It's Lovely in Nice

Last weekend, we decided to travel somewhere to see both the sun and the snow. We went to Nice (pronounced Niece). The weather was so nice, smelling and appearing just like Florida. Nice is located in Southern France, just off of the Mediterranean Sea. I initially had no desire to travel to this country, but have since changed my opinion, particularly of the southeastern coast... Yes, that is right, we were just a taxi ride from Italy. There was such a mix of French, Italian, and even Spanish culture in Nice. And, just a few miles inland, were the French Alps...blanketed in snow. It was the most amazing thing to see snow in such a warm climate. Here are some photos of the location...and the beautiful beautiful waters of the Mediterranean Sea.Elizabeth thought it was a nice day too!A{We went down to the water and dipped our toes in....but oh, there were tons of people swimming. There were even men sun-bathing in thongs: a site I had not yet seen prior to this trip. If you can notice the lady in the upper left hand corner of this photo for a moment. It was so funny, because she was there with two of her girlfriends, and they were just having the time of their lives, laughing and videotaping each other and such. Quite funny:)This is Old Nice. It is so beautiful...lots of shoppes and lots and lots of food. DELICIOUS food. One of the many fountains in Nice. Here is a photo of the alleyways in Old Nice. This is where all of the shoppes are located. Lots of neat things, but more so tons of designer clothing, bags, and gloves....very expensive.Mmm...this was my meal the first night. Sooooo goood. I don't know what it was called. I just saw a man next to me order it, and I pointed to it when the waitress came over to take our order. The biggest difficulty for me was the language. Yes, many people speak English in this area of France, but everything is written, spoken, and phrased in French. There were a few times that I would walk into a store, and I guess someone would be talking to me, but I had no idea....until they finally realized I was American. There was a footpath with all of these naked statue men on very high pillars. We were so confused of their purpose.

Then, later that night....we discovered just exactly what they were intended for....light. If you can see, they are all glowing a different color...pink, purple, blue, green, etc.

For breakfast, we were on the prowl for some good French breakfast: crepes...and after about 45 minutes of searching, we finally found what we were looking for... Unfortunately, the crepes are not pictured, but they were delicious.

We found this wonderful candy store with barrels and barrels of candy. They had the most unique candies...I was so excited! (if you could not tell from my face).

And just like that, Nice was over. And, it was back to the cold weather of Dublin. This was one of the most unique trips that I have ever been on, but so exciting and so peaceful. I rode the plane over to Nice with my professor Mary Moloney. She told us that Nice is like the Florida of the States. Many people just go there for the weekend, many have apartments, and many even celebrate their birthdays in the lovely town. I think Mary and I both celebrated quite well.

Here are some photos of Nice from the plane as well as the French Alps.

...I so badly want to go back... Oh, and I think we are now HUGE fans of gelato....so much better than icecream (I never thought I'd say that).

And, here is Adam later eating his super long snake from the candy shoppe. He was so happy he found this candy. Boys....

The Election...

You can imagine my disappointment after waking Wednesday morning to hear that my candidate-elect did not win presidency. I, although a more unpopular opinion, was more excited to see Palin in office. I quite love her. I will pray for this president too, however.

Tuesday night was nice, because IES (the school where the boys go) had an election party where they watched the election live....CNN....I would have chosen Fox News Election Headquarters...but, I'm also in the minority of republican voters here. I changed my homepage to FN-EH a month ago to keep up with the election...until my computer died (it's in a coma right now...soon to be recovered I hope). Anyway, it was nice to be able to be with Americans and share the excitement. Although, all of Europe seemed to be at the edge of their seats the entire day. I have never received so many comments about the election before in my life...and from non-US citizens nonetheless.You can kind of see all of the red-white-and blue decorations. I thought that was really nice.

And having nothing relating to the election....Thursday, Nov 6, Mary Moloney....one of our very favorite professors from DIT, took us to a "Meals on Wheels" symposium in Athlone...the very centre point of Ireland. It was a very nice conference, and we even got to leave to go shopping 3/4 of the way through the presentation. It was a nice break from the monotony of school.

We love Mary. She's even coming to Thanksgiving at our house!

The Irish Countryside

After spending one whole day in Dublin after our trip to Scotland, we decided that it was time to pack our bags again. Only this time, our destination was the west coast of Ireland...the country. Jeanine has some very distant relatives that she somehow managed to contact in County Mayo, and they accepted all four of us for a visit to the Irish countryside. This is their lovely home.

The road path that leads to their home...

We arrived on a Saturday around 3 pm, tired and famished. We took the bus to their town, which ended up being a 4+ hour bus ride. I slept most of the ride, until a haggardly old man tapped me on the shoulder to wake me up so that he could sit in the seat that my bags were on. The funny thing is that the bus had loads of empty seats available, double seats included...but he chose to wake me up and sit by me. I fear there was something wrong with him as he whispered profanities under his breath for the duration of his 25 minute ride. I thanked my lucky stars that he did not smell of stale alcohol or 'dirty man'.

Some of Michal's (Mee-hall). He and his wife Maureen were one of the nicest older couple we have met. They live on a farm with sheep and cows. They also have lots of freshly grown vegetables and some apple trees. Michal showed us his lovely farm (it gave me the same good feeling I get when I go to my grandpa's farm in Wheatfield) after a wonderful dinner prepared by Maureen. After kindly asking us if we had any dietary restrictions or complaints (we have none), she made us a traditional meal of cooked lamb, mashed potatoes, gravy, broccoli and carrots, and stewed apples and custard for dessert. Each meal was followed by tea or coffee and a biscuit (or cookie). The meal had so much flavor...the best Irish meal I've had since I've been here...and all the girls agreed.

Michal later said after the meal, "Now girls, I'm not all into that organic stuff, but I know you are all studying nutrition, and this meal is 100% organic. Everything from the lamb to the broccoli and apples was produced on this farm." And, after we got a tour of his farm, he pointed to one of his lambs and said, "That was your dinner's friend." Yes, pretty graphic, I know...but we all found it pretty funny. He just chuckled.

After the farm tour, Maureen brought us to an Irish Heritage run by her friend Tom, who Elizabeth and I found to be a very attractive older Irishman. Here are some photos from his heritage...very beautiful.This is the heritage itself. Maureen was telling us that Ireland was very different even 50 years ago. During that time, the country folk still lived in old homes, no television, churned butter, lived off of their farm, etc. It was so interesting...Mom, you would have been in heaven. The beautiful lake reflecting from the setting sun. The road path that lead to the main road from Tom's heritage. Maureen drove us to 'the cottage' where we stayed the night. She could not understand why we would want to come to the country. I can't understand why we wouldn't. By the end of the trip, none of us were ready to go home...

Anyway, this is the cottage. Yea, doesn't look like a cottage to me....it was more of a glorified home...so much better than where we are staying in Dublin.

For example, this is the kitchen. It's beautiful, isn't it? All we could think was, "I want to cook!" There was so much space, and it was CLEAN!This is the family room. The cottage was warmed primarily by the fireplace which was fueled by home cut coal. I guess they harvest their own coal here. We were so nice and toasty.Maureen told me to go out to the shed to get more coal when we needed it...so I grabbed the bucket and loaded it up. Elizabeth took a picture for me. We felt so at peace.That evening Maureen's niece picked us up after work to take us down to the pubs of the little town. Her name was Claire Ann....one of the nicest girls we have met. She had so much energy...so funny. We hope that she comes to Dublin to come visit us soon...

On Sunday morning, we all went to Catholic mass with Maureen and Michal. I quite enjoyed it, and it was interesting because they had a visitor priest for that mass from Atlanta, Georgia. What are the odds? Here is a view from the church. Michal then took us on a car tour of the mountains in Co. Mayo. It was lovely.

And then to 'All Saint's Day' rosary in the cemetery. We all said the rosary, then headed back to the farm where Maureen had yet another meal waiting for us. This time it was bacon and cabbage...again so flavorful. I think I am now addicted to cabbage. She just cooked everything amazingly. I wonder if it is because they keep the added fat in all of their recipes. It is a good thing that I did not cook the meal. So goood...
The trip ended as soon as it began. We were all sad to say goodbye, but it was an amazing experience to see first-hand the life of an Irish farmer.

Golf & Haunted Sitings

The last week in October marked midterm week for the DIT students. Many of them had exams, and so all classes were cancelled for the week. As luck would have it, neither Elizabeth nor I had classes or big exams on Wednesday or Thursday. We did a little searching and booked a flight to Edinburgh, Scotland. It was the one place that I wanted to travel for the duration of my study...and I was so impressed. Upon arriving in Edinburgh at about 7 am, we did a bit of walking, dropped off our backpacks at our hostel, and decided to head to a location that would make nearly any man's jaw fall to the ground in awe: St. Andrews golf course in St. Andrews, Scotland. For those of you who are not well acquainted with St. Andrews prides itself as "The Home of Golf, where the game evolved and where the spirit and traditions of golf have been safeguarded for over six centuries."

Elizabeth and I woke up around 3 am, walked to city centre, grabbed a cab to the airport, and headed to the ticket counter. We used the automatic computers to enter our flight data only to find out that our flight had been closed. We rushed to the Aer lingus people, who were very helpful, but informed us that we were extremely late for our flight. The next twenty minutes was a blur. Recall, if you will, the scene from 'Home Alone' as the McCallister's race through the Chicago airport for their trip to Paris....theme music playing in the background, totally out of breath, yelling 'excuse me, excuse me, sorry, sorry'. Yes, that was us...plummeting through the crowds of people. And, for some odd reason, all I could think/hear was that scene from 'Home Alone' the entire run through the airport.

I rushed up to the gate and said, "Did we make the flight!?". The two older men at the desk just laughed and said enthusiastically, "Yes, and I'll even let you girls get on first....but for now, you can sit over there with the rest of them." We looked over to the direction in which he pointed only to see a crowd of people who looked to have been siting for hours. We could do nothing but laugh.

After we dropped off our bags, we headed to the train station 'Waverly Place' to go to St. Andrews. This is a photo of the train station...it was so old, and it reminded me of the train station in 'Shining Time Station' if you remember that show on PBS many years ago.

The British pounds...a new form of currency that I had yet to use prior to this trip.

After about an hour travel, we were in St. Andrews. The next few photos will hopefully give you a better feel for St. Andrews Links...You can look to the left and see the course, or you can look to the right and see the ocean. It was lovely, and I can imagine a great place to golf.This is the 18th hole on the famous 'Old Course'. The lady who we talked to at the gift shoppe said that this is the hole that people will recognize from television.Many people choose to play little rounds of golf on the foothills. It is so expensive to be a member of the golf course.Elizabeth and I had lunch in the club house. It was actually very inexpensive (surprisingly). The manager of the restaurant greeted us at the door...and we noticed right away that he did not have a Scottish accent...he was from Canada. We got a few tips on the must-sees of Edinburgh. Anyway, this pear cider was amazing. We are both now huge fans of cider. On our travels up the very hilly streets of Edinburgh, we received a warm welcome from a Scottish man, fully dressed, and playing from his bagpipes. It was like someone had told the city that tourists were arriving to see the Scottish culture in full. As the evening marked October 29, we found it only fitting to see somewhat of a haunting in one of the most haunted cities of the world. Hence, allow me to introduce you to Mary King's Close. "Hidden beneath the Royal Mile [the area in Edinburgh where the old buildings and castles are built] lies Edinburgh’s deepest secret: a warren of hidden ‘closes’ where real people lived, worked, and died. For centuries they have lain forgotten and abandoned…"

These closes are underground streets. It is fascinating because underneath the city of Edinburgh is an entire city of streets, houses, buildings, etc. It is where the black plague was able to thrive, and many where many deaths resulted. I am so intrigued with the black plague (ironically, Elizabeth is also), so we were soooo excited to see this place. I cannot even describe it to you....this is just one of those things that you are going to have to experience for yourself some day.

This close is called Fleshmarket Close. Each close was really creepy. You have to have special permission to network beneath the underground streets. Each close leads to a series of stairs that will take you underground.This is Edinburgh in the dark of night. I like this photo because you can see the moon peeking through the clouds. It just looks a bit ominous...and a bit 'Harry Potterish', don't you think?The following morning, we woke early to make the most of our day in Edinburgh. We headed to Edinburgh Castle. The weather was particularly nice, although mostly gloomy (not very rainy). The castle was amazing. Here are some photos...A view from the castle.You can see the sea from one side of the castle.This is Mary Queen of Scots. Yes, it is a real person. The castle tries to keep the history of the people alive, so there are many people who dress-up and act as the individuals who once lived and ruled in the castle.The canons. This is by far the biggest fireplace that I have ever seen. It was very ornate, and I had to get a picture by it so that you could see just how big it really is. I am 5'3''. And look how wide! Pretty nifty!We tried really hard to see the Scottish Whiskey tour, but it is under construction until Easter, unfortunately. Neither Elizabeth nor I very much appreciate Whiskey, but we thought...its a big Scottish thing...they do call it Scotch after all...we should go. I was actually really disappointed it was not in function. Instead, we walked the city...and did what most girls do very well: shop. I got a lot of Christmas shopping accomplished. Above is 'The Witchery' where we had our Linner (lunch/dinner). The restaurant was voted one of the best in Edinburgh. Our meal was amazing--like gourmet, and lucky for us, they have a lunch special that was not too pricey....plus all the homemade bread you could want. We both got this delicious soup and some venison sausage with caramelized red wine onions and potatoes. Magnificent! A little spooky inside too....the perfect atmosphere for a more haunting trip.

And, below is me in front of the 'birthplace of Harry Potter'. Yes, ladies and gentleman, this is where Harry Potter was written: 'The Elephant House.' I have my ice cream with me too...I look like such a child.
We decided we must get photos of us in those red telephone booths too. I don't know why they
are so attractive to tourists.

Lastly, Walkers: the famous shortbread of Scotland. They are very light and buttery....very good. Actually, I totally forgot I bought these...I think I'll go make some more tea and have a crumpet or two...