Top 10 Vacation Memories

Well, we made it home safe and sound, and we’re getting back into the groove after a wonderful vacation. Kim and I spent a couple of days unpacking and part of the weekend catching up on mail and bills (fun fun fun).

Over the past couple of weeks we’ve had a rare opportunity to see things that many never have the opportunity to see, and for that we feel blessed. We got to visit wonderful sights, both natural and man made, and we got to visit, face-to-face. with my daughter and son-in-law.

We’ve compared notes, and while we each could list many more memorable things, we made a “Top 10” vacation memories list…

10.

Kim’s waiter/“boyfriend” at Café du Pont Neuf playing the campy role of the stereotypical flirty Frenchman.

9.

The hike to Glenveagh Castle, and the castle gardens. Listening to Marnnie and Travis tell us about their previous times there. Enjoying sharing a little part of their lives.

8.

The Paris catacombs. A mile of bones that creeped Kim out the whole time even as she enjoyed it.

7.

Going to sleep each night in front of a tall open window in Paris, feeling the warm evening breeze.

6.

The cool, green, natural beauty of Ireland. Seeing the Cliffs of Moher, hoisting numerous pints of Guinness, and feeling the ghosts of my ancestors.

5.

Sharing a kiss and a drink of champagne at the top of the Eiffel Tower.

4.

Watching mass at Notre Dame Cathedral. The history, the reverence.

3.

Hearing Kim, on arrival in Paris, looking around and saying “I just got goose bumps.”

2.

Sitting in a Paris café with Kim, enjoying wine and cheeses, watching the movements of the city.

1.

Enjoying the company of my daughter and son-in-law. The thoroughly enjoyable cheese, fruit (and chicken) dinner and talks at their home. Especially the brief moments Marnnie and I got to chat, just the two of us.

As I mentioned above, there were far more than just 10 memories... the art at the Louvre, meeting fellow Ohioans atop the Arc de Triomphe, and many more images from simply walking around the city (and riding the Metro).

We hope that everyone has the opportunity to create such memories of their own.

Glenveigh National Park

Not far from Marnnie and Travis' place is a wonderful national park with a "castle" built in the 1870's as a hunting lodge (as opposed to those built centuries ago for holding strategic positions).

The castle is built on a lake and, following its time as a hunting lodge, has been owned over the years primarily by those in the arts community in America, but was turned over to the state for use as a national park, opening in 1984.

We arrived and hiked the 4 km to the castle, had a snack in the shop located there and took the castle tour. It featured beautiful gardens and artwork collected over the years, and we saw the rooms where guests including Greta Garbo, John Knowles and many others stayed.

In the evening we sat around with Marnnie and Travis looking at pictures from their trips to Germany and around Ireland, and generally enjoyed their company and hospitality.

We're preparing to leave this afternoon via bus to Dublin, for the early plane back to the U.S. in the morning. As I write this entry I'm thinking that it seems like we've been away from home for some time, and I'm looking forward to seeing the animals and being home again, yet at the same time how much we've enjoyed our visit to Paris and Ireland, and especially seeing my awesome daughter and her husband, gaining understanding about their life here.

Goodbye Paris, Hello Ireland

Having arrived at Travis and Marnnie’s home in Letterkenny, I have time to catch up on the past few days.

Thursday, 2 July –

We got the apartment cleaned up for departure, made arrangements to leave our luggage there until later in the afternoon, and headed for Sacred Heart (Sacre Coure’), a cathedral built by Napoleon. To uplift the spirits of Parisians he had it built on the highest hill in the city where it could be seen by all. The mosaics inside are remarkable with incredible detail.

We made our way back to the apartment via the Metro, stopping for some shopping and lunch along the way.

From there, we hit the Metro system for the airport… always an adventure with luggage. The Metro isn’t air conditioned and with all of the humanity crammed into such small spaces the heat and the fun smells were intense. We made it to the airport and though our plane ran behind schedule, we arrived in Ireland that evening, welcoming the much cooler temperatures.

Meeting up with Travis, we drove a short distance to the Bunratty Manor Inn, showered and changed, then enjoyed dinner. After several days of the Paris heat and street noise, the cool and quiet night’s sleep was welcome. We slept like the dead.

Friday, 3 July -

Having forgotten about the 1 hour time difference, I interrupted our slumber an hour earlier than I should have, but we used the time to get things packed up before joining Travis and Marnnie for breakfast… an interesting item called “the full Irish” consisting of an egg, roasted tomato, black pudding, white pudding, rashers and sausage (bangers). If you aren’t familiar with the term, pudding in this context is liver sausage (white pudding) or blood sausage (black pudding).

Kim developed a quick friendship with the feral cat that hangs around the Inn. But it was short lived since we needed to get on the road to our next destination.

Our first stop of the day was at Bunratty Castle, which is one of the very few such places that can be toured. Most castles had wooden floors that have long since deteriorated, but Bunratty, which controlled the mouth of the Shannon River, had stone and marble flooring which is well maintained allowing visitors to walk throughout the castle seeing the Earl’s quarters and commons areas.

Surrounding the castle is a small village of shops, restored to the time period, which we also visited picking up a few trinkets here and there, and petting a couple of very friendly Irish Wolfhounds.

After visiting the shops, we stopped at Durty Nelly’s Pub for my first pint of Guinness in Ireland.

From there, we drove to the Cliffs of Moher, a spectacular sight rising 710 ft above the ocean, running along the coast for 5 miles. We enjoyed an afternoon hike along the cliffs, and Marnnie and I took a picture of our feet dangling over the edge.

Just a short distance away was our destination for the night, a small B & B named Atlantic View House. From our window we could see the cliffs as we got cleaned up to walk up the road for dinner and an evening’s entertainment at Gus O’Connor’s Pub.

The pub was exactly what you’d expect an Irish Public House to be, with bar food and eventually a traditional Irish band that came in, sat in one of the central booths specifically equipped and reserved for this purpose, and proceeded to entertain us.

We returned to the B & B, and with the window open fell asleep listening to the sound of the ocean.

Saturday, 4 July –

Sleeping in just a little later this morning, we enjoyed another Irish breakfast and visited local shops. I purchased a hat and a couple of sweaters, since Ireland is known for its wool products. Kim didn’t find a sweater for her, but she did seem to start referring to the ones I bought for me as “our sweaters” later in the day, making me wonder how much I’ll actually get to wear them.

Driving North from the Cliffs of Moher to Letterkenny, a distance of about 180 miles, over roads that are barely wide enough for two compact cars to get past each other is actually semi-entertaining. Even more so since traffic moves in the “wrong” lanes according to those of us from the U.S. and most other places on the planet.

Having right turn lanes rather than left turn lanes, and having to watch the opposite direction as you cross the street is something that takes some getting used to.

Once in Letterkenny, Marnnie made a list and we hit the grocery store and then returned to the house to make dinner and enjoy an evening just relaxing and talking.

The Eiffel Tower, last night in Paris

Our last full day in Paris... with one more "A" list item on my to-do's... the Eiffel Tower.

Apparently locals try to dismiss its existence, but it is one of the most iconic landmarks in the world, and one can hardly come to Paris and not see it. Actually, you can see it from virtually anywhere in the city, but to be this close and not go see it up close and personal would be shameful.

But before that, we walked through a local market at Rue Cler for breakfast and a little light shopping. Rue Cler is a well known market just a few streets over, so we stopped there for omelets en route to the tower (see Marnnie and Kim in photo).

We walked through the tower gardens, the three of us standing in line for the lift. With a brief pause at the second level, we made our way to the top and enjoyed the magnificent view of the city while drinking overpriced champagne sold there.

We took pictures, enjoyed the view, the champagne and a kiss atop the Eiffel Tower, then made our way down and back to the apartment for some rest. After several days pushing very hard, we're all pretty tired and thought some downtime would be good before going out for the evening.

Tonight Kim, Marnnie and I got cleaned up and went down to Cafe' du Pont Nuef for drinks (Kim's flirtatious waiter wasn't working), then over toward L' Absinthe restaurant, where a couple of years ago I had one of my best travel experiences. At that time, they were incredibly kind to me, and I wound up being invited to stay after hours with the wait and bar staff to try new drinks and talk about America and my experience in France. Unfortunately this time we showed up during rush hour and they couldn't find seating for three.

We wandered down the row in this decidedly French area, and found an Italian place with available seating where we ate delicious pizza, salad and shared a nice bottle of Sangiovese. We sat for about two hours talking about relationships, motorcycles and a host of other topics, enjoying each other's company. I'm an incredibly fortunate man.