Springtime in Boston.............not yet!

We flew from Dublin to Boston Thursday evening.  I had visions of putting away the black jacket that I've worn practically everyday for the past five weeks because it's springtime.  It's April, baseball season has started, heck it's gotta be warming up, right?  WRONG!  We stepped off the plane and were greeted by a temperature in the mid-30's and rain.  The jacket went on very quickly.
We've spent the last couple of days here and late this afternoon (Sunday) we will be flying to Texas.  We'll be in Texas until Friday before heading back to Florida where I know the jacket can get a well deserved wash and some rest.
Thankfully since our frosty greeting Thursday evening it has warmed up a bit although it's still been chilly and windy.  We've spent quite a few days in Boston over the years.  It's a pretty compact city and the historical areas along the Freedom Trail are easy to navigate.  We did a little roaming around Friday. 
https://www.thefreedomtrail.org/
One neat thing that we walked up on was the coolest trophy in all of sports, The Stanley Cup.  It is on a tour of cities that have hockey teams in the upcoming playoffs and just happened to be in downtown Boston Friday.  There's a lot of sports geek history and tradition that goes with that trophy that makes it so unique.  The one I like best is that every player on the winning team gets to keep it for 24 hours.  They can do pretty much anything with it during that time.  It's been in some interesting places and has the battle scars to prove it.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/791267-stanley-cup-16-craziest-things-ever-done-with-the-stanley-cup
Even though it was still pretty chilly and windy yesterday (high 40's) we took the opportunity to explore some new territories.  We took the commuter rail train from the North Station of Boston to a small city about an hour away call Newburyport.  This little town located at the mouth the Merrimack River fits the image a small New England town.  It was fun to spend a couple of hours looking around.  We even had a fairly decent Cuban sandwich at a small place called the Purple Onion Café.   Even though it was quite lively, Beth and I agreed it would be a place that we would like to see again on a nice warm summer day once the leaves are on the trees and the flowers have bloomed...........and the snow that has been piled up in the corners of the parking lots has melted!
https://www.newburyport.com/
On the train back to Boston we stopped off for a couple of hours in Salem.  Not to be outdone by all the efforts to get rid of witches that the British were using in the 1600 and early 1700's, Salem had it's own witch trials.  Sadly, twenty people were executed because they were found guilty of being "witches".  It's a little bit ironic and sad that the city has now turned these events into it's main tourist attractions.  There are ghost tours, witch museums, witchcraft stores, clairvoyants, palm readers and everything else you can imagine.  Oh well, it's capitalism at it's finest and hopefully everyone visiting will stop and reflect a few minutes on what really happened back at that point in history.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/a-brief-history-of-the-salem-witch-trials-175162489/
It's now Sunday morning and it's a beautiful looking day outside.  The temperature today is supposed to get up into the low 60's and I know these Bostonians are going to be loving it.  We'll get out there amongst them for a few hours.  We'll probably end up in the Boston Commons which is Boston's equivalent to New York's Central Park.
This has been an amazing journey.  We were talking this morning about where we've been on the last six Sunday's.  It's been London, Polperro, Bath area (Cheddar and Wells), The Lake District, Dingle (Ireland) and Boston.  Looking forward to the next six........the journey continues!

Thus sayeth the Lord!

You can't see it real good but it's a statue honoring the TV show Bewitched...........only in Salem would they have such a statue!

This is the Clipper City Rail Trailhead.  It's a one mile walk from the Newburyport rail station to downtown along this trail.  There are a number of sculptures along the way.

One of the Rail Trail Sculptures.  This one was titled "Sparrows"

A nice casual place to eat along the waterfront in Boston

A gigantic story!

Dublin is a very lively city.  Heck with all that Guinness Beer flowing freely (or at least cheaper than a soda) throughout the city it's kind of like the New Orleans of Ireland.  Aside from the pubs it's full of parks and pedestrian only streets and alleyways that make it a fun place to explore.  Our hotel location made getting around the city center very easy. One of our favorite places was a place we had enjoyed on a previous visit called St. Stephens Green Park.
http://ststephensgreenpark.ie/ 
We read a great story while we were in the park about the Easter Rising in 1916.  This event was in protest of British rule in Ireland.  A group of Irish revolutionary soldiers took over the park and several other key locations around the city of Dublin.  The park has a large pond with ducks and swans that were fed daily by the park superintendent.  During the siege there was a cease fire everyday at a designated time to allow the superintendent to come in and feed them.  The takeover only lasted six days but can you imagine stopping the conflict everyday because it was duck and swan feeding time?  In the early 1920's Ireland gained it's independence from the British and they are a very proud nation.
On our last full day in Dublin we did a rail trip to Belfast, Northern Ireland and then a bus tour of the North Ireland coast and the Giants Causeway.  Northern Ireland remains a part of the United Kingdom and the largest city in the country is Belfast.  There has been a long running feud in the Belfast area, that as is often the case, centers around differences in religious beliefs.  In this case the struggle was between Protestants and Catholics.  It is commonly referred to as "the troubles" and was quite violent at times. While the violence has for the most part gone away, neighborhoods and schools are still somewhat segregated which is pretty sad.  Progress is being made but it's slow and there was a noticeable difference between Dublin and Belfast.  By 6:00 PM downtown Belfast was shutting down while in Dublin the pubs, cafes and shops are going strong late into the evenings.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/troubles
Despite the differences Northern Ireland has some amazingly beautiful areas with the northern coast line and the Giants Causeway being beyond description.  Legend has it that the Giants Causeway is the remains of a bridge that two feuding giants, one from Scotland and one from Ireland built so they could settle their feud in a battle.  Now whoever came up with that story had probably spent a little too much time in a pub staring into a pint of Guinness but it did take some imagination.  The two giants even had names, Finn Mac Cool from Ireland and Benandonner from Scotland.  If I had to pick a favorite based on the names I'd have to go with Finn Mac Cool!
The scientists explanation of how these unusual rock formations came about involves millions of years, volcanos and an ice age.  Either way it left behind a very unusual collection of rock columns that has made the area a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  It's not the easiest place to get to but it was well worth it!
http://www.giantscausewayofficialguide.com/    

Giants Causeway

There are over 40,000 of these rock columns!

Wall Mural in Downtown Belfast in a Protestant Area

Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge-90 yards down to the water!

St. Stephens Green Park-Dublin

Temple Bar Area-Dublin

Temple Bar Area-Dublin

St. Kevin........maybe he wasn't so saintly!

I'm still thinking about that idea of a bunch of southerners doing an Irish themed play (see the last blog).  Maybe my next dive into the literary world will be writing a play.  It could be set in Ireland, performed by a bunch of bubba's and bubbaette's and about the "tater famine" of 1845.  That could be entertaining.
We left Kilkenny early Tuesday morning for our last stop on this adventure.  We made a couple of minor adjustments to our itinerary so we had two nights in Dublin.  This allowed us to do a trip to Belfast and the Giants Causeway on the Northern Ireland Coast (coming up in the next blog)  Along the way from Kilkenny to Dublin there were a couple of nice places we visited.  First up was Glendalough which was located in the Wicklow National Park.  This is the only National Park in eastern Ireland.  It's in a glacial valley surrounded by mountains which made it quite a change for us since we tend to spend most of our time on the coast.  There was an outstanding walk through the woods around two lakes.  Along the way we also passed the ruins of a monastery that was founded by St. Kevin back in the 6th century.  Legend has it that St. Kevin once drowned a woman who attempted to seduce him.  There is even a song about this event and St. Kevin.  The opening verse of the song is:  "In Glendalough there lived an auld saint, renowned for his learning and piety, his manners were curious and quaint, and he looked upon girls with disparity".  These places have been around for a very long time and have certainly produced more than their fair share of history and colorful characters, good and bad!  .
http://www.glendalough.ie/
Although Glendalough is in the mountains it was just a short 30 minute drive and we were back on the coast.  We stopped for lunch in the city of Bray which is located just south of Dublin on the Irish Sea.  The city had a very nice promenade along the waterfront that made for a nice relaxing stroll before heading into Dublin.
http://visitwicklow.ie/towns-villages/bray/
The calm of Glendalough and Bray were quickly replaced by the hustle and bustle of Dublin.  We decided we would drop off our suitcases at the hotel and return the rental car at a downtown location instead of at the airport.  What we didn't know was that the hotel was on one of the main streets in the city center and that there was construction up and down the street.  We saw the hotel only a few hundred feet away, unfortunately in addition to the construction barriers there were billions (a slight exaggeration) of people, bicycles, cars and other objects between us.  It created a few anxious moments but Beth thought of a quick change in plans that worked.  She put in the rental car address in the GPS and that calm voice safely guided us to Avis!  There was a tram station close by and so we only had to drag the suitcases a few blocks.  Travel light, it's makes things so much easier!

Glendalough

6th Century Monastery founded by St. Kevin 

Monastery Grounds & Cemetary

Along the trail in Glendalough

Bray Promenade

 

A most unusual baptism and Irish people with Georgia accents

Monday morning we said goodbye to Gary and the fine folks at the Greenmont House in Dingle and hit the road.  It had rained hard most of the night and was raining when we left but fortunately it had eased up quite a bit.  The extent of my social media is this blog and an occasional rating of a restaurant or hotel on Tripadvisor.  I only rate places on tripadvisor that are exceptionally good or exceptionally bad.  The Greenmont House and Empire Hotel from back in Wales were both exceptionally good.  I need to get around to posting those reviews soon.
Our driving days are always full of adventures along the way and Monday was no exception.  The highlight of the "stops along the way" for this drive was the city of Cashel and more specifically the Rock of Cashel.
The history of Cashel can be traced back to the 4th century.  The "Rock" is a outcropping of a land mass that is several hundred feet above the surrounding area.  This is very similar to the areas in Edinburgh and Stirling, Scotland where their castles were built.  The medieval buildings that remain on the rock today date back to the 12th century when the rock was gifted by the king to the church.
One of the amusing stories we heard dated back to the 5th century when the king at that time wanted to be baptized.  As kings could do, he requested a special baptism by none other than St. Patrick.  We're talking "The St. Patrick", the patron saint of Ireland and the one who is now celebrated with a big party every year.
According to history St. Patrick always carried a pastoral staff with him.  The staff was decorated at the top and had a very sharp point on the bottom which St. Patrick would press into the ground to maintain his balance.  During the baptism he stuck the sharp end into what he thought was the river bed, but unfortunately it was the kings foot.  After the baptism when St. Patrick noticed all the blood he asked the king why he didn't say anything.  The king replied he thought it was part of the ceremony!
We spent Monday night in the town of Kilkenny.  After dropping off the suitcases in the hotel we headed out to make the most use of our time there and explored their "Medieval Mile".  This is the historic section of town with the Kilkenny Castle at one end and St. Canice's Cathedral at the other end.  At the risk of sounding somewhat like a broken record it was quaint, interesting and very historic.  While we were walking we noticed that the local theater had a production that evening.  When we asked the lady in the ticket window about it she said the play was titled Parade, that it was a musical and that it was very good.  We weren't familiar with the play but learned it was about the  murder of a young girl in Atlanta in 1913.  I certainly don't want to make light of a tragic event but I have to admit that I was immediately intrigued by a play featuring a bunch of Irish men and women speaking with a Georgia accent.
We bought tickets, had a nice meal at a place call Matt the Millers and psyched ourselves up for a late night of local community theater Irish style.  The story was interesting and I've attached a little bit of information about it below.  The actors and their accents ranged from very good to "what the heck was that"?  It was like a buffet of Irish people trying to sound southern.  Not an easy task but they did it well.  Maybe we can get a bunch of good folks from Georgia or other parts of the deep south to do an Irish play sometime.  I think that would be quite entertaining and would pay to see that as well.
http://www.mattthemillers.com/
 http://www.aboutnorthgeorgia.com/ang/Little_Secrets

The Rock of Cashel



Cathedral remains on the Rock of Cashel



Kilkenny Castle

The Black Abbey-Kilkenny

Dingle!

Friday afternoon we took a short (less than two hours) flight from Edinburgh to Cork, Ireland.  From Cork it was a pretty simple drive to our next destination, Dingle.  Now every time I say or type out the word Dingle it brings out the immature, adolescent like child in me.  I had a few funny names for this blog playing off the word Dingle but Beth encouraged me to act my age.  She's always looking out for my best interest and keeping me from embarrassing myself too much.  It kind of a full time job for her.
Anyway, it's is a pretty cool name for a town and it's actually a very cool little town.  Dingle has a population of around 2,000 people and is located on the Atlantic Coast of Ireland.  It actually sits on a peninsula appropriately named the Dingle Peninsula.  Unbeknownst to me there is also a Dingle in the US.  Our Dingle is located in the great state of Idaho and from the 30 seconds of research I did I learned it has a population somewhere between 14 and 109 people depending on your source.
So how did we end up in Dingle, Ireland?  Once again, it's thanks to Beth's diligence and once again she knocked it out of the park!  We have had two great days and nights here so far and will be here for one more night before moving on. 
Even though it is fairly small, Dingle has a pretty vibrant city center with a number of restaurants, pubs, shops and the always important ice cream shop.  It was recently named Ireland's top "Foodie Town".
http://www.newstalk.com/Dingle-named-Irelands-Top-Foodie-Town 
Being a coastal town seafood is the star attraction at most of the restaurants and we've had some very good seafood.  Last night just to mix it up we had a nice meal of Chicken Curry (me) and Irish Beef Stew (Beth) at Murphy's Pub.  We then moved up the street a bit to O'Sullivan's to listen to some traditional Irish music.  Yes, we were out way past our bedtime and didn't get back to the hotel until close to 11:00.  This late hour was thanks in part to the fact that even though the sign says the music starts at 9:30 it doesn't mean that it actually will.  Oh well, life in the fast lane!
 http://www.murphyspub.ie/
 http://www.osullivanscourthousepub.com/
Dingle and the entire peninsula are known for their rugged beauty.  There is a mix of  shear cliffs,  rocky coast lines and wide sandy beaches all with stunning views.  Yesterday we turned a 25 mile drive into a six hour adventure.  We drove the Slea Head Drive.  This looped drive around the Dingle Peninsula is a small part of what is called the "Wild Atlantic Way" which is a 400+ mile coastal drive here in Ireland.  The scenery was amazing and we didn't miss too many opportunities to stop and look.  We also found several nice beaches along the way including one that was several miles long that we walked pretty much from end to end.  One of the highlights of the drive was when we were stopped on the road by a herd of oncoming sheep that were being moved from one field to another.  Well, at least we hope they were being moved from one field to another and not to the supermarket!
https://www.dingle-peninsula.ie/attractions-on-the-dingle-peninsula-co-kerry/outdoor-attractions/the-slea-head-drive-sli-cheann-sleibhe.html
http://www.ireland.com/en-gb/articles/wild-atlantic-way/
Although we got plenty of walking in yesterday, today was totally dedicated to hiking some of the many walks that this area has to offer.  We did three different hikes today.  The first two were from trailheads along the Slea Head Drive.  Both trails were our kind of trails.  They were fairly flat, well marked and unlike the English Lake District trail were high above the water line so no wading in frigid water was required.  What these hikes did provide was even more up close and dramatic views of the coastline.  After a nice lunch back in Dingle followed by some well deserved ice cream we took a little time to recover before heading out for the final hike.  This hike didn't require any driving and was a nice flat coastal hike from the hotel to the entrance of the harbor.
Along this last hike we were looking for Fungie, the Dingle Dolphin. This is a real bottlenose dolphin that has lived in the harbor since 1983 and is very fond of humans. Now I'm not sure why he got the name Fungie.  From what I read it just says the name was given to him by local fisherman.  I guess that if the town can be named Dingle why not name the dolphin Fungie!    As a matter of fact they've built quite a tourism industry on Fungie by offering boat trips out to see him with a money back guarantee that he will be sighted.  We didn't see him, but the walk was free and we see plenty of dolphin when we're in Florida so it wasn't a major disappointment.  They're estimating Fungie to be about 40 years of age and dolphin can live up to fifty so they have a few more years to make money off of him.
https://www.dingle-peninsula.ie/home/fungie-the-dingle-dolphin.html
There are so many amazing places to explore and Dingle can certainly be added to the list.  I'm looking forward to Dangling in Dingle again sometime!
Sorry, I just couldn't help myself!

Sheep on the Move!

Ventry Harbor Beach

Overlook on the Slea Head Drive

Slea Head Drive-That's a two lane road!

Slea Head Drive-They actually filmed some Star Wars scenes along the coastal area near here.  I only saw the first Star Wars movie so I can't provide any detail other than it was some Jedi Camps

 Clogher Beach

Clogher Beach

Love this little cafe'-We were still full from breakfast so we just kept walking

Along the Windy National Loop Walk Trail

These stiles sure made crossing fences easy!

Clogher Beach Trail

Clogher Beach Trail

Dingle!

Dingle Footpath

Hussey's Folly Lighthouse-This was built during the potato famine and was a government project similar to the WPA projects in the US.  Built in 1845

St. Andrews, Yes! Haggis, NO!

We've hit another little milestone in this journey.  As of today we have been intentionally homeless for one year!  It's amazing how fast the year has passed and equally amazing how we've missed absolutely nothing about owning a house.
Not one time over the past year have we said anything like;
Oh boy, we get to pull weeds and mow the yard today!
Yippee, the washing machine is broken!
Hey honey, look what we got in the mail today, our property tax bill!
or, I can't wait to dust the house again.  Although we're happy to be able to assist with those household chores at NaNa's when we're there.
We spent our last full day in Scotland on somewhat of a sports pilgrimage.  We left Edinburgh on a one hour train trip, transferred to a bus and in a few minutes we were in the fabulous seaside town of St. Andrews.  We had spent a little time there on a previous visit but this time dedicated the majority of the day to exploring this amazing and historic town.
I think that for anyone who has ever picked up a golf club they immediately think of golf when they hear St. Andrews.  St. Andrews is considered by many to be the birthplace of golf. The town offers a whole lot more, but as a sports geek seeing the Old Course creates "goose bump moments".  Having been to both Augusta (where the Masters is played) and St. Andrews I can say they are both awesome but nothing alike.  Augusta is so green and pristine. There doesn't seem to be a blade of grass out of place.  St. Andrews, not so green or pristine.  Heck, there is a road that runs across #'s 1 & 18 fairway and the main route from the town to the West Sand Beach is walking or driving this road.  But the places has so much history and tradition.  Another cool thing is that it's a public course so you can  just walk on out on the course and take a look around.  Try doing that at Augusta sometime.  You want your picture on the iconic Swilken Bridge on #18?  All you need is a camera and to make sure there are no golfers coming and you can take all the pictures you want.  If you're getting the impression I was like a kid on Christmas morning, you're right.  We had lunch at a little café in the British Golf Museum that overlooked the course. I was staring out thinking about all the greats that have walked up that 18th fairway when Beth asked me how many times would I have to come there before it wasn't as special.  I told her I had no clue, but I can guarantee it would be a whole bunch.
Other than the golf course there is also West Sands Beach which seems to go on for miles and miles.  We did a nice long walk but the end was never in sight.  This beach was used for the opening scene in the movie Chariot's of Fire when the runners were running down the beach with the cool song playing.  I reenacted this scene for both photos and a slo motion video.  Now if only I was smart enough to dub the music over the video and put it on youtube!
Among other highlights of St. Andrews are the cathedral and castle ruins. Also St. Andrews University which is the oldest University in Scotland (founded in 1414).  The university had a very nice little museum that not only provided information on the history of the university but the town as well.  Being around that long and being that prestigious there is quite a bit of history with a number of scholarly types having studied there.  Their most famous recent alumni would have to be Prince William.  While he was there he met Kate and soon there was a Princess!  We were hoping they'd be back in town for a visit but I guess other royal duties and the kids keep them busy these days.
I would suggest a visit to St. Andrews for anyone who is going to be in Scotland, golfer or not.  It's a great place to explore.
http://www.visitstandrews.com/
Now on to a less pleasant subject and that's Haggis.  If you look up Haggis online the description will tell you that it is a "savory pudding" and the National Dish of Scotland.  It may go a little bit further and say that Haggis is a combination of meat, oatmeal, onions and spices.  Doesn't sound too bad yet?  Dig deeper my friend before you dive in.  The "meat" traditionally is sheep heart, liver and lung and it's encased in the animals stomach.  Still hungry?  Well you can't buy "true Haggis in the US.  It's been banned since the early 1970's because the FDA doesn't consider sheep lung to be an edible organ meat. Those who eat it will probably tell you it's an acquired taste.  I'll tell you that it's a taste that this old boy won't be acquiring in his lifetime! 
https://www.visitscotland.com/see-do/food-drink/traditional/haggis/

The Swilken Bridge-St. Andrews

 l

Doing my best Nicklaus or Palmer pose

Dogs are welcome on the Old Course

West Sand Beach........It never rained on us!

#1 tee and club house

More like Chariots of Molasses on a cold morning!

St Andrews Cathedral Ruis

St. Andrews Cathedral ruins growing out of my head........

St Marys which is the oldest part of St. Andrews University