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Sunday, April 28, 2013

Cork, Ireland


For my birthday, Em and I spent a couple days in Cork, Ireland.  I had never been to Ireland before, but Em has been all over the island.  An hour-long Ryanair flight took us to its southern tip.


A major attraction for the region is Blarney Castle and its famous stone.  We bussed over to the little town of Blarney and enjoyed the great weather and the green countryside.


Above on the left you can see Em bending over backwards to kiss the Blarney Stone, which supposedly bestows the gift of eloquence (or gab) on those who pucker up.  On the right is Em several stories below the rock.  I have yet to see any results from her frightening smooch.


Right outside the castle is the Poison Garden, with several dozen 'dangerous' plants.


The Blarney estate was pretty neat and we welcomed the unexpected sun.


No trip to Ireland is complete without a pint of stout.


After our afternoon in Blarney, we headed for the Curaheen Greyhound Stadium right outside Cork.  It was an eye-opening experience with a broad range of people.  On the photo on the left you can see a line of youngsters placing bets on dog races - we saw young teens with beers.  The dogs appeared to be well-cared for, and finally we decided to place a 3 euro bet (we're high rollers) on a winner in the eighth race of the night...Drive On Special lost by a snout.


The greyhounds were amazingly fast!


The next day Em got to try an Irish coffee, and we took a quick train to Cobh (pronounced "Coove").


Cobh is known as a picturesque harbor near Cork, but rough financial times really hit the small town hard.  Most of the high street shops were out of business.  We wandered the streets, toured St Colman's Cathedral, got lunch, and left.


Cobh holds an important strategic port for Ireland, and part of its fame comes from its relationship with the doomed Titanic and RMS Lusitania.  The Titanic's last port was Cobh before it steamed toward New York, and the sinking of the Lusitania occurred right outside the harbor.


With a few hours before our flight back to England, we made our way to St Finbarr's Cathedral in Cork.  It's the major landmark for the city, and it was impressive.


Thanks for following our two quick days in Ireland!  Check in frequently for more trips.

Thursday, April 18, 2013

The White Cliffs of Dover


There is a beautiful strip of coastline facing France, along the English Channel, where white chalk cliffs drop hundreds of feet to meet the water. It is a place I've been romanced by since my first week living in England when I caught sight of them from a scenic plane ride. I have since been back a few times; once with my dear friend Sarah and another time just passing by on a bus headed to Belgium. Until last week Dave had never seen the cliffs. Here are a few pictures from my first trip over Dover.
Below is of my beautiful friend Sarah from our trip to the cliffs last winter.
 Dave and I are prone to car issues and are always a little hesitant to road trip with our little UK spec vehicle. Nonetheless we headed south last Saturday, praying for a smooth drive. Halfway through the journey our little car started making a terrible noise. And that's never a good sign! Fortunately it had only dropped a rusted pipe-guard-thingy (I'm no mechanic) and was dragging that along. Dave was able to pull the piece off and we kept going. When we reached the White Cliffs the sky had cleared and there was a warm breeze. Here are some pictures from our day in Dover...

 There are miles of tunnels, deep in the chalky cliffs, used by the British during WWII. We stumbled upon a few of them as we made our way down the cliffs to the shore. The tunnel we found was partially caved in and the metal shutters were badly rusted but it gave us a glimpse of what it might have looked like during the war.

After hiking for a while we headed to a pub for lunch. We are not huge fans of pub food but this place claimed to make everything from scratch and had some great menu options. Dave ordered ribs and claims that it's the best meat he's ever eaten from a pub. I made the mistake of ordering a salad. Life in England 101 would teach you to stick to meat, bread and potatoes (or Indian food) when ordering in a pub. To make up for my unsatisfactory meal Dave got me a McFlurry (my first McDonald's food since moving to England) and fries to dip in it! and, as you can imagine, I savored my ice cream treat all the way home!

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

One Morning in Pisa

 
Dave and I headed to Cinque Terre for a long weekend, flying into Pisa and then taking a train to the coast. I like to take pictures on our flights when I am lucky enough to get the window seat (which is quite often, my husband is very generous) so below are some views out my window...
 We debated whether we should head strait to the coast or spend a little time in the city of Pisa. No European tour is complete without a stop to snap a picture in front of the Leaning Tower, right? We were not disappointed with our decision to explore a bit of Pisa. The sun was out and the city is quite walkable. Here are some pictures from our brief visit...
We beat the morning rush to the Piazza dei Miracoli, and got some pictures in before the crowds filled the square. Here are my attempts at a typical leaning tower picture.
 Dave chose a less touristy stance.
It is quite humorous to see the pathways lined with leaning people, posing with the tower.
There is no mistaking the tilt of the structure. Apparently the structure began sinking upon it's construction (in 1178) and the upper floors were made to compensate for the this with the columns on one side being taller. The other buildings in the square are also sinking and have tilted slightly, though none rival the leaning tower.


 After plenty of photography and some time soaking in the sun, we were getting hungry. I was ready for some pizza! I love pizza, and (obviously) Italians make the best! We wondered down Via Santa Maria to a little Tuscan Pizzeria. It did not disappoint! Two pizzas and two very satisfied stomachs later we were on a train and headed to the shore.


I think I can speak for both of us when I say I'm glad we spent a morning in Pisa! Thanks for following!
Love, Em

Friday, April 12, 2013

Cinque Terre in the Spring


One of Emily's highest travel priorities while we're living in Europe was a picturesque portion of the Ligurian coast known as Cinque Terre.  We made plans in early April and few into Pisa, then trained up to La Spezia and onward to Riomaggiore, the easternmost of the "Five Lands".


We stayed at a terraced set of villas called Il Borgo Di Campi, four steep kilometers from Riomaggiore.


For €60 a night we had a small room with a kitchenette and a patio overlooking the sea, with olive trees in the yard.  Emily wanted to cook an authentic local dish, so one night she made Trofie pasta with pesto and we paired it with a wine made from grapes grown on the surrounding hills.  The weather and food were welcome changes to the long winter in England.



Above is a photo of our walk to and from Riomaggiore each day.



The views of the town from the breakwater were amazingly colorful.



Next we headed to Manarola, the next town along the line.



Manarola was the most beautiful of the five towns.  The buildings are all impossibly perched on the living rock - one of the restaurants we had lunch at in Manarola used the living rock as one of its damp walls.  Further west is the third town, Corniglia.



Corniglia is the one town not leading down to the the water's edge, but is instead seated hundreds of feet (and many steps) up on the hill.



We marveled at the terraced vineyards cloaking the entire coastline, and made our way to the fourth town, Vernazza.



There were many signs up indicating that the paths between the towns were closed or dangerous, so naturally we had to trek them.


The church on the harbor was a highlight of Vernazza.



Vernazza stretches from the cliffs to a little spit of rock, and there is a lot of evidence of flood damage along the nearby trails.  Lastly, we trained to Monterosso.



There didn't seem to be much to Monterosso's old town, but it was a good stop nonetheless.

As you can guess, we highly recommend a trip to Cinque Terre.  I would bet it's gorgeous there in the Summer and the swimming would be a bonus, but the uncrowded streets and fresh April greenery was stellar.   Put Cinque Terre on your travel list.

Emily will be posting our day trip to Pisa in a few days.