Dublin. This is a long one folks!!

Hooray for us - we went to Dublin last weekend!  Sorry to sound so gloaty, if that is a word, but we both feel so at home and happy in Dublin that going there is one of the biggest treats we could give ourselves.  Every year at home, in lieu of presents at this time of year, we spend a weekend in Victoria, our other favourite spot, as our gift to each other, so the Dublin trip was our substitute gift this year.

After dropping Dougal off at his "spa," where he had been groomed the day before, I picked up Rick at his school, we drove home, and then headed off to the airport on the fabulous Edinburgh tram system (nearly £1 billion, and it only goes from downtown to the airport).  Oddly enough, the fare to ride almost all of the system is only £1.50, but if you are going to the airport, which is only one very short stop away from the end of the regular fare system and to which the tram runs anyway, you have to pay £5.  That last bit of the ride is sure expensive - and not particularly scenic.

Once at the airport, we discovered that our flight was delayed by 20 minutes, which considering we were flying with Ryanair, which is a notoriously cheap airline (they once floated the idea of making you pay to use the toilet on the plane), we just assumed is was business as usual for them.  I turns out that we were soon to be victims of the computer crash in England that fouled most of the flights and had a knock off effect much further afield, so our 20 minute delay turned into a 90 minute delay.  The only bright light in all this was that we spent most of the delay chatting with a lovely woman from Derry (home of Walter Cunningham, who came to Canada in the 1840s and started the dynasty that is the Cunninghams!).

Finally, after it was decided to give it a go and computers be damned, we were allowed to walk to our plane, as I guess Ryanair doesn't want to pay to be able to use one of those enclosed boarding gates, and there we sat, waiting for the door to be closed and for us to leave.  We were all buckled up, but then were instructed to unbuckle as they refueled the plane.  While we were glad they thought about providing enough fuel to get to Ireland, we were left wondering why they hadn't done that while we were waiting inside the terminal.  We assume we unbuckled to be able to run from the plane in the event of some inferno if the fueling went wrong, which it didn't, I am pleased to report.  It is a good thing that we aren't superstitious, as these all seemed a bit like portents, including that one of the cabin crew had the last name Lockerby!

Eventually, we arrived at Dublin airport, where Rick went through the EU border security and I went through the other security (Muggle, I assume).  I think I can go through the EU line now, because when the officer saw my residency permit, he just mumbled something and away I went, passport unstamped.  We took the bus into the city and enjoyed the walk up Grafton Street, all decked out in its Christmas finery, to our hotel.  We stay at a rather expensive, but wonderful hotel overlooking St. Stephen's Green.  When they check you in, they accompany you to your room to show you...well, I'm not really sure what they are supposed to show you, as hotel rooms are basically not that challenging to figure out.  Still, it makes you feel special.

Off we went for supper, but then tragedy struck - we had a lousy meal with dreadful service!!  Oh the problems of the first world!  It turns out that if, while you are looking at a menu outside, someone inside a restaurant comes out to tell you that it is a great place, you shouldn't always believe them.  Things started off well, as the place was attractive inside.  We both ordered pizzas - mine was ok, but Rick's, which was 4 cheese, was just four cheeses on the crust - no sauce or anything - so it was like cheese on cardboard.  During our meal, the service rather dwindled away, and by the end, we sat and sat waiting for our bill.  Finally, I went to the till at the counter, where I was ignored by a person pushing buttons on the computer screen.  Eventually, another woman, who was chatting with some other people leaving, took my payment but didn't really acknowledge me and certainly didn't even ask how the meal was or say goodbye when we left.  I am pleased to report, though, that that was a one off and every other meal was great!

Saturday, our one full day in town, dawned sunny and quite mild, so off we went quite early, just to walk around and see what we could see, which is our main mission when we are there - just to wander and relax.  Actually, I did have one goal for the day, and that was to visit a photography exhibit at the National Photographic Archive.  For me, that show was the highlight of the trip and one of the best exhibits I have seen in ages.  They were photographs taken in Limerick in the 1970s when it was a very depressed place and was about to undergo a major attempt at bringing it out of that state.  The photographer mainly focussed on portraits of the Limerick-ians (?) at that time.  In all honesty, Limerick in the 70s looked more like most other places in tthe 30s.  Very compelling images and very emotional.  I am pleased to report that Rick enjoyed the exhibit as well!  Later that day, as I had thought about the show and the accompanying book, I decided that I wanted to go back to buy a copy, where good luck smiled on me as the photographer was there at that time and I now have a personally autographed copy.

Other than that "commitment," we just walked both north and south of the Liffy, dodging people as shoppers barge home with their presents.  We had lunch at a converted church and supper at a converted bank, so you can't accuse us of not seeking out different things.  In the evening, we visited the Christmas marked along one side of St. Stephen's Green, but it was basically a smaller version of the one in Edinburgh, and equally as unimpressive - it turns out that rather than offering lovingly handcrafted items (our expectation), most of the goods are unpacked from large cardboard boxes from places like Taiwan and China.

Rick hadn't brought his travel mug because, as he said, there aren't many Starbucks in Dublin.  Well, guess again, as they are very plentiful and took every opportunity to point them out.  Oh, how we laughed at Rick's decision!  Actually, now that I think about it, oh how I laughed.  Rick didn't seem to find it quite as amusing, for some reason.

After a lovely evening featuring some chocolate and whiskey, we had another good night's sleep, sans dog, and were well rested the next morning as we grudgingly headed off to the airport and our surprisingly uneventful trip home.  Oh, and Dougal seemed no worse for wear after his weekend away as well.

Rick and...

Bob, innocently enjoying their beer before the meal from hell!

And this little piggy went "crackle crackle crackle" all the way to the dining table.  At one of the many outdoor markets.

At a different market, this time featuring bread, including our favourite...

...yes, it is Guinness bread!!  Yum.

Boy, you visit one photography exhibit and everyone becomes a photographer!

A scene along the Liffy.  On the left, a famine ship, and spanning the river, Rick's favourite bridge of all time - the Samuel Beckett.

The Customs House.

Rick relaxing in the hotel lobby.

Nolag Shona Duit - Merry Christmas along Grafton Street, where you can shop until you drop, or get run over by some other shopper!

The lovely decorations along Grafton Street.

Former Bank of Ireland building lit up nicely.

Inside The Bank restaurant - a beautiful building even when not decorated for Christmas.

The Shelbourne Hotel - the grande dame of Dublin hotels.  We didn't stay there.

The view across the street as we waited for the bus to the airport.  Both buildings are former banks - the one that is the restaurant is the one on the right.

Dublin airport has sleeping pods, although you don't necessarily look that great when you are asleep and someone comes along with a camera!

Inside the Ryanair cabin.  The seatbacks contain the safety information that you get to stare at all through the flight.  There are no seatback pockets, so you really don't take much with you to your seat.

Panto Bliss

Hi everyone.

A couple of weekends ago, we were invited by Wilson and the Scottish exchange teachers, the same people who arranged for our Pentland Hills walk, to attend Edinburgh's annual pantomime, "Aladdin" at the King's Theatre.  Now, I have to admit that, while I know that pantomimes are a tradition in the UK at Christmas time, my biased opinion was that they are somewhat silly, juvenile and aimed at kids.  Well, yes, it turns out that they can be silly and juvenile, but in a very enjoyable way, and I am pleased to report that we adults probably enjoyed it as much if not more than the kids.  The humour can be, at times, quite adult, without crossing a line, and certainly topical.  Fortunately, we have been here long enough to know most of the local references to both places and polititions, so we weren't left scratching our heads.

The cast was great and, if you don't know, the female lead is traditionally played by a man.  There is the leading lady, a buffoon, and a resident bad guy, who all the kids get to hiss and boo and exchange shouts of, "Oh, no you won't," to his, "Oh, yes I will!"  Ok, maybe some adults joined in this exchange.  Just saying.  There were a couple of set pieces, one involving a shirt and just how close you could get to saying something that may sound like "shirt" without actually saying it, and my personal favourite, the 4 main lead adults doing a song about if they were not in pantomime, what they might be doing.  This involved very tricky wordplay and some incredibly well timed slapstick which had us almost weeping with laughter.  Having a quite bearish man in a tutu didn't hurt either!

After the show, we went to a cafe which is attached to a movie theater and had drinks and some chat.  One of our group, who we had unfortunately not met up until that evening, was a teacher from Australia who is heading back in a few days from now, as she is finishing up her exchange.  She is a lovely lady and we hope she enjoys her incredibly long trip back to Australia.

A big thank you to Wilson, the master arranger of these events, for a wonderful evening.

The poster from the show.

The fabulous King's Theatre.  It was opened in 1904 and features all the ornamentation inside that you might expect.  We were surprised at how "vertical" the space is - the rows of seats stack up pretty steeply, so you look down at the stage quite a bit.  Very pleased to have seen the inside of this wonderful old building.  (Photo taken today, not the evening of the show)

Just to give you an idea of the craftsmanship of this theatre, these are the incredible front doors.  Lovely.

A Walk on the Wild Side

First things first - chronological time?  We don't need no stinkin' chronological time!  I hope nobody expected this blog to follow something as silly as that!

Several weeks ago, the 3 of us were invited to go for a hike in/on the Pentland Hills, which are southwest of the city, out Rick's workplace way.  We were the first people there, as we are keeners, as well as we still don't really know how long it takes us to get anywhere.  Eventually, everyone else showed up and off we set, with some people choosing an easier, more level route, and the rest of us opting to climb and circumnavigate some of the hills.  

It was a lovely sunny day!  Umm...no wait...that isn't right.  It was an overcast, rainy and windy day.  Yes, that is more like it!  Still, we are made of sterner stuff, so even though the wind blew the rain into our faces, and blew our faces into the rain, onward we carried, over hill and dale and heather and sheep poo.  The views were inspiring and, while the weather could have been better, we were treated to some sunshine as a reward.

A big thank you to the Scottish teachers who arranged this fabulous outing!

Dougal is ready for a day on the hills.  Too bad he is rather out of focus!  Sorry about that.

Even the view from the parking lot was lovely.

The start of the climb.

Look!  Sheep!  We were to encounter many more along the way.

One of many reservoirs within the park.

Somewhere, over the rainbow...maybe the wind will stop blowing!!

A stunning view, made all the more impressive by being able to see IKEA in the distance!! 

Hey you sheep, get off my hill!!!

The day starts to brighten.

The spectacle that is the Pentlands.

Rick and Dougal leading the pack off the beaten path.

Bringing up the rear.

Finally back at the reservoir. 

Sunshine on Pentlands.

The intrepid hill walkers.

The Flotterstone Inn, where we all finally met up for some much needed warmth and eats.  Fortunately, the inn is dog friendly.  Unfortunately, Dougal is not dog friendly inn friendly.  While there was food to be had, he was a good boy, but when another dog came into the inn, he insisted on barking his disapproval.  We were asked to leave.

The calm before the barking storm.

One for my sister

I know that my sister will understand why I would post this photo.  By the way - great cheese.

One for the guys

This is in the toilets of a local restaurant - The Ghillie Dhu.  Most guys will realise just how "unique" the urinals are.  The one at the very end, facing away, has a sign over it that says, "I want to pee alone."

 

Rugby!

What a great surprise we had this weekend!  A parent of one of Rick's students offered Rick two free tickets to a rugby match pitting the Scottish National Team against the New Zealand All Blacks, who must be very good as we have actually heard of them.  It turns out it was a major match up, so was sold out.  It also turned out that, as the parent has connections, our seats were about 10 rows up and right at center field - the "platinum" section, as we have found out.

We walked Dougal to Murrayfield Stadium early yesterday to pick up the tickets and also get the lay of the land.  When we left for the actual match, which started at 5:30pm, we walked up a major road that leads to Glasgow, with hundreds of other fans.  The road that leads directly to the stadium was virtually traffic free as the people took over most of it.  Finally, we reached the stadium with is ringed with all sorts of food, drink (if you know what I mean) and merchandise vendors.  We were so pleased with our seats, we couldn't have been more happy.

Neither of us really know a lot about the rules of rugby, but we were able to pick up some more knowledge by watching closely, and were surprised by a couple of things.  One was that the announcing is limited to when someone scores a try or when a substitution is taking place, so it can be surprisingly quiet at the stadium when there is a lull, which was refreshing.  The other is that rugby, which we mistakenly viewed as perhaps a bit crude, is incredibly physical but surprsingly gentlemanly.  We were impressed.

Unfortunately, Scotland didn't triumph, but they gave a good accounting of themselves!  Go Scotland!!

Leaving the stadium for home was almost surreal.  A good portion of the 66,000 fans , who of course were all leaving at the same time, were taking our route, so it was a seathing mass of humanity that not only took over the road to the stadium but also the route to Glasgow that was officially closed to traffic.  That was probably a wise decision, as it took away the potential for crowd/traffic confrontations.  As we neared our destination, the police had barriers erected to steer crowds different ways depending on where they were intending to end up.  Once again, a brilliant solution.

All in all, a great experience, and one we wouldn't mind experiencing again.

On the way to the stadium, which you can see a bit of in the distance.

We thought the crowd heading to the stadium was large, but we would be proven to be very wrong once we left with all the other 66,000 fans!

Portrait of a fan.

Portrait of another fan who looks like he is supporting team Hudson Bay!

How it this for a great location to watch a match??

Looking left from our seats.

And, of course, looking to the right.

Two handsome lads at the local match.  As you can tell, we were a bit early, but the seats did definitely fill up behind us.

Before the match started, they turned off the lights and asked everyone to turn on the flashlight of the mobile phones.  Just shows how many people have one.

Just like before, a photo to the left...

...and a photo to the right.  Very cool idea.