Good Morning, Paris

   Our flight to Paris was early Sunday morning so the terminal at Barcelona was pretty quiet. There was an occasional group of guys wandering through who looked like they've been up all night and just back from London for the big football match where Barcelona defeated Manchester United 3 - 1. Our flight took just under 2 hours and we landed at the small Beauville Airport, aound 40 miles outside the city. It looked like Ryan Air was the biggest carrier there, and the only one on the tarmac at the time.

   I  had pre-arranged a shuttle ride into the city, and when we picked up our bags, there was the driver waiting for us holding a card with our name (very easy). It was a nice morning for a Sunday ride in the country and we went straight to our hotel, in a quiet neighborhood on Boulevard St Jacques, south of the river. After checking in we decided to walk around to get our bearings; there seemed to be a nice outdoor cafe on every corner.

   On Monday morning we started out after breakfast to find our way downtown. The hotel is just two blocks from a couple of subway stops and we decided to follow Joe Mintzer's advice and take the Metro right away. Mary figured out how to use the ticket machine and we got the discount plan with ten tickets; it charged to my credit card at just over 1 Euro each. The single ride tickets are 1.70 so we got a bargain. We took the #6 Green Line to the end and walked up the stairs to the Arc De Triumphe. From there the rest of the day was laid out for us, right down the Avenue Des Champs Elysees.

   The weather was great so we walked for hours, and there was a picture composition in almost every direction we'd look; we stopped at the park in front of the Louvre for a quick bite and nap in the sun. Wandering into the Louvre courtyard, we were blown away by the size of the building; it was like six or seven Smithsonian museums in one. We weren't going to try to get inside, that was for another day, but it was fun sitting in the park watching all the people either walking by or sitting in chairs having their lunch on a sunny afternoon.

   We walked over the Pont Neuf to the island on The Seine, the heart of the city, to see Notre Dame Cathedral. It was another building that surprised us with it's size, the visit inside was just as impressive. I was amazed at it's age, the construction started in 1163 and was completed more than one hundred years later in 1272. We also wanted to see inside another church on the island, Sainte Chapelle, but the line was really long. We sat at a corner cafe and I kept wondering if the line into church would be any shorter if I had another beer ...... we never made it in.

   It was a long but really good day, our legs were tired and we followed the city map to the #10 line on the Metro, and transferred to the #4 back to our hotel. Thanks again Joe for the great tip.

Adios Barcelona

Yesterday and today we wandered off La Rambla to see some of the placas hidden in the maze of little streets in the old town. Barcelona is the largest cruise ship port in the Mediterranean so with all the passangers added to the amount of normal weekend traffic, people were everywhere. I really liked some of the street musicians, playing some very unusual combinations of instruments and sounding really good.

There's a football championship going on this weekend and the Barcelona team is facing off with Manchester United at Wembly Stadium in London. There's lots of local excitement of course, with team colors around town as much as we'd see for a Superbowl; even dogs are dressed up to support their team. The Barca Team just scored first ...... you can hear cheering even coming from the hotel rooms.

We visited the Maritime Museum located on the grounds of the middle age shipyard, there's an unusual old wooden submarine on display at the entrance. We also walked up to the History of Barcelona Museum that shows some of the huge Roman walls still standing and building foundations deep underneath that have been excavated in recent years.

I ran across a car named after my old work buddy Leon, although I don't think he could get his 6'6" frame inside.

We stopped in the huge outdoor market to get some food for dinner back at the hotel, I've never seen so many stores with fish, fresh meats, pastries and even candy in one place.

Since our flight is early tomorrow, we decided to head back to the room early and pack tonight. We both really enjoyed the Barcelona, there was lots to see and enjoy. Tomorrow it's off to Paris, the last leg of our trip with volcanic ash just a memory.

La Sagrada Familia

   Thursday we hopped a city bus tour; there was so much to see that the tour company divided the city into three routes to choose from, so we decided on the red and blue. The red route took us about halfway out from the port, and included the sites of the 1992 Olympic Games. The blue route took us through neighborhoods in the far hillside corners of the city, but also included the modern art cathederal to the Holy Family, La Sagrada Familia. We were out touring all day on Thursday, started out at 10:00 and came back on the 8:15 hotel shuttle.

   I’ve been wanting to see La Sagrada Familia ever since I first heard of it years ago, and it was all and more than I expected. It was so massive that it was hard to get a representative picture either inside or out. We spent a couple of hours there but could have easily spent the whole day. The cathederal has been under construction since 1883 and is projected to be finished around 2030, it is the masterpiece of Barcelona architect Antoni Gaudi.

   After seeing the cathedral, we had an early paella dinner at an outdoor café, then walked back through the La Rambla crowds to the pickup spot for our hotel bus. The city soccer team, Football Club Barcelona is in England this weekend playing for the European Championship against Manchester United, so Saturday will be a big sports day in the city.

   Friday and Saturday will be museum days for us, but we’ll also want to see some of the evening sites. Sunday will be another travel day with an early flight to Paris for our last leg of the trip.



La Rambla

   We spent the day getting oriented and we walked the main street in the old city, La Rambla. It's a wide walking boulevard that's about a mile and a half long and filled with trees, outdoor cafes, flowers, artsy tourist shops, street performers (one on steroids), and even an outdoor pet shop. It begins at the huge Columbus monument on the south side edge of the city and ends in the heart of the city on the north end. Columbus is pointing to the Americas that helped make Spain such a rich country in the 1500's and 1600's.

   It was sunny and warm so we walked down some shady side streets into the old Barcelona Cathedral that was dark and cool inside. It was under renovation but still impressive with it's age (11th century) and all the side altars full of artwork and gold. There were statues for a couple of saints I've never even heard of. Afterward we stopped at a street cafe for a tappas late lunch and something cold to drink. 

   Tomorrow we'll venture out of the old city and hop a tour bus to see some of the famous Antonio Gaudi architecture.
  

Travel Day

   Today we traveled from Dublin to Barcelona, the flight was in the late afternoon and we got into our hotel room in Barcelona around 10:00pm. The flight was around 2 & 1/2 hours and there was a time zone change, we're now 6 hours ahead of home. We were tired from the day and turned in to our room after a late bite at the hotel.

   We managed to miss the volcanic ash cloud, some flights in Scotland and a few other northern Europe cities were cancelled, but we were traveling southeast from Dublin and it turned out not to be a problem. We'll be here for 5 days and our fingers are crossed for the rest of our trip !

   The weather here is completely different, from showers and mid 50's temperatures in Ireland to sunny and 70's in Spain. We're looking forward to being out on foot tomorrow, sight seeing in the city.

Windblown on Monday

   We drove passed Mary's mother's place in Screen, Co. Donegal. It's been vacant for decades but the cottage is still standing. There's a modern home overlooking it  in the first picture above. Nearby there are some new homes with stone and stucco exteriors that I really like. They were built before the economic crisis hit; some of the new homes were never completed and others are still vacant.  

   A big storm blew in overnight with high winds and trees down in Donegal. We started our trip to Dublin with a detour as the road from Milford  to Ramelton was blocked with a down tree. Mary knew another way around and we detoured on a small road to Kilmacrennin and then south to Letterkenny. The detour road was narrow in places making it tricky for two cars to pass by one another.

   We made it to Dublin while President Obama was visiting and there was a huge gathering in town at College Green near Trinity College. We had a room near the airport but the city center was packed; tv news was warning people to stay out of downtown unless they were already there. We were disappointed to miss seeing Dublin and watched the president's speech on a restaurant tv. The outdoor reception included Irish sports, music and film celerbities with a 20 minute presidential speech; the crowd seemed to love every minute.

   We missed meeting Mary's cousin Kathleen in Dublin because of the crowds but hopefully we'll get another chance on the home leg of the trip. We fly off to Barcelona tomorrow just as Icelandic volcanic ash starts to spread to Scotland. So far south bound flights like ours seem to be ok, so fingers crossed here.

Sunday visiting

  Today was a day with not as much rain, so in addition to visiting cousins we drove up to the place where Mary's family used to own some land. I've been there before but the view was much better today with the sun shining over Sheephaven Bay.

   In addition to the visiting we got to pet and feed treats to a very friendly horse and doggie. We came back to the hotel for an early dinner and afterward had a drink with Brigid and her daughter Sadie. They stopped by the Milford Inn for one last hello and to wish us a safe rest of the trip. We're off to Dublin in the morning and I'm hoping we can steer clear of  presidential traffic and motorcades.

A quiet day in County Donegal .......

   It was rainy this morning so we decided it would be a better day for visiting than sightseeing. We stopped by for tea with Mary's cousin Brigid in Cranford and also met her daughter and grandkids.

   Afterward the rain let up and we thought it might be ok for a drive after all. We went through Carrigart and Creeslough out to the tip of the northwest coast, a point named Bloody Foreland. It was pretty remote but beautiful, even when the rain started again. From the point we could see Tory Island in the distance, the last piece of Ireland that ship passangers saw as they left home for America.

   On the way back we stopped in Dunfanaghy for dinner (the fish special) at Arnold's Hotel. Later there was more tea and visiting with Mary's cousins David and Mary Ellen who live in Mary's mother's home village of Screen.

   It gets dark pretty late, around 10:00 pm and we left David & Mary Ellen's with just enough light to find our way down the narrow roads. We were pretty ready to turn in by the time we got back to the room. We decided to spend another night in Milford and drive to Dublin on Monday. There's more to see up here in Donegal and we're expecting crowds and lots of security in Dublin for President Obama's visit.

Small World

I arrived in Dublin on Thursday morning and Mary met me at the new Dublin Airport terminal. There was a little mixup about the arrivals and departures areas outside, so it took us a few minutes to find one another. While I was waiting, I was totally surprised to bump into my first cousin, Father Dan at the terminal. He was headed home to his parish in West Chester after a week in Ireland. The world is getting smaller !

When Mary found me I squeezed into her Mickey Mouse edition Ford and we made the 3 plus hour drive to Donegal. I booked 3 nights at The Milford Inn, a nice place on a quiet road outside the small town of Milford. Although it was out in the country side, the Inn has nice rooms which include wi-fi and breakfast. They also have a restaurant and a pub with lots on tap; there's also live Irish music, the perfect place!

We headed out to explore on Friday; there was rain in the forecast, but less than any other day of our stay, so we went off to Northern Ireland, a place we missed on our last trip a couple of years ago. We drove the coast road in County Antrim and stopped along the way at a volcanic rock formation called the Giant's Causeway. The road passed close to a famous golf course, Royal Portrush and we popped in to have tea at the clubhouse but we had an issue with the dress code (no jeans) so we smiled and kept on driving. I thought about playing but the pop-up rain showers made it impossible to stay dry and I wasn't up for all day wet clothes.

Further around the coast were chalky white cliffs, castle ruins perched over the ocean, and rope bridge that brave visitors can walk over chasms between islands. The sun was out  for most all the ride and I'm glad to have the extra visibility driving the narrow roads on top of cliffs.

In Donegal, driving (and shifting gears) is on the left side, the currency is Euros and distances on the roads are measured in kilometers. When we crossed a line into Northern Ireland, the distances were in miles, currency was in pounds Sterling, but thankfully we still drove on the left.

Have a good weekend everyone !