Category: France Norway UK and Ireland Feb 2014

The Retirees go Abroad – France, Norway, UK and Ireland – Post Script

Kerry has brought the following events omitted from my manuscript of our seven weeks in France, Norway UK and Ireland to my attention.

Toll Booth outside Amboise

On arriving at in France we picked up our hire car. At this stage we had Euros 20 in cash. We stopped at a motorway services for our first hot chocolate and then we had Euros 12 in cash. But we had our UK debit card our Amex cash card and our Australian Visa card to cover any tolls. Of course there was a toll and as the town of Amboise is a small rural town the toll station was also small and the toll was euros 19. We pulled into the toll station none of our cards worked and the intercom help line was manned by two people who spoke little English. After two cars and an eighteen wheeler semi had to back out of our lane while we sorted out our problem, the toll booth help line assistants finally printed an invoice for us to pay by cheque within 8 days. Of course we did not have a French cheque account but my cousin Terri did and she wrote the cheque which we then posted. Moral of the story – there are tolls on the highways and you can demand an invoice if you don’t have sufficient money to pay there and then.

Catacombs Paris/Luxembourg Gardens and Palace

The queue for the catacombs was extraordinarily long and it was at least a 2 hour wait before we would get in. I wanted to see the Luxembourg Gardens and Palace which as fate would have it was just around the corner (about a 20 minute walk each way or so I thought) I headed off leaving Kerry to hold our place in the queue. 20 minutes later I hit the edge of the gardens and another 10 minutes later I got to the Palace. Time for a nature stop. Just 50 cents but the toilet orderly thought I was most ungrateful when I wanted change from 1 euro.

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The gardens were magnificent even though all the trees had lost their leaves. Hundreds of Parisians were out in the sunshine to get some colour (it was 10 degrees C). Back to the queue and Kerry was close to the entrance. I had a 10 minute wait before we got to go inside.

Kells Bay Beach Ireland. We drove the Ring of Kerry. One thing I did not mention was our visit to Kells Bay Beach. After leaving the main road we drove for what seemed an eternity to get to the beach. The road was narrow and overgrown (I mean really narrow). After probably 5 minutes we arrived at what was once Kells Beach. The storm events in January had washed away the beach. We drove on intending to exit back onto the main road and passed this little hand written sign saying “cul de sac” and it was pointing to an obvious dead end. We drove for 20 minutes along a road which got narrower and rougher until we got to an obvious dead end. Kerry confirmed with a local farmer that there was no exit onto the main road so we had to retrace our path. Again we passed the little sign now aware it meant the whole place was a dead end.

The Retirees go Abroad – France, Norway, UK and Ireland – Galway to Dublin

Our second day in Galway but this tells me the end is near.

We have booked a tour to the Aran Islands – just Inismor actually – with Michael Faherty tours (Micheal at the wheel). He is an Aranian and lives on Inismor still. The bus ride to the ferry terminal at Rossaveal takes an hour but Micheal gave us a commentary about features on the way making the trip feel shorter. When we arrive there are hundreds boarding the vessel. Fortunately there were only 14 of us on the tour which started with a drive to Fort Dun Aonghusa (a stone fort built by the Vikings on the edge of 300 foot high cliffs some where between 2,000 and 3,000 years ago).

Along the way Michael spoke about life on the isle and the stony landscape. There is over 7,000 klms of dry stonewalls on the island and still there is a lot of loose and sheet stone. The walls were erected to hold the sand and sea weed the Islanders carried up to make a top soil to grow vegetables and grass for sheep cattle and goats. Fishing is the other principal industry.

Of course there was the Aran wool and knitwear to view and buy. The fort is immense covering 14 hectares from the precipice and is a kilometre from the nearest village – uphill of course. It was overcast misty and sprinkling with wind gusts – just the place to put a fort. Climbing to the fort we walked across stone with veins of poor grass so it was very slippery.

We also visited the ruins of seven churches from the 7th and 8th centuries AD, saw the damage caused by January’s cyclone and spotted a seal who was interested in what we were doing standing in the rain watching him. It may not sound like much of a tour but we came away with a real feel for how tough life is on Inismor.

Micheal dropped us off in Salt Hill and we had dinner and a stroll home to plan our next travels.

 

 

The Retirees go Abroad – France, Norway, UK and Ireland – Ring of Kerry, Glenbeigh and Blarney Castle

Farewell to Galway on St Paddy’s day we set sail for the Ring of Kerry – a circuit around the Iveragh Peninsular said to be one of the most beautiful areas in Ireland – well having done it I can say there are some parts that rate as beautiful but an awful lot that is just the same as anywhere in Ireland.

 

One good thing though was we arrived in Glenbeigh just in time for their Paddy’s day parade. We made up most of the crowd and the rest of the town was in the parade. They had a lot of fun and we were part of it. Then came the traffic jam. There is one street and the parade was in it.

We arrived in Blarney just before 6.00 pm – lovely B&B (the White House). The pubs were still full of Irish celebrating (probably St Patrick’s day or it could have been winning the six nations rugby who knows) so we had dinner at the Chinese (the Red Lantern) with an Irish version of Chinese food.

Visited Blarney Castle and kissed the blarney stone. Tough task without help. Tough way to live as well.

Kerry found the Blarney woollen mills whilst I was viewing the castle. Not so much a mill but a large store of everything Irish and woollen. Set sail for Dublin. The gps “Tommy” was told to take the shortest route which was a country road behind three semi trailers in single file doing under 60kph. We got to enjoy the country side.

Once we got onto the motorway we decided to stop off at Cashel to view the Rock of Cashel. When we arrived the Rock (a medieval monastery) was covered in scaffolding and was at the top of a hill over looking the town. We needed some cash so we went to the town and found we were down to the end of our holiday cash – it had to happen (meanwhile a labourer in Britain had a premonition about winning the lottery and in response to a comment by a female co worker about his laziness he told her of his premonition which she ridiculed but lo and behold he won the lottery 108 million sterling – have a guess who wishes she had shut up when she had nothing good to say).

So after draining our travel card and changing our sterling to euros we headed back to the Rock but got way laid at the Cashel Historical Village. We entered to be met by the local historian who guided us through the village. Unfortunately it was very dilapidated but his passion for Irish political history made up for it.he said that his family had been guardians/caretakers at the rock for 4 generations but he had chosen to start this historical village but his cousin was still chief guide at the Rock. One of the things he showed us was the last “tinkers” wagon used in Cashel. It was dated from 1890 when it was built and was still in use by the Delaney family (they had14 kids in this wagon – Kerry checked the size of the parents bed which was no wider than a single bed which explains a lot) in 1990. He also had extensive memorabilia on each and every Irish rebellion, there must be something about us as when we came to pay he was only going to charge the seniors rate which we rejected.

Our stop at the village meant we ran out of time to see the monastery on the Rock and have lunch so we chose lunch then could not find a place open. So we got back onto the motorway until Kerry spotted the Horse and Jockey where we bought two coffees a loaf of bread and a jacket for me. I juggled the bread on my knee making Vegemite sandwiches as Kerry raced down the motorway.

Our hotel proved a strange one. After arriving at the airport precinct we took a distinctly country road for 2 klms before arriving at the back door of this 500 room hotel out in the paddocks. We returned our hire car after booking in and settled down to prepare for the trip home (3 days and 4 different aeroplanes.)

There you have it. Our seven weeks. Lots of fun adventures and experiences. Until next time goodbye.

The Retirees go Abroad – France, Norway, UK and Ireland – Day Two in Galway

Day two and we decide to explore to the north west and around the lakes just north of Galway. Rugged but beautiful at the same time.

We visited two or three villages in the Connaught but I cannot remember their names. One village had a remarkable cemetery perched on the edge of one of the lakes so that everyone of its residents got a lakeside view from their graves.

We returned to Galway to visit the Latin Quarter. Across the Liffey once more, this is the oldest part of town with buildings dating back to 1652 and the days of Ireton and Cromwell. It abounds with restaurants and eating houses and I met Oscar Wilde and his lifelong companion seated on a park bench but made the mistake of coming between them.

 

The Retirees go Abroad – France, Norway, UK and Ireland – Belfast to Galway

Life and this holiday go on. Up and off to Galway – 5 hours driving from East to West – but we had to take a different route. We were looking for the Marble Arch Caves just south of Enniskillen in county Fermanagh (it is precisely on the border between Eire and the United Kingdom England Wales Scotland and Northern Ireland – I know because they accepted Euros and Sterling. It was closed for winter. Still marvellous drive to get there and see the place.

Then we just set sail for Galway arriving around 3.00pm. Fabulous B&B just down the road from Salt Hill where my great grandmother on Mum’s side held the lease on one hotel and eleven houses. We had a postcard from 1909 showing the Main Street of Salt Hill and we set off to find out what it looked like today. Our host was very excited and gave us a good start.

When we walked up to the street we were quickly able to identify two hotels from the postcard. We went into Lonergans Hotel. The Barmaid was amazed but confirmed this was one of the buildings in our postcard. We had a pint and a chat with the locals and then went into the Eglinton hotel. It is no longer a hotel but a refugee hostel. Even so the staff were excited to see the post card and gave us some information that Killorans Hotel next door to Lonergans had old pictures of the area.

We then went to Killorans (also shown in the postcard) and spoke to the barman who pointed to a photo on his wall and there was the identical scene only in black and white hanging on the wall but they had no idea of the date. We saw later photos showing how much land has been reclaimed to create a new fore shore and other changes. Another pint.

Feeling we had solved the mystery we headed for Galway to have dinner and ended up in Anton’s cafe (picture to follow). Now we are back at the B&B planning tomorrow.

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The Retirees go Abroad – France, Norway, UK and Ireland – Belfast

Due to my meeting with the Goldsmiths of Dublin, we got away to Belfast rather late. We only had time to go to the Titanic Centre which houses a special display on the construction and disaster of the ship at the dock yards where it was built. The building houses a lift like a ski lift and as you ride along to view scenes from the making of this giant vessel. Extremely interesting. There were displays of the various cabins on board and a sectional view through the ship from engine room to the wheelhouse but you need all day to take it all in – the sectional view felt like you were a ghost on an elevator passing up through the ship from keel to wheelhouse.  From inside the building you could see the dry dock in which the Titanic was constructed. But it was the photograph of the ships propellers that put it into perspective

We moved on to our lodging at Ballymena (everything around here commences with Bally) and the Adair Arms hotel (Trip advisor had great reviews particularly on their cooked breakfast of sausages). To Kerry’s surprise this is not a bush town with a dumpy hotel. Nicely appointed and very busy with business people. Ballymena is the base for Caterpillar in Northern Ireland and the town is a primary centre for all of the agriculture around it. The sausages were a disappointment. Nothing distinctive and pretty greasy.

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The Retirees go Abroad – France, Norway, UK and Ireland – My 60th Birthday

My Birthday. I awoke and opened my present from Doug and Nerida that I had kept for the day. I had the sausages (ho hum) and then we hit the track for the Bushmills distillery. I don’t need to tell you that was grand and I had three whiskeys to celebrate.

Nearby is the Giants Causeway and something I have always wanted to see. Just remarkable and a very stimulating walk to see nature’s handiwork at its best.

Kerry had noticed on our map the rope bridge at Carrick a Rene a little further along the Causeway coast. This is a 30m rope bridge from the cliffs on one side to the island on the other-side. The bridge started out as the means for fishermen to launch their nets to catch salmon (there is a cottage on this little rock with fishing dinghy and derrick to lower it to the sea). The bridge for them was a little cruder than today’s bridge (a single strand rope I am told). The walk to get there and the 172 steps down to the top of the ladder down to the bridge was pretty demanding. I can only imagine the trip for the fisherman and carrying gear across on the rope. It was great fun with dramatic scenery and something I would recommend to all visitors.  To end our visit we had a picnic lunch of leftovers and Vegemite sandwiches near the gift shop.

On the way back from the bridge we noticed other ruins on the coast and a nearby island. I chatted with the car park attendant who was a local and told me that they used to quarry dolomite for paving stones for Glasgow Streets and that the dolomite was transported to the island by flying fox and loaded onto ships for Scotland. When bitumen replaced cobbles the mining ceased but then they mined the limestone cliffs for the limestone so some of the other ruins were the kiln where they burnt the lime and the crusher. The gift shop was a former mine building and the mine mangers house is still used today. The mining ceased in 1970s.

We then went to Belfast and strolled the city streets. Kerry had found Deane’s Eipic Restaurant (spelling is said to be gaelic for Epicurean) by searching on the net. The owner and chef had operated a Michelin 2 star restaurant and had sold that business to open Deane’s Eipic to get away from the confines of the Michelin style. It is actually 3 restaurants adjoining one another – a steak restaurant with aged meats between the style of the Breakfast Creek Hotel and Moo Moo here in Brisbane, a seafood restaurant and a fine dining restaurant. It was my choice and fine dining for me. Finest dinner ever. Seven courses with a carafe of Spanish red in a fine dining restaurant – not what I had expected in Belfast. I went to bed very satisfied and won’t forget my sixtieth.

 

The Retirees go Abroad – France, Norway, UK and Ireland – Jet Plane to Dublin

Doug and Nerida had left to return to Australia and we are on another jet plane tomorrow at 7.55 am which means a 4.00 am start. Sleep was difficult. When the sun (yes the sun) came through our window I don’t think either of us were rested but things had to be done. .

Arrived at Dublin and I think we both slept most of the way. Picked up the hire car and Kerry drove us to Dublin without incident. Whilst Kerry parked in the street I went to the door of our supposed apartment and this proved to be quite an experience as there was no reception as such and by sheer fluke we caught up with the owner. The apartment was not ready and we were early so we went to the tourism office and ended up on the red bus (actually it was green but you get the idea) touring the city. Our car was parked in the back yard of the building (it looked like the yard in Steptoe and son). Our apartment was down the road a bit from the place where we met the owner but what a surprise – the space – it is a one-bedroom flat with kitchenette. And a gin palace across the road. We took a walk down the street and as it is near to St Patrick’s day this shop caught our eye.

Met with Leanne (co director in Phenix and international development director) and after a lengthy briefing we went to dinner and it was lovely. We slept in the next day and then continued to tour around the city. Went to see Trinity College and the Book of Kells. What a magnificent library. And this wonderful ancient harp and its story.

Then we went on to Guinness Brew House. Outstanding views. Printed on the glass was a description of the points of interest in front of you. And I actually drank a pint of the black stuff. Kerry got her nose to it and I got a second pint.

We then walked over to Jamieson’s former distillery – a renovation of the old distillery into a display and home units. We then walked back into the city and tried again to pay the rent and this time the door was answered.

We then went on to the National Library. I had brought with me some family documents which I thought might be of historical value to the National Library particularly as one of the documents was a 999-year lease to my great grandmother from Lord Rothschild under his seal. We dropped the documents into the library and they were received with great enthusiasm. From there we walked back to the northside of the Liffey (river running through Dublin) to see the restored dockland area. Here we picked up the bus tour again and returned to the apartment for some R&R before seeing some Celtic dancing tonight.

Well we went to Lanagan’s for dinner and never got to the Celtic dancing – having too much fun at Lanagan’s. Food was pub food and the drinks reasonably priced so we stayed and kept on drinking (check out their face book page for the proof). The following morning, I had a meeting for Phenix international with the City of Dublin Goldsmiths. This company incorporated by charter by King James 1 in 1608 is responsible for all the hallmarking of precious metals in Ireland. I got a grand tour and had our meeting in their board room.

The Retirees go Abroad – France, Norway, UK and Ireland – “Twelve Angry Men” at the Garrick London

Saturday morning and Kerry is off again. Unable to contact David about Spamalot so I grab the tube to Leicester Sq. and set off to finally locate Jamie’s Italian for dinner on Sunday. Before getting out of the station I spy a half price theatre ticket shop and I check on tickets for “Twelve Angry Men” at the Garrick. There are only two together in S row so I snap them up – 132 pounds – hardly half price. I felt that I may have acted rashly and it is a bit of a damper on the day. Then I start my search for Jamie’s the restaurant. I find it very quickly and then just start to wander.

The Seven Dials is identified on the map and I go to see what this might be. Turns out that it is a large clock with 7 dials at the intersection of 7 seven streets and immediately in front of the theatre showing “Matilda”. We have been to see the show on previous trips but I did not even notice the roundabout. Spotted a sign to Covent Garden Markets and went to investigate. It turns out to be the old markets building but now used for a mixture of flea market, markets and restaurants and another Jamie’s Italian. Now there’s a conundrum – which restaurant are we booked to visit? I also snuck a peak at the half price tickets at the markets and was relieved to find they were dearer than what I had paid by 2 pounds.

Sick of looking around shops and buildings I head for the river and end up at the Victoria Embankment gardens. Very peaceful strip along the Thames looking at the London Eye and the Aquarium. Flowers are starting to bloom and its full of statuary of the old and famous. Fed the pigeons with some of my sandwich I had made at the hotel and discover London has two types of pigeons – one similar to those at home and a larger breed – still rats with wings.

After taking lunch and meandering through the extension of the gardens to the west (Whitehall Gardens) – there is an excavation there of a set of stairs and landing said to have been constructed for Henry VIII and or Mary I to give a view of the river and access to the river from the Palace that once stood on the site – interestingly the river bank is some 30 – 40 meters away from this structure today. As I approach Embankment Tube station I notice a crumbling stone structure near Gordon’s Restaurant. A large plaque tells me that in the 17th century this was a river gate to enable persons in the building which it adjoined (since demolished) to access the river and that in the 19th century The city of Westminster decided to preserve the river gate as part of the Thames heritage. It does not look like they have done a great job but most of it is still there.

The Whitehall Gardens are just below the Corinthia Hotel where we had dinner on Friday night and they follow almost up to the Houses of Parliament. I decide to walk across the bridge (Waterloo I think) – big mistake as it is jammed with tourists but I proceed anyway and on the other side there are queues for the Aquarium, London dungeon and the London Eye. I end my walk by crossing the Hungerford foot bridge to Embankment and a journey home. Picked up my book and dozed and read through the afternoon but finding that I had a sore throat by the time Kerry gets home. She is tired and says she has a sore throat also. So she joins me for a nanna nap and then we head to Westminster and West End for dinner and the show. Martin Shaw had the lead role of the juror who would not convict and Martin Vaughan (Man from UNCLE) was the old codger. Henry Fonda played the lead when this was made into a movie many years ago and I don’t think Martin Shaw made the same impact as Fonda with his southern drawl. Nevertheless, a first class show.

The Retirees go Abroad – France, Norway, UK and Ireland – At Work at Move It

Next day we have a leisurely breakfast and Kerry heads off to work leaving me to do the washing. So I catch up on a few emails etc. and then the phone rings. Its Kerry wanting help at Olympia. I buy the few items she needs and then head over walking there in quick time. When I arrive she then says no one organized the float and they have no change so off I go to get change. I end up walking to Kensington High St to find a Post office to get the change and return about 3/4 of an hour later.

I then return to the hotel to do the washing and that done I head into town and walked around the Strand, into Covent Garden down to the National Library and St Martin’s Place – thirsty work – so I pop into a pub with the newspaper for a quick pint.

Caught the tube back to the hotel from Piccadilly Circus folded the washing had another whine to reception that our phone did not work so we could not complain that the TV did not work. Kerry got home tired from the show and we chose to go to the Prince of Teck pub in Earl’s Court Rd for a pub meal and then some rest.

Interestingly Kerry had mentioned that we should do a show whilst in London. Immediately across from the Corinthia is the Playhouse and what should be showing – “Spamalot” the last play Kerry would want to see and top of my list as a Monty Python fan. David is also a fan so we are considering a matinee on Saturday.