Madrid

Written by: Kerry outlined it and Amy wrote it in Nerja while watching a thunderstorm come over the Mediterranean Sea.

It was late when we arrived in Madrid and the girls were very tired.  But, we traveled 624 km (around 388 miles) in comfy train seat complete with table at speeds of over 300 km/h.  That completely rocked.  The most enjoyable complementary movie was Brave.  Colleen, who has never taken any other language classes, even watched it in Spanish and said she understood it. The girl in her 3rd year of Spanish in school--Abby--watched it in English (I just threw Abby under the bus).  

After arriving in Madrid on that midnight train from Barcelona, we took a cab to our hotel--The Petit Palace Posada del Peine.  This boutique hotel is right in the middle of a pedestrian-only zone.  But, our helpful cab driver dropped us off as close as he could go.  As there was a police car right behind him, I was very grateful for his willingness to bend the rules at his own personal risk. 

We checked into the hotel, went up to our room and marveled at the bunk beds.  Colleen, who NEVER gets the top bunk due to her restless sleeping habits--called the top bunk.  And, since the bed had all the fall prevention that you could ask for, she finally got to fulfill a life-long dream and sleep on the top bunk.  She fell only once while trying to climb the ladder, but otherwise really enjoyed the privilege.  

While the central location of the hotel was something Ker and I originally liked, we found out quickly that Madrid is a loud, late night sort of place.  There were times I thought the all night party was going on right under our 3rd floor window.  After I got over the fact that I would not be getting much uninterrupted sleep, I kind of enjoyed being part of the party.  I'm not much of a bar hopping, all night, drunken party girl anymore (not that I was much of one to begin with) but hearing all the twenty-somethings occasionally through the night enjoying themselves at all hours made me relive a part of it.  The master bed wasn't that great and the outlet next to my side of the bed popped, so listening to the all hours party was charming when it wasn't annoying.

The next morning, we got up and walked the Rick Steve's self-guided walking tour.  But first, we had to breakfast because the hotel did not include it and was happy to charge 13 euro per person to provide it.  I think we can do better than that, don't you?  So, we headed outside and right in front of the hotel door was a cute little cafe that had breakfast for under half of what the hotel wanted.  The food wasn't amazing, but it was filling and done quickly.

On our tour, we found that the capitol of Spain is HUGE!  We only saw a small portion of it while we were there, but seeing its size from the many vistas really alerted us to its enormity.  We walked around and saw:

- Plaza de Puerta del Sol

- Plaza Mayor

- Plaza de la Villa

- Iglesia de San Andres

- Ignlesia de San Francisco Grande (no entra!)

- Plaza de Oriente (statues of Visigoth kings)

- Catedral & walked past palace

We intended to continue to Plaza Espanya, but all were tired so went for lunch at the Mercat de San Miguel.  The girls and I bought fruit & pies and went back to hotel.  Kerry stayed and sampled one of everything, including a small bucket of aged parma ham, various croquettes & crostini, and a calamari sandwich.  That place was packed and I was just tired of having to throw an elbow to get the three of us through the crowd.

After a very long nap and some laundry doings, we went the Temple of Debod.  This 2nd century BC Egytpian temple dedicated to the goddess Isis was originally erected along the Nile river. It was gifted to Spain in 1968 and reassembled in Spain.  This attraction is free and we hit it 30 min before closing time so it wasn't super crowded.  I told Ker that we need one of these in our imagined back yard.  

We had walked miles and miles at this point and decided to have dinner and head back to the hotel to see how Mamo and Poppop were faring.  That's when I found out how poor the wifi at the hotel really was.  But, I was able to briefly hear his voice and hear how things were going with Mother. I had to be content with that small contact for the moment because the connection was so bad. 

I was restlessly dozing when around 6:00 am, I get a text from Tina to call her immediately.  As fast as I can, I whip the phone off the charger, rouse Kerry, and call Tina.  She had good news to report--Morgan was accepted at Jesuit!  You go Mo!

Since we were up, Ker and I decided to let the girls have McDonalds for breakfast.  We gave them some money and let them go alone to the golden arches.  They were very excited to taste how McMuffins taste here in Spain. Abby tried to use the kiosk, but since she had cash, she had to actually interact with a human.  Ker and I met them on the calle.  The intention was that Ker and I would find a Starbucks to have our breakfast since all we really wanted was coffee and the girls would eat their "food" there. But, I couldn't remember where the nearest Starbucks was.  After a frustrating 15 minute wander, Ker and I decided to take the easy way, send the girls back to the hotel room and have our breakfast at the same cafe outside the hotel where I had to use my pigeon Spanish to order my eggs over hard which is harder to explain in Spanish than you might think because you can't just say "I'd like a dead egg" here.

Once the meal was over, we headed off to see some Dali at the Museo National Centro de Arte Reina Sofia.  Keep in mind that over the last year, we have been in museums in New York, Washington DC, Ireland, Paris, London, Wales, Bristol and here.  It just might be that we have achieved maximum museum capacity.  But, this was the only place we would have the opportunity to view some Dali and we just couldn't pass it up.  To soften the yet-another-museum blow for the kids, I stopped off at a Dunkin Coffee (known as Dunkin Donuts in the states) and let them have a donut.  Abby chose a donut that was made to look like Cookie Monster.  Thus fortified, we headed into the museum.  That place is huge and we only saw a small portion of it.  

Picasso's Guernica is housed here. This black and white painting was Picasso's protest of the horror of the Spanish Civil War. Specifically, this painting shines a light on the civilian casualties from the saturation bombings at Guernica. The painting is massive and very powerful. I'm not the world's best art critic since I usually come away from art scratching my head, but this painting shouts at you. While I do not understand any of its intricacies, I was moved by the sheer outrage coming off that canvas. Picasso was a genius and in another room of the museum, there are surrealistic metal sculptures. I could spot his a mile away—his skill just draws you to his work.

But, I was there to see the only surrealistic artist that made any sense to me—Salvador Dali. Now, Dali has his very own museum 2.5 hours north of Barcelona which I just didn't have time to go see this trip. But, some of his work is housed in the Reina Sofia. Five of his works are here—Endless Enigma, The Invisible Man, The Great Masturbator, The Andulusian Dog, The Enigma of Hitler. I spent a lot of time looking at these works. Dali was a believer in Freud's state of being so his work focused on creating a dreamlike state for the viewer. He wasn't looking to create nightmares like some of his surrealistic contemporaries—instead he wanted his viewers to be moved to an alternate state of being. Objective achieved. The paintings on display definitely moved me to look at the message of his work in a completely different way. I'm glad we were able to see these.

Once we saw the Dali's we bailed. Great works or not, one more museum or painting and we might go completely out of our minds. Instead, we headed off to the largest park Madrid had to offer—Casa de Campo. We had lunch overlooking the fountain inside a pond. Our companions were little green tropical birds that I think might be parakeets. After lunch we walked past the Arc de Triomph (it seems that every capitol has one except ours). We were on our way to the Royal Palace which claimed to have free admission 2 hours before it closed. After waiting in the giant queue, we found out that the free admission only applied to EU members. Which I am, but Ker and the girls were not. So, we said bag that and went back to the hotel. We had dinner and followed it up with dessert and went to bed because the next day was a side trip to Toledo.

Spain Day 2 from Colleen's Perspective

Written by: Colleen in her bunk bed in Madrid

Hello again, family and friends. It is I, the youngest, here to tell you about my favorite day in Barcelona. We started off by going to the breakfast at our hotel here for the first time, and then we split up to go our separate ways. Mom and I were going around Barcelona because she wanted to see a few churches and shop a little, but Abby and dad went to some mountain or rather to see the views and climb rocks. I think me and mom had the most fun. First we visited the Sagrada Familia, then moved on to the Santa Maria del Mar church. This took about 3 hours, and after that we headed out to lunch.

Lunch was AWESOME. AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME. We went to a marketplace near our hotel, and it had all the strawberries, pastries, candies, and otherwise ingredients you could want. There was a place in the middle of it that had nothing but fish markets! There were candy shops, fresh juices, spices, fruits, veggies, butchers, bistros, bakeries, and anything you could think to make a meal out of. We started off by getting fruit, so I got a container of sliced strawberries, and mom got a mixed cup of fruit. We then went for a second round, where I got chocolate covered strawberries and mom got another mixed fruit cup. After that, we dove back in for a roll from a wonderful smelling bakery and a chicken pie from a small bistro. We also got some carrots, but we didn’t get around to eating them. Finally, we went to one of the candy shops to get a chocolate covered cherry and a small chocolate rose. A satisfying, healthy-ish meal.

After lunch, we went out to Park Güell where we lounged around a bit and listened to some very talented musicians play. We got tired, so we headed to meet up with Abby and dad. We stayed at the hotel for a while, then went out for dinner and Giovanni’s gelato.

Well, that ended our 2nd day in Barcelona. Can’t wait to see you all again,

Colleen

Going to Montserrat (monster rat??)

      So today, our second day in Barcelona, Spain, we SPLIT OFF into groups. It's astonishing, I know. Dad and I went to Montserrat (monster rat???) while Colleen and Mom went to La Sagrada Familia and toured around churches and walked about Barcelona. Montserrat is a mountain range with a monastery built into it in the 15th century. There's a lot of trails leading to the peaks of the rocks here. To get there, we took an hour long train ride to the cable that led up the mountains. After, we walked around the monastery. It's really warm up there, like upper 60s. I had to take off my jacket, the first time in months. Then, we took the Funicular car up the rest of the way to the mountain. Then we walked up for 45 minutes to get to the top of one of the peaks called "Ermita de Santa Magdalena". There, I was almost taken out by a fly. So in Ireland (and in everywhere else, really), all the insect life go away for October through May, including all the flies, so it was kind of a surprise to hear not one, not two, but four huge flies and a bee whiz past my ear. Near the top of the rock, after a handful of near-death experiences from slipping on rocks and tripping over my own feet, after Dad and I did our picture thing, there's a 60 degree angle side, full of smooth pebbles and killer rocks. At the top of that, there's a straight drop onto rocks without a fence. I was standing there, looking for an easy path on the 60 degree slope. Then, out of nowhere, a fly goes right next to my ear. I felt it's little fly hairs on my ear and I freaked. During the freak-out session (it was short-lived, you'll see why), I almost slipped on a rock and plummeted to my death down the slope. That fly, I swear, was out to get me. It continued buzzing near my head as Dad and I went down the other steep slopes. It turns out, we went up the hard way and down the easy way. On the way down, we saw a hole in the face of the mountain with a well of water in it. There was also a cool stone arch leading to the remains of a house that was built into the face of the mountain. After looking at that, we continued down the path to the Sant Joan house. By the way, the route we took to go up the rock had no path or pavement, and the few stairs that were there sucked, so the pavement was a welcome change of pace (get it :D). After checking out the house, we finally made it back to the monastery via the funicular. A funicular (fun•ick•you•ler) is like a subway that's slower and on the surface without seats. And poles. It also goes up/downhill. From there, we decided to have lunch later and took the cable car down to the hour-long train ride back home. We had lunch at a place called Tapa Tapa where I ordered a hot chocolate. Now, it's rare for me to do this, simply because I usually like tea better. After our food came, they brought the drink over to me. Guess what? It was, no joke, a bowl of melted dark chocolate. No milk. No foam. Literally a bowl of melted, hot, chocolate. It was delicious and I have no regrets. It was stressful to drink it though, because it was a little too hot to drink, but if I let it cool it would solidify, so I ended up using the spoon, mostly. I repeat: IT WAS DELICIOUS AND I HAVE NO REGRETS. After, we met up with Mom and Colleen to hear about their day, which you're sure to read about later.

Signing off after possibly the most stressful day of my life, 

Abby Cakebread

P.S. Happy Pi Day, too.

P.P.S. This entry is pretty late because the wifi of the places we've been in have been pretty bad and it hasn't allowed me to publish because of that. 

Rome in General

Written by:  Amy sitting on her bed in Madrid

I wanted to give a quick (haha, as this is the longest entry I have ever done) summary of what we did and saw in Rome before I completely forget.  The photo's will have to be added another time because wifi is just not that great here.

First, our hotel was in a great place--central to everything we wanted to do and had a metro stop just a couple of blocks away.  Rome was loud, but once we shut the window to the fifth floor room, you couldn't hear a thing.  The hotel--Domus Livia--had a continental breakfast which was not as good as it could have been.  But, we supplemented it the second day with some foodstuffs we scored at a local market and that worked.  They call this type of hotel a boutique hotel. It only had a handful of rooms and the reception desk was only open from 8 am to 1 and from 4 to 7 or 8 pm.  While these hours seemed weird to us, they are similar to what we found was the norm in Rome.

Eating in Rome was an experience.  They have a totally different view of dining than I do.  They savor every meal to the point where dinner can take up to 3 hours.  Now, I'm not one for sitting around doing ANYTHING for 3 hours--I don't have the mental stamina.  But, waiting on food is just not my thing.  Also, they bring out the dishes when each dish are finished.  As a result, 2 of us were given food first and then 45 minutes later the other 2 of us were served.  It happened every time at every sit down restaurant we went.  This was torturous for me!  I did not come to Rome to eat.  I came to see things and do things.  Ker rather enjoyed this style of eating.  He likes to take his time and leisurely enjoy his food.  Unlike me, he actually likes food.  So, I tried very hard the first couple of days to be patient and go with the flow.  But, by the end of the second day, I was done taking hours out of my day to eat.  I just wanted my food to all come at the same time so we could move on to the next thing.  Also, everything was super expensive and you had to pay for tap water.  This all sounds like I'm complaining...maybe I am.  But, since it's my blog...you can handle it. Right?

As far as the language--yes, it's a barrier. Not as bad as in Paris because a lot of people learn English in Rome, but trying to get something ordered takes some patience and a bit of an adventurous spirit.  At some point, you try your best to choose something and just hope for the best when you have no idea what it is you just ordered.

Now down to the nitty gritty.  On day one, we got up in the wee hours of the morning (4:30 am), got to the airport, boarded our plane to Rome at 6:30am.  There was some issues with out luggage--the bags Ker had purchased as carry-ons were 5 cm too tall--but, the flight attendants sorted it out.  (This comes back later to haunt us, by the way).  Now, you wouldn't think that this was a big deal, but we are flying Ryanair where you have to pay for luggage so everyone brings a carry on.  However, the plane isn't physically capable of storing that many carry ons in the cabin.  They can only hold 90 carry ons of a 150 person plane.  Since having space is such an issue, having luggage that has to be put horizontally in the overhead bins is a bigger deal than if were on another carrier.  But, after some hateful stares from other passengers, it got sorted out.

Once we landed in Rome at 10:30 am, we hopped on a bus that took us the one of the main bus/train/metro terminals in Rome--Termini.  We walked from Termini to our hotel, and checked in. By this time, we were HUNGRY. So, we asked for a lunch recommendation.  We ended up down the block a little and had the best food of our entire Rome experience.  I had a gigantic bowl of minestrone soup which was so savory, it was to die for!  Abby had...wait for it...pizza, Colleen had salmon and Ker had a calzone.  Everything was super yummy and set us up for our fun day ahead.

After lunch, we headed off to see Palazzo Valentini.  This museum came recommended as a place teens would enjoy so we wanted to set the kids up right.  It took a little walking to find the place as we were not completely oriented to how Rome is set up.  But, after a little more walking, we finally found it.  On the way, we saw some pretty incredible fountains, sculptures and monuments.  This just whet my appetite so when we finally found the museum, we were stoked.  We got our tickets for a later tour so we took the opportunity to grab some gellato and see the Trevi Fountain.  Unfortunately, the fountain is under some construction and there is no water.  But, it was impressive none-the-less.

Once we viewed the Trevi, we had just enough time to head back to the Pallazo Valentini Museum.  The museum was AWESOME!!!  They were doing some renovations on a government building and found a mostly complete ancient Roman house during their excavation.  This domus (home) was likely owned by a very wealthy family is the first century AD.  When you descend into the museum, you are looking at all the features of the house from above on a plexi-glass floor.  At first, this is very weird because you think you are going to fall through the see-through floor, but the guided tour complete with special lighting just sweeps you up into the archaeological finds. I totally recommend this to anyone going to Rome.

After Palazzo Valentini, we headed off to pay homage to Dan Brown's Angels and Demons.  We took the metro (which came with our Roma Pass) to Chiesa Santa Maria del Popolo.  This impressive church featured the death of a cardinal that was associated with Earth.  We saw the Bernini statue and the demon's hole in the Chigi Chapel.  Totally nerded ourselves out here but  it was so worth it.  The outside of this church does not do it justice.  But, once you go into the church, you just get wiped out with art that are in all of the little chapels that line the cruciform church.

By that time, we were wiped out.  It was a long day for all of us. But, my back was still paining me and all the walking was taking its toll.  We needed to get dinner and then go to bed so that is just what we did. This meant that we would not be seeing the Appia Antica.  But, I hoped we could fit that in another day.

Day Two, we got up, ate our continental breakfast (croissants, croissants, croissants!) and headed off to do Ancient Rome.  We started off in the Colosseum.  We got out tickets and audioguides and headed off into the structure.  Abby and I paired up and went on our merry way and Colleen and Ker headed another.  The Colosseum really is very impressive.  The engineering and other architecture just blew me away.  This gigantic thing is 2000 years old and could possibly hold up to 70,000 people at a time.  Just incredible.  I had always heard that the early Christians were persecuted by the Romans and were killed like game in the "games" at the Colosseum.  It turns out that this is not historically accurate.  Even though there is a giant cross situated in the arena to stand as a memorial to all the fallen, there is no historical evidence to support the claims of persecution in this place.  I found this very interesting.

Once we had our fill of the Colosseum, we hit the surrounding area which is filled with ancient Roman buildings.  We went through what used to be Emperor's Palaces and what was left of the Roman Forums.  Each place you put your eyes you are confronted with the remains of a civilization.  Your imagination has to fill in much of what you see now as these structures are crumbling as fast as they can restore them.  I wish there had been a walking tour of the remains since my imagination is just not up to the task of filling in the blanks.  I hope to go home and find some documentary on this.  But, we found that we can only see so much before we lose interest and what we see around us no longer has an impact.  This lack of interest usually coincides with hunger and this was no exception.  It was off to lunch we went.

Once we finished off lunch, we made our way to the Pantheon. Our experience in Paris had made us a little unsure how interesting this would be, but we had read about the Pantheon in Angels and Demons and just had to see it for ourselves.  The exterior was nothing to shout at--it's old and showing some wear.  But, then you walk inside and...bam!  There is nothing worn out inside. There's color and light through the occulus.  It hits the ceiling just so and lights up the massive space.  The chapels were beautiful and full of priceless offerings from masters of the art world.  Also, the Pantheon holds Raphael's tomb.  So worth it.

By then we had seen as much as we could and needed some physical exhersion.  Instead of going to one more church or museum, we headed off to the world's oldest road--the Appia Antica.  This requires a metro transfer and a bus as what's left of this ancient road is not close to the city center.  This makes sense as most of Rome is built on top of layers of building from the many centuries and whole civilizations.  You have to go a little out of your way to find something that is preserved and not covered by progress.  We made a tiny little mistake of getting off the bus way too early.  This meant that the trek to the Appia was a little harrowing with two-way traffic, a walled off street and no sidewalks or shoulder of any kind.  I know the cars weren't going 100 mph, but it sure felt like it.  We'd gone maybe 2 miles when I just couldn't deal with it anymore.  Abby was jumping out of her skin and it's just not worth getting hit by a car on the way to the world's oldest street.  We spotted some old looking part of the street, got our picture there and proceeded to get more lost on the way to the nearest metro station which happened to be a long walk in the proceeding dusk.  Once we were back in downtown, it was decided that we would have to hit the Spanish Steps.  Which we did, but we didn't stay as is the custom.  Instead, we climbed up them and I spotted another church.  I went in and caught the tail end of mass.  The Trinita Dei Monti is a small church by Rome's standards, but the mass was populated by nuns, acolytes and priests of all different Catholic denominations.  I had stumbled on the place that the local clergy consider holy.  It was pretty awesome to be able to shake hands with them as we offered peace to each other in so many different languages.  It was quite a moment.  The docent noticed I was looking intently around the church and paying scant attention to the rest of the mass and beckoned me to view the courtyard.  But, I lost my nerve when he pointed up at the second story window that was glowing an eery red and said in halting English that something special was up there.  I don't know if he meant it, but he scared the living daylight outta me (hey, I've watched my share of scary movies and I know the fool who goes towards the light in an empty courtyard dies) and I booked it back outside.  Not my best moment.  But, we made it and back to the hotel we went to cool off our hurting feet.

Day Three began much in the same way as the previous day.  But, today we had 5:30 pm tickets to the world renowned Borghese Gallery and Museum.  But, first, we needed to book it to the Vatican so we could make our early appointment at the Vatican Museum.  We pushed our way through buskers (selfie?  selfie?) and got in what we thought was the line for the museum.  Turns out we were in line to visit the Pope as he was giving an audience in St. Peter's Square that morning.  I'm sure he's a nice guy, but I just wanted to see the paintings in the museum.  We had to go back about 1/2 a mile to the entrance to the museum.  There's a lot of...well...stuff at the Vatican Museum.  It's put together in such a way that you just don't care after a while. They jumble it all together by type (all sculpture here, all tapestries there, etc) so you lose the significance of any individual piece.  There were pagan statues right across from christian art but you weren't able to really synthesize it all because of its sheer quantity.  Abby and I listened to the audioguide until we just didn't care anymore.  About anything.  Including going on.  But, the Sistine Chapel kept calling our name.  And, after we just closed off our senses and spread through room after room of priceless treasures, we found ourselves in one of the most awesome places on earth--the Sistine Chapel.  There are no words for that place.  Every square inch is a delight for the eyes.  Abby turned the audioguide on again and we listened to every word that we could with an intensity that had been lacking in us until that moment.  Even though you are in the room with so many others, it feels like you are there by yourself.  The silence in the room (enforced by numerous docents), helps you feel like it's all you.  We took a seat and just stared everywhere.  Completely undone.  I can not say enough about the art of this space.  There just are not words.  It's another place I'd like to learn more about as I'm sure the audioguide only just skimmed the surface of what is painted up on those walls.

But, Abby and I were done so we found a bench in the sun outside in one of the courtyards and plunked ourselves on it waiting for Ker and Colz to finish the tour.  When we had reunited we made the trek back to St. Peter's Square and stood in a hot sweaty queue while someone did something (we'll just never know what was the hold up) then we moved to another hot and sweaty queue inside St. Peter's Square so we could go in and view St Peter's Basilica.  It was a long wait and the church was truly amazing.  It was massive and ornate and everything you expect from all the talent and riches the Catholic church can afford.  It is a worthy seat of religious power and reflects it in every brushstroke and line.  But, there's a part of me that was more awestruck by the Sistine Chapel even though you could fit 50 of them inside St. Peter's Basilica and it had no gold.  But, St. Peter's is a must see for the art and power and sheer majesty of the place.  I can not imagine going to mass there although I am told it happens.  No, we did not see the Pope.  And, I'm pretty sure that was a good thing for him and us.

Done with that, we were off to have some fun and play in the Villa Borghese.  This park is not as big as Central Park in NY.  But, we rented a surrey and tooled around in it for a while.  Eventually my back just wasn't up to the challenge and I had Ker take the girls for a spin in the surrey while I warmed a sun drenched bench in the park and oogled at the many dogs.  It is very much in times like these when I see dogs and their humans that I miss my dogs.  It strikes me that I am no longer a dog owner.  I'm not sure if this is a good thing or not, but it does make me very sad to know that I will not be going home to my Maddie or my Riley.  I just stare at other dogs and make their humans nervous instead (I really must have dognapper eyes).  When we caught up with each other, Ker had returned the surrey and we still had some time so we walked lazily around the park hitting all the benches in the sun before we were back at the Borghese Museum cafe.  The coffee there wasn't very good, but it was a place to sit before our tour.

The art in this museum was astounding.  This building was built to house these works from the 1600 so these works were displayed to shine.  And, they did.  We saw sculpture from Bernini that looked like it could just get up and walk.  We were completely blown away by it all.  I could go on, but I'm boring even myself about now with all the works of art we've seen. The nice thing about the Borghese was that it only had a small art collection that was accessible to everyone who came in.  It was not as overwhelming as the other places we had been but just as impressive.

That night we went back to the hotel, packed so we could catch an early flight to Barcelona.

That was Rome.

Rome Day 3

Written by: Colleen in her Rome hotel room

Rome trip day 3: The Afternoon

My favorite day in Rome would have to be Wednesday, when we went to this museum called the Borghese Museum. And it was conveniently located next to a giant park called Villa Borghese. Which conveniently had these 4 person bike things called surreys for rent in it. Where mom inconveniently had back pain, ending the fun of the surreys. Don’t get me wrong, the museum itself had some pretty cool stuff in it, like ‘The Hunt of Diana’ and a statue of some princess. But these surrey things, they were pretty cool. They were 2 different bikes, attached together by whatever metal bikes are made out of, and only 1 person steers. I rode up front, and there was a wheel in front of me, but it just wasn’t the same as driving. 

When mom got tired, we stopped, and we then got some gelato and went to wait for the museum to give us our audio guides. We lay in the grass for a while, and then we went into the museum at 5:00 pm. We got done around 8, and had dinner at a sushi place that brought my food out the very last, and it wasn’t even as big as it showed on the picture. So I ended up eating a tiny grilled salmon with chopsticks, and believe me, that is not as easy to eat as it sounds. It wasn’t even sushi salmon, it was just flat out a tiny fillet of salmon. We then went out to try the gelato place across the street for dessert, and it was pretty good. The only thing I didn’t like about it was that I asked for chocolate, tiramisu and eggnog, and the latter pair don’t go so well together. After that, we went back to the hotel, and I read for a while, then went to sleep.

Well, that was the afternoon of Day 3 for me, and I’m sure the others will have tales aplenty to tell, too.

Signing of for now, Colleen

Coming to Rome!

Coming to Rome!

By Abigail Cakebread

    On Sunday I performed my fourth play. It was a Cornucopia type play, with multiple plays in one big one from all the age groups. My play was Electra, a Greek tragedy. I was part of the Women of Argos, or the chorus, or the narrators. I had most of the lines that were supposed to be all of us speaking together thrusted upon me because nobody else knew them. I slayed it, if I do say so myself. I was also the crew, helping out with some of the other little kid's plays. At the end of the play when we were all bowing, the directors called Colleen and I up to say thanks and goodbye because it was also OUR LAST DAY IN IRELAND! That night, we went to the Holiday Inn Hotel for the night to get ready for the flight to where we are now; Rome, Italy!

We woke up at the crack of dawn after a not very restful night. Colleen and I had to share a bed. That never goes well. Anyway, we got up at around 4:00 am to get ready for the 6:30 flight. We waited for a taxi that we supposedly booked Sunday evening but never went through. After getting to the airport, accidentally getting the wrong boarding passes stamped, going through security, finding our terminal, and standing in the 20 minute-long line to the airplane, we boarded the plane and took off. I slept with Mom while Colleen slept on the pull-out tray. After an hour and a half more sleep, I awoke to find I hadn't unbuckled my belt and my right foot and shin was completely numb. After a painful one minute of waking my leg up, I unbuckled my seat belt and fell back asleep.

After we landed at 10:30, we took a bus to the fancy Roman hotel to dump our luggage. We went to the recommended restaurant (ristorante in Italian) and I had (shock and awe) pizza for lunch! Italian pizza is really good, it's thin and a light coating of cheese with real tomato sauce. It's sweet and spicy at the same time and it really went well with the salami on it. Mom had ministroni soup, Dad had a calzone, and Colleen had a salmon fillet. It was good and filling.

After, we walked around the Piazza de Valentini looking for a museum. While there, we spotted a huge column with carvings spiraling upwards. In front of it were broken column ruins. We walked up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down until finally we went sideways and found the museum we were originally there for. It was about an ancient Roman villa built originally in the first century A.D! The super cool thing about it was that we walked above the ruins on glass! After an earthquake, it fell apart and medieval castles were built on top of it. There were remains of the Roman baths, hot and cool, and a children's pool area. There were stairs that the family used still intact, and plates with food on them that were thrown into a pit which were trash cans. Right up next to this house was another house with a huge mosaic on the floor. It was really cool! I sometimes forget that Pompeii was not the only city that was buried.

After that, we got gelato! Ice cream here is honestly the best I've ever tasted in my life. It's going to be hard going back to American ice cream and bread.

Then we went to the Trevi Fountain. It was drained, unfortunately, because they were working on repairs, but it was still cool to see the statues and carvings of the horses and Neptune.

I've also noticed that there are a bunch of Egyptian obelisks around Rome. After two days of Rome I've seen five. They're cool, but weird.

After that, to finish up the day, we went to the Piazza del Popolo to see the Santa Maria del Popolo, the first church featured in Dan Brown's Angels and Demons. We even found the Demon's Hole and the angels statue pointing.

After, we had the longest dinner on earth and the most expensive food on earth. So, it was an Italian place and we were like 'cool!' We went in, ordered, and waited. And waited. And waited. 20 minutes later, Colleen and my food came. Then, 25 minutes after we finished the food, Mom's came. 35 minutes after Mom's food came, Dad's appetizer came. 15 minutes after he finished it, his main dish came. We ended up leaving that place at 10:30 pm. We had gone in at 7:00. Talk about a wait for the food. 

So, that was the first day! I'm excited to have someone else tell you the adventures of today. Hint: It contains actual near-death incidents.

This is Abigail Cakebread, signing off. 

Taking the long way home...

Written By:  Amy sitting in her hotel in Rome

I've been meaning to let everyone know the schedule as many of you have asked what the big finale looks like.  So, here's some information for those that want to know:

March 9th we fly from Dublin to Rome, Italy.  Where we stay until...

March 12th we fly to Barcelona, Spain.  Where we stay until...

March 14th we take the train to Madrid.  Where we stay until...

March 17th we take the train to Granada.  Where we stay until...

March 19th we take the train to Nerja.  Where we stay until...

March 21st we take the train back to Madrid.

March 22nd we fly to Dublin city centre.  Where we stay until...

March 24th we fly to Portland, Oregon USA.

And no trip can be complete without...

Written By:  Amy

I woke up Friday in good spirits and feeling very well.  We were headed up to hunt down Purdy's in Northern Ireland.  We've not had any luck finding them online and decided to just head on up to some cemeteries in the general area the Purdy's were rumored to live--Tandragee and Portadown.  Also, I wanted to hit the town of Ballyshiel and Corlust as these cities were listed as their residence in the 1901 census.

But, first, we needed to pick up the rental car at the airport because we sold Watson (our beloved car) the night before to Ralph (the amazing manager of Esquires).  So, off to the airport we went to hit up Enterprise for a car.  As we are standing at the counter at Enterprise that I notice my lower back is slightly achy.  Thinking nothing of it, I hop into Watson and follow Ker back to Bettystown to pick up the girls so we can all go on this last search together.  By the time we get to the house to pick up the girls, my back went from achy to uncomfortable.  But, since this was the only day we could go and do this, I figured it would go away with some light stretching and some cemetery walking.

How wrong I was!  By the time we get to the first cemetery and I get out of the car, my back is in agony.  I'm staying positive though because any bad vibes will send Abby into full revolt.  You see, she didn't want to go to begin with.  She wanted to stay home and do school work.  So, I know that I can't show just how uncomfortable I actually am quite yet.

The second cemetery was their first inkling that all was not right with the Momma.  I could barely get out of the car.  The minute my feet hit the ground, I thought my back had just given up the goat.  I could barely walk and could no longer mask the pain or be the cheerleader they needed.  There was a suggestion of eating lunch to see how things fared after a bite to eat and a couple (by that I could mean any amount, right?) Advil.

Unfortunately, after lunch, I was no better.  As we headed off on our wild goose chase through Tandragee and then Portadown, I just couldn't take it anymore and asked Ker to take us home.  Once there, I realized that this pain might be a kidney infection which I have been known to develop suddenly and violently.  After signing papers with Ralph I decide to seek medical help to rule out infection. I asked the advice of my expat group on how to navigate through the medical system here.  On their advice, I went to an after hours Doctor On Call. Drogheda is known for its terrible hospitals--it's in the papers daily--so you have to be very careful.

To see a doctor after hours, all you have to do is call a number and make an appointment to be seen that evening.  My appointment was for 7:45 pm.  Which was great because by then the Advil had completely worn off and I was ready for some answers.  I drove myself to the tiny little run down hospital that housed the clinic.  I was only in the waiting area for just enough time to painfully lower myself into a chair when the nurse called me back. After taking my vitals and testing a sample, she ushered me into another room where I see a tiny doctor of Indian descent.  He asks me the same questions the nurse did and I give the same answers.  Then he decides he needs see exactly what movements cause the pain which was SUPER fun, let me tell ya.  Ultimately, he decides that he can't tell if this is just back spasms or a kidney infection and proceeds to tell me that his clinic does not have the ability to run any blood test.  Then he says the dreaded words....that I'll have to go to the countries most notoriously bad hospital to be tested.  My stomach sinks.

No, really, my stomach actually sinks.  I hadn't had any food since our before noon lunch and I rushed out the house to make the (DOC) Doctor On Call appointment.  So, I was hungry.  But, figuring I would just get it all over with, I head to the hospital that the national newspapers label the worst hospital in the country for caring for sick people.  We had been threatening the kids since August not to get sick or hurt enough to have to go to this place and I'm now driving myself there.

The good news is that once I paid the DOC his 60 quid, I was all paid up for the remainder of my medical journey.  That includes the tests run at the DOC, the DOC consultation, the Emergency Department (ER) visit and any tests run there.  This was the only reason I hadn't just thrown in the towel.

I pull into the Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital and find the ER parking lot then walk painfully slowly to the reception, hand them my form from the DOC and then sit down to wait.  It turns out that the ER there was almost the same as the ER in Oregon.  There were people in the waiting area sick, poor, drunk, out of their minds and just not in good places.  As I was now one of them, I lowered myself to onto one of the remaining chairs in the packed room, opened my Rick Steve's Spain book and proceeded to zone out.

After 45 minutes, I am exhausted and starving and just beginning to be fuzzy in the head from it all. So when the nurse calls my name--Emmy Cakabreade--I don't even react for a couple of seconds.  Then I realize that that name means me and I get back to my feet and follow her.  She takes me to a cramped triage room.  This place is hard core. I know this because I have to step over some persons blood on the floor.  The nurse takes me through all the usual questions, hooks me up to a blood pressure machine and leaves to do...well, I'm not sure...for a while.  When she comes back she records my vitals and proceeds to tell me that my wait is likely to be 6 hours.  Yes, 6 hours.  She claims that the ER is very busy and that there are many more serious cases that need to be seen before me.  At this point, I'm done.  Stick-a-fork-in-me done and I'm not stepping over blood once more second.  I don't care how bad it hurts.  But, she convinces me to stay so a Dr can check me out.

I last all of 45 minutes before I realize that I'm so out of it I won't be able to drive if I don't leave soon.  So, I head up to reception and let them know that I'm leaving, make my slow and painful way to the car only to realize that you have to pay for parking in the ER parking lot. But, the nice parking attendant has been watching me make my way to my car and just can't stand see me have to deal with the parking situation too.  So, he lets me out. And, I'm on my way home.  I get there, scarf down some food and make my way to the bed which looks more like a medieval rack.  I get into bed like a very old lady and drift off to sleep.  My sleep was interrupted several hours later by a phone call from the ER doctor asking if I was okay. I don't even remember what I responded before I hung up.

But, the story continues the next morning when I ask Ker to drop me at the ER to finish what I started the night before.  After a short 15 minute break, I am yet again ushered into the triage room--this time minus the blood--and asked the same exact questions I was the night before.  Then I was asked to wait in the waiting area for a doctor to call me back.  That only took 35 minutes.  Once I got in to speak to an actual doctor, it was just like visiting an ER at home.  He took my blood--badly, I might add--ran some tests and came back to tell me that he thought I was having back spasms but that my blood showed moderate levels of white blood cells indicating a possible infection.  So, we decided to treat for both a back spasm (ibuprofen) and a kidney infection (antibiotic).

Doctor Who Experience!!

Doctor Who Experience

By Abigail Cakebread

Hello everybody! So Mom has spread the word about the DW experience we went on while in Wales, where some of Doctor Who is filmed. It was awesome! We started the day with Stonehenge, and Mom and Dad constantly (painfully) reminded us that we were going to see the 'Wales Castle' next. We zoned out in the car on the way to the unknown castle. When we pulled up to a bluish building, I figured we were lost and Mom and Dad were going to argue a bit and then yell at Mom's phone and then finally figure it all out and then be on our merry way. When Dad killed the engine, though, I took a good look around and figured out that in fact, we were at the Doctor Who experience! There was no 'Wales Castle', but the 'rents had booked tickets to this fantasmagical place of fangirling. The first room was a cafe and a waiting room. They had Dalek replicas and a bunch of other things on display first. When it was finally 10:00, we all lined up for the adventure. When the guide finally showed up dressed in his fancy costume, we went on a pretty cool (and fairly cheesy) adventure around the museum. Peter Capaldi (the current Doctor) even did a special video special just for this museum. Honestly, it was a lot better than the other 'adventures' we've gone on before (but it was still a little cheesy). After, we ended up at a gallery full of costumes and props authentic from the T.V. show, and obviously still in use because one of them was “gone on an adventure”. The Face of Boe was there, along with Daleks, Weeping Angels, Sontarans, and so many costumes (and feels). There was a fun little do-dad with the DW choreographer teaching you how to walk like a Cyberman and other aliens. After perusing the gallery, there was a gift shop underneath. I got a t-shirt and a poster, while Colleen got a poster. It was really awesome! I really hope we can go there again if we make it back to Wales.  

This is Abby Cakebread, signing off. 

Valentines Day and Stonehenge

Written by:  Amy cooking pulled pork.

Our time is fast closing here in Ireland and we still haven’t seen Stonehenge.  That is something we need to rectify immediately.  So, instead of the boring traditional Valentine’s Day fare of dinner and schmaltsie cards, I say we head over to Bristol and pay homage to the ones that have come before.   I brought the schmaltsie cards with me. 

Our plane did not leave until 10 pm, so Ker and I took the kids clothes shopping (I can’t believe how fast these two are growing out of clothes!!) and to an early sushi dinner.  On the way, we found some amazing shops.  The girls posed for some photos intended as Valentine’s Day cards for those at home. 

Colleen and I enjoying a coffee and pastry in Drogheda before heading to Dublin.

Abby's Valentine's Day card to those at home.

It was fun!  We even hit the Ha’Penny Bridge which was decorated for the holiday.

The Ha'Penny Bridge all decked out.

After dinner, we headed to the airport to lift off.  It was an easy 45 minute flight. 

This is how we do airplanes.

We picked up our rental car from Europcar and we were off to find our hotel in downtown Bristol, England.  For some reason, our GPS app on our phones did not properly work.  So, we were winging it a little this weekend.  Funny enough, the rental car company did not have any maps of the area.  Instead, they prefer to rent you the in-dash GPS.  Had I known ours were not working, I would have gone back and rented one.  I like having something that takes the guesswork out of navigating.  But, we managed without one.  It was with a little frustration that we decided to only pay for one driver for the car.  I find this practice of charging a per day fee for another driver really a giant rip off.  I mean, what in the world is it to the rental company if I drive the freaking car I rented?  Bah!

Anyway, our hotel was nice and cheap-ish.  I would totally recommend it.  But, really, it was a place to sleep and eat because the main event was Stonehenge. We got up, had our breakfast and hit the road to Wiltshire and Amesbury.  It took us a little over an hour to get there. I enjoyed seeing the small towns go by.  They look a little like Ireland, but there is a very distinct English countryside atmosphere. 

We purchased our tickets for Stonehenge online earlier in the week.  So, when we got there, it was easy to park, get tickets and get ready.  I ran back to the car to put on my hiking pants so I would be warmer.  Totally worth it—wind proof, water proof, cold proof.  I love those pants!  We poked around the interpretive center and played around with the exhibits.  

Huts that the ancients likely lived in.

Heading toward the busses.

But, I wasn’t going to wait another second.

I’m joining the throngs of people awed and amazed by Stonehenge.  Those imposing stones render you silent and thoughtful like any religious monument worth its hype should.  You and 500 of your closest (I hope you don’t have any space bubble issues…) tourists will board the bus that takes you to the site.  We were directed on to these rock sidewalks that border the standing stones. 

I see people...lots and lots of people.

We listened to the audioguide along with many others.  It was very informative, but lacked something.  I can’t tell you what, but I listened for 30 minutes and didn’t get all my questions answered.  I wanted to know more about the mystical part of the site and the audioguide focused on the types of stones on the site.

I was totally bummed to find out that you cannot go into the center of the standing stones anymore.  Instead, you can go ¾ around the circle about 20 feet from the stones. 

They look so far away!

I was so annoyed at the scores of selfie takers blocking the views of the circle that I approached one of the two docents placed there to make sure we all play by the rules.  She told me that if I had come before opening time, me and 26 other would have been allowed into the center.  Which, would have been good to know before we left our hotel, yes?  Also, if I wanted to come back during the solstices and equinoxes, I could join 30,000 people at the site.  No thanks.  The reason she gave for the site not being open anymore is that there are archeological artifacts just below the surface that have not been excavated and are fragile.  So, until they are fully excavated, visitors must be 20 feet away at all times. 

That's as close as we could come. Does that look like a person in there?

However, it is good to remember that on that sidewalk you are in the original stone circle.  But, there’s only a couple of these stones left.

After our audiotour and my heckling the docents, Ker and I walked back to the interpretive center.  The girls wimped out and took the bus—they had not dressed for the weather.  But, the walk was awesome.  We went through and saw many satellite tombs and even saw the Greater Cursus and a couple of Barrows.  This Stonehenge site which includes the stone circle and all the other megalithic discoveries is truly amazing and worth a looksee.  If you don't think you're going to make it, the next best thing is to play around with THIS website.  

Once we were done with Stonehenge, we popped back in the car, resumed our audioCD of The Da Vinci Code, and headed off to our next destination:  Cardiff, Wales.  On the way, I had one of the best lunches I’ve ever had.  We stopped in this tiny village in the middle of nowhere   They call it a carvery, but really, it’s heaven.  You get the choice of 3 roasted meats (or if you’re me, you just ask for a bit of all 3) and then there’s 4 different sides of veg, 4 potato sides, homemade Yorkshire pudding and GRAVY.  Everything was absolutely delicious and I completely stuffed myself. 

I don't even know the name of this village.  What is here is the extent of it though.

and ate at this great pub.

One of the nice things about our hotel in Cardiff is that it had a swimming pool and was more child centered than some of the other places we have stayed.  I like that.  It give the girls the feeling that they are welcome there.  So, they played in the indoor swimming pool right after we arrived in Cardiff.

We told the kids that we were going to do some more castle hunting and that Valentine’s Day weekend was the perfect weekend to do it.  My kids are amazing sports about most things, but they are heartily tired of being hauled to what they term “old rocks” (thanks, Dev). We’ve told them for weeks that Cardiff has one of the most brilliant castles of all time and that I can’t wait to spend all Sunday exploring it and other medieval architecture (including many churches) in the surrounding countryside.  They have expressed about as much excitement about this as they would to going to the dentist.  Just so you know, Cardiff actually does have one of the most amazingly preserved castles.

Cardiff Castle.

 But, what it also has going for it?  Well other than being in Wales (which is cool enough by itself!), it’s only minutes from the Doctor Who Experience.  We neglected to tell them that, of course.  So, it was a complete surprise to them when we got them out the door to “castle hunt” and arrived at the Dr. Who Experience….but, that is not my story to tell.