Peter's take on Paris

Monday - 23 Oct


NB Due to slow internet connection - no photos 


We planned for a slower day and walked to the Pantheon for a look see. We actually see it from our apartment every day and it is an imposing and beautiful structure. And big. We had packed lunch (you can assume some ham, cheese, tomatoes, and bread +wine for any “we packed lunch” story). Toured the building including climbing to the top as part of a free tour add on. Fantastic and the 63,000 steps (I thought this was an easy day Dear??!!) we climbed I am sure, were good for me and “The Child Bride”. This building has many outstanding features but the centerpiece is probably Foucault’s Pendulum. Essentially a brass sphere swings on a thin wire connected to the ceiling of the building and this swinging ball (still with me?) illustrates the rotation of the Earth and thus shows an accurate time. 


OK. This was great and lunch in the gutter outside Pantheon (plastic cups and red wine included) yummo (surprise). How much history can a couple of middle aged tourists from Downunder endure? Let’s go to Notre Dame. As you do. We walked there too. We see a long queue when we get there and have a brief panic. But hey! It’s free to get in and the queue moves fast with M and P now in tow.


Well walk was worth it. For those who have been here you will remember the amazing stained glass windows (I know, it’s a Cathedral) but beautiful blues and pinks and reds.  Walked back to Chateau McClenaghan content and tired but could not resist a couple of little glasses of red at a sidewalk café close to our abode. Sipping and watching mad Paris traffic zoom by.

Tuesday. Leetle sleep in and then off to explore a department store called Galleries Laffayette – like Myers or DJs only bigger and with an unbeatable centre piece glass domed ceiling (Photo to follow in a few days). Herself satisfied craving for buying French clothing while himself wandered along in tow having a great great great time…….
I don’t know about you guys but shopping makes me very tired (especially if I am not actually buying anything). But not Child Bride. Let’s go see Arch de Triomphe she suggested. (I wonder if they serve beer there I secretly pined. They don’t). Getting dark now as our search for a very big building sort of meandered. Finally see it on Champs Elyses (“Go Cadel”!!!). Gee! It is big. Yay Napolean. Let’s climb it she suggests. I overwhelm her with my energy and desire to climb more stairs. But worth it in the end. It’s night time in Paris and we are on roof of the Arc. Eiffel Tower is glittering like a giant Christmas decoration and 360 degree views of city truly spectacular. Just fantastic…and yes….worth the climb. This is a definite must do if you are here. Best view of the Eiffel and Paris. 
Forgot to mention. Champs Elyses is a packed shopping strip at night and v v busy. Lots of street performers too. Why a certain group dragged me kicking and screaming onto the pavement to join them in their gymnastic gyrations and various body contortion maneuvers I do not know. I was not saying pick me! (photo to follow). Comment from Mary:  Confirmation that Peter was just standing next to me quietly when they picked him. I couldn't believe it! Metro home with dinner in a nice little restaurant on Avenue des Gobblins close to us. Sri Lankan owner very nice. Food excellent. Beer (first in days) went down fast.

Wednesday.

Whole day devoted to Fat Tire tour of Versailles. 
Metro to Fat Tire. Briefing. Walk to train station and off to Versailles we go (20 kms out of Paris). Arrive on a cool clear morning and collect bikes and off to only market in Versailles (but what a market). Brekkie – crepes made in street + fresh squeezed OJ and macca’s coffee! Fantastic brekkie. Then off exploring market with goal to choose lunch ingredients for picnic at Versailles later. Found a fantastic wine shop and the red turned out to be delicious (close to best on tour so far). Chose 3 cheeses from Fromager after tasting them. Man oh man. Fresh bread, the sweetest  tomatoes and a couple of terrines. 


We then set off on bikes with 14 other adventurers. We get the back door tour of Versailles ie the grounds etc (Palace comes later). The grounds are stunning (2,200 acres) and the grand and petite canals both breath taking in their beauty. This gives the Tiergarten in Berlin a serious run for its money. We park our bikes at the head of the Grand Canal looking along its length to the Palace 2 kms in the distance. A truly amazing view and hardly anyone where we are. The picnic is a resounding success with our diverse group excelling in food and wine choices. We have a couple of Americans whose parents own a vineyard in the USA and they have been to France before. Ditto another American couple (on their 30 yr anniversary trip as well) v v nice. Some Aussies, including a very loud but fun girl from Melbourne and a couple of really nice wine guzzling Canadians. Food shared as was wine and conversation and one of the most fantastic meals I have had (cheeses, tomatoes and raspberries to die for).  Eventually got to see Palace (spectacular and underwhelming in some ways. So much money spent on this building and grounds – viva le revolution!!!). 
Train home and leftovers and easy food for dinner then sleep.


We intend to spend most of Thursday at The Louvre (if our legs and feet allow)

Weekend Paris

Saturday morning - chilly in Paris.  Forecast is for max of 13 degrees so coat, hat and gloves on we set out for walkies. And did we walk!  We were looking for the Fat Tyre Tour office near to Eiffel Tower but I suspect we well and truely took the tourist route - even with maps in hand.  We stopped off for lunch half way at a lovely frantically busy cafe and shared what was basically a ham, potato and cheese open grill (very yummy) with salad and red wine.  Quite good value too so were quite happy with ourselves. On we went, finally finding the tour office about 3pm.  We booked for the Sunday tour as the forecast was for 18 degrees and a number of roads are closed to cars on  Sunday.  As the afternoon progressed, it appeared to warm up a little (or maybe it was that we were so warm from walking so far). We headed for the river and walked along for a couple of kilometres. It was a beautiful afternoon and we very relaxing (although our feet were starting to cry). 

Peter on the River Seine

NB: As the photo of Peter took about 15 mins to load - there will be few. I am going to read my book while I upload photos.


When our feet finally gave up we caught a bus that dropped us almost to our doorstep. We decided to have dinner just around the corner from our apartment as I needed something warm to eat. When we arrived just after 7pm it was relatively quiet but by 7.30 pm it was packed. Good atmosphere and excellent food - Peter had lamb chops and I had a veal chop with mushroom sauce and mashed veg - yummy.  We were were not sure about the etiquette of using our fingers to chew our bones (best bits), we decided to play it safe. 


Sunday morning we made our way by Metro to the Fat Tyre Office.  Funny how things work out. The Metro station where we were to catch the train had a notice in French which we couldn't understand. However, there were a couple of ladies from Peru who spoke French and a tiny English. Basically, we followed them (as did a young English couple) to an entrance the other side of a huge square (that was obviously what the notice said) and all was good (except for the fact that Peter got caught half way in the train doors and I had the drag him inside). We arrived just in time for the tour and off we went - a most spectacular Sunday morning.  Our guide, Jackson, was very knowledgeable about the history of Paris and its buildings.  We stopped off at a cafe in a park which was very nice but because it was near tourists sights, it was ridiculously expensive, particularly the beer (9 euro a glass) and coffee (4.80 euro). To put it into perspective, the lovely cafe near our apartment charges 2.80 euro for a coffee.  


One of the highlights of the tour was definitely being able to ride on the road for about 2kms along the River Seine with no traffic. FANASTIC! A number of roads are closed to cars between 10am and 6pm every Sunday - isn't that a great idea?


The wireless connection just dropped out and I lost a couple of paras. Will do more tomorrow. 

London's calling

Please note: Not too many photos for next week as downloading photos in apartment is very slow and I get very impatient (I know, hard to believe).


We arrived in London around lunchtime on Wednesday. I had booked a room at studio2let in Bloomsbury which was ideal as our train from Shropshire arrived at Euston station, a five min walk from our apartment, and we caught the Eurostar to Paris from St Pancras station, a five min walk from our apartment (opposite direction). Studio had everything we needed, including a small outdoor courtyard. Although extremely compact (e.g jug & crockery in bookshelf), it was very modern, quiet and reasonably priced at less than 100 pounds per night. Recommend it for 1 or 2 nights.


We caught up with Ben Edey, former Armidale boy and now a Lloyds banker, on Wed evening at a pub just down the road. Lovely guy (although an Arsenal supporter). 

Westminster

Although quite cool we were extremely lucky with the weather while in London - mostly blue skies.


Thursday was tourist day for us.   We arrived at Westminster Abbey to find a graduation ceremony just finishing so we had to wait over an hour to get in but it was sooo worth the 16 pounds each.  While waiting we visited St Margaret's, which is in the grounds of the Abbey.  What I didn't know is that it is exempt from the C of E and continues to be a Catholic Church.  We caught the tail end of mass which was interrupted by some undercover cops (dressed as tourists) forcefully removing a young couple who we suspected we pick-pocketing. 


We also found the houses of Parliament spectacular.

Parliament  

Afterwards we caught the tube to The Tower Bridge and took a cruise up the Thames.  It was great to get a different perspective of the different buildings, including the bridge, which I didn't see on my last visit to London.  

Cruising the Thames 

Before returning to our apartment we had an early dinner at a Nepalese restaurant.  Not that spicy but very tastey - unfortutnately both of us suffered from indigestion that night (too much info?)


Friday, 21st - up bright and early to catch the 9am Eurostar to Paris. First time visit to France for both of us so we were a wee bit excited.  We arrived in Paris at lunch time and, following the directions provided by our landlord, arrived at our apartment in the Latin Quarter about an hour later.  We are staying for a week in a studio apartment on the top floor of a 7 floor building. We have views of the Pantheon and the top 10th of the Eiffel Tower!  It is costing 450 euros for the week and we're very pleased with ourselves. It has more than enough room to swing a cat (larger than London apartment), except maybe the shower. Oh, and it was a miracle that the lift closed with both Peter and me and our two bags in it. TINY!


I'll report back on the neighbourhood but we went walking this a'noon and found lots of markets within ten mins. Neither of us had eaten so we ordered a white coffee (cafe creme) but got a short black AND the kitchen had just closed.  However, things did improve.  We decided to eat in as we were both a little tired (I read until 1.30am last night!)  We bought some beautful ham off the bone,  chicken, terrine, courgettes, cheese, tomatoes, crusty bread and a bottle of red. We ate at our little kitchen bench as the sun was going down over Paris. Pretty damn good.  


Hope everyone is well and happy.

Discovering Shropshire

Mary, Pete and Peter - Telford station

I’m writing this entry on the train from Birmingham to London on Wednesday morning.  Pete was kind enough to drive us to the station after we dropped off the hire car in the industrial area of Telford. I asked a lady at the station to take this photo of the three of us.


Both Carmel and Pete  recommended we visit the village of Ludlow and town of Shrewsbury. We headed out on Monday intending to visit both but only managed Ludlow, as we were so taken with it (even though we did get a parking ticket - not our fault, they should make Loading Zone signs clearer!) which reminds me, the number of speed cameras in this country is phenomenal - Peter is probably sick of hearing me say, 30 means 30, not 32, not 33 but 30!

shopping in downtown Ludlow

Monday, 15^th October

We had a lovely day in Ludlow and agreed that we could easily spend two days in the little village. It  has a number of tudor buildings - the originals, not the fake that I'm used to seeing.  They are very old (derr!!) and some make you wonder how they're still standing. This building has circa 1365 on the front (it is now a pub). can you believe that?

It was quite obvious that it was a foodie’s delight.  First stop was coffee at a tiny little café/deli in a side street (we’ve found that the best/most interesting places to eat are not on the main street). I commented to Peter that the area had a French influence and pointed out the French restaurant across the way. Peter said “…and this menu is very French also”. I had a chuckle as he hadn’t noticed the name of the café was ‘The French Pantry”.

As Pete rarely eats at home, we decided to cook dinner for him. We went looking for a recipe and found just the thing in a small bookshop. Rather than buy the book (it would have been no use to Pete) Peter photographed the recipe while I spoke in a louder than usual voice to cover the sound of the clicking camera. Quite funny.  We sourced the ingredients from the recommended providers rather than the supermarket, and bought the chicken from a butcher with pheasants hanging out the front:

Ludlow butcher

We had lunch in a 13^th century pub which offered eight of its own special ales and excellent food. Peter said the ‘Spinning Well” ale he had was one of the best beers he’s ever had.

Dinner, a chicken, vegie, sherry casserole was a great success.

Thurs morning we woke to blue skies and took it relatively easy in the morning. We headed off to Shrewsbury and arrived just in time for lunch! Surprise, Surprise.  We found a little place called The Bear Steps which must be the smallest café on the planet. There is a sign at the front to “Watch your head” for a very good reason. The ceiling must have been a fraction over six foot and I’m not exaggerating! This photo gives you a little bit of an idea: 

Bear Step cafe - Shrewsbury

St Mary’s Church (C of E I think), while no long used for services, was a beautiful old church from the 11^th century, beautiful stain glass windows and some original stone work still evident. Two retired gentlemen provided us with interesting facts about the church and its history. One, a retired bank manager, has a son living in Brisbane. Lovely old blokes they were.

St Mary's

The building that houses Shrewsbury Library is where Charles Darwin went to school. It is just down from Shrewsbury castle. Here are a few pics for your enjoyment.

Mary in the tower - Shrewsbury castle

We had a lovely time at Pete’s and were made to feel very welcome.

Shrewsbury Castle

The Lakes to Shropshire

There we were, sitting in a coffee shop in Ambleside trying to work out which route to take to Shropshire where we were to spend four nights with Pete Nicholls. Chatting to Pierre's wife the man at the next table apologised for listening in but said he had a particular interest in maps. Would you believe it? So he suggested we avoid such and such road like the plague as it is full of traffic lights, and, if we had time, to drive a little via the Yorkshire National Park. 


So off we headed on a beautiful sunny day, first by the lakes, then headed west towards Yorkshire. This photo was taken just outside Ambleside: 

Ambleside view

Again, we loved the scenery along windy country roads.  We bought sandwiches from a little town at the foot of Yorkshire national park and even this little place was so picturesque. We drove for about 20 mins into Yorkshire  and found another viaduct. To give you an idea of the scale, at the bottom of the picture are a couple of cars. You can also see how the countryside has changed significantly - very rugged.   

Yorkshire viaduct

By this time it was getting onto 2pm and we still had a fair way to go to Shropshire.  The map man advised us to do the last leg by the motor way - M6.  Although not particularly interesting, we made excellent time.  We got petrol half way (found out that was a mistake - price was 12p more than off the M6) and checked with the attendant about the speed limit. Although he was such a young person, he had an accent I associate with an old man (too much British TV!)  He told me the thought it was seventay, at least I always go seventay.  


We arrived at Pete's home just outside the village of Tibberton, a tiny village with only a pub.  Pete took us to dinner at a nearby pub called The Fox.  It was very busy and had a great atmosphere. 


Next day, Sunday, we went to Ironbridge, a lovely town with the first bridge made of? you guessed it, iron, was built around 1779!  Gee, just after Cook discovered Australia - what a contrast. 

bridge at Ironbridge

It was also a beautiful sunny day so we had lunch at a pub by the river in the sun. Soo relaxing.  I had a yummy field mushroom and goats cheese salad. 

Pete and Peter lunching

After lunch we strolled the streets, bought an icecream and generally chilled out. Most relaxing day of our trip so far. 

Windowshopping in Ironbridge

Peter's tales

Well hi everyone, this is the tour driver, so, as you would well imagine, I do not have a lot to report because I have responsibility for the safety and comfort of those travelling in business class seats in the car.
Apparently there have been many interesting sites but all I can report on are lorry sizes and speeds of approaching vehicles. Oh and how narrow and windy the roads are. That's Wine dy as in wine. Nor as in Wind.
Having said that there continue to be real highlights for me on this journey. Many revolve around Mary's inability to operate door locks and keys. This is the case everywhere. Locked in, locked out. So now I am door man as well.
As the Child Bride has probably reported, there have been many highlights on the way down from beautiful Ambleside Cumbria. The Southern Scottish (what could be call them?) Lowlands and the drive in Cumbria were so beautiful. We continually blurted out "Oh  Wow's" the whole drive. North Yorkshire was ditto and we came across this little (actually bloody huge) viaduct that still has trains running on it. Stopped here for bite and a beer.
Arriving at Tibberton was a highlight. Rural farming country.

Huge Viaduct - built for Roman steam trains circa 800ad

We have spent a relaxing and enjoyable day with Pete Nicholls exploring local sights including the very first iron bridge in the world. Plus lunch and beer. Good beer. Two pints each. Yum.
Hard to say what highlights stand out as each day has a new bunch. For me, eaves dropping on conversations and listening to local accents is a hoot. Really beautiful to hear.
Also. Beer. Different beers in every pub. Now that is a good idea. No doubt Irish stouts have been my favourite so far. So. That's it from me. Regards the DD.

Ohh, the Scottish and English Countryside

We collected our hire car (2-door Holden Astor) from a lovely Scottish lass on Thursday morning and managed to get out of Edinburgh with only one back-track needed. We decided to take the scenic route to the Lakes district in Cumbria, avoiding motorways so that we could enjoy the countryside.  On Craig Ritchie's (travel agent) advice, we went via Lauder, Melrose, Jedburgh and what excellent advice it was. the scenery was amazing.

Our first stop was at Lauder for coffee. The Flat Cat Gallery & coffee shop was a delightful little place in a small village. We both liked a number of their paintings, particularly by artists Jean Laing and Astgrid Trugg. Having had our caffeine fix we were ready for the road. Although we had our GPS, we didn't have a map of any kind (not the best planning) but the roads were well sign posted.

Viaduct

We were toodling along and noticed a beautiful bridge just off the road.   We pulled over and found another little gem of a bridge hidden below the road where some men were angling in a private stream.

Angler's bridge

Angler's in the Scottish countryside

Jedburgh Abbey

Next stop was Jedburgh where we dropped into the Tourist centre and bought a road atlas of the UK and Ireland (better late than ever). The tourist guy was very helpful and suggested we take the road along  Hadrian's Wall (unfortunately I didn't take any pics of the wall).  The wall itself, which runs for over 100 kms, isn't that startling but the countryside was beautiful (more of that later).  The Abbey above, which is right in the middle of the village, was built in the middle ages. It was a very impressive ruin which, considering its age, was in very good condition. We had toasted paninis for lunch at a little cafe run by an American before hitting the road. 

Us with Scotland in the background

We stopped at the Scotland-England border and got chatting to a nice man who was carting timber to be made into furniture. He chatted to us for a few minutes before offering to take a pic of us.  Although a little chilly it was a clear and mostly sunny day. 

We continued on until we turned off towards Hedrian's wall. This drive was breathtaking and we agreed that the Edinburgh - the Lakes drive definitely matched the best of Ireland. 

Little paddock near Carlisle

We kept ooing and aahing and wowing - the fact that the weather was perfect for driving probably helped. 

We had our first "extremely tense moment" with the driver not being particularly happy with the navigator. We ended up on the motor way (which we wanted to avoid) but luckily we were still headed in the right direction and the silence in the car only lasted 10 mins or so.  

We arrived in the little village of Ambleside about 5pm. Our B & B/guest house was very central  and luckily we're living out of one bag as we were on the top floor with no elevator (1800's house). We strolled around the village which had very narrow and windy streeets, a little similar to Kinsale in Ireland. We had dinner at a nice little restaurant that did a special 'early dinner'. This has been quite common across the UK where, if you order your meal by 7 or 7.30pm, it is cheaper than later on. I tried the pate which was nice but didn't match the superb one I had in Galway, followed by salmon (sound familiar?) Peter tried the game pie for main and found it interestly tastey. 

We woke to a very misty and dull day but this didn't discourage us from going on a 2.5 hour walk to a nearby village, via the lake.  Although it seemed to threaten to rain all day, it didn't. Before we headed off we dropped into a cafe for coffee and got talking to Pierre, who had lived in the area for 25 years (I actually didn't pick up any French accent). Peter will fill you in on Pierre later.  This photo of the church steeple was taken  from the cafe window (the next morning when the sky had cleared): 

Ambleside

Being Saturday, there were heaps of people (all seemed to be English) out walking, particularly with their dogs.  I had to take another photo of a sheep - it must be in the blood (Peter is quite amused how I keep being drawn to the different sheep): 

Ambleside sheep 

Here are a few shots of our walk which ended with lunch in a pub in Grasmere (recommended by Pierre): 

babbling brook

Grasmere Lake

 

Edinburgh

We arrived in Edinburgh on Monday evening and noticed something immediately - it wasn't raining - Oh bliss! We caught the airbus into Haymarket, the area in which we were staying, and a kind man who was heading in the same direction as us, basically escorted us the few blocks to our apartment, Fountain Court. The apartment was a two bedroom, with all facilities. 

We decided not to mess around and went direct to the tourist office to get tickets for the hop-on-hop-off bus.  the great thing with this one? It had a live person providing the commentary.  First stop, not surprisingly, was Edinburgh Castle where, by the way, we had the second best coffee of the trip (the first being in Dublin). We took the free 40 min guided tour (a group of only about ten people - surprising as there were people all over the place). The castle didn't disappoint nor did the weather, although it was a little chilly the tarten tights I purchased half an earlier did the job (don't worry, no photos).  We were both very impressed with Edinburgh - so many beautiful, old, buildings.  

View from castle (note blue sky)

Edinburgh Park

After the castle we continued on the bus tour before making our way slowly back to Fountain Court (about a 15 min walk from the centre of the city).  We called into a tiny pub thinking to get some dinner. They could only offer us crisps but one of the patrons recommended a Chinese place a block away called Chop Chop - http://www.chop-chop.co.uk/. He warned that it looked very ordinary on the outside but the food was great and Gordon Ramsay rated it his second favourite Chinese in the UK. Well, what a great little find it turned out to be - beautiful steamed dumplings, some extremely hot green snake beans (hotter than birds eye!). As usual, one of the highlights was the friendliness of the staff. One girl, from South West China, was particularly friendly and interested in Australia.  The food was so good we thought we may return tomorrow.

Peter at Edinburgh Castle

On Wednesday we visited The Georgian House in Charlotte Square. I would highly recommend this to anyone interested in getting a feel for what it would have been like living in this period.  Each room has a guide to talk about what the different things were for, such as a huge rotessorie in the kitchen which was turned by the heat from the fire. We spent nearly two hours there but unfortunately weren't able to take photos.  We then walked around the city for a few more hours before deciding in a repeat performance at Chop Chop, to be followed by Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy at this great little cinema. This reminds me, we nearly swetlered in the cinema due to the heating. In both Ireland and Scotland we've found the heating to be a little extreme. I don't know if Peter and I have become a little tough by not having central heating at home but really, what's wrong with putting on a jumper occasionally?

Jedburgh Abbey

Time to dinner - more next post on our fantastic drive from Edinburgh to The Lakes and some info on the photo at right. 

Wet and Windy Galway

Sunday, 9th October we woke to a very wet and windy day.  After a lovely breakfast of fresh fruit, yoghurt and omelet we had a nice easy morning at the B & B. Come lunch time we thought we should venture out - not necessarily the best decision we've made.  We donned our wet weather gear and umbrellas. After my umbrella turned inside out, it was put aside and I relied on the hood. We had afternoon tea at "Griffin's Tearooms", a lovely little baker with separate tearooms with open fire at the back - highly recommend it.

Griffin's Tearooms

We perservered with the whether checked out the catholic cathedral (by this time our jeans were very wet). Lovely cathedral but a bit chilly.  It was at this time that we decided it was time for the pub and what better place but The Crane, where we'd enjoyed music the night before.  Being Sunday afternoon there were about 8-10 musicians in the reserved 'musician's corner' and we enjoyed an hour or so of great Irish music.

Friends enjoying a quiet drink

Barb, Michael and Ryan Shaw arrived at the B & B five minutes before we returned. It was grand to see them and we had a lovely catch-up with them, first at a pub (photo below) and later at dinner at the restaurant, Kirby's, where Peter and I had enjoyed dinner the previous evening (we did check out other places but, given the weather and the menu, it won).

Dinner didn't disappoint and later the Peter, Barb & Michael tasted three different whiskies and rated each one. They all preferred a different whiskey - interesting.  We were then offered a complimentary drink from the bar in another section of the establishment. We're not sure if it was our Australian charm or they wanted to clear out that section of the restaurant (we suspected the latter).

Slept in this morning & arrived for breakfast probably not looking my best. I guess I could have at least combed my hair - it was Peter's fault of course - he didn't wake me!  After breakfast we farewelled the Shaws and decided to brave a drive around Galway Bay.  As the weather wasn't improving at all, we decided to visit the Galway Acquarium (bet not many of you have done that in Ireland!)  Then took a further drive where we saw a lady preparing for a swim. These shots below were taken about 3 mins apart.
I'm writing this as we wait for our flight from Galway airport (the size of Armidale's airport) to Edinburgh where we hope the weather might be a little kinder. Great little spot - we have wireless, a bar, home made cakes, and prices aren't airport prices either.

Brave Galway woman

Not so brave Aussie woman

Dingle Peninsular - Cliffs of Moher - Galway

After breakfasting with three people from Mississippi (David and Mary-Lou and Mary-Ellen or something similar) we left our B & B on the Dingle Peninsular and headed to Tralee by Conor Pass. We were warned about narrow roads - God knows what they call the roads we've already been travelling on! Our Mississippi friend had the added pressure of driving on the opposite site of the road and found driving quite stressful, particularly as he said there were three drivers in his car - him at the wheel plus his wife and sister-in-law.

The Plough B & B 

Conor Pass overlooking Dingle Bay

Once again, the scenery was quite spectacular. We followed the route suggested by our Irish friend from UNE, John Hickey.  First stop was Listowel where we were tempted to have lunch at 'Kevin's' but there was a food market in the Town Square and we had some yummy seafood tapas and paella from Carlos, who was from Cordoba, Spain.

Listowel, Co. Kerry

We caught the Tarbert car ferry across the River Shannon into County Clare and, after having a little argument with the gps, we headed off towards Doolin, just north of the Cliffs of Moher. It was a mostly bright and sunny day. I say mostly because you never know what the weather the next corner will bring.

Tarbert Ferry

We had a short stop at a tiny fishing village called Quilt. The stain glass windows in the chapel depict fishing boats - I loved the blue glass:

Quilty chapel

The travel agent had suggested we stay at Ennis, a larger town about 30km inland. We decided to stay closer to the Cliffs in the village of Doolin. Great decision.  First stop, however, were the Cliffs of Moher.  We arrived around 3.30 pm when the sun was just starting to go down over the cliffs, making visability not quite as good as I expect it would be in the mornings, however it was a clear sunny day and yes, they were spectacular:

Cliffs of Moher

We met some lovely people in Doolin: Eugene who ran the Ferry between Doolin and the Aaron Islands. He phoned Maeve for us to check if she had a vacancy at her B & B - she did.  He advised us that, due to weather, the ferry hadn't run for the last five days but he thought it would be running tomorrow, Saturday.  After checking into Maeve's we walked the three minutes to one of the four or five pubs in the tiny village, McGan's - 

There Peter had the best sausages 'toulouse sausages' he has ever had. I couldn't resist fish and chips as the town is known for two things, its music and its seafood. We then sat back and enjoyed the music, the highlights being Christy's Moore's 'Black is the Colour' which has beautiful lyrics - Black is the colour of my true love's hair; her lips are like some roses fair; she has the sweetest smile and the glentlest hands, I love the ground whereon she stands... and Peter Gabriel's 'Biko' - although not Irish, it was very moving. 

We woke to a foggy and misty day but were pleased to find that the ferry was still running to one of the three Aaron islands, Inisheer (Inis Oirr). We would catch it around 10 am and return around 3pm. Peter of course made a new best friend in who we would later find out was Eugene's brother, Dony.  Once Rugby and fottball (soccer) were mentioned, they had a great time. Dony told Peter he had just received a text advising that Sky TV would only be telecasting South African Rugby in future. England would be shown on the history channel, Ireland on the cartoon channel and I can't tink of the rest. He showed us a map of Ireland's view of football nations:

It was fantastic fun. The ferry looked like it would hold about 100 and the trip over could best be descried as being in an elevator which would go from the first floor to the third floor and back again in a second. This particular elevator, however, would treat you to semi verticle angles at the same time.  There were a number of people who seemed to be breathing as a woman would through contractions, while one poor lady just lost it, that is to say, lost the lot. While Peter and I were laughing and saying "isn't this great fun?"  As you can see from this photo, I was holding on for dear life. 

When we reached the island we went on a 40min tour with Ollie. Now Ollie would have to be the quietest tour guide I've ever come across.  He was about 30, had lived on the island (population 300) all his life, and was an 8th generation islander. He provided information  only when prompted and we were quite surprised that when he told us he made a living from tourism and "a little fishing". I thought it would be the other way around. 

The island itself was quite fascinating.  It had hundreds of small paddocks all enclosed with limestone fences. Also was interest was the sunken church of St Kevin's (Kevin and Mary seem to crop up an awful lot in Ireland). 

After our tour Ollie dropped us off at a little B & B which had a little front room acting as a cafe. Well, what a great little find this was. We shared the room with a young couple from Canada and a couple from the US. Everything was homemade by the lovely lady of about 55. She was originally from Dublin and had met her husband while holidaying on the island. She was a font of information. She told us how she uses sea weed as a thickener in her cooking.  peter couldn't resist the crab claws which had been caught just down the way, and I went for the seafood chowder because it was a bloody cold day. Both great hits. The six of us agreed that it is the simple things like this place which makes a holiday. As you can see from the photo of the graveyard, it was a very bleak day indeed. 

I've never seen anything like St Kevin's sunken church, dated 10th - 14th century. 

Something that has been particularly prevalent along the west coast is the amount of people speaking Gaelic. In fact, around Dingle, in particular, it was often difficult to find signs in English.





On the road again, Peter took it easy on the wet roads, arriving at our Galway B & B around 5pm.

 We walked up to Shop St (as recommended by John H) and ended up in a side st restaurant called 'Kirby's" where we had an absolutely delicious meal. Our table was right next to a group of about 30 girls on a hen's night.  Peter had "the best mussells' he's every had while my pate was right up there. Peter's chicken stuffed with parmesan & prosciutto was delic. I was determined not to have seafood as my last three meals had been fishy. I had salmon - enough said.  Here's a photo of the hen's girls. For those who are familiar with the term, a lot of them wore Gosford skirts - some of them got a way with it and others not. However, they were lovely girls from Northern Ireland. One told me "it's my first time in Galway", I responded "mine too".

After dinner we called into our B & B's local pub, The Crane, where we were told we'd find music sessions that weren't quite as busy as the city.  It was grant, the highlight being a 65yr odd man singing a beautiful ballad .