 glorious days of vacation. What a great trip! Italy, Greece and Croatia - all beautiful places. They lived up to all my expectations. I am exhausted but it was totally worth it. I saw places I never thought I'd see. The stuff of dreams!! I have been going through my 1133 pictures (I know, I have a problem) and will post some soon. Here's one of me in Venice:

In the park

First Irish Haircut

I was nervous, but it's not too bad!

Some people still like Heart!

I have learned that my neighbor's favorite song in the world is 'Alone,' by Heart. He did not tell me that was his favorite song. I learned it by listening to it blasting and vibrating through my walls and his - get this - singing (screaming) along with the song. It's been fun - four times during the past week.

Early warnings...

Well, I may be in for a little bit harsher cold than I'm used to. Today I took the bus to the nearby shopping center to look for a big stock pot. I stood there in the icy, freezing wind waiting for the bus. I had to wrap my scarf around my head to shield my cheeks from it and to keep my hair in check.
Then, someone told me - I was not a witness to this myself - that it snowed a bit this afternoon! October the 1st, folks.
Let me just say that the chicken chili I made in my new pot was the perfect dinner for tonight. And I'm happy to say I have leftovers to last almost throughout the entire winter season!

Happy Birthday Allison!

Passed Out

Horrible quality photo, but I had to share. This woman was passed out cold on a bench at a popular square in Stockholm. I didn't want to take a photo using the flash for fear of disturbing her rest! You can't tell from the photo, but she seems to be a normal-looking woman. She even has a small shopping bag!

Crazy Country Roads

I forgot to mention yesterday, while I was on my drive in the country I encountered a beast of the small and crazy kind... I was on one of those great narrow winding Irish roads and I saw something in the street in the distance. At first I thought it was a rabbit, but as I approached I saw it was a little dog. I slowed down to a snail's pace since there as no one behind me and nearly stopped to see if the little guy was okay, because he was really in the middle of the road. Well, the little devil started baring his teeth and fiercely barking at me! So I started trying to move the car on past the crazy thing and he ran TOWARD the car!! I heard a THUMP and screeched to a halt thinking I had killed the poor thing, but immediately heard more barking. Not yelping; more crazy barking. Then I couldn't see him at all and was afraid to move, but cars were approaching from behind me so I had to creep to a very slow start and move on. As I made my way further down the road, I checked my rear view mirror and didn't see a dead dog, so I felt okay about it but still a bit creeped out with my heart racing. What a weirdo!!! I feel sure that even though I didn't kill him, he must have died by the end of the day hanging out in the street like that. Dumb dog.

Sunday Cloudy Sunday

Today I woke up feeling like a new woman! After a week of feeling so badly, I was relieved to feel almost completely normal this morning. I had a car for the weekend and was dog-sitting, so I decided to stop by a friend's "boot sale" - which is like a garage sale in a parking lot - on the way back to Dublin. The boot sale was in Greystones and was very close to the seafront. After a gorgeous few days it had been raining early this morning, but it cleared enough for a nice visit and general observation of the sale. On the way back to the car, I caught this great photo of a sailboat on the sea. You can just feel the chilly mist, can't you?

Powerscourt Gardens

Today I got out finally, after a week of doing nothing. I went to Powerscourt Gardens in Wicklow. Great day for a stroll. Blue sky, sunshine, mild temperature. Perfect!