Dingle bound

July 16, 2009, 12:54 on the bus - Earlier today both Sue and I literally kissed the blarney stone at Blarney Castle. So now we oficially have the gift of gab.
Our bus is now headed to the west coast of Ireland. Stephen the tour guide has been telling us about irish history, today we learned about the Irish revolution, the civil war and the IRA.
This is an amazing trip, so many memories. Stephen is from Derry, in Northern Ireland. He is very passionate about Ireland and Irish history. We are pulling into Killarney.
There are 5,000 Irish residents, 7,500 Eastern European workers and 35,000 tourists in Kilarney.
4:07 p.m. We walked over to the fancy house along the lake. The local Jarvies (horse carriage operators) are striking over a new law requiring their horse to wear napies (diapers.)
Due to the great napie labor dispute we had to take a back way into the park.
Now we are off to Dingle. Tonight will be another big music night. The music has been fantastic. We have been learning Irish songs and singing in the pubs. I found I prefer Murphys to Guinness. But, it is all good.
The area we are going folks speak Irish as a first language. I have learned it is Irish not Gaelic!

Posts will be out of order

I am in the land of clunky Internet Ireland. My posts will be spotty and out of order.

Kinsale

July 15, 2009, Kinsale, Ireland. 2:33 p.m. - At one time this was the western edge of the known world. After America was discovered this was a huge launching off point for trans-oceanic voyages. There is tons of history here. The Spanish and Irish fought the British here in 1601. The Brits won and it was the end of the Celtic clans in Ireland.
So what is Kinsale like?
Well; kinda like Capitola, Cambria and a little Inverness. Sue and I just took a nap and we're going to a nice seafood dinner tonight. Friday is our 15th anniversary. It is a relaxing day in a very pretty town.
iPod touch blog post! Please forgive any typos. This is written on my iPod touch and it is kinda clunky.

Left Dublin

Leaving Dublin on the Tour Bus - We are on the bus leaving Dublin. I wish we had one more day here. There are still places I would like to go. We bad a very nice time in Dublin. I think the highlight for me was going to a tiny pub totally away from the tourist area where local musicians gather to jam playing traditional Irish music and instruments. That was amazing. Irish music is so much like Appalatian Blue Grass music. The Irish use pipe instruments like the ulieen and low whistle and not banjos, other than that the resemblance to Blue Grass is striking.
There are 5.5 million people on the Irish island. It was over 8 million in 1840. Software is the number one industry. 1 million Americans come to Ireland every year. Tourism is the second biggest industry.
Our tour guide is good, very funny. All the people in our group seem nice. We have plenty of opportunity to get off on our own too.
There are a lot of young people in Ireland and they party a lot. We ran into a lot of very wasted young men. Young Irish men are not shy and love to have a good time from what we saw.
Ireland is so Green. It is like Washington, or Vermont. We just went to Powerscourt gardens. Very nice but it was raining buckets. We are off to the rock Kinsale.
Note: this is an iPod touch blog post! Please forgive any typos. This is written on my iPod touch and it is kinda clunky

Leaving Paris

We are headed out of Paris on a dank bus. It is 7:22 pm on July 11, 2009 as this is being written. We spent most of the day at the Orsay museum looking at art works including Whistler's Mother and others including Van Goug, Degas, Monet and Manet.
We had lunch there and the price was comparable to what we would ha e paid outside. That was a pleasant suprise. I had a glass of Bordaux with lunch.
After leaving the museum I got hit up by a beggar on the train in what I think was a scam to get me to pull out my wallet. That can happen in any city with tourists.
After riding back to our stop on the walk back to the hotel we got cheese and baked goods for dinner on Rue Cler.
We took a taxi to our bus stop. The taxi driver was tame compared to the New York City drivers. Still driving past the Arc D Triumph was fun. He took a tunnel that bypassed the fun part, the rotary around the arch. I will miss Paris. It was a great city and we just scratched the surface.
Now were off to Ireland and our next adventure. Tomorrow we are planning to hit the Guinness factory. Cheers!
Please forgive any typos. This is written on my iPod touch and it is kinda clunky.

Paris Morning

It is 6:30 in the morning in Paris and I am contemplating going out and taking pictures. I can hear the city waking up around me. Our room is on the top floor so I also hear pidgeons cooing.
We had quite a day yesterday and walked a lot, from our room near Rue Cler to the Arc d Trumph, the length of the Champs Eleyse, the Grand and Petit Palaces, the Madelaine, Lavina (great wine store,) the Louve, dinner in Saint Germain, ending with a twilight boat ride on the Seine. I have shot over 600 pictures and even done some night photography.

I have no idea how far we walled but our legs and feet hurt. We have had great espresso but also visited Starbucks, have had French wine as well as German beer

Big day in Paris

We went to the Eiffel Tower and spent a lot of time there. Then we rode the 69 bus and shot a lot of evening photos around the Notre Dame Cathedral. Got some amazing photos there then went to the Latin Quarter. It was rocking.

We then took the RER back to Eiffel Tower where I got some night shots with the tower and boats on the river.

It was a wonderful day!

Dublin 3 a.m.

We are in Dublin, absolutely zonked from the flight. This morning bright and early we go to Paris. But, we managed to grab a bite and hoist a couple of Guinness's before taking a walk and going to bed last night at about 8 p.m.
It is now 3 a.m. Ireland time and I am wide awake. Guess that is to be understood since it is 7:15 p.m. yesterday in San Jose. So far Ireland in July is like California in March. It reminds me of Vermont.