Thursday, June 30, 2016

Right now: June

Right now


  • Listening to my hubby find music for the video footage I shot during the side car portion of our  travels.   Seems we are in need of mostly blooper type music, as my videographer skills are sorely lacking.   Best stick with my proven talents:  wife, mom, nurse and now long haul traveler.   At least in my world,  28 days of international travel qualifies me for claiming such a crown.   
  • I am thinking, that we have had one grand month of travel.   Weather has been perfect when we needed it to be (side car exploring in Ireland), and wet when expected (Scotland, one does not  visit for the sunbathing opportunities).    While totally unplanned on our end, our travels have occurred during a historical time for the UK.   Last week was the big vote on whether to stay or leave the EU.  
     Prior to  the vote, locals were rather quiet on the topic, as was the media (at least when I tuned into the morning news).   It was such a contrast to our own election season where you are constantly reminded that we have to choose from 2 questionable candidates,   Locals noted that "the heart says go, the head says stay".   But in the end, by what many now say was a bit of a surprise, the heart may have won out for those in limbo and Brexit was victorious.   Now it seems all the talk of the town, and we saw evidence of it here in London.  
    As travelers, we enjoyed the sudden drop in the pound, as overall I have found England to be an expensive place to visit.   On another historical note, I was slightly disappointed to see Westminster Abbey closed today for visitors.
 
  Until I realized the reason:   Seems it is the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Somme.
  100 years ago tomorrow marks the deadliest day in British history with some 20,000 troops killed on 1 July 1916.   The cathedral is hosting an all night vigil and as such, was closed today to prepare for this unprecedented overnight vigil within the Abbey .  Overall,  rather remarkable timing for our travels for sure.
  • Loving that the Things have fared so well while we have been gone.  Thing 1 has been attending 2 summer school job training programs and has had to arrange his own transportation.  He has mastered bus routes and phoned friends when he missed a connection or found it too hot to wait for the next bus.   Thing 2 apparently has gone and gotten his ears pierced.   Not sure how I feel about that, I suppose all part of the growing up- letting go process that we encourage our kids to do.   Now let's just hope that they remember to pick us up tomorrow and don't burn down the house in the last few hours of being home alone.   Not coming home to a frat house type mess would also be a welcome treat, but I will take an intact house and deal with whatever mess awaits.
    We tourists are indeed dragon...
  • Needing to head home.   28 days, 23 castles, 19 churches (or abbeys) and 15 different places of lodging (be it an inn, a hotel or even a manor house).  Time indeed to put a lid on this lovely adventure and return to where my heart really is....home!
    Luckily, our mode of travel gets us there a little faster than this bus

    As always, I encourage you to check out Hubby's blog.   That is where you'll find the good photos.   These that I share are all quick snapshots with my Iphone 6.   
and finally...
  • Feeling blessed...that  this man, not only shares my passion for travel, but tolerates my requests for silly selfie poses.   
Until next time....smooches!

Friday, June 24, 2016

Tours times three

We're finishing up week 3 of our trip, and I thought I'd reflect on the 3 tours I took this past week.
The Good:   Bath
 Dom had made arrangements yesterday (6.23) to rent a motorcycle for the day, so I set off to the town of Bath, a short train ride from our hotel here in Bristol.    Immediately I knew I would enjoy this town, as I walked down this random pedestrian zoned street and was greeted by a rainbow of umbrellas.   Yes, umbrellas seem to be a necessary accessory as we've encountered more than a few rainy days since leaving the sunshine of Ireland (how's that for irony?).
Talk about eye candy window display:   Paddington, Beatrix and a scooter?  Swoon...
I had read about a free walking tour offered by docents from the mayor's office.   Free always works for me, and even more so three weeks into a holiday where we are finding England to be a bit on the pricey side.

I would spend a good 2.5hrs walking the streets of Bath, learning very interesting facts about how the discovery of the Roman baths in the 1700s, coupled with the business tactics of a man named Beau Nash, led to this town becoming popular with the aristocrats of the era.   To this day, there remains a certain aristocratic vibe to this town.

After the tour ended, I took a look around the Roman Baths for which the town gets its name.   If you are into Roman stuff, I'd say this one is pretty well preserved and described.   
  Martha's highly subjective tour rating:   3 stars.    The free tour, meant it was crowded (even with 3 guides, we had easily 20+ people in our group).   Our guide seemed to be more about the talk and less about the walk.   My feet don't do well with so much standing.   And in keeping with that aristocratic tone, I found the guide to be a bit too soft spoken when addressing a crowd as loud as our group, during the hustle-and-bustle of a business day in a tourist town.    But in the end, for the price I paid, it was worth the time invested.
The Great

Today, we woke up to read the headline from yesterday's historic elections.    The Times must have had to hit the print button before the final results were in, but it seems the citizens of Great Britain have voted to leave the EU.   I've not read enough about the pros-and-cons to offer much of an opinion (nor would I, politics aren't a topic I choose to express in my blog).   However, the Bristol community was very much for remaining in the EU, so the tone in the town seems palpably quiet.

Originally, Dom had thought he'd continue with his motorcycle ride, but his plans changed so he joined me on a walking tour I had located through Trip Advisor (HELLO?  what did travelers do before TA?)
 The tour is titled from Blackbead to Banksy and visitors are taken through the old town section of Bristol, where our guide, Duncan shares historical tidbits of the city...
 from the city's famed street art (seriously, look closely, that is chewing gum that someone has painted on Leonard Lane, an old Saxon alley now covered with assorted street art)

to the role Bristol has played in great literature
According to historians, it was at this pub, the Llandoger Trow, where author Daniel Defoe met Alexander Selkirk who would serve as the inspiration for that classic tale Robinson Crusoe.
 and even include plenty of general history...
The wooden ship across the harbor is a replica of the Matthew, the small ship used by John Cabot, who in 1497set sail for the new world, landing at Newfoundland

Martha's highly subjective tour rating:   4 stars.   Bristol is indeed "off the beaten path", not a single Japanese tourist toting a selfie stick has been spotted.   Our decision to visit was motivated purely by location and availability of motorcycle rentals that would allow Hubby to ride in both Wales and England with minimal seat/slab time involved.   This tour, and the quirky way about Bristol has made for a very relaxing few days.

The Amazing.
Sometime this past spring, I managed to get my hubby hooked on a show called Downton Abbey.
  As we binged through the series, he remarked "How come we can't visit the castle?"

  I pulled out the i-pad to show my doubting husband that the tours  of Highclere Castle (the real name for the castle used in the series)are limited (since it is still an actual residence to the 8th Earl of Carnarvon, George Herbert, and his wife, Lady Fiona Carnarvon).    

Imagine my surprise and  excitement when we noted that they had just announced additional tours for the month of June.   "Book it" we both decided.    The dates weren't a perfect match to our plans for travel, and the tour seemed pricey (100 pounds, on this one, go ahead and convert it to dollars, and double it, since by now, Hubby had become a fan, albeit not quite as crazed as myself, so we'd both be taking the tour)but close enough for us to make it work.  

When your day starts out at the Yew Tree Inn...
with Eggs Benedict served up with style...
You know you are in for a treat..
*for non-Downton fans, Yew Tree was the fictional name for the farm within the Downton estate that played a prominent role in a couple seasons.    I have since learned on our recent travels, that it is the Yew Tree that bends in an arch like branch, and is what results in the great tree archways we have driven under throughout our travels)
We were the first guests to arrive, and the lighting was darn near perfect according to my untrained eye, "not bad" according to the photographer I call Hubby...

Right at 10 o'clock, we were greeted by the docents and instructed to put away our cameras and our phones.   Trying to behave as a lady of Downton Abbey, I obeyed the instructions, as tempting as it was to snap a few pictures while unsupervised.

From there, the lady of the house, the Countess herself greeted us and welcomed us to her home.   She shared a bit of the history of her home and how it came to be that they chose her home for the series.   Seems she has had a friendship with the producer and the series may have been developed with this home in mind.   Throughout the tour, I certainly noted some similarities of the previous residents and some of the story lines of the show.    
Seems Highclere was indeed used as a hospital during the Great War, just like in the show
After the tour, we were served "snacks", which included a beautiful selection of tea and treats and even given a goody bag!  
We were then encouraged to visit the gift shop (don't mind if I do) and explore the gardens and the grounds...


  Seems the Egyptian Artifacts exhibit is popular with school groups.   Can you imagine the mommy chaperone cat fighting that would take place if our kids were headed to Highclere for a field trip?

  We would finish up our visit at Highclere with a private showing of the Egyptian Art Exhibit that the 8th Earl and Countess have opened, celebrating the discoveries of the 5th Earl, who in 1922 along with business partner Howard Carter discovered the tomb we all know now as King Tut!    


While most of what we saw were reproductions (seems the Earl's wife had to sell off many of the treasures to pay off debts incurred during the discoveries), it was a well done exhibit.

Martha's highly subjective tour rating:  5 stars!   What we learned, after the fact, was that we had scored some very special tickets to a relatively private tour of the castle.   Seems when they do open to the general public (only 50 some days a year), ropes go up, tour buses show up  with over 1000 visitors per day compared to our 45 or so, goodie bags don't occur, and that lovely tea we enjoyed?   Far from complimentary!  

 The guides and staff all commented how fortunate we were to be visiting on such a relative private event!   Even if you haven't seen the show, if you enjoy taking a peek into the past and see how the other side lives, this tour was well worth the time and the money!  

At this time, I've not made any plans for more tours during our final week in England.   I will say though...as long as there is Trip Advisor, anything is possible!  

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

On the 12th day of holiday..

In 12 days of traveling we have seen 12 million sheep...ok, maybe that is an exaggeration but our guide yesterday indicated that  the sheep outnumber the people of Scotland by some 2 million.   Could be a bit of Scottish embellishment, he also tried to tell us the minor castle ruins out in the middle of the field was the Alnwick castle we had spent some 2.5 hrs in a mini bus to see.  (Yes, that joke fell rather flat on his bus weary travelers).
Irish sheep...ruled the road!
But seriously, we have seen
12 castles and counting...

11 churches (or abbeys)....
overall far less ornate than those we saw in Italy and Germany last year.
   The Kylemore Abbey being the exception.  
Apparently the plainer interiors of the churches is a reflection of this being the land of Reformation.   
The more ornate churches were tied heavily to the Catholic way of worship.
10 Lords were drinking
Yes, I realize these men are more than likely just a group of Irish lads celebrating a Stag party in costume, but it did beg the question What did the fox say?   Most likely, hey bartender bring me another pint!
9 pints have been sampled... 

Maybe more, maybe less...you be the judge..
I will say we both prefer the Irish brews to the Scottish brands, likely related to the Irish serve it colder which is what we Americans are used to.
8 cows were staring..
and photo-bombing my effort to photograph the Rock of Cashel
7 swans were swimming
with Papa Swan not too happy that this crazy woman was taking pictures without bread as a payoff!
6 beds for sleeping..
The Manor House of Ashford Castle
This year, we're taking the "day trip" approach to travel which means less frequent changes in lodging.  
It does give us a more relaxed sense to our day..
5  guided tours have been taken...
We lucked our here, first riders of the day, we had the bus and the tour guide to ourselves! 
4 modes of transport
Planes-trains-automobiles and our personal favorite--side car!
3 countries traveled 
You see, we had to cross the border into England to visit the house we entertainment fans associate with Harry Potter and Downton Abbey...Alnwick Castle
2 more weeks of traveling..

and of course it all adds up to 
one lovely adventure!
Stay tuned for more tales from the road...
For more routine updates, with better pictures, be sure to check out the talents of Hubby



Monday, June 06, 2016

Days 2 & 3: views from the monkey

In side car lingo, the passenger on the side car is called the monkey.
As I have zero desire to drive on this trip, I am the monkey.
Happy to hold that title.

So the monkey hears-sees-and smells things that maybe the driver doesn't experience..

Side cars are a novelty here in Ireland, and as we pass through little towns, I hear shouts and cheers, feeling a bit royal...should have worked on the royal wave!  Cutest things are what the little kids call out:  twice I have heard a parent reply to their kid "Yes, it is like the motorbike from Wallace and Gromit"

As for seeing, besides the photo worthy castles-churches-and cliffs, I have also seen plenty of cows (close enough that we give each other a stare down), a few sheep, and of course a  few close encounters with the curbs (not really, hubby has done a fabulous job of juggling the host of hazards that await us Americans when we take to the narrow roads, with always presents round abouts from the other side of the  road than we are familiar with)

And as for smells...oh my, the sea mist, the dense forests and even those cow fields provide me with an ever changing stream of olfactory treats.

As for my initial thoughts of riding in the sidecar:  I say keep it coming, being a monkey is way cool here in Western Ireland!


Saturday, June 04, 2016

And we are off...Ireland Day 1

What  a difference a day makes:   Yesterday we left Colorado and now some 24 hours later, I am sitting in the cozy sitting area of a lovely bed and breakfast in the town of Adare, Ireland.  Hubby is taking a siesta, fighting off jet lag, and I am enjoying the down time before we head out for dinner.

Earlier today we picked up our rental Royal Enfield side car motorcycle and hubby and I will spend the next week or so, touring the western coast of Ireland.  I shall leave the technical talk to hubby, but suffice to say, we are both looking forward to where the road will take us.
First stop is Adare, a town that boasts being one of Ireland's friendliest and prettiest towns, it gets it's name from the Irish Ath Dara which translates to the ford of the oak. It sits along the River Maigue, and the castle ruins date back to the 13th century when the Normans invaded the area.

  While maybe not on everyone's must see list, Adare has served as a perfect start point for our adventure.   The rental company, Retroventures, has its' home office nearby and today they celebrated the grand opening of their motorcycle shop where they will sell motorcycles (specializing in the Royal Enfield brand) and accessories.

With a quick test ride to Limerick (and to get ourselves situated with Irish SIM cards, as this is a working trip for hubby), we spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the small village.   We took a brief tour of the Desmond Castle.

 This castle, with its Norman origins, is considered one of the best preserved ruins, and our guide Vera, shared a wealth of knowledge of the castle and the efforts to restore it.    What a contrast to last summer's tours, today it was a group of just 4 plus the guide.

The town is also known for the Adare Manor, when in the 1820s, the Earl of Dunraven took it upon  himself to design the village.   Said village  includes thatched cottages and a manor house.   Unfortunately, the manor house is undergoing a multi million dollar renovation and is closed to
visitors.   Oh well, just another reason to consider a return trip?
Meet Ellie, the B&B owner's adorable dog...keeping me company while I blog!

Looks like hubby has awoken from his snooze, and we shall take a stroll into town, in search of a pint, or two...until next time!