Ireland

Well, the Verdict is in--Ireland is one of my favorite places on earth!!! Seriously, it exceeded my already high expectations. The west coast county of Kerry is one of the most gorgeous places I have ever beheld. So much natural beauty. Rugged mountains, lush green valleys, lakes & BC like forests, and the ocean view! It was like being on the East coast of Canada and BC all at the same time (and yes, it was a bit like Vancouver Island in that sense, but more beautiful I would venture to say).

And the Irish people--don't even get me started! They are the friendliest people. We didn't come across one unfriendly person even in all the customer service we experienced. Love the accent too. Tom and I would drive (we drove from Dublin to the West Coast, so it was several hours) and listen to the radio and just try to impersonate the accent in the safety of our own little car (A Black Nissan Micra).

One Highlight: We took a forty minute boat ride to the Skellig Islands (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) about 12 people fit on the boat, and they take you out to this Island that is huge, lush green and mysterious looking (looked like it should be on Lord of the Rings or something). Only a few boats bring passengers everyday and there is nothing on the Island not even a loo. The only thing on the Island is an ancient monastery at the top. After you climb hundreds of rather precarious stairs (built by the monks in 600 AD, no hand rails just pure cliffs) you enter this old monastery that was used from the 600's to 1100's. It's a set of amazingly constructed beehive like buildings, each having a different function. The natural beauty plus the amazing history made this Island visit spectacular. There was also like 20,000 Puffins! They were everywhere... so cute!

The second small island, called Little Skellig, you cannot go on, but we did drive by it in our boat. You wouldn't want to step foot on that island...it's covered in bird crap! This little island "holds Ireland's largest and the world's second-largest Northern Gannet colony, with almost 30,000 pairs".

The Islands were off the coast of a small place called Portmagee (Later we hiked in Macgillycuddy Reeks). Great names. When we got to Portmagee the driver said, "yep you're on the terd boat dere" and we climbed aboard. :) Good times.

I feel like my eyes have been spoiled with all the beauty of Ireland.





And of course, no trip to Ireland is complete without a trip to the Guinness Brewery--Tom was already a Guinness man for years, but now it's safe to say he's a Guinness man for Life!

Paris

Just got back from Paris this week--what a great city. I think I like it even more than London. The tube system is just as good, but they have these 'bike stalls' all over the city where you can pay a euro and grab a bike and drop it off at any of the stands in the city. So we took a bike from the Eiffel Tower stand and cycled up to Arc de Triomphe! Brilliant! Except, note to self: don't leave anything in the basket and walk away...like a camera. It won't be there when you get back. Yep, that was the only crappy thing about our trip--losing the camera! Luckily we were staying with C4C friends, so they let us borrow their camera for the remainder of the trip.

We went to the Louvre, saw the Mona Lisa (small and somewhat disappointing) and the famous French Revolution painting on the front of the latest cold play album (really cool). Went to Notre Dame (but not in it) and ate several times at the Latin Quarter which was, in our opinion, one of the coolest spots in Paris! We ate huge sweet and savoury crepes, Raclette and beef fondue...so delicious. We also went to Versailles, and even though it was closed because it was a Monday, we spent lots of time in the Garden and by the lake, and we ate over-priced delicious gelato!

One highlight was definitely going to the Eiffel Tower at night to watch it sparkle (it sparkles for 5 minutes every hour, and the rest of the time it's just lit up). Guys walk around selling stuff like souvenirs and crap like that, but also wine and champagne. Apparently the park gets really busy at night and everyone buys wine off these guys and just enjoys the view. So Tom and I bought a cheap bottle of champagne (5 Euro!) and drank it while watching the Tower sparkle. There was entertainment all around as groups of individuals gathered to watch the Tower light up. There was even a drunk Swede who bought 250 little Eiffel Towers for 30 Euro so that he could give them to everyone sitting in the park (he did it so that the sales guys would leave everyone alone) and a Spanish/French couple behind us dancing and every so often yelling, "More wine for everyone!". It was pretty funny. But it was a great way to end a long day. By the way, speaking of the Eiffel Tower, we did go up it in the morning, walked all the stairs to the second floor (it's equivalent to walking up 43 floors in a building) and ate lunch up there (amazingly it was not overpriced) and we took a lift up to the very top (yeah that made my knees a little weak)!

Those were the highlights! Now back to work (and off to Ireland next weekend).

Crazy Crisps are Back!

Last year I wrote about how Walker's came out with a crazy chip (or crisp, to the British) flavour contest...well, this year they have done it again! And there are 15 different flavours!! In light of the world cup, they have done a countries theme which is interesting--and so far they are pretty darn good! The best one is French Garlic Baguette, kind of tastes like salty sour cream & onion chips.

If you want to see all the flavours, go to their website: http://www.walkers.co.uk/flavourcup/ Just to give you some examples, they have Scottish Haggis, English Roast Beef & Yorkshire Pudding and American Cheeseburger. Tom really like the American one, but I think it just tastes like ketchup & mustard. The English one tastes completely 100% like Roast beef and Yorkshire, but I am just not convinced I want my chips to taste like that--I want Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding dinner to taste like that, but maybe not my chips.