The Best Bits

Every trip comes to an end and we are left with the memories, the third part of travel—Planning & anticipation, the actual journey, and then the remembering. As I think about our 2019 adventure, I remember thinking we should do it now, we won’t be younger next year and we probably won’t be in better health.  So with that in mind we began planning and then doing and now we are filled with memories. What were the best bits? The very best bits would have to be the people we met along the way.  The world is filled with kind and generous people, Blanche Du Bois had it right about getting along with the kindness of strangers. Some of those people that we remember along the way: Koichiro in Kyoto; Joe and Vicki (and all the guides) in Viet Nam; Cheru (and guides) Sue (our friend who joined us on this adventure), Rick, Elsa, Abi, Tamrat and Selamta in Ethiopia; Matthias in Germany; Steve, Lotta and family in Sweden; Stephen in Scotland; Fiona,Martin, Andrew and Stephanie in England; Joan, Colm, Ina, Ann in Ireland; and all of those who helped us find our way as we went along, and finally those we met in the bars and restaurants who made our journey more fun.

The best bit of advice I can give for a long and complicated trip—use professional help.  Many thanks to Debbie Isom at Travel Leaders in Bloomington who saved our booties and our money several times on this trip when things didn’t go according to plan. Also thanks to Lisa at Rick Steves who gave us great advice about European buses, trains and guides.

All of our hotels had great city center locations, so best bit for hotels, location, location, location.
Best hotel for relaxing and breakfast, the Sofitel in Hamburg (thanks to travel agent Debbie for this one).

Best breakfasts—again all of our hotels were spectacular but we loved Miramar in Frankfurt for the salmon, the huge variety must be the Sofitel in Hamburg, the Radisson Blu in Stockholm, and the Apex in Bath.

Another best bit would have to be Guinness in Ireland.  We have both come to really like it as it’s not carbonated. Best alcohol tour would have to be The Scotch Experience in Edinburgh (sorry, Jameson).

The best bit of drama was in Edinburgh on our tour of the highlands. A family of four had some troubled interpersonal relationships and ended up with one of the two pulling the hair of the other (both were in their twenties). The Barman threatened to call the police.  Of course they were American. Our guide handled them beautifully and tactfully.  The full account is on a previous blog.

There can’t be a best bit for scenery as everywhere we went was spectacular.

There can’t be a best bit for countries as each one is unique and wonderful in its own way. We found generous and kind people in every single one.

Best bit of an encounter would have to be in Viet Nam when Dennis met with a North Vietnamese veteran. It was very touching, so much so that the videos I took are pretty bad, with shots  under the table and of the floor. It was wonderful.

Another best encounter was in Lalibela when Cheru took us to his niece’s house and then to his own home and to the home of his sister.  Each visit was beautiful. There are so many best encounters that all

we can tell you is to go back and reread the list of people in the first paragraph.

The Gospel According to Dennis:
Meeting friends in Dublin on this, the final leg of our spring 2019 adventure was icing on the cake. We left Bloomington on January 23rd and are flying back to Chicago today, April 3rd. We started in Japan and our final stop was Dublin, Ireland.  Sandwiched between these destinations, were Viet Nam, Ethiopia, Germany, Sweden, Scotland, and England.  Honestly, it’s difficult for me to put it all together. But thanks to Cindy’s camera and blog (and I’m sure DVDs to follow) I can revisit them when my memory falters.

Each country was unique in its own way. The common thread that tied them altogether was the people we encountered. Don’t get me wrong, this wasn’t a Disney film where everyone broke into song, the sun always shined (we didn’t bring those umbrellas for nothing), and butterflies and white doves didn’t swirl around in thought bubbles over our heads. Not everyone became our friend—especially the kid in the market in Dire Dawa who tried to pick my pocket. But when we needed help someone always answered the call. That is what I remember the most. I understand there are “bad” people in the world but from what I’ve found, the “good” people far outnumber the bad.

Thanks for joining us on our journey.  Until the next time, “may the force be with you!”  

Winding Down

Dublin has been an adventure. We oriented ourselves with a Hop-on Hop-off bus and figured out what we really wanted to see but need more time. Guess what that means?

We got caught up in the uprising of 1916 with the help of the Kilmainham Gaol and the General Post Office Witness History exhibition.

And then to Murray’s for an introduction to sports we never saw before.

Listened to music at Murray’s Bar and Grill, watched hurling and Gaelic football and soccer.

Best of all we got to have lunch at Madigan with Mary and Eu Gene where spent as much time laughing as we did eating.

Tonight, dinner at Joan’s with Ann and Ina.  Travel doesn’t  get any better than when you meet up with friends.

Joan is a supervising teacher of student teachers placed in Ireland by Indiana University. We are hoping to see her and Colm in Bloomington this summer.  We would like to have a chance to repay their hospitality though I could never replicate the gorgeous dinner. A beautiful way to end the trip.

Myths Are A Plenty

The Gospel According to Dennis:
Friday, March 29th was our trip to the “Burren” and then on to the Cliffs of Moher via tour bus with our driver, Tommy. We left Galway at around 10:00 AM which was an easy time to start. On the way to the Burren we passed a few castles, stopped for 10 - 15 minutes at each and learned from Tommy, which had good feudal lords and which didn’t. One by the name of Lynch, actually hanged his own son for killing an opponent in a duel (duels were illegal). When no one would step forward to do the hanging, Lord Lynch put the noose around his son’s neck and pushed him off the scaffold. Local myth says this is where the word lynching originated. Sound kinda fishy? We found myths aplenty in Ireland.

The Burren is a UNESCO Geo Park of glacial era limestone cliffs, caves, and tombs. It formed 325 million years ago but people populated it 2,500 - 4,000 B.C.  They couldn’t bury their dead because of the thick limestone base (like Bloomington, IN) so they dug into what little dirt was there andcovered the people with stone. (Cindy has pics.)

The Cliffs of Moher are are also in the area and abut the Atlantic Ocean. The cliffs tower up to 700 feet above the ocean and span 5 miles of ocean frontage. Again, Cindy has pics but they can’t do it justice.  It’s overwhelming. There are stone fences erected to keep tourists from the face of the cliffs with signs saying, “Stay inside the fence, erosion is still occurring.”  This dissuades most people but not all. Many young people hang over the edge and tempt fate but none were sacrificed this day.

I must admit, I probably would have done the same but for my lumbago, vertigo, minor case of pneumonia, and gout. Oh, and acrophobia, did I mention acrophobia? But I do have nerves of steel. I really would have hung over the cliffs too, if not for these distractions, oh and my nebulizer. The hose wouldn’t reach the cliffs edge, especially with Cindy holding onto my sleeve and nagging about having to tell my daughters about my untimely and foolish death. In any event, it was a great day. Our last stop was also along the Atlantic and also beautiful.

Tommy had plenty of Irish stories, myths, and of course jokes that made it even better. Do you know how to tell a pessimist from an optimist from an Irishman? A pessimist says the glass is half empty, An optimist says the glass is half full, the Irishman says, give me the glass and put a little whiskey in it. Cindy says she’s going to do a DNA test because  she’s sure now her biological father must have some Irish in him.  Just kidding, but she did say that. With that, we headed out for dinner, an Irish pub, just across the street from our hotel with music.

I’ve got one more quick story about this pub. At closing time, 3:00 AM I woke to singing, yelling, honking, fighting, so I went to the window and what to my wondering eyes should appear?  A drunk guy who got lost in a 4’ x 3’ doorway with an open front. It was hilarious.  He finally found his way out, wobbled up the sidewalk 5 or 6 feet, turned around, wobbled back and fell into the same doorway and the same dilemma. He found his way out again, got into a scuffle with a passerby at which time his wife found him and dragged him home. Ya gotta love Ireland and the Irish!!

The Poems of James A. Kelly

Eventually, I’ll get to the poems but first the day...we started at Griffins Bakery #21 Shops Street, guided there by two young and charming police officers. They thought they could take us there because they knew of a pub nearby, gorgeous beginning! At exactly 10:30 AM we were joined by 10 young men and women from Galway, Pennsylvania, other parts of Ireland, and Germany and our guide Sheena. Her tour is highly recommended by Rick Steves and for good reason. And so we began at the bakery with a sample of a scone and a cream filled donut.  One of the tiny young ladies, claimed it was too much.  Dennis and I refrained from offering to eat her leftovers though we discussed it as we walked to our next stop. So delicious!

We next went to McCambridge’s Shop and Restaurant for a whiskey sampling, great way to start the day! We had several kinds of whiskey, including poitin (Irish moonshine) accompanied by two kinds of cheese and two kinds of salami. Several people discarded their portion of the poitin. Dennis offered to drink it. Sheena, “Really?” He didn’t press the point though I could see he might like too.

From there we went to the Saturday market to The Bean Tree for wonderful curry and then to the Brown’s Oysters and Egg concession. This is run by Michael’s father.  Michael and his girlfriend were on the tour with us.  He was in the shucking contest for the last two years but declines to do it again. The oysters were served with a dollop of buttermilk on them and sucked down with gusto, at least

by some and by some, a bit timidly. Interesting.

We then went to a very old bar, Sehan Ua Neachtain with fantastic food.  First we tried sushi by a friend of Sheena’s—a traditional tuna sushi and a turnip sushi which she used to successfully introduce sushi to Ireland. The point of Sheena’s tours is to get away from the stereotypes of what Irish food is and to showcase the new farm to table success stories. Then we tried samples for the bar itself with two beers, Kojak, a dark beer and a Galway Hooker, an IPA plus two open faced sandwiches on homemade bread that were just fantastic.

On we went to The Hazel Mountain Chocolate shop which imports cocoa beans from all over the world and then creates magnificent chocolates based on the flavors of the beans.  We ended with hot choclate which was melted chocolate with a bit of water. Amazing!

This was followed by a trip to the Cupan Tae, an Irish tea house for a bite sized tea cake filled with a bit of tea and iced with frosting that includes tea. Yum!

We finished across the river at Kia Cafe which has a Michelin star and was won prizes across Europe with a prosciutto, jam, nut appetizer.We waddled away about three hours later and headed in a haphazard manner for the King’s Head

The King’s Head brings us to Mr. James A. Kelly who admitted with no promoting at all, that he was exceedingly drunk.  According to Mr. Kelly’s new 2016 edition of his book, The Poems of James Anthony Kelly, no part of his work cam be produced in any form without his permission, so I am unable to share any of this work with you. Suffice it to say, we enjoyed our encounter with the poet. He gladly (after I slipped him 10 Euros) warmly autographed the cover page, “Welcome Home, to Sindy & Denis.”  Many sweet sentiments, hugs and kisses later, we bide him adieu.