Volunteering is Fun!!!

So, I think I wrote a while back about the volunteering activities that I have gotten involved with here in Galway. I thought I would just give a little update on how things are going.

Over the summer while the kids were on vacation I went to the school garden twice a week just to do watering and some weeding. It was really fun for me, except on those really rainy Irish days!! Anyway, the kids are back now and they really helped get things back in shape like the grass and weeds that grew like wildfire from all the rain. It's looking beautiful now, which is a good thing. Just last week we found out that the garden had been nominated for a some sort of biodiversity award and a judge came by to look and take pictures. I think there's a good chance we will get something, but we won't know for several weeks. I need to take some pictures to post so you can all see what I'm talking about.

I also still go to the "Friendship Club" every Wednesday afternoon. This is the place for refugee women and children to come for a couple of hours of social time and activities. With the kids back in school, one of the main activities is homework time. Somehow, I got nominated to be the main homework helper so I spend my time assisting the kids with math (or as they call it here "maths"), reading, spelling, etc. It's actually really fun to feel like you are helping kids to learn! It is also very challenging to get them to pay attention and focus, so I have a much greater respect for all of the teachers of the world! After homework time there is usually some sort of craft or activity for the kids. This week they made sock puppets and actually put on a show for us. I finally took some pictures of the kids, so below you can see a little slide show.



Tomorrow morning Marco and I will head off to Dublin. We have an appointment at the US embassy early Monday morning to get his visa for our visit to the US next month. We figured we would go a day early and try and have a good meal in the big city. Based on recent experiences with the French embassy, we are really hoping things are a bit easier this time!

We Love Irish Taxi Drivers

Ok, so I just have to give some major appreciation to Irish taxi drivers. Well, I'm not sure if it's the same all over Ireland, but most certainly for Galway taxi drivers. They have to be some of the nicest of anywhere in the world! Seriously, since we moved to Galway, we haven't yet met even one who wasn't extremely friendly and helpful. I guess taxi drivers around the world don't necessarily have the best reputation, so this says a lot. But it's even more than that. Each week I walk about 20 minutes to our grocery store to do the shopping and have to take a taxi home with all of the bags. Every single time, the taxi driver helps me load all of the bags. When we arrive to the apartment, they always get out and carry all of the bags to my front door! And as if that weren't enough.....when they calculate the fare, they actually round down!!! So, say the fare comes out to 8.20 euros, they will say "Just give me 8." Amazing!

Arand Islands and a B-Day Surprise

Ever since we moved to Ireland we have heard people talking about how amazing the Aran Islands are. We kept saying we would wait for someone to visit us and then we would go. So when the family arrived, we knew it was time! On a beautiful Sunday morning we loaded the kids in the car and drove about 45 minutes up the coast to the small town where the ferry is located. The ferry took about 45 minutes as well, and then we arrived to the largest of the islands, Inishmore. People have told us that it's best to rent bikes and explore the island, but with kids we decided to hire a taxi van for the day. This was a wise decision, as we were able to hit most of the major sites without too much difficulty and we got some interesting stories from our driver along the way. Inishmore has a population of about 800 people, so everyone knows everyone. There is 1 doctor, 1 nurse and 1 police officer.

Our first stop was for lunch, and we found a little thatched roof cottage restaurant where everything on the menu was made from scratch. We had some delicious soup and sandwiches, as well as some mouth watering dessert! Next up, we hiked about 10 minutes up a path to Dun Aengus, a historic 17th century stone fort that overlooks some of the most spectacular cliffs I have seen. Luckily, we had a great weather day, so we could see from one side of the island to the other. Our taxi driver picked us up at the bottom of the hill and we drove to a few other beautiful sites around the island. When we made it back to town where the ferry docked, we still had some time to wait and were a bit hungry. We stopped in to a local place for fish and chips that was so fresh and delicious! We then caught the ferry back and found our way home to Galway....thanks to GPS. :) Marco and I can't wait to go back and explore the island on bikes!!!

So, Carol, Christian and the kids left for a couple of days exploring Ireland and we really missed them! When they returned, Carol and I had planned a sort of surprise birthday celebration for Marco. His birthday is actually September 3rd, but we wanted to celebrate while we were together. We prepared some delicious Peruvian food (well, Carol cooked and I chopped!) that we knew Marco would love. Chicha morada, which is a drink made from boiling purple corn, pineapple rind and cinnamon. Papa a la huancaina, which is a potato dish with a cheesy/spicy sauce. Lomo saltado, which is a delicious beef dish with onions and tomatoes. And finally, crema volteada, Marco's favorite dessert, which is sort of like a flan. We decorated with balloons and the kids made a precious, homemade card for Uncle Marco. Marco had no idea we were planning something, so that was fun.

The family stayed until Saturday, when they took the train to Dublin in order to fly back to Zurich. Having the kids around was so much fun and the house was so quiet and lonely after they left. And it is always so nice to be with family....we appreciate those experiences very much. We can't wait until the next time.

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!!

Paris.....C'est Magnifique!!!!!

We just returned last night from a 5 day trip to Paris and I have to say that it was an amazing time! Last Thursday we set off early in the morning with our backpacks and took a bus from Galway to the Shannon airport. It's about 1 hour and 45 minutes, so not too bad. From there we caught a flight on Ryanair, Europe's low cost airline, which is similar to Southwest Airlines in the US. Anyway, after a less than 2 hour flight, we landed at Paris-Beauvais airport, which is a small airport outside of the city. We then took another bus, which took us to the center of Paris in about an hour. From there we located the nearest Metro station, where we bought a 5 day pass, which was a very wise investment. We used the Metro every day, several times a day. I was very pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to navigate around such a big city using the metro system and it made everything feel really close.

By the way, I tried to get a bit more high tech this time with the blog. If you click on this picture, it should take you to a web album so you can see all of the pictures from the trip. If it doesn't work, please let me know!!

Paris July 08

One of Marco's good friends from Peru, Arturo, and his wife Flavie live in Paris. (Flavie is French.) Unfortunately, they were in Peru for a month of vacation, but they graciously offered us their apartment for our trip. So with Arturo's great directions, we arrived at the metro station which was literally about 50 yards from their place! They live in the 11th Arrondissement, which means they are pretty close to all of the major attractions in the city. They had left the keys with neighbors, these two old French ladies that lived downstairs and spoke very little English. Marco bravely called them when we arrived and communicated well enough for them to let us in. The building is one of those old (maybe 18th century) typically French structures. You pass through a huge wooden door from the main street onto this lovely little courtyard. Up about 4 flights of stairs, we rang the doorbell and met the two "Madames". They spoke to us only in French and I did my best to recall a few words from all of the years of studying in school. Eventually we got into the apartment and it was just what you would imagine. They are remodeling everything, but it is a lovely place with all of the charm and character that you would expect of a Parisian apartment. We felt so lucky and thankful to be able to stay there.

So, we dropped our backpacks and headed out to enjoy our first afternoon in Paris. Although Marco had been there once before, it was my first time and I was pretty excited. We hopped back on the Metro and ended up getting off at Place de la Concorde. It's a big "square" between a few of the monuments and from there I got my first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower. We walked around a bit just to take it all in. We were getting pretty hungry as we hadn't eaten much all day, so we ventured off to find a restaurant. We ended up in a middle eastern restaurant, where the food was just average, but we still had a nice experience. Unfortunately, it did rain a bit, but it was nothing like Ireland. :o) It was much warmer and I guess for some reason we didn't mind the rain so much being on vacation. After dinner we strolled down the Champs Elysees and I got to see the Arc de Triomphe! We then headed back to the apartment to try and get some rest for the busy days ahead.

Friday morning we woke up and went for breakfast at a local cafe. We had the traditional croissants and coffee (hot chocolate for Marco!) and it was absolutely delicious. At this point I guess I should go ahead and admit that we ate our way across Paris. We had so many croissants, pastries, baguettes and crepes that it is hard to even describe. There were crepe stands all over the city where you could get a fresh crepe to order and I lost track of how many we had with Nutella (chocolate) and bananas! Luckily, we did SO much walking that we didn't put on too much weight. Seriously, by the end of each day our legs were so tired that we would just fall into bed. Anyway, after breakfast we took a train to Versailles, which is a massive palace on the outskirts of Paris. It was originally built by some rich Italian guy, then one of the King Louis' bought it as a vacation home. it was actually the seat of government at one time, but that was never permanent. Over the centuries they added on to the main building, built new buildings and put in a huge garden that is immaculately manicured. It's actually more like a park than a garden. There are fountains, pools, mazes.....just beautiful. And the weather was gorgeous.....I actually got a pretty good sunburn on my shoulders, but I was just happy to have sunshine! We bought ham & cheese baguettes for lunch and sat out in the gardens to enjoy the weather. We then took a guided tour in the afternoon which was great. It was so fun to hear stories about the history of the place and the people who lived there. One of the kings at one time had a thing for clocks. This pair of scientists built a very special clock for him back in the 1700's and they designed it so that it would keep time until the year 9,999! It still works and is accurate.....just amazing. There are just too many interesting facts to share in this blog, but it's a must see if you ever get to Paris.

So, we headed back to the train station to go back to the city. About 5 minutes into the trip, the train stopped. The conductor made an announcement in French that we couldn't understand, but we picked up that there had been some sort of accident on the line involving a person. They said it would be a few minutes delay, but about 30 minutes later and with a train full of sweaty passengers they announced that we should all get off the train. Like a herd of cows we all followed the crowd, not really knowing what to do. We were not close to any other stations. They instructed us to walk to a bus that was several blocks away and from there who knew what would happen. We packed into the bus like sardines.....seriously, it was such a funny site! About 10 minutes later, we arrived at another train station, where we were able to find our way back to the city. As we exited the metro station near the apartment, there was a group of people asking us to sign a petition. We waved our hands to indicate we don't speak French and one guy looked at Marco and said "Hablas espanol?" Turns out he was from Argentina, so they had a nice conversation in Spanish. Apparently there is a big thing happening in the EU right now where they are trying to deport a lot of immigrants, so the petition was to protect the rights of those people. He said since we lived in Europe we could sign, so we added our names to the list to help the cause. This guy also told us that there was a good "latin" club somewhere in the city where the food and dancing was supposed to be good the next night, so we made a plan to check it out. Then it was back to the apartment for a shower before we headed out to find dinner.

Now, Lebanese food is one of our favorites, so before our trip I had researched all of our options. Restaurants in Ireland are pretty disappointing, so we thought this was our big chance to have some really good food. We found our way to this place that had gotten rave reviews and got a table. And that's when everything went downhill. After this trip we both can say without hesitation that the service in France is terrible. The stereotype of French people being rude holds true. (The nicest people we met were immigrants from other countries) Once we got a look at the menus, we were surprised at the high prices, but decided it was worth it for a good meal. I ordered a chicken kebob meal and Marco ordered a beef dish. When mine arrived, it had the wrong side orders, so I had to send it back. Then, one look at Marco's dish and we weren't convinced that it was beef. I tasted it and was pretty sure it was lamb, which he doesn't care for. So, we called the waiter back (who didn't speak any English) and tried to explain the problem. He insisted it was beef and then sent another guy to insist that it was beef. Needless to say, this meal ended up to be a huge disappointment. Oh well, I guess that's all part of the adventure! After dinner we made our way to an area called Chatelet, where there is a pretty good nightlife. Lots of restaurants and clubs and it was really fun just to walk around. Then it was back to the apartment to collapse into bed.

Saturday morning we again went for a typical breakfast at a cafe near the Louvre Museum. We then ventured over to the museum, which is so huge that there's just no way to see it all. So, we made a tiny list of things we wanted to see and set off. Of course we saw the Mona Lisa, which was surprisingly small compared to what I expected. And there was such a huge crowd around it that you couldn't get close or get a decent picture. But at least we saw it. We saw lots of paintings by famous artists and of course the Venus de Milo sculpture. We ventured through an exhibit on Egypt and also Napoleon's apartment. It was a really neat experience to see all of this history, but totally overwhelming. We went up and down so many stairs that I felt like we were back at Machu Picchu! Which brings up an interesting point......now we know how the French stay so skinny! They walk everywhere and there are stairs everywhere.

After the Louvre, we headed off to find lunch. We ended up having wood-fired pizza at a sidewalk cafe that was decent. We then decided to take the metro to Sacre Coeur, which is a big church at the top of a hill. Once we reached the neighborhood, we saw that you could take a shuttle or a funicular. We thought we would be troopers and take the stairs. I don't know how many there were, but my legs were like jello about halfway up. I just kept convincing myself that I would totally deserve another crepe after that. :o) Once we reached the top, we found that the church was absolutely beautiful and the view was spectacular. They say it's the best view in Paris because you can see the whole city from there.

We then decided to go home and rest because we had grand intentions of going out for a bit of dancing in the evening. We took a pretty good nap and felt the energy return! Marco then took me to the Montparnasse building, which is one of the only tall buildings in Paris. You take the elevator about 59 floors and have a rooftop view of the city. The sun was just going down, so it was a pretty spectacular view! We then ventured over to an area called the "Latin Quarter", which is also known for it's nightlife. This turned out to be our favorite place because of the energy and the relaxed atmosphere. We ended up sitting down for dinner at an outdoor cafe in true European style.....at 11pm! The place was packed and it was really fun just to watch people and enjoy the beautiful evening. Unfortunately, the food was again disappointing, but the experience made up for it. We then set off to try and find the latin dance place that the guy from Argentina told us about. After about 20 minutes of walking we decided we were just too tired and headed in for the evening.

Sunday morning we found a nice bakery and just bought our pastries and baguette to go. We had seen most of the big things on our "list", so we thought we would just take the day a bit slower. We walked around just to see different parts of the city. We did go back to the Champs Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe since I hadn't gotten any pictures before. We decided to go to Les Invalides, which was originally built as a "hotel"for injured war veterans. It's more like a palace and is now a museum and he place of Napoleon's tomb. It ended up being a really neat experience that we were both glad we didn't miss. They had a whole section of the museum devoted to World War I and II, which was fascinating. Lots of history and great artifacts that we both enjoyed. At the tomb of Napoleon, they have on display one of the coats and hats that he is normally pictured in. It was surprising how small the coat was! I mean, it seemed like it was made for a child. Such a small, but powerful man. We then made our way back to the neighborhood near the apartment. We found a great little cafe that was packed with people having "happy hour"on a Sunday. We had a drink and a couple of appetizers and a nice time people watching again. We then found a nice little restaurant where we had our last meal. It was an Italian place so we had a pizza and some pasta. One interesting note is that most of the pizzas on the menu had a large fried egg in the middle. We decided to order our pizza without the egg. :) Then it was back to the apartment, with a pit stop for our last crepe on the way back!

Monday morning we got up early to clean the apartment and pack our things. We had to take the metro to get back to the bus station to get back to the airport. We thought we were leaving really early just to be safe and it was a good thing we did! Monday morning rush hour on the metro is a bit crazy! We were again packed in like sardines and it took us longer than we expected. But we made it to the airport for the flight back to Shannon. The bus to Galway got us home around 5pm and it was nice to be back in our fair little town. Our house was pretty stuffy after being closed up for 5 days, but luckily today it has been sunny all day so we let in all the fresh air. I also did about 6 loads of laundry, which took most of the day!

Now it's back to our normal routine for a few weeks. This adventure was so much fun that we just can't wait to go to Switzerland in August!!!!!