Quick weekend in Dublin

Hey all,

About a month ago Lany had to schedule some meetings for work in Dublin, and as they were to be on a Friday, we thought it would be a good opportunity for me to head over and make a weekend out of it.  As a town Dublin is nice but not hugely beautiful or with dramatic architecture etc, but there's more than enough to do for a weekend and it's the people and the history that really shine through.  Unfortunately we did have to contend with some pretty chilly and windy weather - but the Guiness makes it all ok!

So from arriving Friday night for me, and after a long day for Lany, we really couldn't muster much energy to go exploring, plus it was blowing an icy gale outside.  Fortunately there were a couple of pubs near the hotel so we didn't have to go far.  Of course I ordered a Guiness - and the legends are true, it's better over there (and yeah, it's a level up in the actual Guiness brewery, but more of that later).  The pub wan't anything super impressive, but the entertainment was.  It was just a guy singing songs with his guitar, but he was a really good singer, and when the more traditional songs came on all the locals would sing along, or clap they hands at the right parts etc, it was really cool.

On Saturday we awoke to a very decent breakfast in the hotel before dressing warmly in anticipation of a walking tour of the city.  The tour is free to join, but the guides work for tips, so we were pleasantly surprised to see that they really do put on a show and take you through the history of the city.  Our guide was very adept at weaving some reoccurring jokes through his stories, while keeping things moving and interesting.  The whole thing went longer than expected, over 4.5 hours, but we barely noticed the time passing.

While on the tour we had a quick break for lunch.  They have a fresh produce market in town and so Lany and I smashed a fantastic dish of spit-roasted lamb, potatoes, onions and stuffing.  It was awesome!

With the end of the day arriving, the temperature quickly dropped and the wind really picked up.  Lany and I had a little bit of a walk around town but couldn't stay out too long and retired to a nice cafe for dinner in the Temple area - which is the main nightlife area of town.  We went to a well renowned traditional food place which served traditional food.  Again, a full stodgy meal later, we hit a couple of pubs (but with limited success) before retiring for the night.

On Sunday we again chowed down on breakfast before hitting the most important tourist site in Dublin - the Guinness Brewery.  Sure, I'd had a few Guinesses already, but nothing beats it straight from the tap, at the place it's brewed.  The tour itself is pretty cool, and we were lucky enough to be on time for a cooking and tasting demonstration so we can confirm that Guiness Chocolate Mousse is actually pretty darn good.  The bar at the top was really nice though with the sun coming out from the clouds and bathing the city in light.  We warmed up, leaning against the glass in the bright sunlight, and looked over Dublin - maaaagic.  I'm kind of ruined now, Guinness will never be as good elsewhere, but I'll still drink it.  Even Lany had to grudgingly admit that it was nice (just not after more than a half pint).

On Sunday afternoon we stopped by the main church in town to check out the grave of Strongbow (the viking leader from times past), before ambling back through Temple and town to hit the hotel and head to the airport.


A quick weekend, but still definitely fun.  Hopefully we'll head back some time soon and catch up with Lany's friend and maybe see the Giant's Causeway.........

Anka

London Snow

Hey all,

Nothing too exciting for this post, just some pics of the snow we had this February.  It got down to -14 or -15 (something like that) for a little while there, so you can bet that we had the heating cranked up to try to cope with it.  Kath's birthday was early Feb, so her present was the first big dump of snow for the winter so far - pretty cool.  The downside was our cabbie that drove us home from the middle of London to Southfields couldn't go faster than 2nd gear :)




Anka

Manchster Trip

S'up everyone,

Last week Lany had to go up to Manchester for work, so it was a perfect opportunity for us to stay for the weekend and hang out with Fatboi!  Lany was up there Thursday so I came up Friday morning on the train and worked from Chris's place.

Friday night we planned to head out and have a quick dinner, and Chris a snack as he had to go to a workmates farewell later, but we ended up in a very nice Italian restaurant called San Carlo's with Chris having a starter and sneaking some tastes of our mains before kicking on to meet up with his friends.  Lany and my dinners were really good (I had a creamy mushroom sauce on stuffed pasta called 'fagottini' which was da bomb!), and the 'house wine' was actually really good - very happy all round.

On Saturday we headed out into the countryside a little to a big hill near Rivington (Lancashire) where apparently Mr Lever (or the Unilever brand fame) had a massive estate - it's now ruins but the hill commands an excellent view.  There were lots of photo opportunities which I took advantage of, so check out the Gallery for all of them.

On the way to the base of the hill we stopped at a built up reservoir (built ages ago, so not a concrete dam or anything, just a massive earth wall) and the sky/water was pretty surreal.

Then onwards to the hill base where we climbed to a tower called the 'Pigeon Tower' which supposedly was part of the estate and had limited accommodation.   Half way there was an ornamental pond which had frozen over.  Usually when ponds freeze in London all I see is a flat mass of ice, but for some reason on this pond you could see huge ice crystals that must have formed super slowly or something.  At one end they were packed together, at the other they were broad and flat (the size of my hand).  The photos don't really do it justice but it looked amazing.  Chris went to the edge of the pond and snapped off some huge sections which were only a 1/2 cm thick, so when you threw them onto the ice they shattered and made a cool 'twinkling' noise as they slid over the ice.  Hard to explain, but it was really _really_ cool.

Then up to the top of the hill to a tower that was used for a geese hunting lookout.  Spectacular views.  Also there was little balls of dew (I guess) which were freezing into (sort of) snowflakes.

On the way back down we found the 'main' area where the house and gardens were supposed to be.  The sun came out (well, the clouds blew away) for a short while so we got some great views on the way down.

And after getting to the base of the hill and the car, we went around to the other side of the hill to find a mini-castle My Lever had built on the lake.  It was small but super cool - imagine having a castle on a lake as a summer house or whatever!

As you can imagine, there were lots of nature-scape type photos to take.  I was particularly fascinated with the trees there - so windswept and crooked, but colourful even though it's the middle of winter.

After hiking around, we needed a good feed and so we headed to Lancaster.  In town we saw the big castle, which was pretty big actually to be right in the middle of a town, and then had a hearty meal in a cool pub which is set up in some old tunnels (it was probably the castle food storage area).

Anka