Let it SNOW!

It’s snowing this morning- and I don’t mean a flurry—It was COMING DOWN! Our city tour of Edinborough this morning will cover “old town”, new town, Edinborough Castle and Holyrood Palace. We got our bearings a bit and headed to the Palace. On each of these trips, Collette arranges for a photographer to take the group picture. OUTSIDE. By the time we arranged ourselves for the picture, the snow had ceased for a time, but it was still really cold and wet.

We heard all about Robert Louis Stephenson, who lived here and wrote “A Child’s Garden of Verses” which was read to me as I grew up and he also wrote Treasure Island. We saw his house and were told about his sickly childhood. We were told that he lived for a while in San Francisco and then Borneo.

Edinborough is known for 4 “B”’s—Banking, Brewing, Baking and lately Bio-technology (this is where Dolly the sheep was cloned, having been named after Dolly Parton)

Several stories were told about the frugality of Scots people. One of these was that copper wire was invented by two Scotsmen fighting over a penny.

We heard about Alexander Graham Bell, who lived here as a child and young man, and who moved to Canada and then the U.S. where he invented the telephone.

We heard about the midwifery (obstetrical) doctor who first used chloroform. The prominent churchmen told him that using it was against the Biblical proclaimation that women should bear children in pain and hardship. However after Queen Victoria experienced the effects of chloroform with the birth of her 8th child, she declared it wonderful and the churchmen were quiet on the subject ever after.

I also heard the tour guide tell us that Presbyterians (back several centuries ago) did not approve of theatre and dance. Oops! I guess the Bwd Presbyterians don't agree with that.

We heard about St. Giles, the “Mother Church of Presbyterianism” --didn’t know we had one of those.

We saw the Elephant House—the pub where J. K. Rowling began writing the Harry Potter books. She wrote there to stay warm because she couldn’t afford to heat her flat.

We toured the Palace and the Castle and were not able to take pictures inside either place. We do have some postcards, which are probably better representations that we could have taken.








The castle was COLD, but there was considerable walking to keep us warm.

As we were leaving Edinborough castle we came across a young man dressed as William Wallace (or better yet, as Mel Gibson in Braveheart) To raise money for leukemia research and care, he was posing for pictures in full battle regalia . There was a crush of tourists around him and we declined to join the crush, so we got pictures from afar. And his resemblance to Gibson is remarkable. I hope he collects lots of money for his cause.













After the tour we were “on our own” for the rest of the day. We changed dollars into pounds in the Marks and Spencer’s department store. (It is Sunday and banks are closed)




We found an internet café and checked mail.
N. had put the blog I wrote last night on a flash drive and we were able to transfer it to the blog site without too much trouble. But no pictures yet. That will happen when we have some time and wireless internet in our rooms. Which may not be til we’re home---not sure what the rest of the trip will bring.


On checking e-mail—Nick found out that his cousin Anne Grimes died this morning and will be buried in Shamrock, Tx. on Tuesday. I am sorry that we will not be able to attend Anne’s services.

We ate lunch in a place called THE FILLING STATION- a good selection of food to chose from—and our waiter was a charming your man from Poland. He thought we might be from Ireland. He really must have a poor ear for accents. Interesting items on the menu include: a choice of potatoes, house fries, mash, jacket. (I am guessing that jacket is a baked or boiled potato, but that is just a guess)
The burgers included tomato chili relish on the side (is that salsa?)

I haven’t told you about our hotel room. The bathroom is up a flight of 6 stairs. Treacherous in the dark.



We’re at that part of the hotel that is built on a hill and that portion happens to be higher. We had trouble with the sink stopper (it wouldn’t lift up) and we called maintenance. The man looked at it, declared it not fixable right not and offered us another room on the same floor. We declined- we have unpacked too much stuff—we’ll just DEAL.

Right now N is in the bathroom clanking on the sink, trying to get it working. He shouldn’t be, but he is—It does no good to tell him to CHILL and leave it alone. Doesn’t work.

Of course, I should not be surprised--, N. repaired the sink. I apologize,-- his persistence pays of, usually.

So long from Edinborough.

To Scotland

This is being published from an internet cafe in Edinborough without pictures for now. They will be added later, so if you're reading the pictureless version, please come back in a day or two to get the full color version---

We were given more info concerning the reputation of the Europa Hotel in Belfast. It was the most bombed hotel in Europe because that is where the world’s media and politicians stayed and bombing that particular place got the world media’s notice. The Opera house next door also was peripherally involved w/ the bombings.
Last year the LAST British soldier left Belfast and the Guard towers came down. For them this is a huge event.

There is “serious” barbed wire around the top of the fence around the Royal Hospital still.



Before leaving Belfast, we visited CULTURLANN—a politically neural organization whose purpose is to foster cultural education of all children of Belfast. They teach CEILI (pronounced kay-lee—which means Irish dance) and also the Irish language (Gaelic) An old Presbyterian church building houses an Irish language radio station, the foundation school (sort of like a community center) and various other organizations. It includes a café and gift shop. Collette tours is one of the sponsors of this foundation and before the trip we were invited to bring art supplies for the children (colored pencils, coloring books, crayons, etc). We put our donations in a large plastic bag which the tour manager gave to the director of the “school”. Collette’s sponsorship is so new that we were the first group to tour the facility. We “learned” to do Irish dances (at least we tried—and it was fun) I wish there had been more light in the "dance" area, so pictures would have been better.






and we watched the children play and interact with puppets- all in Gaelic.



We saw the radio station control room and heard some of the Gaelic broadcast. The school began in 1991 with 9 students and now has 600.





We took the high speed Ferry to Strenmaer, Scotland. An amazing vessel—really huge, with all sorts of seating- for eating, for watching out windows, even some where folks lie down and nap.


The ferry had a Burger King, and also had “traditional” food. With my traditional food I was offered “mashy peas”—which looked a lot like guacamole from a distance. The bus was on the lower deck and we went up 2 flights of stairs to get to the observation areas. If a person was really bored, he could spend the 1 hr and 45 min playing slot machines, which on the map were called BANDITS.



Rather appropriate! There were shops and even a nail salon on the ferry




The name of the ship is the STENA VOYAGER.

I was lamenting in the previous posting that I was having trouble finding what I wanted for gifts when I went shopping---I found EXACTLY what I’d been looking for in the shop in the ferry.

At the signal we all made our way back down to the bus and we were in to Scotland. No passport checks, or any sort of immigration.

The flag of Scotland is the flag of St. Andrews—a blue flag with a white cross.

As in Ireland most of the front yards of the houses have daffodils blooming and they are blooming in all the medians of the highway—very pretty.




In Scotland it is the law that we must wear seatbelts on the bus. We spent about 4 hours driving along the coast. Very rugged in places During this entire trip from Dublin, Ireland through to Glasgow, Scotland (where we end the tour) we will have traveled about 950 miles by bus and ferry.

We began driving into a higher elevation and snow began to fall about 4 pm. It flurried off and on until we reached Edinborough.

Tomorrow we will hear a great deal more about William Wallace (Braveheart) and Edward I--- Longshanks

My camera’s battery died, so it is now charging. I’ll probably need to get a new rechargeable battery when we get home.

We ate at a Spanish tapas restaurant tonite. We had about 10-12 appetizers, which ranged from Calamari, to eggplant, to meatballs and tiny chicken wings, to (of course,) potatoes. The serving dishes were placed on the tables and we helped ourselves. An interesting meal, which finished with chocolate chip ice cream.

It was a long day—and when we finally got to the room (about 8pm) we discovered that this hotel does not have wireless internet. I’ll try to download this later. Good night.

Irishisms

I've been collecting quaint traffic signs and phrases and I'll begin this posting with them.
We've seen 2 or 3 road signs showing an "older" couple walking and the words on the sign are ELDERLY CROSSING.
Then there was DANGER, LORRIES TURNING and ROAD LIABLE TO SUBSIDE, DIVERSION means detour, FREE RECOVERY means free towing, then there is CAR PARK which means parking lot and CONCEALED ENTRANCE, not sure if we have an equivalent in American English. ZEBRA CROSSING- is pedestrian crossing. I think because of the black and white stripes on the road. We've heard " We'll have a wee quick look" and "nip in here"


Nick has been looking and looking and we still have seen only 2 or 3 SmartCars. Not sure why--with the prices for petrol the way they are.

We visited the Giant's Causeway (in the rain) .


It is an area of specially formed rocks which would lend credence to the legend of giants building a bridge between two areas and then knocking it down. The area is a UNESCO site---not sure exactly what that means, except that they get special funding to keep it up.


We've seen hills which are faerie mounds--where the wee folk live and a cave where mermaids live. Lots of ghost stories as well.


Bushmill's Distillery---- not my favorite place to visit, but I do understand why we made the tour. This is the oldest distillery in the world and they are 400 years old this year. The gentleman guiding the tour was not much of a speaker and his "patter" was pretty boring. Think about the smell of souring grain----Phew, it smelled awful. We couldn't take pictures on the tour, but could in the waiting area. At the end of the tour, we each could get a "free" drink of one of the 4 least aged varieties. YES, I tried it. A hot toddy with hot water and honey added to the whiskey and it was NASTY--probably not as bad tasting as Guinness, but close.
I did some shopping at the Bushmill's store. UPC choir, remember last year you "got" to taste whale meat?-- well this year you get to taste something from the Bushmills store.

I've been having some shopping problems. I see something I kind of like (for me) but I think, I'll look the next time we stop and it'll be cheaper. Wrong--either it is higher, or they don't have what I wanted at all.

Belfast is really an international city, just driving down the street, we saw Starbucks, KFC, McDonalds, Disney store, the Gap, Subway and Pizza Hut. Near our hotel (the Europa- more about that later) is a giant ferris wheel- It is lit up tonite and I tried to get a picture. It is at least 5-6 stories high and our tour guide today told us 15 minutes on it is 6 pounds.

I mentioned before we left that the Europa Hotel is the most bombed hotel in Europe/the world (depends on which book you read). N and I read this information in about 3 different places. We mentioned it to our dinner companions tonite and they had also read and heard that statement. It is a lovely hotel, seems to be under construction inside. I'm guessing that some of that bombing was during WWII when it was a major Nazi target because of ship building and airplane building and the port.

The hotel has an interesting shower in which the water comes out of the ceiling, not the wall. Haven't tried it yet, but it may be like being in a rain storm. I'll let you know. And there is no shower curtain.

The Europa hotel has a "magazine" which is an advertisement for who has stayed there (Clintons/ international celebrities) . In the center of the magazine is a two page spread of their "rubber duckies". There was one on our bathtub in a litle plastic wrapper. No explanation just a rubber duckie. The magazine showed pictures of this same toy in different places all over the world. the suggestion is that a person take his duck with him when he leaves and photograph it when he reaches an interesting destination. For teachers out there like Flat Stanley. I have plans for my rubber ducky to be photographed in interesting places. Hope I don't lose the e-address.



Belfast is known for inventors of the Kelvin scale, for the cardiac defibrilator and also for being the place where the Titanic was built.



The people here say--"It was okay when it left Belfast".

C.S. Lewis lived in Belfast as did Van Morrison and several other "famous folks" that I never heard of. It was the linen capital of the world in the 1800's and when prohibition came to America, 75% of Irish Distilleries went broke. There may be a lesson there someplace.

The famous theatre here is named the Lyric Theatre. Lian Niessom (spelling?) started here and is a huge supporter.

We drove by a University which was build by Queen Victoria so that Catholics and Presbyterians would have a college to attend. They were not permitted in the existing university.


I also saw a Presbyterian Cathedral---never thought of Presbyterians having Cathedrals. Live and learn.

We heard more about THE TROUBLE (in the '60's) and hunger strikes and political problems which hopefully are a thing of the past. More murals covering entire buildings.









That's all for this evening. Tomorrow we're ferrying to Scotland- and I'll be writing from Glasgow

Walking thru Derry with Ronan McNamara

Our Tour manager, Laureen, is in the lower right hand corner of this picture of a street in Derry.


I feel obliged to answer the question that titled yesterday's posting. Is it Derry or Londonderry? and the answer is YES
To some (Catholics/nationalists) it is Derry. To others (protestants/Unionists) the town is Londonderry. The town is both. Some signs list one name and others list the other. Sign posts in some neighborhoods have the LONDON part spray painted over. This is one minor sign of the "TROUBLE" as they call the problems here. Altho' the city has had a history of violence, one of the major historical incidents happened in the 1600 between William of Orange and James II ( I think that is the right James-- this would be a good time for you to look it up).

I have a picture of an old (1600 vintage) Presbyterian church which is no longer "inhabited" because it's congregation dwindled out and also because it is so close to the wall. If you look in the picture of the church, you will see a bombed out wall to the extreme left of the picture.




To back up a bit, our city walking tour was led by a very charismatic young man who calls himsself a "Ch-Irishman"--he is of Irish and Chinese parentage and is working with the schools on desegregation (between the two religious/ socio-economic groups)
He talked a gread deal about the beginning of the TROUBLE, about the problems in the early 1900's and about the civil rights struggles in the '60's. As he was talking a group of about 8 policemen and women came by. He told us that the fact that we are able to visit northern Ireland is because the police have kept the peace. And he also told us that the fact that we will come here speaks volumes for the peace process. He mentioned that this police force has been attacked more than almost any in this part of the world.

We drove in the bus by BOGSIDE an area of Derry that is covered with huge murals depicting heroes and martyrs of the cause. I got several really sharp pictures. The guide mentioned a novel by Leon Uris titled Bogside that tells all about the situation in the 60's.







After we finished the Derry walking tour, we headed for the banks to change dollars into British pounds. The American dollar took another dip this morning, so when I gave the lady $300, she gave me 146.66 pounds-- which means that each pound is worth more than $2. When N and N and I went to England in the '80's the story was the opposite. We gave them $100 and received over 200 British pounds. Different time, different situation. I guess turn-about is fair play. The tour manager told us that all coins w/ a harp on them the are Irish Euros and are virtually worthless to us since we left the Republic of Ireland. We can donate them to Unicef on the way home, or to the tour company's charity foundation, but they can't be redeemed for pounds or $'s.

We drove past an Irish Walmart called ASDA.
Some interesting phrases you might not know are
Give way- which means Yield
Cyclists dismount- bike rack
Dual Carriageway- 2-way road

Many of their road signs say "Thank you for driving carefully" on the back. The left side driving still un-nerves me when we're going around a "round-about" (traffic circle). That would be really hard to get used to. I keep thinking that we're about to hit someone.

We went to the Ulster American Folk Park which described the immigration of Irish to America. We saw the way Ireland was when the people left, we saw a "coffin ship" so called because 1/3 of the people beginning the trip didn't make it to their destination. and we saw depictions of the cities that most of the Irish immigrants came to in the 1700 and 1800's. Took quite a bit of time to go thru it all, but it was very interesting.


People in native dress were there to talk to you about what you were seeing.



We returned to Derry about 3:45 and have the rest of the day to ourselves. N and I ambled around an open air market. We sampled a pork sandwich--meat cut from a pig on a spit right there at the booth.

We went to POUND WORLD--yep, an Irish dollar store. We bought some candy and went looking for a place for N to get "fish and chips". We stopped in a local pub and he had his fish & chips and I had "cottage pie", which is a kind of hanburger goulash mixture in a "pie shell" of mashed potatoes. And yes, I also had Chips which are french fries and large green peas. I don't think they have any concept of "enough" potatoes.

We ambled a little more and came back to the hotel so I could write. After I finish this, N will download 2 days worth of pictures and we need to charge my camera- it totally went dry this afternoon.

I'm reading a novel entitled IRELAND by Frank Delandy, which is about a traveling storyteller who stops at a town to ply his trade and the book is his collection of historical stories of Ireland. Haven't gotten too far into it, yet, but should be finished in a day or two.

I'll stop now, so he can get about his doin'---------Later.

Is it Derry or Londonderry?

Wed from Bonduran to Derry




First stop after leaving the lovely golf and surfung resort of Bonduran was Donegal. We took a short toilet stop and had time to look around the town square/diamond a bit. It was drizzly, but not too cold. We took in the "corner store" which sold everything from pots and pans, to pocket knives, to plastic flowers --an ecclectic mixture. We bought some Cadbury products and N had been missing his pocket knife, so he got a really nice one for 2 Euro.



On loading the bus, we were given general information:

Sheep have colored dots on their wool to indicate their health, gender, and mate-ability.

In 1995, divorce became legal in ireland

The road signs are in English and Irish (Gaelic)

Claddah (not sure I'm spelling it right) Rings are used as wedding rings in Ireland, they have 3 symbols on them. The heart, two clasped hands and a crown. Depending on which way they are placed on the finger (heart out, or heart in) dentoes the person's availability for marriage.

The flag we have been seeing with a blue background and a circle of gold stars is the flag of the EU- European Union

We saw some Peat Bogs--the Peat is cut and burned as fuel to heat homes in the rural areas. Has been outlawed in cities because of the smoke and smell. It is made of decomposed vegitation that was compressed by the ice age forces and became really hard.

The peat bogs are being depleated and are a non-renewable fuel source- untill another Ice Age comes along. The Peat is cut and dried for a long time (when cut it is really wet) and then burned. N. and I saw something we thought was peat for sale in Dublin. It was really hard and in logs like "fire starters". Maybe it was a man-made sort of peat substitute. Not sure.

We tried some of our Cadbury that we bought in Donegal--CHOMP is a small bar of chocolate covered caramel. Strange name--we expected something crunchy. Later in the day we tried FLAKE and it is well named. Bite into it and flakes of chocolate cover your shirt. - really flakey

Glenveigh National Park is next on our agenda. A really massive area of unspoiled land with native vegitation (gorse) and
animals. We had lunch at the tea room there first and then at 2:00 toured the castle on the grounds. Food pretty good and quite reasonable--we both ate for about 13 Euro - and it had been costing us twice that when we'd eaten on our own before. On top of the reasonable cost, the vegetable soup was EXCELLENT. I'd love to have the recipe for it. There were lots of yummy desserts, but we passed. I'm trying to stick to one dessert a day, so far so good.



The castle was interesting, but on the inside, not very "castle-like". More like an elegant old home. The outside looked like a castle from the middle ages, but this one had been updated and inhabited in the past 50 years. The castle does have a Texas connection--the Adair family that lived in it had a ranch in Texas (the J A Ranch) Some features of the castle's interior are a "weighing chair" where the guests may weigh themselves before and after their visit. It had a heated swimming pool that is not kept heated for tours.


The entire "house" was furnished in deer motif with statuary, pictures, fabrics, and wood carving. Some folks had trouble understanding the castle guide as she was telling us about the house. She did talk fast and her accent was thick.

The ride from the bus parking to the castle and back was interesting. The bus driver liked to talk and altho' I wasn't in front, he seemed to be entertaining the folks in front. He also wanted to find our tour guide a husband.



During the day, we stopped for a break at a Triona Design and our tour manager had arranged a weaving demonstration for us to see. The whole point of this stop was a bathroom break, tea and scones break and shopping. I will admit the fabric was soft and lovely. Not at all what I expect from "hand-made " wool. There were coats, suits, sweaters, scarves and all sorts of silk items.

The gentleman doing the weaving was fascinating--he had a rhythm that was musical. N got some video of him doing his thing. The items for sale were tempting until we remember where we live- central Texas rarely is cold enough for long enough to justify wearing wool. Some folks bought. I got a brochure so I could check out the company online to perhaps buy fabric later- which I could have done them, but I didn't want to haul it around.

Entering Northern Ireland was uneventful. We had to keep our eyes peeled to even know when it happened. Laureen, our tour manager, told us that less than 7 years ago that crossing could have taken 3 hours, with armed guards in evidence, etc.

Everything seems to be under construction here. Roads, buildings, construction everywhere. We'll need to change our Euros for British pounds here.

We got settled in the room with a lovely view of the Guildhall clock tower and tried to get online. N got a "deal" with the internet company online to save us considerable pounds by signing up for a 30 day pass. We won't be here nearly that long, but it will save us having to buy a very expensive 24 hour card at the desk each time we check into a new hotel. REALLY SMART.

The supper tonite was one of the best meals we've had. We continue to have 3 choices of "starters", entree, and dessert. This one was outstanding. Everyone especially liked the roasted potatoes w/ rosemary.
Welcome to Northern Ireland.

Surf's Up

Great Northern Hotel- Bonduran




Actually I was kinda dreading going to this hotel--sparse internet, one night, rural area, nowhere to walk from the hotel.
Boy! Was I fooled.
We were told that Donegal Bay has the best surfung in all of Europe. I hope anyone who tries surfing there this week wears a wet suit w/ a built in heater. The hotel is a charming white sprawling building that is a resort which is also the venue for "huge" musical concerts.

The place is a maze- you almost have to leave a trail of bread crumbs to find your way back to your room. We were told that the rooms in the Great Northern were smaller than most, but we didn't figure on being put in a "family" room. We had 3 beds and two bathrooms in our room. Our next door neighbors had 4 beds and two bathrooms.

I guess one of the most unique features of this room was the heated towel racks in both bathrooms. That is-- other than the AMAZING view of the wind swept Donegal Bay. After we settled into the room we decided to take a walk along the hiking trail that overlooks the bay. The wind was cold and BLOWING--not sure how hard, but if you faced it, it took your breath away. We took some really good pictures of the surf and headed back for supper.


As we first drove up to the hotel, our tour guide exclaimed that we would miss Daniel O'Donnell. We looked at her like "WHO"?
She told us that he is a famous Irish singer who spends more time in Branson than in Ireland. Then when we got into the hotel we saw a poster advertising a performance of Charley Pride, country singer later in April We were told by the folks at the desk that the O'Donnell concert next week will attract over 1000 people. Interesting!

NO ONE received their requested wake up calls. I went down to the lobby really early to see if I could use the one old computer (2 Euros= 15 min) and the lobby was dark, the computer was covered and no one was at home. No wonder not one of us was called to wake up--no one was on duty--at least they weren't in evidence anywhere.

The breakfast was different--we have been having buffet breakfasts,but this morning we helped ourselves to cereal and fruit and the waiter took orders for "hot" dishes. Yummm, some of the best oatmeal I've had in a long time.
Tomorrow the trip from Bonduran to Derry

April Fool's Day- no joke

Tuesday- Dublin to Bonduran

On our way out of Dublin, our tour guide gave us a little lesson on how to change centigrade to Fahrenheit, how to change kilometers to miles and how to figure how many stone you might weigh. (FYI- I weighed 9 stone when I left home)

We learned about yellow plants growing wild in the countryside called gorse and broom plant

I’ve been seeing different prices for a liter of petrol—the one I noticed in Dublin was either really high, or I miss read it. Today we saw prices from 1.18-1.22 per liter again, realize that we are talking about Euros not dollars.

We learned that the Republic of Ireland has 26 counties, which hold 4.5 million people, and Northern Ireland has 6 counties and 1.5 million folks. And Ireland has about the same landmass as West Virginia.

We learned that Mel Gibson was named after St. Mel—His father is from the town of Longford, Ireland where there is a church of St. Mel.

I am pleased to tell those people who know that I’m not crazy about green that in Ireland –green is an unlucky color. If children wear it, the fairies are likely to steal them.

St. Patrick’s Day is an American invention—not even celebrated in Ireland until about 15-20 years ago.

We toured a Georgian house that has been lived in for the last 300 years up until 1997, when the last owner moved out. The house had walls about 18-20 inches thick and was COLD. The have a tiny bit of heat on, but we were all wearing our coats and weren’t comfortable. Interesting house tho [‘—supposedly haunted.



After the tour of the house we toured the Famine Museum, which depicted and explained what caused the Potato Famine of the 1840’s and the results were that the population of Ireland decreased by half. Many people died and others emigrated to Canada, U.S. Australia and New Zealand. I learned that the potatoes that were eaten by the poor people of Ireland were “complete” foods—supplying all the nutrition needed to keep a person healthy. They ate ONLY POTATOES AND BUTTERMILK. An adult worker usually ate 14lbs of potatoes a day. The potatoes got blight, people had nothing to eat, and they died or left.

After the museum tour we had lunch at the “tea room” connected to the museum. I decided that a baked potato would be appropriate. It tasted as if it had been cooked in 1845. It came with a salad that was okay. I don’t suppose it is appropriate to ENJOY eating at a famine museum.

We stopped at Boyle Abbey – a church built in 1161 and destroyed by Henry the 8th in his crusade against the Catholic Church.



We spent a part of this afternoon at the Belleek Pottery factory. We took a tour to see how it is made, finished, fired, painted, fired again, glazed, and fired yet again.

A piece of pottery takes from several weeks to months to produce. They wanted us to see how painstakingly handmade it is before we went to the store and saw the prices. They are one of the few places that is happy to take American money.

We drove for about 20 minutes to get to our hotel in Bonduran—The Great Northern Hotel. No internet in the rooms, so I’ll post this later. I’ll add another whole story about the hotel, the food, and Donegal Bay where you find the best surfing in Europe.