We Have Visitors!!!

Last Wednesday Marco and I hopped on the bus to Dublin to meet his sister, Carol, and her family (Christian, Sedrik & Naira) at the Dublin airport. They came to visit us from Zurich less than 2 weeks after we visited them! They had never been to Ireland, so it was fun to be showing people our new "home". We had been telling them all along how much it rains in Ireland, so they came fully prepared with rubber boots, umbrellas, etc. Lo and behold, the first 2 days they were here we had spectacular weather and they began to think we were liars. :) Thursday we just sort of had a lazy day, but did walk to the city center of Galway and had some time at the play area with the kids.



Friday morning, we took at taxi to the Galway airport, where we picked up a rental car for the rest of their time in Ireland. Unfortunately, Uncle Marco had to work, but I was free and so I was happy to join them on an adventure to the Cliffs of Moher. Christian was driving, and this was his first time driving on the other side of the road! We decided to take the scenic, ocean route to take full advantage of the beautiful day. The roads are really narrow here and have a lot of potholes. Can you see where this is going? About 45 minutes into our fabulous day, we had a close encounter with a pretty good sized pothole and blew out both of the tires on the left side of the car! Christian handled it like a pro and pulled the car off the road at a safe location. We got out to inspect the damage only to discover that not only were the tires flat, but the actual wheels were bent......ugggh! Here we were, in the middle of the scenic route, not close to any gas station or garage. Luckily, there was plenty of sunshine, so at least we didn't have to deal with rain. Carol set up camp so she could feed the kids some lunch. I called the rental company, who gave me the emergency assistance number and they patched me through to the closest garage. Christian hiked up the road to try and see the hole and search for our missing hub caps. He found one hubcap and brought it back to our spot. I was having thoughts of spending the night in the car or the closest little town while we waited for the car to be repaired. To our amazement, in about 30 minutes we saw a large tow truck round the corner and stop in front of us. Out jumps the driver, who comes over to inspect the damage. He quickly noticed the hubcap lying on the ground that said "Ford". He took one look at our car and asked us what make it was. We all said "Opel", looked at the hubcap and then started cracking up! Christian had picked up some other poor souls hubcap, which means that we were not the first people to hit that pothole! We never did find our hubcaps. Anyway, the driver effortlessly loaded our car onto the truck and we all hopped in the cab for the 40 minute ride to Kilfenora. His family ran a repair shop in the tiny little town. We headed off to have some lunch while we waited, but he instructed me to call in about 45 minutes. I thought we would just be getting an estimate of the repair at that point, but was shocked to find out the that the wheels were repaired and we were ready to hit the road. Our luck continued as the sunshine stayed with us and we were able to make it to see the Cliffs of Moher. We spent about an hour there and then headed back home for the evening. We were all thankful that the trip home was less eventful than the trip we had earlier in the day!

I Am Legal

I forgot to mention that shortly before our recent trip I received a wonderful gift in the mail....my Ireland Work Visa!!! I know, I know, it came about 2 months after I started working. But what's a couple of months in the grand scheme of things? :) I'm just happy to say that I am now legally working in Ireland. The part-time schedule has been amazing as I'm able to work and travel since the arrangement is really flexible. Marco's been very busy at work, but is still enjoying his job and the people he works with.

Anyway, it doesn't look like it's going to rain for the next few minutes, so I think I'll take advantage of the break and try to go for a run. The last time I tried it started raining half way through and I got totally soaked. Pretty amusing!!

Adventures in Zurich & Prague

Well, it's been a while since my last entry, but I think this one will make up for lost time. After our trip to Paris, things were pretty quiet for a while. Then, one Sunday afternoon my friend Sonia from Barcelona showed up in Galway to surprise me! Sonia lived with me in Pasadena for a couple of months about 2 years ago and we became fast friends. She stayed with us for about 5 days and we had a blast catching up and wandering around Galway. The following Friday, she took a 3am taxi to go to the airport and our taxi came about 5:30 am!

We were off to visit Marco's sister, Carol, and her family (her husband Christian, son Sedrik and daughter Naira) Marco and I flew out of Dublin, which meant a 3 1/2 hour bus ride from Galway just to get to the airport. The flight to Zurich took about half as long...less than 2 hours. When we arrived we had a funny experience at immigration. The officer looked at Marco's passport and asked if I had ever been to Arequipa. This is the city in Peru where Marco was born, but I haven't had the pleasure of visiting yet. Anyway, he had been there 5 times and said it's one of his favorite cities in the world! What a small world it is. We were met by Christian and Sedrik (who was VERY excited to see his uncle!!), and drove about 20 minutes to get to their apartment. We happened to arrive on a Swiss national holiday, so we had a delicious bbq for dinner and had a great view of fireworks from the apartment that night. At this point I will tell you that the weather in Zurich was 100% better than Ireland. We did get a bit of rain, but nothing compared to Galway. Most of the time there was glorious sunshine, blue skies and I would guess about 80 degrees Fahrenheit. That alone did wonders for our spirits! We could actually wear flip flops and tank tops and got a bit of color. :o)

The next day we did a bit of grocery shopping, and discovered that prices are less than Ireland in general. Not much of a surprise to us as Ireland tends to be one of the most expensive places to live in Europe. Anyway, that night for dinner Christian prepared Raclette. Actually, we all prepared Raclette because you sort of cook your own. There is a special table-top oven and each person has a personal sized pan that slides inside. They sell the cheese cut to the exact size of the pans, so it's perfect. You place a piece of cheese on the pan, then you can add anything you like, such as ham, onions, tomatoes, peppers, spices, etc. Everything melts together and then you eat it over boiled potatoes. It was absolutely delicious and a fun experience!!

***Click on the picture below to access the photo album from the entire trip. As this was a family vacation, you'll have to indulge me as there are lots of pictures of family. :)


The next day we hopped on the tram to visit the city center. I have to make a few observations about Zurich at this point. It is a really nice city! The Swiss reputation holds true in that everything is extremley clean, organized, on time, etc. That day there was a big international roller blading competition, so streets were shut down and it was fun to watch the athletes speed by. Marco, Sedrik and Carol took a ride on the Ferris wheel and then we hung out by the river to watch the swans and the teenagers diving off the bridge. It was really warm, so that afternoon when we got back we went to the river, which is literally across the street from their apartment. We parked our stuff on a grassy area and then walked up river so we could ride the current down. Sedrik and Naira particularly enjoyed the water, but the grown ups had fun as well! Then it was back home, where Christian prepared pizza from scratch for dinner.

The next morning we headed back to the airport to meet Carlo (Marco's brother) and his girlfriend, Katie. They came from Illinois, which was part of the reason we planned our trip when we did. That afternoon we all went around the city just to get a sense of the place. We walked through the old part of Zurich, which had little streets of cobblestone and lots of cute shops and restaurants. We went home for lunch and, by Carlo's request, we had a big barbecue of cervelat, which is a Swiss type of sausage. I'm not sure how many he ate, but I know we all ate a lot and it was delicious.

The following morning, Marco, Carlo, Katie and I got up at the crack of dawn (4:30am!) to catch the train to the airport on our way to visit Prague in the Czech Republic. You should have seen the 4 of us running down the street with backpacks. Unfortunately, that wouldn't be the last time we were running to catch a train, but we made every single one of them. We took some yogurt and fruit for breakfast, and Carlo didn't realize that there was one more yogurt in his backpack as we passed through security. Well, of course they caught it. Now, Carlo likes Swiss yogurt so much that he went back out to eat it and passed through the security line a second time! We flew Swiss Air to Prague, and I have to say it may be my favorite airline now. During the flight they pass through the cabin with a huge basket of Swiss chocolates for passengers.....yummy! The flight was about an hour and a half and we arrived in Prague late morning. We navigated a bus and train route to get to the city center, where our hostel was located. It was right off the Old Town Square, so it was a great location. The four of us shared a dorm style room, so we got a great deal and it felt like we were at camp.

That first day, we walked a bit around the city center, along the river and stopped to watch the Astronomical clock, which does a tiny "show" each hour. Hundreds of people gather round the clock waiting for something spectacular, but most seem disappointed when not much happens. I guess it's just one of those things you have to do in Prague. We were looking for a good place to change money, as the Czech Republic has not adopted the euro yet. Ironically, the guy at our hostel directed us to a local Irish pub, where the bartender changes money for the best rates in town. Not sure if it was legal, but it was a great deal! We then decided to visit Prague Castle, which is right in the city. We crossed the river over the Charles Bridge, which was followed by a serious hike up a steep road and stairs. At this point, Marco was starting to get really sick with a cold and was sneezing every 5 minutes. He was a real trooper considering he felt so bad. There was a really pretty cathedral and some interesting displays of medieval torture instruments. I don't think that's a period of history that would have been much fun based on what we saw. After touring the castle for a couple of hours, we were starving and headed off to find lunch. We had found a listing in a travel book for a good hole in the wall near Wenceslaus Square where we were hoping to try some local specialties for cheap....it advertised meat, meat and more meat. We searched and searched and never found the place, so we settled for some sandwiches. We did try a local pastry that vendors were selling from carts that looked very interesting. They were like coils of pastry that were hollow in the middle. I think you can see an example in one of the pictures. Then it was back the hostel for our first night in Prague.

Unfortunately, that first night ended up being a loud one, with what seemed to be a group of people enjoying some drinks and some fun outside our window. Anyway, we awoke to another beautiful sunny day and headed out to see more of the sites. We decided to do a day trip outside of the city, but stopped at the local street market first for some fresh fruit before we headed for the train. We rode about an hour to the town of Kutna Hora, where we visited one of the most unusual sites I have ever seen called The Bone Church. Apparently there was a big plague hundreds of years ago that killed tens of thousands of people. They were buried in a mass grave, and later the grave was opened. Some brilliant person decided to use the bones to decorate the inside of a small church....hence the name. There was a chandelier made of skulls and femurs, a couple of large pyramid-like structures, pillars and things decorating the walls. I'm not sure if the pictures do it justice, but it was quite bizarre and macabre. After that, amazingly, we did have appetites, so we found the local grocery store and picked up some baguettes, ham and cheese for a quick lunch. We found a lovely little park with benches in the shade, so we settled in for a relaxing lunch and break. After lunch, we walked about 10 minutes to find our way to St. Barbara's cathedral. This one was pretty spectacular from the outside, with a mix of what looked like modern and Gothic architecture. Afterwards, we stopped into a small bar to taste some local Czech beer before heading back to the train. I should mention at this point that Marco is a master navigator when it comes to reading maps. It's so nice to travel with him because he has an incredible sense of direction and some of these towns can be very confusing. Once we were back in the city, we took a walk through the Jewish Quarter, but unfortunately the museum there was already closed. I guess that's a good reason to go back some day. We all agreed that we should try some traditional Czech food for dinner, so we found a local place that we heard was good. Luckily the menu was bilingual, so we had a good idea of what we were ordering. We decided to get different things and share just so we could taste more of the local cuisine. Of course we had to order goulash, but it was nothing like the idea we had of goulash. It was really delicious pieces of beef in some sort of sauce. We also ordered sparrow, which was not any sort of bird, but rather pork! Anyway, it was also delicious. We had another beef dish and some potato soup and everything was better than we expected. Then it was back to the hostel for our 2nd and last night in Prague.

The next day we decided to do another day trip out of the city and took a train to the town of Karlstejn. The big draw here was a beautiful castle that was located on the hill above a quaint little village. It required a very serious hike up a path to get to the castle, but it was well worth it. There were spectacular views and the tour we took inside was quite interesting. We learned that at one point this was the seat of the Holy Roman Empire, so it holds an important place in history. They also had on display the skull of a crocodile that was pulled from the river ages ago. The legend is that people didn't know what it was, but believed it might be a dragon that was slayed by St. George! On the way down the hill, we stopped to get some fresh crepes from a vendor. Now, the only problem was that there were about a million bees in this little town and they liked sweet stuff. Marco got one with Nutella, so naturally they were swarming all around him. It was pretty funny when he started to run in circles and eat the crepe at the same time just to eat in peace. We caught the train back to the city and decided to visit the Museum of Communism. This turned out to be one of the most interesting things we did in Prague. It really taught us a lot about the history of the Czech Republic before, during and after Communism. It was so fascinating to learn about the Velvet Revolution, when they came out of Communism, as it just happened in 1989. There were so many stories of protests, activism and people that gave their lives for freedom. Then we left the museum and decided we couldn't leave Prague without having a good sausage!! We found one of the many sausage vendors on the street and each ordered one. There were several different types, but all were delicious....and gigantic!!! They were so good that we ordered a few more just to try and get rid of all our Czech money. :0) Then it was back to the airport and "home" to Zurich.

The next day Carlo and Marco took Sedrik to a park and played soccer for a couple of hours. When they came back, we had another barbecue of cervelat (sausage), because we just hadn't had enough sausage yet on the trip. :) That evening we had "poker night" at home. There were a lot of laughs as none of really knew the rules and kept making silly mistakes. It was pretty funny.

We woke up the next morning and headed out to a big soccer field to play with the kids. We said it was for the kids, but the grown ups actually had a ton of fun. We had a rubber ball, so we ended up having a very competitive round of "hot potato". That afternoon we went to the city center to experience the Street Parade. The Street Parade happens to be the largest techno/electronic music event in the world, and we put ourselves smack dab in the middle of it. Now, we're not fans of this type of music, but we figured it was a cultural experience that we didn't want to miss. Hundreds of thousands of people come from all over Europe for this event and they shut down all the streets in the center of the city. People come out in costumes, some interesting and some quite bizarre. We saw quite a few drag queens and even an entire family (small children included) dressed as ladybugs. It was quite a sight. They have these large trucks, called "Love Mobiles" that carry a DJ and lots of scantily clad people dancing to the music. There were some with foam machines spraying foam everywhere and just masses of people. One interesting thing to note is that there are stations around the city where you can pick up free earplugs. We didn't realize how much they would be needed until we got close to the parade!!! Seriously, the music shook your bones. The other thing that was so funny to me is that they have "safe drug" testing tents around the city during the parade. Now, drugs are not exactly legal, but these are places you can go to have your drugs tested to make sure they are of good quality. Ironic, I know. You would think there might be police officers lined up waiting to arrest people, but not so. These places were actually official sponsored tents with trained professionals! Anyway, there were also several huge stages located around the city, so it really felt like the whole city was partying. Of course there was a lot of drinking going on, and in general it seemed that people were really enjoying themselves. We decided after a couple of hours of people watching that we had had enough and headed for home and a much quieter environment.

The next day was our last day in Zurich, but we still had a few hours left together. We took the tram back into the city and walked around ETHZ, which is a very prestigious university. One thing that amazed us as we rode through the city that it was completely clean the morning after the parade! Apparently they have a huge team of volunteers that sweep through the city and they have it all cleaned up just hours after it ends. Talk about efficiency! Then we had to say our goodbyes and Marco and I headed back by train to the Zurich airport. When we arrived in Dublin, we had a bit of a nasty experience with the immigration officer. As it turns out, Marco didn't have the right visa stamp in his passport. He was supposed to get a multiple entry visa for Ireland, but only had the single entry visa from when we first arrived. The odd thing is that nobody informed us of this and he had already travelled out of the country twice and returned with no problem. Anyway, the guy was a bit of a jerk, but I guess you find that in many places around the world. Even with the delay he caused us, we were lucky to make it to the bus to head back to Galway. Unfortunately, there had been some huge sports event in Dublin and our bus got caught in the middle of that traffic. It took us nearly 4 hours to get home, but we were happy to be there.

So, this week it was back to normal life, with lots of good memories of a great vacation! The good news is that Carol, Christian and the kids are coming to visit us now. They will arrive in Dublin Wednesday afternoon, so we plan to make the trip to meet them and help them get to Galway. They will be with us for about 10 days, so it should be a lot of fun. We're just praying for better weather, as we have had nothing but rain, rain and more rain since we got home. Welcome to Ireland!!