catching up with old friends in Dublin

The weekend after Chris and Karen left in October we were travelling again, this time to Dublin. We got an early morning flight from Leipzig on a Saturday morning, and arranged to meet up with Steve, an old friend from Victoria, in Leipzig that Friday afternoon. Steve was travelling around a bit to meet up with some other friends in Germany and France, and asked if we'd be in town around that time, and we were lucky to find a way to hang out for one afternoon/evening of exploring the pubs of Leipzig. Unfortunately, we didn't actually take any pictures while there, which is strange. I was sure we'd taken at least one picture in a whiskey bar, but it seems to have completely disappeared. You'll just have to take my word for it that it was a fun evening, though the morning came much to early at 5:00. Our flight was also packed with soccer fans, complete with cheers throughout the flight, as the national football teams of Germany and Ireland were playing that afternoon in Dublin. But back to why we were going to Dublin in the first place.

Through the magic of Facebook I not only managed to get back in touch with a bunch of friends from high school, but I also arranged to meet a couple of them during a vacation to Dublin where they'd be staying with a third friend who was there doing medical school. The first two, Pam and Jen, I did actually see in Belleville about a year and a half ago, but Mary, who was going to be hosting the madness, I hadn't seen in over 10 years. Mary lives in a house with three other girls from Canada who are studying medicine in Dublin, and there was yet another Canadian on the trip, Crystal, who went to college with Jen in Belleville. So not only was it the first time that I'd been in an English-speaking country since January, practically everyone I was talking to was from Canada. And just to make sure we got our fair dose of Canadiana, the first night we all went on a bus trip to see a hockey game.

Now hockey isn't exactly popular in Ireland, so much so that there's only one arena, and it's only a couple of years old. (Also, like most of Europe, they call it ice hockey, as the term hockey is reserved for what we'd call field hockey.) We were going because Mary knew a few of the players, who of course were Canadian. It also gave us a nice bus trip about an hour and a half outside of Dublin, with pleasant views of the countryside, seen below.
We were drinking on the bus, naturally, and after a couple of pints the three girls from Belleville really couldn't go any further without a bathroom break. The driver accommodated, pulling over to the side of the road, much to the delight of the (sober) hockey players. Luckily Jeremi and I were able to hold it until the arena, but only barely. Here's Pam going back to her seat, amidst much applause. (We, unlike some of the hockey players, decided not to photograph the actual act.)
The game was okay, but our team (the Dublin Rams) were slaughtered. The only thing that kept the score close at the beginning was their goalie, who Pam and Jen randomly knew from when he played on the Belleville Bulls a few years back. Most of the players were Canadian, with some Czechs, a few Latvians, and even a couple Irish guys mixed in. At the intermission they had kids from minor league play a bit, and they were really cute to watch, as ever. A definite favourite in the group shown below was the little guy in the Mats Sundin jersey at the right.
After the game we hung out at the bar at the arena for a while, and then headed back into town, drinking all the while. Upon getting downtown around 1:30, Jeremi and I decided that, after our early-morning flight, we were done for, and started heading back to Mary's. The girls stayed out for a while longer, going to a party at the house of one of the hockey players, who lived above Temple Bar, on one of the busiest pub/club streets in Dublin. Getting home was plenty of adventure for us though, especially as it proved impossible to find a cab on a busy Saturday night. Instead we decided to walk back, but it was about a 40 minute walk, and we didn't really know where it was. After asking a few people for directions (without much luck), we got a tourist map from a hotel and used that to guide us in roughly the right direction.
One of the streets we passed on the trip home was called Irishtown Road. Jeremi spent the first few years of his life in Irishtown, New Brunswick, so we figured that it called for a picture.
Not far from here the map started to let us down a bit, as it was only a tourist map that showed the major streets, not every side street. We stopped to ask a large group of youngish men who were drinking in a parking lot for directions, and thus came into contact with knackers, or, more politely, Irish Travellers, for the first time. They have a pretty rough reputation, but were quite nice to us, though one particularly drunk man did hold the map we were looking at upside down while explaining to us that we were actually looking for Strand Road rather than Beach Road. Luckily his more comprehensible friend pointed us in the right direction.

The next day we headed downtown to explore a bit, checking out the shops along Grafton Street, among others.

Here's a view showing the striking Dublin Spire, which I thought was really cool. (It's the big spike in the middle of the picture, and is a polished stainless-steel spike coming out of the middle of one of the main roads. The bottom part is etched in these cool organic-looking patterns. I liked it as a modern structure in an old city, which didn't look too out of place.) Afterward we headed to one of the places Mary had recommended for lunch and had our first food and drink at a traditional Irish pub, which was festooned with flags for the World Cup of Rugby. From left are Jen, Crystal, Pam, and me.
The bar was great, but the women's washroom was just plain weird, starting with this mosaic-covered cobra-headed idol-looking statue in an alcove.
Also, as I've seen before at McDonald's on St. Catherine Street in Montreal and now in several European cities, there was black light in the stalls, apparently to make it harder for drug users to shoot up in there as the veins are harder to see under this sort of lighting. What was different here was the intensity of the black light and the almost complete absence of light at other wavelengths. I've never seen the specks of dust glow so brightly before - even my fingernails and cuticles were glowing. And the toilet paper was unbelievable. Though you may not like to look at pictures of toilets, it really was pretty crazy. If only I could get a video of what it looked like while flushing...The next day we decided to do like all good tourists, and go on the Guinness brewery tour. On the way there I stopped to be charmed by this old Basset Hound in Mary's neighbourhood.
Something funny around Dublin is the way they paint "look left" and "look right" on the pavement at many intersections. I'm figuring it's just for tourists, who are used to the cars coming from the other direction. While I can see it being useful, I found it a bit distracting. Maybe because sometimes I have to stop for a second to think about which way it's telling me to look...
Here we are checking out some of the propaganda-filled information panels...
...and here's Jeremi in the barelling exhibit.
The tour was fun, but it didn't quite leave me with the same successfully-brainwashed feeling as the Keith's tour in Halifax. (That may be because I went on that one three or four times though.) The highlight was claiming the pint included in the price of admission in the glass-walled Gravity Bar at the top of the old storehouse. Here are Jeremi, me, Pam, Jen, and Crystal, with sunny Dublin behind us.
The view from there was great, and we got there just before 6:00 so the sun was setting over the city, making everything look lovely, and a bit less like a dirty old town.
That night we met up with Mary and some of her friends for some nice French food, and some drinks afterward in a cool old market building. Again, no pictures from this one.

The next day the girls were heading to Amsterdam for a couple of days for a mid-week trip to get out of the hair of Mary and her roommates, but Jeremi and I weren't flying out until early (6:05) the next morning. We took the opportunity to head to the end of one of the commuter train lines into Dublin, to the fishing community of Howth, for some nice harbour views and some fresh fish and chips. Here I'm trying to figure out what the figures on this column are trying to communicate with their cryptic hand gestures.

Jeremi on the seawall......and Jeremi and I with the view out to sea. I've realized by looking at this and other pictures that when I squint, one eyebrow goes up and the other goes down. But I thought that symmetry was supposed to be more attractive...

By the pier there were a couple of seals competing with sea birds for the scraps thrown off one of the fishing boats.A view from the bench where we ate our fish and chips in the sun...

On the way back to the train we came across this humourously-titled pub.
And also the shell of this old church, which had graves both surrounding it and inside it. There were bars on the door to the actual church part, though there was a helpful sign telling us that we could ask Mrs. O'Toole for the key (with her address). We chose to just look in from outside.And finally, on the way back to Mary's place, we stopped at a pub where we'd tried to go another night, but had found it closed - The Baggot Inn. It was a new place, with the alluring gimmick that you could pour your own pints at the table. We had to try it out, not least because my brother had just been discussing this with us as his perfect plan for a bar to open in Canada. It seems to be working well in Dublin, so it might just be worth a try.

Here's Jeremi pouring his pint...



...his effort at making a shamrock in the head (poorly photographed by me)...

...and after four days in Dublin, he was still thirsty for more.

Thanksgiving, and saying goodbye

We got back around noon on Monday, and they dropped me straight off at work. When I came home they were busily at work preparing a Thanksgiving feast. While they weren't able to get a whole fresh turkey at such late notice, they did get a couple of chickens for roasting, and a whole array of vegetables. And here is the finished product, two chickens flavoured with rosemary, garlic, thyme, and lemon, atop a bed of pan-fried leek and mushroom. The metal bowl has some steamed broccoli, and the red dish has roasted potatoes, carrots, and possibly even other root vegetables. And of course a salad. We were well fed, to put it mildly!
And then the next day, Tuesday, was their last day in town. To mark the occasion, Karen dressed him in a super-cute farmer-looking outfit.
While I was at work, they shopped for some souvenirs to bring home with them. And for our last night, along with friends Calin and Susanne, we tried out the restaurant at Der Schwarzer Baer (the black bear), an old hotel in town that makes traditional German food with seasonal ingredients. It was fantastic, and we'll definitely go back. It's a bit more expensive than other restaurants we've been to in Jena, but the food was so good. Here's Owen with me, looking ridiculously cute

And here he is waving goodbye. (Luckily there aren't any pictures of me crying at the train station the next day as we had to say goodbye.) I can't wait to see them all again soon!

Prague (take two)

Arriving in Prague was a bit of a disaster - the traffic into the city was painfully slow and congested, and it was pissing rain by the time we parked our car near the apartment we had booked (where Jeremi and I had stayed before when visiting in July). We all took the tram into the city centre to go pick up the key from the agency that rents the apartments, only to be told that we'd been moved to another flat. This happened the last time as well, but we were happy about it then as we were moved to a bigger place, near where our other friends were staying. This time we were moved to a smaller place (though still big enough), and right downtown, which meant no pesky trams for us. While this was good, poor Jeremi and Chris were sent back across the city to pick up the car (with all our luggage) to bring it by the new flat, and then Jeremi and I set out with the car (and a newly purchased map of Prague) to bring it to one of the very cheap and secure park and ride locations at the end of the metro lines. (Highly recommended to anyone thinking of visiting Prague with a car.)

We ended up gettin back quite late, made even later as we wandered the streets trying to find some sort of takeout food we could bring back to the apartment that night, as we were all starving and too tired to go out. We were all tired, and Jeremi was a champ, proving himself yet again as the hero of our vacation. (I was much whinier about wandering around hungry.) And then the next morning he was up first, and found a grocery store to buy us all food for breakfast and snacks while the rest of us were still sleeping. He's pretty fantastic. (There are few things I love more than waking up to find that food has mysteriously appeared during the night.)

And so we spent a few days wandering around Prague, seeing the sights. Here are a few taken from the tower at the old Rathaus (city hall) on one of the squares in the old city. You can see the people down below crowding around to see the astronomical clock do its thing on the hour. We kept missing the clock during our passes through the city centre, but finally did manage to catch it before we left. From this height you can see how intricate some of the cobblestone patterns are.
It really was warm and lovely this day - Jeremi was in shorts, and I was fine without a sweater (or sleeves).There are some lovely views over the city from the tower as well.
We thought it best not to do any baby-dangling from that height, so one of us stayed inside the glassed-in section with Owen, and charmed the people on the outside through the glass. Owen also really, really likes smooshing his tongue and lips and gums against the cool glass, which entertained the people on the other side to no end.
Here he is trying it again, at a restaurant.
Some lovely mosaic-tiled ceiling from the old Rathaus:
And here's one of the old crystal shops, which has the entire outside of the building covered in some sort of fresco (hard to see well here). Prague really is an ornate city.Jeremi was trying to make me share my pastry here... ...they're these pieces of dough spiralled around some sort of bar, which are then cooked from the outside in. Quite tasty when fresh, and they come apart just like they're put together.
The next day we decided to check out the palace on the other side of the river. Jeremi and I didn't make it there last time, so it was new for us too. It was quite a hike uphill to get there though, and pushing the Owen the whole way made sure I got my exercise for the day.

Here's Owen, abandoned in one of the palatial courtyards. (After seeing how cute he looked here, I wished we'd taken more pictures of "abandoned" Owen throughout the trip.)

Chris just loved this guy, and his giant club.
From up at the palace there were also some views of the city, if you were tall enough to see over the wall. We thought this was hysterical at the time, but the picture really doesn't make it so clear - I'm staring at the bricks while Jeremi points out the beautiful things on the other side.
Another highlight of this trip was garlic-flavoured potato chips. I know this sounds silly, but they were so incredibly delicious. We tried a brand from a grocery store which were so-so, but this little deli had these hand-stapled plastic bags filled with chips so garlicky that it made your mouth burn, and you could taste it the next morning. I couldn't get enough of them, and Chris was busy working out his distribution plans for a North American expansion of the product. While we don't actually have pictures of the chips, you can see some beer and sausages in the deli window.
Chris and Karen and Owen and I, walking over the famed Karlov (Charles) bridge:
And Owen atop the shoulders of his most favourite Jeremi.
And finally, a picture of the astronomical clock, at the hour:Walking home over one of the bridges after a long and busy day of sight-seeing...

Nürnburg (or Nuremburg)

Our original plan had been to head straight from Munich to Prague, maybe stopping in Plzen for lunch. But when we'd picked up the rental car there had been some concern about bringing it to the Czech Republic. It seems that the company we rented from (Enterprise) would allow this, as long as you bought some extra insurance, but you couldn't bring a German-made car with you, as the risk of theft was considered just too high. And so we had to trade it in at another Enterprise outlet in Eastern Germany. It seems that their administrative centres are separated by the former political separation of the country, and unfortunately the nearest Enterprise location in eastern Germany was in Jena. And so we decided to head back to Jena for a night.

On the way we stopped in Nuremburg, or Nürnburg as it's known in German, for lunch and to have a look around. The city was lovely, with much of the old city wall intact, though we read that most of it was rebuilt after WW II, using the same stones. Here are a bunch of pictures from there - I'm sorry if I'm a bit weak on comments, but I'm trying to get caught up with the blogging.
Here is Jeremi, our tourguide extraordinaire, who was leading us on a walking tour through historic Nuremburg.
Here I am, dangling Owen over the city wall. (The wall was like 2 m thick, he wasn't about to get over the edge that easily.) Below are some views from and within the walkway built into the wall.

There were many statues of famous Nürnburger around, including the craftsman who made the first pocket watch (I forget his name), and Albrecht Dürer, a remarkably skilled draftsman and artist of his time. Randomly, I remembered all sorts of things about his work from the slide shows my crazy old art teacher, Mr. Boiko, used to give us for art history. I guess I did learn something from those classes after all, against all odds. (He used to put the slide projector out of focus for any works depicting nudes, as he didn't think that was appropriate for high school kids to see.)

And on the way from Nürnburg to Jena, I got to witness an out-and-out poop explosion, courtesy of Owen. We stopped at a rest area on the side of the highway to change him and so that Chris and Jeremi could use the toilets, but we had no idea what we were in for. Karen and I witnessed the true magnitude of it after Chris and Jeremi had conveniently escaped to the washrooms, but they did come back in time to snap a picture of it, though the picture (thankfully) does not really depict the severity of it. Even Karen said it was about the worst she'd ever seen. It was actually pretty funny, but he needed to be completely stripped down and thoroughly washed and get all new clothes, and he started shivering and his gums were chattering, as it was not so warm out. So sad! But we got him clean and warm, and all was well again.

One cool thing that we saw by the side of the road was fields where hops are grown. The harvest had already passed, so all that was left was the frames from which they grow them. The picture's a bit misty, but you can see the rows of telephone pole-like posts, with lines between them. They then tie ropes down to the mounds in the ground where the hops are planted, and the vine climbs these ropes. In some places in Germany, and in a lot of places in the Czech Republic, I've seen hops growing "wild" by the side of the road. (The quotes are there because there isn't much really "wild" in Europe. I'm sure they were planted there by someone at some point in time...)