Ireland

Only two weeks after our return from Italy, we set off for another amazing journey.  This time, we went west, to Ireland.  We flew Ryan Air to Cork, Ireland, only a 50 minute flight from Stansted.  We arrived at a small, yet classy airport where we proceeded to the car hire desks to pick up our rental, a new Ford Fiesta.  When we got in and started driving, we noticed that all over the car and local streets were signs reminding us to drive on the left, which was no problem for us anymore, however, for a mainland-European or American, it was a good idea.  With our own GPS and Ireland atlas from the base library, we made our way through downtown Cork and north to Blarney Castle.  The castle was still in relatively good condition, with only a few sections laid waste to ruin.  This castle had a sense of humour, and a bit of superstition.  All over were references to the difference in the phrases, “Blarney and Baloney.” Here’s the difference:

Baloney? Or Blarney?

Baloney: When you tell an unattractive women that she is beautiful.

Blarney: When you tell the same woman that her wisdom and experience enhance her striking features.

Supposedly, the lord of Blarney castle, near Cork, agreed to surrender the castle to British troops. But he kept making excuses for postponing the surrender. And, he made them sound like very good excuses; “this is just more of the same blarney.”

Along those same lines of superstition, there is the Blarney Stone, said to give the gift of eloquence to anyone who kissed it, while lying upside down over the edge of the tower.  Lindsay was feeling really adventurous so she did it!  I merely blew it a kiss, knowing the millions of people who must have also kissed the same stone.  Nonetheless, it was a fantastic experience. The castle grounds also had a poison garden filled with numerous fatal plants, a 19^th century mansion, and a beautiful lake.  Lindsay and I took a nice hike around the area and we were pleasantly surprised by the amazing landscape.
Blarney Castle:

View of Blarney House from the castle:

Enter at your own risk!

Us at the top of Blarney Castle:

After the castle we drove to our B&B in Killarney.  The host and hostess were very nice and recommended dinner accommodations for the evening on High Street of Killarney.  So, along with dinner, we got to scope out the main drag and spot a few more places we’d like to eat.
Our B&B:

"Boxty", a traditional Irish pancake:

Irish Lamb Stew (also Irish Soda Bread in the back, served with every meal):

The next day was reserved for our car tour of the Ring of Kerry.  We drove anti-clockwise starting with the north side of the peninsula, then rounding the south side.  All along the way, we stopped at various sites and look-outs, and even got to walk the beach for a while.  The vegetation completely changed from the luscious green forest on the north side to a light brown chaparral climate on the south.
Shipwreck on Rossbeigh Beach:

A steep cliffside drive from Rossbeigh:

Lindsay loves sheep (and it looks like they love her back):

Portmagee, where we stopped for lunch:

Fogher Cliffs look-out:

Us on Valentia Island:

Us at the Mt. Geokaun Overlook:

On the following day, we started out by exploring the Killarney National Park. There we saw stunning waterfalls, large mansions, a friary, and more gorgeous gardens.
The Torc Waterfall:

Muckross House:

Muckross Friary:

Muckross Gardens:


After the park, we did a similar drive around the peninsula of Dingle, to the north.  Amazingly, the drive was completely different than the previous day.  We got to see the beautiful sea-side cliffs, ancient ruins dating back to near 500 BC, and our favorite, more beaches!  The landscape was very Lord of the Rings-ish.  Imagine the first part of the Fellowship, after the Shire, but before Moria.  I even spotted a hill ringed with stones that could have been the watch tower of Amon Sûl, (Weathertop). 
Rainbow over Conor Pass:

Ventry Beach (with the Kerry Peninsula in the background):

Dunbeg Fort prehistoric site:

Dingle Peninsula Coastal Drive:

Blake with the Dunloe "Ogham" Stones, with hash marks representing an early form of Irish writing:

The next morning was our return trip from Kerry Airport back to Stansted.  An excited Cooper welcomed us home.  We loved Ireland: beautiful countryside, and the friendliest people in all of our traveling to date.  Another remarkable European trip in the bag; more to come!

~Blake

p.s.  As always, tons more travel photos at Lindsay's Flickr site; just click on the link in the upper-right-hand bar!

Italy – Day 6 through 8 – Venice

Our train ride to Venice ended by travelling along a long bridge, beside the only road onto the island.  As we exited the train station, we were met by what seemed to be main street, the Grand Canal.  In front of us was a busy waterway with water buses, taxis, and of course, gondolas.  We waited in line for a 3-day bus pass, and then boarded the water bus, called a “vaporetto”, towards our stop, Rialto.  What we didn’t know was that there were two Rialto stops, and our hotel directions were from the stop we didn’t take.  Venice doesn’t have normal streets with names.  Most of the paths seemed to be unmarked and only wide enough for about three people to walk side-by-side.  After asking for directions from a nice Australian woman who basically gave us a general direction to continue walking, we stumbled across a sign for our hotel down a small vacant street.

Train tracks to the island:

View of the Grand Canal from Rialto Bridge:

Hidden street with our hotel:

The hotel had no elevator, so Mike and I carried the heavy bags and Lindsay and Jenna checked us in.  The people at the counter were very nice and had a large map where they showed us various places to visit in Venice.  They also had a pair of dachshunds that helped with business by sleeping on the computer chair behind them. At the hotel, we all shared one large room with a queen bed, and two twin beds.  On the plus side, the bathroom was very large and accommodating. 

On our first day of exploring, we ventured to San Marco’s Square.  Our hotel also gave us small pocket-sized maps for use on the tiny streets and on the vaporetto lines, so we decided to jump on board to travel around the Grand Canal back to our hotel.  This vaporetto turned out to be a bad choice; way more crowded than our first one, and it was stopping at every stop making for bad time.  So, we disembarked and took to walking back.  This allowed us to see more of the city and let us search for some of the recommended restaurants.  We decided on a nice Italian pasta/seafood place that squeezed us in, even though we didn’t have a reservation and tables were very limited.  After dinner and on the way home, we found a gelato stand and enjoyed dessert on the walk back to the hotel.

San Marco's Square:

Outside San Marco's Basilica:

Mike & Jenna on the Grand Canal:

Narrow canals and footbridges:

Calamari Pasta:

Grand Canal at night:

Lindz in a Venetian Carnival mask:

The next day, we went back to San Marco Square and went inside of the basilica.  It was superb.  Gold mosaic tiling allowed sunlight to bounce around the chapel’s inside, allowing reverence to be observed by the viewers.

Golden mosaic domed ceiling in San Marco's Basilica:

We saw this a lot in the Italian churches - workers would clap loudly at you if you were being too loud, right before loudly yelling "NO FOTOS!!!"

Upon leaving the basilica, we decided to seize the opportunity for a mid-day gondola ride through some of the smaller canals of Venice.  Our gondolier was part of the family of gondoliers that ran all the gondolas in the city.  He was very nice and answered all of my silly touristy-type questions that I had for him.  One of the aspects that Lindsay liked most, was how on corners, he would yell “Oiy!” and sometimes, a slightly longer “Ooiyyyy!” would return indicating another gondola nearing the same corner.  Very interesting… oh, and romantic! 

After the gondola ride, we made our way north to a vaporetto stop that took us to the legendary Murano Island.  Murano is where the glass factories are located, removed from the main city to protect them against the possibility of a city-wide fire.  We spent most of our day enjoying the colorful buildings, emerald green canals, and loads of small glass shops offering their wares.  

Riding a vaporetto to Murano:

Fancy Murano glass shop:

Back on the main island, we had our last Italian dinner at a highly recommended restaurant.  That night, we packed for the early water bus ride to the stop where actual buses took us to the airport.

Early morning vaporetto to the real bus station:

Sunrise over tranquil Grand Canal:

Our trip to Italy was one for the books.  The country looked more and more beautiful the longer we stayed.  The best part of the whole trip, besides the excellent company of course, had to have been the food.  We enjoyed the most excellent Italian food and dessert we have had in a long time.  I wouldn’t be surprised if we made time for another trip to Italy before our time ends in Europe.

~Blake

Italy – Day 4 through 6 – Florence

When we arrived, the city was in a Firenze.  The train depot was busy and the temperature was high as we departed the station with our baggage.  Instead of getting lost, we merely took the long, scenic way to our hotel, and when we arrived, our room was on the fifth floor, so the elevator was the way to go.  The man working the front desk spoke perfect English, mainly because he was from Brooklyn and moved to Italy to be with family and continue his family business of running the hotel.  Our rooms were very nice, split suites that shared a bathroom.  We had both air conditioners on full blast as soon as we entered the room.  After a cool off/power nap, we headed out to explore Florence.  Our host gave some recommendations for dinner and told us, “If you’re looking for good pizza, fugget about it.  These Florentino’s don’t know pizza.”  He did tell us he know of one place that serves real Napoli pizza, the only in the city, so we went there for dinner after exploring for a few hours.  While exploring, we got to see Boboli Gardens, the famous Ponte Vecchio Old Bridge, and lots of little shops selling their wares.

Lindz & Jenna with a strange statue at the Pitti Palace:

Boboli Gardens:

Us at the Boboli Gardens:

Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge):

Margharita Pizza, Napoli-style:

Our delicious daily habit, Gelato:

We sat an enjoyed our evening gelato in the Piazza Santa Maria Novella:

The next day, we went to go see Michelangelo's David, numerous other fine statues, and art that was stunning to say the least.  David really was remarkable.  Unfortunately, photos were not allowed, so instead people sat and relaxed in the presence of this masterpiece.

Later that day, we spent some time wandering the square where the Duomo was located.  The line to enter the Duomo, and the price, were a little too large for our tastes, so we decided to climb the tower next to the Duomo, and we were pleasantly surprised by the views.  Not only was this the best place to see the splendor of the Duomo, but we could see the entire city and for miles in every direction.  I loved being this high up, and took advantage of the chicken wire surrounding the top of the tower.

Piazza del Duomo:

Views of the Duomo and the rest of Florence from the Bell Tower:

The next day we gathered our possessions and made the trek back to the train station.  Traveling by train seemed easy to us by now, and we felt more at ease for the journey.  Our final city on our trip was Venice, the floating jewel of Italy.  Stay tuned…

~Blake