Bogs and Brews

Clifden is a little dot of a town in Connemara. We stayed nearby, out of the town, down Sky Road at the Blue Dolphin Country House on the Altantic edge. Here it was hard to say whether there were more cows and sheep or B & B's but it could hardly be considered crowded. The land is treeless and windswept, quiet & serene.

Dolphin Beach Country House

Clodagh, our host, is one of many in her family running inns and restaurants in the area. She is gracious, lovely, and helpful. We took several walks in the neighborhood, going first down to the ocean bluff through the nearest sheep pasture, later doing the loop around Sky Road, upper and lower. The latter took us past a decommissioned coast guard building, many B&B's, and the Clifden Castle. We tried to visit the castle but the road to it was posted "private."

Connemara Coast

Clodagh explained that the castle is owned by the state but the land is owned by a farmer who does not want visitors. She did, however, explain how to see the castle bypassing the farmer by going through a cow pasture. The next day we started through the pasture until we saw a bull eyeing us suspiciously. We kept to the perimeter (barbed wire) as far as we could be away from him and his gentle female companions, and quietly, steathily we made it.

Clifden Castle

This castle was a winner. Built in 1819 by John Darcy to house his large family and "to bring civilization and culture to the wild people who lived there", the walls and decorative motifs were largely still in place. It was another beautiful wreck of a castle. The above mentioned farmer situation kept it from being a contender for us but we admired the taste and ambition of the builder.

Connemara is bog country. It contains the country's largest national park where we learned about the bogs, the history and the geology. A bog is a wetland covered by a thick mat of dead plant material. It's green with softly mounded tufts of grasses and squishy to walk on. The trees of the area were decimated by early inhabitants and then the bogs took over. Later inhabitants dug up the bogs removing the topsoil to two feet down, letting it dry out then using it as fuel and building material. At one time 80% of Connemara was bog land. Now that is down to less than 20%. The same with the forests. Both are now under state protection while there is an effort to save and replenish them.

In the Interesting Facts Category:
The twelve mountains in Connemara are called the Twelve Bens.
The two enormous maple trees in Front Square at Trinity College are from Oregon and said to be almost 200 years old.

More Interesting Town & River names:
Knock, Trim, Horseleap, the River Suck

Dublin was a long four hour ride from Connemara. We broke up the trip with a stop at an ancient archeological site, Brú Na Bóinne, a world heritage site and the largest and one of the most important prehistoric megalithic sites in Europe. It was a humbling experience to see what had been built by humans about 3500 B.C. Thesite predates the Egyptian Pyramids and was built with sophistication and a knowledge of science and astronomy, 5000 years ago!

Brú Na Bóinne with Trinity Spirals
Carved in Entrance Stone

Buried under a forest and uncovered by a farmer searching his land for large rocks, the site was well preserved. Today you are allowed to enter the underground burial tomb made of giant slabs of stone. It looks and feels like a giant beehive of huge stones. Our guide said it is the only waterproof building in Ireland. So what did those ancients know that we don't know? I think the site is a magnificent reminder that humans have always been capable of great things.

Outside Wall of Bru Na Boinne

Dublin is THE city. There are all the usual cultural sights with an emphasis on the more recent history, colonization by GB, and the push for unification and self rule. On a lighter note, the tour of the Guiness Brewery (we tipped a pint to all our friends out there) balanced well with the tour of Trinity College which was established by Elizabeth I. The Book of Kells is housed in the Trinity library, and the Long Room, the longest library room in Ireland, is still the original three story, barrel vaulted ceiling beauty. It contains over 200,000 of the oldest books in Ireland and is a copyright library so it owns and receives a copy of every book published in Ireland and England. It is a beautiful space which smells of old books and looks like a book cathedral.

Steve at Guiness

Summer came to Dublin, finally, but not until our last day in Ireland. Except for two full and two partial days of sun during our two weeks, Ireland was as rainy and cool as TSR in winter. The last day in Dublin the sun came out and the temperature rose from the low 50s to the mid 70s. Suddenly the scarves were gone, the short shorts were in fashion and the people were enjoying the lovely city park, eating at sidewalk cafes, and generally hanging out.

Food was among the many things to enjoy on the Island, with a host of great contemporary restaurants flourishing. We ate perhaps too well. We managed to stay up late enough to find our way to a great pub to enjoy a group of locals riffing on Irish music. Seventeen unaffiliated people with fiddles, flutes and a tiny Irish accordian made our hearts sing. The people are very respectful and proud of their heritage.

Ireland is a fine place to visit, fine people, beautiful countryside, intricate history, great food, and wonderful music. Below are some photos of larger than life posters seen on the outside walls of buildings in an alley called the Icon Alley in Dublin. Do you know these people?

County Kerry to County Clare or Dingle to the Burren

We knew it would be rainy in Ireland and were prepared with waterproof shoes, pants and jackets. The rain did not discourage our explorations but when we arrived on the Dingle peninsula we were ready for some real exercise. A bike ride seemed the perfect thing for this landscape but not in the rain. Imagine our happiness when we woke up the following morning to the ONLY non rainy day day we have had in 10 days. In fact, it was bright and sunny. It was a wee bit o' Kaplan luck and great timing.




The Dingle Peninsula is a bright green, soft looking landscape with many farms terraced in the hillside separated by stone fences. Grazing cattle and sheep, ruins of ancient stone dwellings, including beehive houses, and stunning sea views made great photo ops along the route. It was mostly gentle rolling hills from the ocean to rounded mountains for 25 miles, enough to feel the biking mojo return in full, enough to feel entitled to a stop at Murphy's ice cream after the ride to savor the local flavors.








County Clare was next. If rocks and stones were worth their weight in gold Ireland would be a rich country indeed. County Clare is all hard surface. Stones everywhere, fences, ancient burial monuments, houses, ring forts, and the land itself is stone. Picture a field that is 75% rocks and boulders and 25% green grass, everywhere. It's beautiful and forbidding. One can only imagine the effort and energy it took humans to move the stones and build the structures.




The limestone is layered and terraced to into mountains. There is no farming here and even grazing animals need to be clever to find food. The land area called the Burren was created by the sea, the rain, and the glaciers which dragged boulders along and deposited them as they started retreating. Eons of time, weather and water created the Cliffs of Moher, Ireland's defining western face. Underground is a network of caves carved as the rain water seeped into the cracks of the limestone land. The Burren is evidence that Ireland began life as a tropical sea. There are fossils of sea creatures, as well as arctic, alpine and tropical flowers. Shifting land masses and changing climate periods have laid down a unique landscape.








Having done Dingle then the Burren, it is difficult to tell which is the more beautiful. Dingle, in County Kerry, is like undulating green velvet, rising to mountains, falling to the sea. Just north in County Claire, the Burren is rough and hard. I love them both.

Irish Whiskey, Irishisms, and Other Randon Observations

Would a grand tour of Ireland be possible without a stop at the Jameson Distillery in Midleton? Steve decided not possible. The tradition began in 1780 with John Jameson who worked out that triple distillation makes his spirit unique and smooth. The hour tour explained how the Jameson whiskey is made with barley, hops and water and nothing else. A "secret" ingredient might be that the whiskey is aged in oak barrels previously having held port, sherry, or bourbon.


The highlight of the tour was the tasting at the end. Steve was chosen as one of the lucky 8 to taste the difference between Jameson, Scotch whiskey, and American Jack Daniels. Of course, the Jameson won. I was a little nervous about Steve's left side of the road driving after the generous tasting, but I stayed alert and he muscled through to our next stop in Kinsale.

It seems that Ireland today survives to a great extent on tourism, which is heavily American. From our day tours it seems that Americans make up at least 80% of the tourists, Irish, French and German, and eastern Europeans the rest.

Kinsale is an old fishing town that in 1601 was the site of a major battle which lost the Irish control of their homeland. Charles Fort, an unusual star shaped stone fort built in 1670's is situated on a hill above the town.

Several questions occurred to me while walking around town and seeing the signs above the many pubs and shops. Why are there so many surnames in Ireland that begin with the letter "O"? The answer to that dates back to olden times when the population was so small and people were not mobile. At that time people were known by first names only. When the population grew, surnames were added based on the trade or occupation of a person. Later, a "Mac" was added to a surname and meant "son of" as in MacDougal. Later, the "O" was added and meant grandson of whomever as in O'Kelly. Now it seems that almost everyone is someone's grandson.

Irish Road Signs:
Traffic calming = slow traffic ahead
Severe bends ahead = sharp curves in the road ahead

Irish village and town names:
Inch, Quilty, Dingle, Cong

Do you know. . .
how potholes got their name?
In the old days when clay got scarce the potters used to dig clay out of the road beds to make their pots, leaving large holes for the wagons. Learned in Waterford.

the original meaning of the phrase "losing face"?
In Victorian days ladies' makeup was made of wax. When they cozied up to the fireplace after a lovely dinner in a cold mansion the heat would cause the makeup to melt. To alleviate this problem wsmall individual painted Chinese screens were used to protect their faces while their toes, etc. stayed warm and no one "lost face". Learned in Killarny.

Found another lovely mansion, Muckross House, in Killarny, County Kerry. It seems some others Americans found it first in 1922 and bought it as a wedding gift for their daughter, Maud. These Americans were the owners of Filoli Gardens (near Hillsborough) in the bay area. The house and gardens are in fine condition held by the OPW so we were too late for this treasure. Still looking. . .

A Little Bit of Heaven

Rick Steve's guide book of Ireland mentions a place on our route that is "a-died-and-gone-to-heaven" hotel and restaurant. Actually, it is a small hotel of the Relais & Chateau variety. After short consideration we decided before we left home that we would splurge for one night.


Tonight I can tell you authoritively that Rick Steve is right. It is called The Cliff House, in Ardmore. It is on the south east edge of the island on the ocean. From the website it looks a little like the TSR Lodge. The similarity ends there.

It is a narrow place with many levels, all 39 rooms having ocean facing decks. When we were escorted to our room, I thought they mistakenly put us in a suite. We have a bedroom area with a reading area with a huge, pink, comfortable chair, a fireplace separating the living area with another reading area, a TV on each side, a deck on the ocean on each side of the room. The bathroom is spacious and modern and beautiful, all glass tile and waterfall spigots, with a designer bathtub.


View From the Back of Cliff House to Ocean

We had only a half day by the time we got there but enjoyed as many of the amenities as we could fit in. We used the swimming pool, sauna, steam room, and outdoor spa tub but had to forgo a spa treatment as we had a dinner reservation. The only thing we didn't have much time for was relaxing. But after driving for a few hours to get there we felt like moving around.


From Inside Cliff House to Cantelevered Deck

We had drinks at the bar. I had one of the best mojitos I have ever had, and then we had a spectacular 3 course dinner in their perfect restaurant. I can only describe the whole place as tastefully, elegantly, comfortable. The service people are knowledgeable, intelligent, helpful and kind. My only regret was that we did not have time to try everything. We are in heaven and now I am going to to try out the luxurious bed. Good night all.

Post Script:
The next morning we got up early to do the cliff hike. Since it was the usual grey and cloudy day we put on our rain jackets. The hike is a three mile loop starting at the hotel. It goes along the cliff tops somewhat like the bluff walk at TSR but there isn't a bluff. The hills taper down to the top of the cliff then make a sheer drop of a few hundred feet to the ocean. There is a narrow path along the top.


View From Path to Ocean

We hiked along and met an Irish couple who we had met the evening before in the hot tub. They had started the hike but gave up because the Wellies they borrowed were too big and uncomfortable. We were wearing our waterproof hiking shoes so we hiked on admiring the very dramatic scenery and surprisingly came to fields planted with carrots and other crops. The farmers use every bit of the island almost to the edge. Then the trail made its way through the town. It was at that point that the sky opened up. We picked up our pace but it took us about 20 minutes to get back. By this time our waterproof shoes were soaked, our pants and socks were soaked. We were pretty drenched except the upper body where the jackets kept us dry, but we were happy to have been able to walk in Mother Nature's bit of heaven.

Castles

Castles

Apologies for the format of the last posting. I did not take the laptop with me to Ireland. I am doing the blog from my ipad. It seems the blog site I have been using does not accept formating including paragraph breaks from an ipad. It does not accept photos from the ipad either. I just bought the ipad app so maybe things will get better. . .That said I am continuing to write. There may be photos as I figure out the new app.

We landed in Ireland and the lush green land called to us. We immediately decided to check out property. Being homeless seems an unnatural state for Kaplans. All the rain and wind conjured up Sea Ranch, and all the Killarny, Kilkenny and Kinsale seemed to make Kaplan fit right in.

Since nowhere is it more true that a man's home is his castle, we previewed three castles in two days. Our first stop was Powerscourt, a vast property of 47 acres originally a 13th century castle altered in the 18th century. The house is in need of a wee bit of care but the gardens are specutacular. They include an Italian garden, a Japanese garden, a rhododendron garden, among others, as well as two large spouting fountains, two Monet worthy water lily ponds and 20 square miles of fields to mow. It was beautiful even in the rain but somehow we do not see ourselves sitting on a mower for the rest of our lives. The staff was not included in the deal.


Next stop was Kilkenny Castle which was built in 1195 by William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke. This one has been remodeled and added on to often through the centuries. The current highlight being a portrait gallery of immense proportions, until abandon by the last owners the Butler family in the 1930's. The current owner, the city of Kilkenny, has received tremendous help fom the Irish Office of Public Works in the restoration. I think we would have a problem getting Tern and Auke and the rest of our clan to sit for their portaits to fill up the gallery. That one also did not quite fit our needs.


Our third property visit was to The Rock of Cashel. This property began life as a church and monastery. It is in dreadful condition but is being worked on by OPW. The attraction here is location, location, location. It is situated on a steep hill above the town of Cashel and is open to a 360 degree view. The wind whistles and blows huge stones from the walls, plants grow in crevaces, and rain pours in due to the lack of roof and windows. This one is a real fixer upper. I think we are too old for this.


So we keep looking.
Anita

Washer Saga Part II

Steve & I got home from French lesson today to see a truck in front our our house. Boy, were we happy. About a week ago it started raining, sometimes for half a day, often lightly but almost everyday. We had one huge lightening & thunder storm. About two days later a large puddle appeared in the drying room in the basement. The "puddle" covered about one third of the floor. I was selfishly not too distressed as our clothes lines are on the dry side of the room.  We looked around to see if we could find where the water had entered. There is a door to the back garden. It was dry by the door. There are windows that are usually open on our side but obviously no water had entered through the windows. Then we noticed an unpleasant odor in the the washer room and the drying room. We collected our clothes and returned to our apartment which has light blue wall-to-wall carpeting in the entry hall and foyer. I noticed black spots where Steve had stepped. He took off his shoes and  cleaned up the spots but there was an odor.  The next day the original puddle was larger. But more significantly there was a puddle in the room with the  washer. This was muddy water. Now I needed boots to do the wash. It has been that way for a week. Our neighbors, Anabelle & Chrystalle told us it has happened before. There are drains in the floors of the basement rooms. The drainage pipe gets plugged up from ground water and mud and somehow sewage mixes in. Then it backs up into the basement. We waited for help, not one of us willing to muck out the basement. I heard that Christalle called the landlord and nothing happened, then Anabelle, the lawyer, wrote a letter. I kept my two cents out of it. Today the truck arrived and pumped out our basement. Hopefully the smell that permeates the entrance to the building as well as the basement will disappear soon. After the truck left I went downstairs. Much to my disappointment it is still very wet and very smelly down there. Luckily we are leaving for Ireland tomorrow. Hopefully, it will be dry and odor free by the time we return in two weeks. The truck says: Installations Sanitaires-Chauffages-Dépannage-Debouchage-Curage de Canalisations, you get the idea. It also says 24h sur 24h Cappilli. Thank you Monsieur Capilli. I took a picture of the truck but I cannot post it from Ireland. Use your imagination.

Weather Or Not... A Double Blog

This first part was written last week but I didn't get around to sending it.

House in our Hood with Kitty, kitty window, kitty ramp,
kitty stairs, ramp & ladder (not visible) to ground.

I changed my clothes three times by 9 am. today. The forecast was for sunny and around 80° with thunderstorms late in the afternoon. We decided last night that we would take a 2 hourish hike in our neighborhood in the morning to catch the best weather.

It seemed cool outside so I dressed in typical TSR hiking clothes, long pants, lightweight, breathable hiking shirt.  By the time we finished breakfast it was raining, hard. That was it for the hike. I had too much to do today. I am cooking and freezing dinners for Jed and the family for the time we will be in Ireland. Helga will be in Brazil for part of that time and Jed asked for help.

So I changed again to jeans and walked the mile to the supermarket in a light rain. By the time I returned at 10:30 the sun was shining and it was warm and muggy. I ripped off the jeans and went to short pants and short sleeves.

Earlier, when it was still raining, we invited Marcella to bring the kids up here after day care. I was racking my brain to think of things we could do indoors in our little apartment. I had a few things up my sleeve from the old days of elementary school teaching, but by mid morning it was obvious we would be outdoors today.


We met Marcella and the boys at the Pully train station and rode 20 minutes to the town of Cully where there is a playground Tern & Auke had not been to before. Cully is a small town east along the lake that has a big playground and a big music festival in a tent next to the playground.

Tern with Auke Wearing Anita's Backpack

It was noisy from a rehearsal and steamy and hot so after trying out all the play things Cully had to offer we walked down to the lake hoping for cooler air. We found some great shade under a huge sycamore tree with a sign saying it was planted in 1798. There was more play value running around that tree than in the playground.

Home by 5 pm and by 7 pm we had a raging lightening and thunderstorm. The wind was so fierce I thought I would lose all the buds on my tomato plants. I pushed them closer to the house for protection. The wind roared, the rain poured and it was over in 20 minutes.

I think everyday how different our lives are here. We spend a lot of time together. We live in a small, furnished  apartment, with a poorly equipped kitchen. This is the first time in 25 years that we have shared a bathroom sink. We don't speak the native language but we are learning to get by. We are doing homework. We see the grand boys whenever we want to. We do not have our own washer, or any clothes dryer, or a TV or a car. We take a lot of busses and some trains, and we walk everywhere we can. We don't have friends.

Anita Buckling Tern into Anita's Backpack

We don't have a schedule of people to see or places to go. We don't have things we must do but we are always busy. Each day and each week is different. This week we bought and replaced the broken light fixture over Jed and Helga's dining table. We spent an afternoon at the playground with our petit-fils (grandsons). Yesterday our upstairs neighbor invited us for coffee. This weekend we have our first invitations to dinner. 

Steve's bicycling buddy, Jerome, and his wife Aline, both in their 20's have invited us to dinner Friday evening. I haven't met them yet, but I am told they speak English as well as we speak French. Hopefully, the food will fill in the gaps. Then we are invited to Arjan and Ivan's house for dinner on Saturday evening. We met these wonderful guys here several years ago through Helga & Jed. They came to visit us at TSR during their west coast tour two years ago. Then on Sunday evening Marcella's parents will be here visiting her so we will all have dinner together. On Monday we are invited to lunch in Thonon. We will meet Mitchell Newdelman. Mitchell is the brother of Barry who is a new Portland friend. This is our first social weekend and it feels good.

I miss people, my people, my friends. I miss the sense of place and belonging that one has at home with friends in the community. It's all part of this new life, exciting, challenging, somewhat disturbing, anything but boring. After 10 weeks here it is feeling more like home away from home. Is this expat retirement? 

Post Script:
I am summarizing the weekend above while on the ferry from Thonon back to Lausanne.

Friday evening: The dinner with the 20 somethings went very well. Jerome & Aline seemed genuinely interested in spending time with us. Aline spoke perfect English, Jerome spoke English much better than we speak French. Aline is a great cook, loves chocolate and rhubarb. We had a lot in common. Steve and Jerome talked about biking. Being with young people just starting out is refreshing.

Saturday evening: Dinner with Arjan & Ivan is always a pleasure.  Arjan went to business school with Helga. Ivan had his own restaurant. Dinner was beautiful & delicious. Their home is a contemporary wonder and the little boys got to swim in their pool.

Sunday evening : Meeting Marcelle's parents was lovely. They are as sweet as she is. Jed & Helga pulled off a great dinner.

Small Sample of Cheeses at Thonon Cheese Shop

Monday morning: After the ferry to Thonon-Les-Bains across the lake in France, Mitchell met us at the funiculare in Haute-Thonon and wisked us through town stopping for un cafe, then the farmers market, a cheese shop  run by one of three national treasure cheese makers in France, and la boulangerie. Then he took us home to his spectacular apartment on the top 2 floors of a circa 1970 apartment building. It could have been a Peter Sellers movie set. It was a duplex penthouse with a dynamite view, of the lake, Lausanne, the Alps, and the city from  the wrap around deck. The swimming pool is outside on the top floor.

Filling a bottle of Thonon Water, same as Evian,
at Free Public Fountain

Mitchell  is a man of many talents. He has had impressive positions in business and government, and he is an excellent host who can whip together a lunch of risotto, salad, cheese and fruit with wines to match. He is filled with joie de vivre. We had a fine day.
It is nice to connect with new people and reconnect with old friends. 

Wednesday we are off to Ireland. I will try to post from there.

Fondly & appreciatively,

Anita

Getting My Mojo Back

Rob Henning & Steve at Jet d'Eau in Geneva

Steve bought a bicycle almost immediately after we landed. As of today he has done one 110km ride halfway around Lake Geneva, which by the way is called Lac Leman here, and one just-for-fun community bike ride with Marcelle, our au pair, of 60 km.

Marcelle Burbank & Steve at Tour de Lausannoise Velo

I brought my biking gloves, biking shorts, shirt, shoes and fabulously comfortable bike seat. But until last week I had done only one short bike ride when Zoë was here from home down the hill to the lake continuing to Jed's office and back. The city traffic proved nerve racking for me or was it that I am just getting to old to climb on the old velo?

Our Ferry Approaching Lausanne 

So when Steve proposed last Friday that we take the bikes (mine is borrowed from Helga) on the ferry to Evian and have a look around, I thought doing it or admitting my age and giving up cycling. I opted for trying to get my biking mojo back.

Approaching Evian

We found a way down the hill that avoided most of the traffic. We caught a mid morning ferry and had to buy special tickets for our bicycles. The boat was mostly empty but we were not the only passengers with wheels. It was a gorgeous, sunny day but not too warm, perfect cycling weather. We had restaurant info from the internet and a more interesting option from the brother of a friend who lives nearby in France. We decided to try Mitchel's option first.

When we disembarked in Evian there was a farmer's market in full swing. There were the usual fab veggies, cheeses, meats, mushrooms, spices,etc. and also clothing galore. Steve almost sprung for a new pair of shorts but we really didn't have any way to carry anything.

We rode around town passing the huge Evian Casino and the fancy building that sits above the original source of the famous water. Then we headed out of town to Thonon. Mitchel Newdelman, our connection, told us there was a 14th century castle/chalet in Thonon that is very much like the Chateau de Chillon on our side of the lake but it had a lovely restaurant that would accept people dressed casually in bicycle garb.

Chateau de Ripaille

Steve had seen the area between the towns on his long tour around the lake and assured me the going was flat, scenic, and without much traffic. He was right, right, and wrong. Luckily it was only about 10 km to get there. It was a narrow road and there was auto and truck traffic.

The Chateau de Ripaille  is massive and beautiful,  and surrounded by vineyards and an endless red poppy field. Unfortunately, the restaurant was complet (full). It was explained to us that the restaurant is very small and we must have a reservation even for lunch on a Friday. So that culinary adventure is saved for next time we cross the lake.

Red Poppies at Chateau de Ripaille

Back we went to Evian to make it before our internet recommendation closed for mid day siesta. We ate at the Chalet O Crepes, the French version of IHOP. It was a bit of a come down from the Chalet but the food was good, the service was excellent, we got in some good mileage on the bikes and I found my biking mojo along the way.

Lunch Here

Peaceful Return on the Ferry