So Long, Farewell!

On 8th October 2011 we boarded a plane headed back to the States for good. We had spent 5 years on the Emerald Isle. Well, actually, 4 years 9 months and 16 days which is also 1727 total days. That was a lot of days to be away from out families and miss out on birthdays, funerals, holidays and other celebrations.

We saw most of Europe. It is easier to count the countries we did not make it to. At the time of our departure I was 32 years old and had been to 32 countries. In the year 2011 I went to 12 different countries in 12 months. It was a busy final year in Europe.

Of course I had to keep traveling once I got home, but that is for some other place and time to tell those stories. So this wraps up our Operation Dublin.....thanks to all that have read this over the years! Raibh maith agat as léamh! Slán!

(The purple countries are the places Ben and I went together and Red are the ones that Mariah went to on her own)

As inspired by Dr. Seuss

One door, two door, red door, blue door.
Black door, blue door, old door, new door.
Big door, dinky door, purple door, pinky door.
Dirty door, clean door, yellow door, green door.
Fancy door, Orange door, black door, strange door.
Brown door, faulti door, white door, multi door.
Say! What a lot of doors there are.

The history behind the brightly painted colourful doors is that after the death of Queen Victoria, England ordered the citizens of Ireland (which was still under British rule at the time) to paint all of their doors black in mourning of the queen. The Irish rebelled and painted their doors bright colors, and the tradition has stuck.

But I like this story even better: Women were tired of their husbands going in the wrong doors when they were drunk, going up the wrong stairs, into the wrong bedroom and sleeping with the wrong woman so they painted the doors different colours to help them distinguish between them.

It may seem like I may be a little obsessed with doors, but they are all different, and each on has great personal touches. Even the door hardware is beautiful and interesting. They have knockers, clangers, pullers, glangers, huge doorknobs, and my favorite of all; Lion Headed Door Knocker!

Final Goodbyes

With our last week coming to a close it was time for final goodbyes. Along with some of those goodbyes were great gifts, like Dublin jumpers, friendship shamrocks and announcements of pregnancies. Three of them! We treated Sean and Celia to our favourite Korean dinner place where they told us they were expecting their own little bundle of joy! We were so excited for them! So come April 2012 their little one should make its first appearance to the world. Vinny drove me home one last time and let me know that him and his wife were expecting in March.

I also got to have a great dinner of fried chicken with Catherine and Edell at one of our favourite pop-up restaurants Cracked Bird. Yummy. It was great to get together one last time. Ruth was not able to make it since she got a job in Bristol and had started that day. Which was fantastic news!

Although it sucked working on 4 days a week from a pay standpoint, I loved working a 4 day week. One thing I will miss terribly was my nearly weekly coffee get togethers with Paul either in City Centre or out at the sea. I took it for granted that I could talk a stroll next to the sea anytime I wanted. I will also miss my chats with Paul.

With our time off, I also made Ben do all the touristy things I had left to do. We did the creepy wax museum. Good for a bit of history, but all wax museums creep me out. I keep expecting them to move and walk towards me. We also managed to do the Viking Boat tour in the pouring rain. We even wore the viking hats! We ‘ROAR’ed at the poor passerbyers, scaring a few Italian women. I felt bad about that one. The best part was when our DUKS went into the water in the Grand Canal Basin to see all the buildings there from a different point of view.

Ben has his own leaving party and lunch with his co-workers from his office. We got to pop in one last time so I could say goodbye to his team. His office was always cooler looking than mine!

I had one last meal with my Polish girls where I showed off my extensive vocabulary of a whole 8 Polish words. The word for yummy of course was the most relevant since Ania made another awesome meal! We shared a few bottles of wine with Daria, Ania and myself and had great chats late into the night.

I also hit up Cathy’s daughter’s, Lily Rose, first birthday. She is only a few weeks younger than Abe so it was great to see her and all her little one year old friends to try and gauge the size and development of the nephew I had yet to meet. I was the only one there not pregnant, with my child, or pregnant with my children. It was unlike any party I had ever been to, I was just glad there was some wine there since there was a lot of little babies!

Our final dinner was with Tori and Andrew along with his brother and a surprise visit with Tori’s friend Sue. It was a nice Cuban dinner. I know that is was not a forever goodbye since hoepfully we will see them down in LA.

I will miss my girls! I will miss my buddies! I will miss Ireland! Don’t worry, I did not see it all while I was there, so I will be back to see more. And to see some of those babies due in 2012! It may take me a while, but I will make it back.

OMP last hurrah!

The day after we moved into Sean’s was my final OMP Leaving Do,

and sadly it was for me and for Niall. But I know I can see Niall again since he has a brother who lives in Portland and hopefully will come and visit! It was probably our most subdued event at Hogans but it was great to get the old gang back together. It was a great turn out and was happy and sad to say a final goodbye to my co-workers.

Hottest Day of the Year

After putting in our notice to move back home, we decided to give them a couple months head’s up and end on the September paydays. Ben had a whole week off before me to clean and get things ready to move, and I only had the one day to help pack before moving. And wouldn’t you know it, the two hottest days, ALL YEAR, happened to be the two days we were moving. Mid 70’s may not seem that hot, but they are! Especially when there is no cross ventilation and we had to scrub every surface in our small 300 square foot apartment. We managed to fit all of our things to take on the place with us into 2 large suitcases, 2 medium suitcases and 2 duffel bags, plus our carryons.

Tullia took a few little bags of stuff as well as my pirate chest, Edell took a full car load of items since she was doing a kitchen extension and a few miscellaneous spices and whatnots for Sean and Celia. The cost of shipping was ridiculous so we had to fit it all into the maximum suitcases. Sean picked us after work and after a full car load to his house, we dropped off the big screen TV to Andrew and Tori as a parting Moore gift and that was the last of our stuff. Sort of strange to think our lives fit into just a few suitcases. And after all the moving with the hottest days of the year, we were in desperate need of showers to not offend our new housemates. Sean was nice enough to let us finish out our last week in Ireland at his place!

Strange Anomaly #75

Hurricane Katia hit Ireland and England this year. I know, hurricanes, sounds like something that should only be in the Caribbean, but apparently ever 25-50 years or so a hurricane can loop back up and hit Ireland. The winds were crazy that morning. Why I even bothered to brush my hair, I will never know. The wind was so strong that I had to stand and lean into it to keep from blowing me over. ME! And I am not so tiny. Kids flew past my on their bikes being pushed from behind. Hurricanes, in Ireland, I never would have guessed it.

Portugal One Last Time

For our last European trip, for a very long time, we had to visit Bruno and Marta one last time. They were spending their holidays down in the Algarve in Albufeira. Bruno’s family condo is near the Club Med da Balaia, so the beach was full of tourists, but with it being so late in the season, the beach was not as crowded. Bruno and Marta were shades of brown that I only achieved when I lifeguarded every day in the sun. Our lily white skin stood out in the crowd, that was for sure. We knew before heading over that it was going to rain, and boy did it! We played Catan (the board game), enjoyed some chats, went for walks between the showers and ate ourselves silly. I love seafood and we super-indulged with prawns, clams, crabs, “sea dinosaurs” which is the translation but we would call them Goose barnacles and fish. The best was the little snails cooked in a little garlic, oregano and olive oil. Yummy stuff! Of course ice cream was a must because even though it was raining it was at least warm. On our last day in the Algarve we got up early and lo and behold there was sun. We slathered ourselves in sunblock and headed down to the beach. As I have said before, they were brown, we were ghost white. After a few hours of laying in the sun, splashing in the Mediterranean, walking up the beach, we decided to move to the swimming pool since there would be less wind. That was when I noticed how red I was getting. Even though I had reapplied, I had originally missed a few places. My stomach, the tops of my feet and my knees were burnt to a crisp. Ben also burned in spots where we missed the cream. We headed back to Lisbon as the sun was setting to see their new apartment.

Any trip to Lisbon is not complete without a few pastéis de Belém. Luckily their new apartment is in Belém. After dinner we took a stroll down to get a few cakes before his family arrived to say hello to us. Their apartment is newly constructed in an old building not far from the President’s residence. They are placed very central! The following morning we went out for breakfast at Pastelaria Restelo which is known for its sweet and savoury croissants with ham and cheese covered in powdered sugar. Sounds strange but it worked! After filling ourselves we headed to the Large Jesus, like the Holy Redeemer in San Paolo, Brazil. We went up to the top of the base, to his feet which overlooked all of Lisbon. We even got to drive over the San Francisco Bay bridge twin. While on that side of the river we picked up more seafood for a final lunch feast with Bruno’s cousin, Daniel, whom we have meet on several occasions. Bruno made sure to teach me how he makes all his creations, so I can recreate them again! It was sad to leave our friends in Lisbon, but hope to see them in Portland next year!

Strange Anomaly #74

I know that everyone must relieve themselves, and all over the world people will do it in the street, but then men here seem to do it more than anywhere else. The stench of urine in the mornings is not cool, on a daily basis in city centre. The worst recently was we were getting out cash at the bank machine and some guy pulling out his cash decided to pee right there. He was well dressed, on a very busy road, and had a queue of people behind him waiting to pull out cash too. Karen nearly stepped in it. We were in shock! Another time I have even seen four lads lined up together doing it in front of our neighbour’s door late at night. Wrong! If women have to hold it, why can’t the men. They seem to manage to do it in other cities?!

Happy Arthur’s Day

Catherine and I each year celebrate Arthur’s Day with at pint at 17:59 (or as close as we can get) since Guinness was founded 1759. This year we had to celebrate a bit early and went to a secret little pub, Fallons, for some of the best Guinness in all of Dublin. The pub is one of the last that clean their own draught pipes and since so many customers order Guinness only, it tastes the purest and best. Catherine’s sister owns a pub, hence that little gem of knowledge. It was great to have one last Dublin celebration of Arthur’s Day!

My Fancy Architecture Project

The Celtic Tiger ran away a long time ago, which is why as an architect, most of the projects I have worked on over the last 5 years have been put on hold, completely disregarded, or have been tied up in planning appeals for years. The one beast of a project I have been working on, which has been highly controversial, finally made it through planning after countless redesigns, changes, additions, alterations and clarifications. The links below best explain the history, with the RTE (the national news station) showing it on the 6 O’clock news! Ben may have had his project show up in fancy magazines, but mine was on the news! Not sure if or when it will be built, I am not going to speculate there, but there is satisfaction in knowing that I made something through planning and it has potential of being built!

http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0916/dunnes.html

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0917/1224304267437.html

http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0916/dunne-business.html

http://www.newstalk.ie/2011/news/permission-granted-for-re-development-of-ballsbridge-site-in-dublin/

Strange Anomaly #73

One early Saturday morning, Ben and I trekked across town to go to our old breakfast place, Hobarts, in Ranelagh, because it has an amasing full Irish breakfast. As we were walking, we dodged the many 'sidewalk pizzas' left by the throngs of drunk people who wandered the streets the night before and got sick. As we walked, a young family walked towards us, and the smallest of the group, who was maybe three years old, slipped in one of the sidewalk pizzas, getting vomit all over herself. I would not have wanted to be her mother as we all stared in horror at the small child. Just one of the strange dangers of Dublin.

As a side note:
I do not do these strange anomalies to point out bad things about Ireland. I do love Ireland, they are just things that seem strange coming from an American.

Last Country Pub

There are several pubs within Dublin County (that are on the outskirts of Dublin City) that I had already been to, except for one. The Blue Light. One of the women I work with, Sylvia, I have been teaching her all about Mexican food. Yummy things like enchiladas, burritos, empanadas, and more. For my parting gift she decided to take me on a trip outside of the city since she drives and knows I love experiences. Plus I would have no room in my suitcase to bring anything home with me. We had our fingers crossed for sunny weather even though it had rained all week, and sure enough, the clouds parted and we were able to have a nice pint out on the terrace overlooking Dublin and the Irish Sea. The pub is great with cozy fireplaces, live traditional music being played, good beer and great craic. The pub is a great old man pub, but there were still was a good mix of younger folk, families and the locals. It was too warm to snuggle in front of a fireplace, but I wish that I could have been able to make the trek up there in the snow since it would have been perfect. It is a bit hidden, so no tourist, and I was glad that I was able to squeeze it in. Since Sylvia was driving she was unable to drink, so after enjoying the view as the sun was setting, we headed back into town, ditched the car, and continued our tradition of eating a wide range of Mexican food, good beer and unforgettable chats!

Dia duit, álainn Connemara

When my parents had come for a visit several years ago, they had said how beautiful Connemara was and how they liked Kylemore Abbey. As we wind down living here, I have to see the last little bits of the Emerald Isle, and that was one area I had yet to see. Catherine had wanted a sleepover at her house, so I decided to combine the two, overnight roadtrip! Catherine's American cousins were visiting their mother in Galway so we stopped for tea. It was great meeting her extended family and of course eating some yummy biscuits and chocolate cake. First stop after Galway was Oughterard to see Lough Corrib, the biggest lake in the Republic. A few girls were swimming in it, and they were quite brave. It may have been sunny, with a few rain showers, but certainly not warm enough to go for a swim. We decided to take the scenic route through the Connemara National Park on our way to Letterfrack. The landscape was dotted with small lakes and rivers. The rolling mountains were beautiful and craggy, where I had her pull over from time to time so I could grab a photo. We passed through Kylemore Abbey for a few quick shots, but as they were closing for the day, we kept on going to our hostel. We took a quick nap, before heading out to scope out the town for a place to eat. We decided on a seafood place, as we were by the sea. I forget portions in the country are much larger, so we made the mistake of getting a stater, a main, and of course sharing a dessert. We stopped in the one pub on the way back for a night cap, before heading to bed. Early the next morning, it was eat a quick breakfast and off to Kylemore. Since we beat all the tourbuses for the day, we got to see the Victorian Gardens all on our own, wandering through the multi-acre garden. As we walked back to the Abbey, that was when the tourists arrived. There is not much to see in the main Abbey, except for part off the ground floor, but it was breathtaking. The view of the Abbey, or once castle, over the lake is stunning. Great photos! We walked down to the tiny gothic church the man had build for his deceased wife. I could see how the King of England had thought of buying the place. We were fortunate enough to get out of there before it was too crowded and the rain started. We drove until Clifden so we could stop for a tea and pick up a postcard/stamp to send her parents. The sun was finally shining, so as we passed through the heart of Connemara, we had great views. I had packed lunches and when our tummies started to rumble, we turned up a small side road, hoping it would lead us to the sea, so we could eat our lunch. The sun was shining, as we could overlook the Aran Islands as we ate our peanut butter & jelly sandwiches with apples. How much more American lunch can you get? Catherine enjoyed it, as did I. After a few photos we were back on the road through Spiddal where all the Gaeltach kids were studying, and finally through Galway to head back to Dublin. Although there are SuperMacs in Dublin, we had to stop once more in Roscommon before getting home after a great road trip.

Strange Anomaly #72

Because space is so tight for houses and gardens, it was great to see a full-sized bouncy castle taking up an entire front garden. It was hard for me not to want to jump over the little fence and have a go at jumping on it. Someday I will fulfill my dream of all of us married ones dressing up in our wedding dresses and bouncing in a bouncy castle to be grown up princesses!

Donegal and my last Irish Counties

It was my goal when I moved here to get to know the country I was living in, so I made a point to make it to all 32 Counties. I only have three left and this grip marked the last of them: Donegal, Cavan and Fermanagh.

Ben had a recommendation to stop at the Ulster American Folk Park just outside Omagh. It was a recreation or preservation of homes found through out Ulster starting with a 1600's single room farmhouse up until the late 1700's. There were chickens and geese running around. I really wanted to play with the chicks, but as Ben predicted, they ran from me. We walked down a recreation of a typical street frontage found in the late 1700's before boarding a boat showing the conditions of what it was like for a family to immigrate to America on. Four adults had to fit into a bunk (either on the top or bottom) that was the size of a double bed, for about 2 months. Amazing what people had to endure. When we disembarked, it was into a typical American street found in the same time period. From there it was homes found on the East Coast of the States up through the late 1800's. There were log cabins, and modest clapboard homes. Throughout the park, there were people dressed up in period costumes discussing what life was like. It was very informative, and I love hands on, visual learning.

From there we stopped in Letterkenny for a bite to eat before reaching our final destination, Dunfanaghy. The co-worker that had recommended the folk park, was orginally from one village over from where we were staying, so John headed over to show us around. We drove around the cliffs to get a view of the peninsulas and islands. We had a bite to eat before heading to the pub since there was a festival going on. As we left to drive John to Carrigart it started to rain. I am so thankful Ben grew up in the country as he can manage to drive curvy dark country roads with ease, even in the rain. This city girl had to ask him to slow down for my sanity.

In the morning, the breakfast at the little B&B was huge and delicious, to get our day going. It was a bit drizzly as we headed to Magheraroarty to catch the ferry to Tory Island. We watched the ferry come in and were some of the first on. I was super excited as I had been wanting to go to Tory for years! The boat ride started out smooth, but as we passed the last island, the waters turned choppy. I was glad that I had taken some anti-nausea as it was not so smooth with swells a few meters high. It was sunny on the island, with clouds all around. As we disembarked I was anxious to see the King of Tory Island, the last King of Ireland, but he was no where to be found. I was a bit disappointed, but I was not going to let that rain on my parade. We headed off to the western tip of the island first toward the lighthouse. The sun was not really out, but it was not really cloudy, we were just happy that it was not raining. With half the loop done, we headed to the eastern village. The landscape was rugged, and became hillier as we headed east. Up past sheep running around, dodging sheep poo, we climbed the highest cliff to gaze out over the Atlantic. I had to tie my jumper around my head as the wind was blowing from every direction. We stopped for a bit of lunch, ham & cheese toasties with a cuppa tea. I got to speak a bit of Irish as most people on the island would speak Irish as their first language. I was excited! With the sun dipping behind some dark and ominous clouds, it was time to catch our boat back to the mainland. If we thought it was bad coming out, it was way worse on our way back. We both fought off getting sick. It was a miserable 50 minutes. When we docked, we saw the king driving up to the pier, but I was not about to go talk to him, I wanted dry, solid land. We had to sit in the car awhile before Ben felt well enough to begin driving down the coast to Ardara. We passed through many little towns, where there was no English to be found, it was great! We followed the signs to our hotel, which was out of town, nestled among the trees, in a very quiet and remote area. We opted to eat dinner at the hotel as it was a three course meal. It was a splurge, but well worth it. After an amazing meal, the sun was still up so we figured we would watch a movie after I check my email in the lobby. About 10 minutes later when I got to the room, Ben was nearly asleep, and for the first time in weeks, he got a quiet nights rest in a large comfortable bed, sleeping well over 10 hours. He never does that.

For our final leg of our tour, we took the scenic route. I knew it would be longer, but little did I know, it would take hours longer. We headed out along the coast, stopping to take photos on the way to Gelncolumbkille. The steep cliff roads had sheep blocking our way, not that much in a hurry to get out of the road. These were also my first sheep I had seen with wagging tails! The cliff roads were only one car wide, and there were several places I held my breath as we neared the edge. There were beautiful views, I was just glad Ben got out to take photos and not me. At the end of our detour was a hike to see the tallest sea cliffs in Europe, Slieve League Cliffs. We parked the car at the base of the hill where there was a gate. We figured at the top of the hill would be the sea. No. We had to walk about 45 minutes to the top car park area. All we would have had to do was open the gate. Ben's head had gotten quite burned the day before, so he took my jumper and tied it like a turban to keep the sun off him. We started hiking to the top of the cliffs, when Ben stopped to take a photo and my fear of heights kicked it. The rule is, keep walking, don't stop, I can follow you all the way to the top. Once I am at the top, I can make it down just fine and feel ok about it. It is just making it there. He did not understand the rules, even after all this time. After my mini melt down where I was happy to sit on a rock, just off of the trail, away from the edge, Ben had to go to the top alone as I gazed out over the sea and cliffs. We of course had to treat ourselves to ice cream after that, I mean the sun was out! We made our way down and headed finally to Donegal town for lunch. We stretched our legs for a bit before getting back in and heading to Enniskillen, for Lake Erme. There was a few ruins there we stopped at, and that was when we saw the black clouds. As we drove into Cavan, the heavens opened up and lashed rain. I did not mind returning home to rain, as it had been nice for most of our trip!

Berlin as seen from a Segway

By the time we got to the hotel in Berlin, it was quite late so we went for a traditional German dinner. I was in heaven! We took a stroll out to where we were going to meet our tour group the next morning so we could time how long it would take us to walk there. Their parks are pitch black at night, and felt a bit dodgy, so we headed back to the hotel and hoped for the best in the morning. We had a Segway tour. Those cool two wheeled things. It was perfect for my sprained ankle and for Ben's interest in technology. By the time we got to the hotel in Berlin, it was quite late so we went for a traditional German dinner. I was in heaven! We took a stroll out to where we were going to meet our tour group the next morning so we could time how long it would take us to walk there. Their parks are pitch black at night, and felt a bit dodgy, so we headed back to the hotel and hoped for the best in the morning. We had a Segway tour. Those cool two wheeled things. It was perfect for my sprained ankle and for Ben's interest in technology. We had an English tour guide, guide us through the city. We covered early Berlin history up through the end of the GDR. We had ten stops along the way learning interesting tidbits over the four hours. We had a great time riding the Segways in the street, passing cyclists. Top speed was 30 kmh. Ben was the one encouraging me to go faster.

We explored a few other things on our own once the tour was over, the large aquarium in the Radisson hotel and toured through the GDR museum. It was a great hands on, touch things, interact with exhibits type museum. I know a lot about Germany history, but East Germany was one of those things I knew very little about. At the time, I was bored when my father made me watch live video of the wall falling, but now I am glad I have that memory and can now fully appreciate what those people went though and what the wall falling truly meant.

The following day we went out to a Stasi prison, way out of town, that was guided by prisoners who had spent time in there. It was depressing the conditions that the inmates had to endure, both Russian’s, after WWII, and East Germans who were suspected of bad things. I was heart wrenching and instead of doing something more upbeat, we went back to the holocaust memorial and toured through the museum there. As I was quietly sobbing after reading diary entries, and being overwhelmed by so many emotions, Ben reminded me that it was our actual anniversary. I love history, but I wish I had picked happier touring things to do that day. As we walked home that night after another fantastic dinner, did I mention I love German food, we noticed many scantily clad women who seemed to be soliciting men. When we got back to the hotel I had to look up prostitution and sure enough, it is legal in Germany. They were the hottest hookers I had ever seen, even put most strippers in Portland to shame. They were good about not approaching men who were with women, so one look at Ben and they quickly looked away since I was with him. I was the one who could not tear my eyes away.

The best day was the third zoo in a third country within a month. The Berlin zoo has been remodeled so recently due to wars so it is very modern. They was no point in having a map as the paths serpentined around but we still managed to see everything. It was a beautiful day, as we were tired of having rain. The monkeys were going bananas it was great. A spider monkey even fell in love with Ben and made faces with him. She followed him around as he walked through the monkey enclosure. With Ben's camera in great working order, he was having a great time capturing them as they frolicked around their cages. We even managed to be at the big cat enclosure as they were being fed. The lions and tigers were growling so much, roaring like crazy. You could hear them all across the park. I could feel their roars in my chest as we were only a meter away from them. As always I made Ben take photos by the rhinos as they both have great grumpy faces. I saw my first panda, but he was sleeping, and I caught sight of a foot and his bum. As the day grew to a close we took a snooze on a bench in the sun to really enjoy our holiday. We spent the entire day at the zoo much to my pleasure, and left as they were closing. We were tuckered out after so much walking.


The next morning I stuck Ben on a train to the airport, as I got on my own 8-hour train ride down to Sarrland to visit my bestest Germany buddy Katrin. I was to stay with her over the next 5 days to see her new place, visit her new office, and of course meet the new man in her life. I had met a few of her friends before, so it was great to catch up with them, and head out for a night on the town! It was a relaxing week as I wrote, read, slept at Katrin’s while she worked. The weather was not all the cooperative: rain profusely in the morning but then sunny just about the time Kat got off work. One night, we had a great walk from Saarbrücken, Germany over into France. So funny to think the boarder is about a 20 minute walk. It was a great relaxing visit spending time with my buddy and seeing how fantastic she is doing since I have missed so much since she moved back home.

Strange Anomaly #71

Car reg, or license plate, starts with the year of the car, than what county it is registered in, and then what number it was when it was registered. There for 02 D 666 would be a 2002 from Dublin and was the 666th car registered that year. So while walking home I saw a 2008 Bentley cab driving down the road looking for a customer. Either it was someone who got bitten as the Celtic Tiger retreated, or some one out for a laugh.

J’taime Paris

With long work hours, Ben was happy to get away, even though he is not the biggest fan of traveling. For our five year anniversary we headed off to Paris for 5 days. We had been before, but this time we got to see what we wanted to, and go at our own pace. We stayed on the Rue Clar as we had done before, so we knew where we were staying. After dropping off our luggage, and stripping off some of our layers, we went for a wander to the Eiffel Tower right around the corner from us to grab some lunch. Just up the street was one building that was a must see for me, Jean Nouvel's Musée du quai Branly as I have always wanted to see its Green living wall that is quite impressive even after being constructed a few years ago. With the sunshine out, we booked a trip down the River Seine on one of the many boats, to see everything in one go. We ended our first night with an amazing meal including escargot and creme brule. Yummy!

This was our day to see all the little bits and pieces. I was smart enough to book the Eiffel Tower in advance, so when it was our time, we walked right up, got through security, and was in an elevator heading up to the top. It heads up the wide base first, where you can take photos, and then up a smaller elevator all the way to the top. It was brilliant seeing over the whole city. It may not have been the nicest weather, but it was not raining, and was not that cloudy. We went to both decks to get photos. We spend more time going down, than we did going up. As we headed down, we could have stopped by the resturant on a mid-rise level, but I did not want to spend a fortune on food that was not going to be that great. We had enjoyed our view, but it was onto our next stop. We passed Notre Dame and went on to Centre Georges-Pompidou by Renzo Piano. It was something I had always wanted to see. Next on our architectural tour was another Nouvel building, L'Institut du Monde Arabe. The louvers on the windows I had studied in school and wanted to see them in action. I was on my must see list. After seeing some post modernism, it was onto The Panthéon Church which is the tomb of France's most famed. It was like every other NeoClassical building, so it was not as impressive, but still interesting. As with the previous night, we had even more delicious food. I knew there was no point in watching my figure on this trip.

With the weather not that cooperative, we spent the dreariest day in the Musée du Louvre. We got up early and wandered past the old smaller palaces and up the river. It was great to see the grounds nearly empty, even if it was not sunny. We had a plan of attack though, start up on the top most floor and work our way down, since we had the least interest of the stuff in the basement, Middle Ages. There were just so many paintings. We did cast our eyes over every piece, but towards the end we were nearly walking at top speed, quickly passing by masterpieces. We were able to complete the whole museum in a day, but I would not recommend it if you really want to see everything. It was great to recognize paintings I had studied over the years, and got to be Ben's personal art guide. As we went down in floors, it got more and more crowded. As we neared the Mona Lisa, we were overwhelmed by Tour Groups. When we finally got to the painting, it was 15 people deep. We waited to get to the front, be after waiting, waiting and waiting, we realized that the people were not even leaving. We gave up and moved on since there were hundreds of other things to see. Even across from the Mona Lisa was a painting that I had just worked my 4000 piece puzzle of Paolo Veronese's 'The Wedding at Cana' that was ignored, even though the painting was enormous, 20'x30'! People were just in there for the sake of being in there, they did not even know what things were, like the Venus de Milo, or one of the many other da Vinci's, or Michelangelo's statue. As we neared the end, I was reading the map, and fell down the last few steps spraining my ankle. Of course I laughed which is how I react to pain. It is always hard for Ben to take me seriously when I do that, but I can't help it. I walked it off the best I could but I knew in the morning my ankle would not be so happy.

The next morning, my ankle was very swollen, but Ben got me a brace and drugs, so that we could continue our tour. For our last full day we headed out to to see the Sacré-Cœur Basilica and Salvador Dalí's old studio. We hiked up from the Subway to the summit of the butte Montmartre. I was slow and steady, but I was not going to let my leg stop me! When the rain came we did a tour of the Sacré-Cœur Basilica catacombs as I did not want to hike up to the top of the basilica. As the rain abated, we headed to the Dalí studio where many other Surrealist artists had their studios. Dalí is my favorite artist so it was great to see where he got some of his idea, inspiration and how his work was created. When the kids started to outnumber us, we fled for lunch and to check out where Moulin Rouge is. We did not want to spend a fortune to see the show, but we wandered about, realizing that it was in the heart of the porn district. Quite interesting. We headed back into town to meet up with Ben's friend, Nabil, for dinner. It was great catching up with an old friend, who had just moved to Paris.

Our last morning we had to see one more museum, Musee d'Orsay which is housed in an old rail station. It contains the largest Impressionist exhibit where Manet was the featured artist. The sculptures were fabulous as well. There were several Van Gogh's to see and other painters of that era. Even Whistler's Mother. We had enough time to collect our things, have some lunch in the park adjacent to the Les Invalides and catch the bus to the airport. Next stop, Berlin!

Roller Disco

Edell had a great idea that I was all for getting on board: a bit of late night roller-skating disco! It has been easily 20 years since I had gone skating. As Edell, Tullia and I stood up on our skates, the first few meters were a bit shakey and slow, but it all came flooding back to us. I may not be able to do all the tricks I once was able to do, but it still was fun, and great exercise! I even beat out a bunch of small children to win a free VIP pass back. The music was 80s theme, so when Edell's friend, Siobhán along with her sister Dierdre joined us, they were dressed in great 80's fashion. I was sad to not be able to dress up, as I love to do it, but I lived through the 80's the first time, and am not that excited to embrace those styles again. I need to go back since the craic was great! Now I look forward to someday skating at Oaks Park since it's four times the size as the one here. With a small rink though, I got really good at turning!

It was here for two days, and then has disappeared again. I did have to work for one of those days, but Ben had it off so he got to sit in the sun and read. The second day we went to the zoo. This would be my second zoo within two weeks in two different countries. I love the zoo!

Ben got a bit overwhelmed with so many children running about, but with all of the animals out soaking up the summer sun, he got some great photos of orangutans swinging, tigers pacing, rhinos being rhinos and a baby giraffe.

I was excited to pet my first cow and pig, and love on some goats and sheep. Ben took a pass as he had enough of them growing up. I was just as excited with the sheep and pygmy goats as I was the sleepy Red Panda and other frisky monkeys. Ben may not be a big fan of children running around being noisy loud kids but he did promise me that someday he would love his own children even if they are as active as all those primates and big cat.