Ireland, Day 5, 6, 7

Day 5: We headed off on a beautiful drive through Killarney National Forest. There was some incredible scenery.Wecontinued ourdrive along theRing of Kerry. Each corner brought a view more breathtaking than the last. We stoppedat some ring forts (large circular rock walls that the kids never tired of climbing.And, at St. Finan's Bay, we pulled over to a beach with a cool castle. The kidsloved exploring the rocks and wading in the water (even though it was FREEZING!).

We paid too many euros to stop at the "Best View in Kerry County."It was pretty amazing with fabulous views of the Skellig Islands. We also stopped at the Skellig chocolate factory,which hadhomemade and very yummy truffles.

We drove on to Dingle and stayed at Castlewood House, one of the most beautiful Bed andBreakfasts we had the pleasure tovisit.

Day 6: We explored the Dingle Peninsula, stopping for ice cream at Murphy's--a definite don't miss. The kids took a photo with Fungie, Dingle's hometown dolphin. After leaving Dingle, wedrove on. We took the Ferry over to County Clare, and drove up to the Cliffs ofMoher--Amazing.

We stopped at the Burren to see the unique rocky landscape and cool passage tomb on our way to our hotel in Galway.

Day 7: We drove from Galway to Dublin, stopping at Clonmacnoise. I loved the Celtic crosses and Kent enjoyed playing King for a bit. It was our last day in this beautiful country. We were sad to leave, but grateful that we could go home. This was the time of the ash cloud over Europe, and people were stranded everywhere! Because had already scheduled our Ferry, we were free and clear. Surprisingly, the weather in Ireland was sunny and beautiful all week--they said they had never had such a lovely week.

Ireland, Day 3 and 4

Day 3: We drove south a bit to Kilkenny, where we toured the castle. An early 1172 fortress evolved into this 17th c chateau of the Butler Family. They kids favorite part was the fabulous playground on the grounds. After Kilkenny, wedrove on to the Rock of Cashel. This is a group of ancient buildings, where in 450 St. Patrick baptized King Aengus (one of the ancient Kings of Munster).All the kids had an amazing time climing on all the rocks and cliffs on the side of the hill.

Day 4: Today we drove on to Blarney. This was probably the highlight of our trip. The castle is so much more than just the stone. But that was so much fun too! We all got to lean over--way over--while one cute little man helped us up andanother took our photo. We loved it.

After Blarney, we drove on to Killarney, where we stayed in a Bed and Breakfast. That afternoon, we drove over to the Muckross House, a Victorian House set at the edge of the Killarney National Forest. It is preserved in the style that it was when Queen Victoria came to stay for 3 nights after the family prepared for years for the visit. We took a walk through the grounds to a lovely waterfall.

The Emerald Isle

Over spring break, we took a trip with our friends the Listellos to Ireland. It was such a great trip. Here are some of the highlights:

Day 1: We begin our drive passing through Wal

es on our way to our Irish Ferry. We made a stop at Conwy Castle and stretched our legs. Then we went on to the Ferry for our two hour ride over to Dublin. It was a wee bit windy!

Day 2: We went to Bru Na Boinne, which is a neolithic passage tomb north of Dublin. It was incredible--we got to go inside, and they recreated how the light comes infor 17 minutes on the morning of the winter solstice. There were amazing carvings all over the ceilings and walls. Afterwards, we went to the site of the Battle of the Boyne, which was the site of the largest battle every fought in the British Isles. Protestant William of Orange defeated Catholic King James II as 50,000 soldiers fought it out in this tiny area. We stayed one more night in the area and then headed off on our grand tour.

Day 3: We drove south a bit to Kilkenny, where we toured the castle. An early 1172 fortress evolved into this 17th c chateau of the Butler Family. They kids favorite part was the fabulous playground on the grounds. After Kilkenny, we drove on to the Rock of Cashel. This is a group of ancient buildings, where in 450 St. Patrick baptized King Aengus (one of the ancient Kings of Munster). All the kids had an amazing time climing on all the rocks and cliffs on the side of the hill.

Day 4: Today we drove on to Blarney. This was probably the highlight of our trip. The castle is so much more than just the stone. We loved it.

Greenwich

I went on a field trip on April 8th with Madeleine's 5th Grade Class to the Royal Observatory at Greenwich. It was a glorious day. We started with the Maritime Museum where we saw the uniform (with authentic bullet holes and blood) which Lord Nelson was wearing at the Battle of Trafalgar when he was shot by French snipers. Then we toured the Queen's House with its amazing tulip staircase. We walked up the path to the Observatory and straddled the hemispheres at the Prime Meridian. We then walked through a tunnel under the Thames over the Isle of Dogs where we were rewarded by a fantastic view of the Observatory complex. It was a great day to spend with Madeleine and her classmates.

Searching for Mr. Darcy

A group of six of us--friends from the ward and all Air Force medical wives--went on a tour sponsored by Outdoor Recreation where we went "Looking for Mr. Darcy." We got to see some of the sights where Jane Austen lived and worked and some places where they filmed some of her movie adaptations (and also Harry Potter, but that was a bonus!). We started in Chawton, where her brother inherited an estate, and Jane and her mother and sister went to live for several years. We got to see the actual desk (teeny tiny) where she wrote and reworked Pride and Predudice and several of her other novels. We then went to Winchester where she lived her last 6 weeks after taking so ill (they still don't know what she died of, maybe Addison's or Lymphoma) and is buried in the Cathedral. Our last stop of the day was Lacock Abbey and town, where they filmed Harry Potter 1 & 2 and some of the Jane Austen adaptations. It was a really cool little town.

The next morning, we went to Bath, where we visited the Jane

Austen center, and some ladies took a tour of the town, but our little group did some shopping! Our last stop on our way home was Steventon, where she was born and her father preached in the church. The rectory where

she was born has burned down, but the church still stands. It was so fun to spend a girls' weekend with great friends. And we even managed to spot Mr. Darcy a few times!

Czech it out!

We took our first trip together "to the Continent" to Prague. I have always wanted to go, and Kent made it happen for my birthday this year. It really is an amazingly beautiful city. We hired a neighbor to watch our kids and flew out on Wednesday afternoon from London Stansted. We took a shuttle to our hotel, which was right in the center of town, getting there at about 6 pm and headed out for dinner. We had some recommendations from a tour guide company, and one of the restaurants "Celnice" was right around the corner from the Marriott where we were staying. Kent had a shishkabob with various meats, and I had something called "Moravian sparrow," which was thankfully really pork meat. It was delicious, if accompanied by far too much cabbage. Then we explored the town a bit on our own, getting the first views of the sights we would see in detail over the next couple days.

Day Two:

We hired a private guide for two mornings. Her name was Veronika, and she was fabulous.

It was really great to have her show us the sights of the city, giving us the history, and the native's perspective on the Czech Republic and its people. We got to see the Strahovsky Monastary and the Loreto (which has a replica of the hut where the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary). Prague is set of hills, so at each of these sights were amazing views of the town.

We then headed over to Prague Castle, which is really more like a palace. St. Vitus is the giant cathedral within the castle walls. She filled us in on the important figures of Prague history, like Charles IV, John of Nepomuk--who is everywhere, with his five stars circling his head--Jan Hus, Tomas Masaryk, and of course, Wenceslas. After leaving the castle, we walked down Narudova street, where there are preserved the identifying house signs on plaques leftover from the time before the houses were numbered. Favorites were: the golden key, the three violins, and the green lobster.

On our way to Kampa Island, we stopped at the John Lennon wall,

on which fans began spray painting after his murder. The communist rulers tries to keep it cleaned off, but the people just kept tagging it, so they finally gave up and let them have the wall as free expression.

After lunch, we wandered some more through Little Town and

Old Town, before settling in for a concert in Smetana Hall in the Municipal House. It was the Prague Philharmonic, and it was fabulous. We definitely brought down the median age, but it was really fun to see all these cute older Czech couples dressed up for a night on the town.

Day Three

The next day, we met Veronika again, and we stayed in the New and Old Town, seeing all the beautiful architecture that Prague has to offer. They have examples of virtually every style, Gothic and Baroque, but especially notable are their Art Nouveau and Cubist buildings.

We saw the hall where Mozart premiered Don Giovanni and the house nearby where he lived. In Old Town square, we saw the chiming of the incredible astronimical

clock and admired the statue of Jan Hus and the Tyn Church. We also walked down Wenceslas

Square (which is really more of a boulevard), and saw the sights of the Velvet Revolution in 1989, when the people overthrew the Communist rule without so much as breaking a window.

We spent the afternoon in the Jewish Quarter, Josehov. Before WWII, there were approximately 120,000 Jews in Prague. The population is now about 1,500. Over 80,000 were exterminated during by the Nazis and the rest managed to flee. The synogogues had wonderful museums and explanations of Jewish culture and history in the region, and we got to see the Old-New Synogogue which is still in operation after over 700 years and is the oldest in Eastern Europe. We went to the cemetary, which was a small plot of land where they had to bury all their dead according to Jewish law. There are approximately 200,000 graves there dating from 1439 to 1787. It was incredible and moving to see the approximately 12,000 stones stacked and leaning against one another, as they ran out of room and were not allowed to expand the

cemetery and bodies could not be moved after burial.

Day Four

On our final day, we went up to Petrin Hill, which is bordered by the Hunger Wall, ordered by Charles IV as a works project to give his people income and food. There is a monument "To the Victims of Communism Who Survived" which was pretty cool. We took the funicular up the hill to the Observation Tower, which is a 1/5 size replica of the Eiffel Tower. But, since Prague is on a hill, the elevation of the top tower is the same. We climbed the stairs and were rewarded with the amazing views of Prague on all sides. In the basement of the tower was a museum dedicated to the fictional radio characte of Jara Cimrman.

It was one of my favorite things we saw all week! Apparently, I have a very "Czech" sense of humor, because I found it hilarous!

We then went back to our favorite restaurant that we found on day on "SukrKavaLimonda," where I had probably the best pasta I've ever eaten. We then crossed the Charles Bridge for the last time and walked back to the hotel to get our taxi back to the airport.

It was a fabulous vacation. I even got to speak a little Russian with some shopkeepers, and I could understand quite a bit of Czech, although it was weird to see it all written in the Latin alphabet. Everything went very smoothly and we look forward to lots more little trips off the island!

I can see!

Madeleine got glasses. As you can see, she looks adorable. We had her eyes checked last year and the optometrist didn't think she needed to correct things yet. But, this February, Madeleine came home with a note from the nurse suggesting we take her in again. The UK has a "government scheme" as they call it, that all children under 16 get a free eye exam and free pair of glasses each year. So, we took her to SpecSavers in Newmarket. She picked up her glasses on March 8. It was a revelation to her: things were no longer "brown things with points" but had definition. She is so responsible and is taking great care of her new specs.