Dubliners

Nick and I spent a few days in Dublin, Ireland this week! Other than a flight delay getting home, some rain and a cold I can't shake, we had a great trip. Many of you will recognize the title of this post as an allusion to a literary work by James Joyce (a collection of short stories). The above statue is of Joyce; he is just one of the many literary giants to have called Dublin home. My favorite writer from Dublin is Oscar Wilde, and I particularly enjoyed the statue of him in the city. (I love the expression on his face!)
According to our bus tour guide, Wilde is the most quoted person in the English language, and right in front of his statue are 2 monuments with some of his quotes; the statue is in a park across the street from his childhood home. It was a lovely little pilgrimage because I love Wilde's work so much.

Another interesting monument in Dublin is the Dublin Spire, the tallest structure in Dublin (120 meters/387.4 feet). It was created in 2003 to replace a famous sculpture destroyed in the 60s. Our tour guide gave us 5 nicknames for the Spire. I'll only give you 3 here because the other 2 are a little vulgar (you can email me for them if you really want to know). The spire is known as: "the rod to God," "the pole in the hole," and "the stiletto in the ghetto." Many Dubliners were not excited about the spire and their tax euros spent to create it.

We really enjoyed our guided bus tour, especially John, our guide/driver. He sang a few Irish songs and gave some interesting facts. We also visited Dublin Castle, which is still used as government offices. We went to the Trinity College library to see the famous Book of Kells, a 7th Century illuminated manuscript of the four gospels. And we spent a few hours in the Irish Museum of Modern Art, where we saw exhibits by Janaina Tschape (whose paintings we loved and whose photography we ... saw) and Ulla von Brandenburg, as well as a variety of commissioned works of modern art.

Here's a photo of Nick in front of the most photographed statue in Dublin: Molly Malone. We wish we could share John (the bus tour guide) singing the song, but we found one on YouTube we liked. Click here for a great version of "Molly Malone" by Barry Dodd.
Thursday we took a coastal bus tour to the south of Dublin. We stopped at the beautiful Powerscourt Gardens, where we enjoyed the breathtaking scenery in the rain. We also enjoyed some of the over-the-top inscriptions on the gravestones in the pet cemetery. A photo of the memorial to Doodles Chow is below.


A few more photos in closing: the adorable shamrock motif of the light posts throughout the city; the Custom House, famous for its architecture; and Aras an Uachtarain, the house of the Irish President. (Look familiar? The inspiration for this facade--the Leinster House in Dublin--also inspired the design of the north portico of the White House, which was designed by an Irish immigrant to America.)

London Calling

Thursday we went to Cambridge, but we decided to let someone else punt the Cam while we relaxed, enjoyed the scenery and listened to some great Cambridge stories. (The above photo is the back of St. John's College.) Below, enjoy a photo of Nick gnawing on a very posh giant flump.

Saturday we spent the day in London. We saw all the sights but didn't get a chance to really sink our teeth into London, so we're looking forward to getting back soon.

We went on a Beatles walking tour that was actually a little boring, but here's a photo of Paul McCartney's London office. You can't tell from the photo, but we could faintly make out the cover of the Abbey Road album hanging on his wall (for you non-Beatles fans, it's the iconic shot of the Beatles on the zebra crossing/crosswalk).

Jacob update: I don't have a lot of details, but I did talk to Jacob today, and he's doing well other than the extreme heat. He was in transit for a couple of days but is finally at his planned destination. Thanks again to those of you who have offered encouragement and support to both of us.

Germany and Goodbyes

I think the tone of the blog is usually happy and excited, so I apologize for being sad today. Monday morning Jacob and I had to say goodbye for a few months, and it was really difficult. He's currently in Germany, and he'll soon be on his way to "an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia." We'll try to keep you updated on his activities as well as mine this summer. Thank you to those of you who have expressed your support for him.

My little brother Nick arrived last week, and I'm excited to have him here while Jacob is gone. We plan to have lots of fun, so stay tuned to the blog this summer!

The three of us (Jacob, Nick and I) drove to Germany last Thursday and had a fun few days before the goodbye Monday. Friday we visited Trier, one of the oldest cities in Germany and the birthplace of Karl Marx. Nick has studied Marx recently in college, so we went to the Karl Marx Museum, which was really interesting and in the actual house of his birth. Trier is apparently very proud of its son--you can tell by the colorful image of him they display on their city buses.

Also while in Germany we enjoyed some delicious food, including Bratwurst and (lots of) Schnitzel.

Saturday we went to Luxembourg. We enjoyed the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial. It was a moving memorial, and General Patton is buried there--not because he died there, but because he chose to be buried with his soldiers. I was particularly moved by a quote by Dwight D. Eisenhower etched into the ground:

"All who shall hereafter live in freedom will be here reminded that to these men and their comrades we owe a debt to be paid with grateful remembrance of their sacrifice and with the high resolve that the cause for which they died shall live eternally. "

I hope I can have more grateful remembrance...

We also visited Luxembourg City, and then we drove to a cute German village called Cochem. There's a beautiful castle on a hill, surrounded by a quaint village, all set in a picturesque area of the Mosel Valley. We absolutely loved Cochem, including the tour of the castle, which was given in German with a translation sheet in English.

Sunday we visited Worms, another of the top 3 oldest cities in Germany. It's also famous for the 1521 Diet of Worms, at which Martin Luther was named an outlaw during the counter-Reformation. Here's a photo of the Martin Luther monument there.

After the wrenching goodbye, Nick and I drove to Paris where we met up with Emily and Joel again (Jacob's brother and his wife). We enjoyed a great, full day in Paris Monday. Here are a few photos (the Louvre, the Parc du Champs de Mars from the very top of the Eiffel Tower--a little scary, and the Notre Dame Cathedral, which we saw in the orange glow of the beautiful Paris sunset):

Tuesday before we drove back to the UK we went to the Palace of Versailles, and it was breathtakingly beautiful. Because we didn't have much time we stuck to the gardens, but we could have spent a few more hours (in addition to the 2 hours we did spend) in the massive, gorgeous gardens.

Our First Scarecrow Festival

We live in a lovely village called Barton Mills on the banks of the Lark River. The village is mostly residential, but we do have 2 pubs and an inn. Generally the village is quiet and overlooked by passers-by, but one weekend a year it becomes a hot destination. Barton Mills hosts an annual Scarecrow Festival--not in autumn when you might expect, but in June. This weekend our quiet town was transformed into a festive fair, and each household was responsible for displaying a scarecrow. Most years a bale of hay is dumped on each doorstep, signaling the appropriate time to begin making a scarecrow. But this year the theme was recycling and the scarecrows were to be made from any recyclable materials. Our creation is above (the first photo), and we mostly made one just to check the box, not to be extremely creative. We stuffed it with shredded paper.

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There's also a competition in connection with the Festival; it's called "The Turnoff Prize" (a play on the Turner Prize). The entries consist of any artistic work made strictly from recycled materials. Here are a couple of our favorite Turnoff Prize entries. (The first one--on the left--was actualy pumping water like a fountain; they called it "Water Music." Fabulous!) We did not enter this competition. Maybe next year.

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Friday we went to London for the first time (much overdue). We had a wonderful time, but we decided to blog about the scarecrows instead. Here are a few photos to prove we did it!

Punting, Castles, Mansions

Earlier this week we punted the Cam in Cambridge! We each took turns punting, and it was lots of fun! Jacob was fabulous at punting--a natural, actually. The rest of us weren't too bad either, but it's not easy. It's definitely an activity we're excited to do whenever someone visits. Cambridge is beautiful anyway, but the scenery from the river is spectacular!

Saturday we drove to Dover. We went to Dover Castle and the Secret Wartime Tunnels (read about our first Dover Castle visit here), and we also visited Walmer Castle and Deal Castle, both near Dover. Walmer Castle was originally built by Henry VIII as a coastal defense, but it has been the residence of the Lords Warden since 1708. We were fascinated at the fusion of medieval castle and classy mansion. We also enjoyed the extensive gardens.

Deal Castle was similar in design to Walmer (it was also built by Henry VIII), but instead of having been converted into a gorgeous residence, it's a creepy old castle. We walked a few very dark, scary passages and were glad to see daylight when we emerged. We enjoyed the variety of our day and the fact that we saw 3 very different castles.

Sunday we had a picnic at Audley End House & Gardens (which we had also previously visited--read here). The house and grounds were amazing, and we enjoyed seeing a cricket game on the lawn. We're not too sure about the rules, but we were excited to observe a few minutes of a cricket game.

We'll be sad to see Emily and Joel leave Tuesday; we've had a great time having them visit. Since they're the fist to visit us here, we asked them to rate the guest accommodations at our house. Hopefully their review will be informational for any of you who are thinking about visiting.

"The bed felt like it had been assembled by an angel" ~Joel

"Encourage the hostess to bake you one of her famous American apple puddings." ~Joel

"Sitting on the toilet was like floating on the ocean waves." ~Emily

Out of 4 stars, how would you rate the accommodations overall? "Four and a half" ~Emily