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 !

Europe Spring 2011

Ready to go ....

   I'm off again tomorrow on a spring trip, first to join Mary in Ireland (again) and then the two of us will go on to Barcelona and Paris. For me the trip is just under 3 weeks but Mary left about a week earlier for some extra visiting with her family in Ireland; County Donegal (northwest) and County Wicklow (mid east coast). She's getting good at driving the small roads in a little car on the left side. I may let her do all the driving in Ireland so I can sleep through the scenery like she does here (wink).

   I got a US Air hop across the ocean using frequent flier miles so I'll go from Philly to Dublin connecting through Charlotte. The Charlotte flight leaves at 6:30 pm on Wednesday and lands in Dublin around 6:30 am Thursday.  My original connecting flight didn't give me much time between planes and I had a bad experiance a couple of years ago with dashing through airports because of flight delays. So after looking at the weather forecast, I called and got re-scheduled for an earlier first flight. My thanks to US Air for doing it without an extra charge; thanks also to my buddy Joe for giving me a ride to the airport.

   Turns out the Queen will be in Dublin for the first time in 100 years and I hope her entourage and security don't hold me up (too much). I'll give her everyone's regards if we meet up for tea somewhere.

   Traveling in Europe seems quick and cheap with Europe's discount airlines, and I hope it works as advertised. We'll be trying out Ryan Air to connect between cities and then back again to Dublin for our return trip home on June 4th. By then Mary would have exhausted about all her vacation from work, but hopefully they'll still let her take some extra time during the rest of the year. For a retired guy like me, it's not so much of a problem.

   I was in Barcelona once before, almost another lifetime ago when I was a Lieutanant in the navy (1973). We've never been to Paris, so it's about time for both of us. We're not planning on going out of the cities in Spain or France and I'm hoping that 3 weeks in 3 countries doesn't wear us out; hopefully it'll be ok. I remember really liking Barcelona, a great city to walk, so we'll get our legs well exercised on this trip.

   I'll try to keep up with the travel blog as before, with pictures and not too much narrative, comments (of all kinds, Steve) are welcomed. I'm never sure how good an internet connection I'll have, so if I miss a night I'll try to make up for it at my next opportunity. Wishing everyone a pleasant rest of the month, and hope to see you all back here soon after.

   John

Last Stop - Vancouver

   I spent the day walking the downtown area of Vancouver; it's an interesting and very good looking city, even in the rain. I did some souvineer shopping in the Gastown section where one of the sidewalk attractions is a steam powered clock. I also wandered down to the harbor where high rise buildings are taking over the landscape. Most of the recent Winter Olympic events took place away from downtown but there are a couple of reminders around. There's also an active seaplane base with a busy schedules of takeoffs and landings right downtown.

   This is the last stop on my trip, Canada was interesting and fun but I'm tired and ready to head home. Eastbound flights from the west coast tend to leave early so it'll be a quiet night for me and a very early ride on the Skytrain (Vancouver's new light rail system) to the airport. I'll be signing off the travel blog for a while to catch up on a growing list of house projects. As always, thanks for reading and your comments. Have a good fall season.

Greyhound from Banff to Vancouver

   It was a long trip from Banff to Vancouver, nearly 500 miles and there wasn't an easy way so I found myself on a Greyhound bus for 13 hours. The trip turned out better than I thought; I had a fairly comfortable seat and a big picture window. I did see some different wildlife out the window, big horn sheep, a couple of bald eagles, salmon jumping in a nearby river and a bear roaming the shoreline probably looking for a meal.

   I got into Vancouver late, it was 10:30 by the time I found my hotel. I was here a few years ago on a business trip so I know the basic layout of the city, I'll walk around town today maybe in Stanley Park and hope the rain lets up. But that's the reason I've been lugging around my umbrella all trip.