28 Jun: Back to Glenveagh Park

On our first drive through Donegal, we stopped briefly at Glenveagh Park. We visited the castle, but didn't have time to walk the grounds. Today, M and I went back. I did more driving today than I had yet and am glad that I am getting over my fear of left-side driving and roundabouts.

We arrived at the park at about 10am and immediately started walking the 2km (1.2 mile) nature trail. We stopped at the education cabin and read about biodiversity in Ireland. M liked matching pictures of birds with their names. The park was very quiet and we didn't see anyone else on the nature trail.

After the nature trail, we explored the visitor centre, which has a history of the castle, including the notorious and unpopular eviction of tenant farmers when the castle was first built in 1861. The park is also part of a program to re-introduce golden eagles to Ireland and we liked seeing pictures of their 2007 and 2009 chicks.

After a quick lunch at the visitor centre, we took the shuttle bus further into the park, to the castle. Instead of touring the castle again, we walked the gardens around the castle. I especially enjoyed the views of the castle and Loch Veagh from Victorian and walled gardens.

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25-26 June: More pictures

Here are links to more pictures from our weekend. First, the Peace Bridge events and then Inishowen.

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26 June: Inishowen 100

or "At points, it's just you and sheep" and "Home of Ireland's most northerly mobile espresso bar."




We spent Sunday driving around the Inishowen peninsula. We mostly followed the "Inishownen 100," a 100-mile drive around the peninsula. We started in Buncrana, with a stop at the beach and a playground. We then drove up to the Dunree Fort. The fort's museum hadn't opened for the day, but we still enjoyed the views.

I took a few pictures of sheep by the side of the road and M laughed to hear them 'baa' at me. We had lunch in Carndonagh and, after lunch, headed up to Malin Head, the most northerly point in Ireland.



At Malin Head, there are rocks that spell "Eire." The rock words date from World War II, when the Irish wanted to make sure that if German bombers headed to England blew off course, they would not bomb the wrong island.
There is also an old radio tower at Malin, which is where nineteenth century Irish first learned news of the California Gold Rush and of President Lincoln's assassination. A local family also runs Cafe Banba, which they call Ireland's most northerly espresso bar. They make a mean macchiato. After Malin Head, we drove back to Derry.

25 June: Peace Bridge opens!

One of the first events we heard about when we found out we'd be in Derry this summer was the opening of the Peace Bridge, a pedestrian bridge connecting the downtown to the Waterside. Our townhouse is on the Waterside, so we have been excited for the opening. Two annual summer events, the Carnival of Colours (in our favorite St Columb's Park) and the One World Festival (in Guildhall Square, just outside the city walls) were planned to coincide with the bridge opening this year. The Walled City Market, an open air market that usually has stalls in Guildhall Square once a month, had an extra weekend date for the bridge opening.

We started our morning by taking the bus to town. We (ok, I) shopped the market, getting some curry sauces, a pair of earrings, and an art print. We walked into the Diamond, the area inside the walls, for lunch and, then walked through the Craft Village and Guildhall Square to listen to live music. We especially enjoyed local musician and DJ Aidan Logan. We rode the bus to St Columb's to see the Carnival. M enjoyed an improv group's tennis match. Steve got to see the playground for the first time.

At about 3:30pm, we joined the queue to cross the bridge for the first time. Halfway across, we saw and said hello to Caroline, who had given us a ride home from the Derry FC game last Friday! The long queues on both sides of the river spoke to how excited Derry citizens are to have the bridge to connect the Cityside (traditionally Catholic) with the Waterside (traditionally Protestant). We were glad to be able to celebrate with Derry. After crossing, we had an early dinner at Wetherspoon's before walking back across the river. On our second crossing, we saw our landlord and his assistant. We stopped back at the Carnival and then walked home.

23 Jun 2011: Firebox Grill

After a quiet day of grocery shopping and playing at St Columb's Park, M and I met up with Steve and we headed to County Donegal to have dinner at the Firebox Grill. It is a wonderful little family run restaurant and named for the grill in the center of the restaurant. When we were driving home, the clouds had cleared and the views were beautiful. I didn't have any of the big cameras with me, but did the best I could with my phone.

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While I am typing this, M and I are watching Sky Sports News, which is like Sports Center. The big stories here are all about Wimbledon. This morning the interviewer talked to a bird trainer. Why a bird trainer at Wimbledon? They have given a press pass to a Harris hawk so that the hawk can get close to the center court and scare away the pigeons! M says that the press pass says that the hawk's job is "bird scarer." Love it! The interviewer promised that that would be her last interview with a hawk, which M and I were sad to hear. Awww!

p.s. Note in the picture of the grill, there is a little wine rack in the foreground. Steve and I have the same wine rack at home. It was a wedding present from drLaura. :)

this weekend in Derry

Just a quick note to share an article on the opening of Derry's new Peace Bridge.

22 Jun 2011: Quiet Week

Yep, we're still here. We've been sticking closer to home since our weekend in Donegal. M and I did go to the Riverwatch Aquarium at the Lough Agency yesterday. The exhibits are well-done but the aquarium is very small -- we spent more time on the two buses to get there than it took us to see all of the aquarium. Steve took the land yacht to be repaired and offered to pick us up at the aquarium. We were glad for the ride. We now have a Ford Focus, which is a step down from the Passat, but, as it's easier to drive a small car on the roads here and to get in and out of parking spaces, Steve is threatening to refuse to swap back after the Passat is repaired.

Other than the aquarium, we've been sticking to our usual haunts, the library, the grocery, and the parks. Tomorrow night, we are going to the Firebox Grill for dinner and Saturday is the opening of the Peace Bridge and, coinciding with the Peace Bridge opening, the Carnival of Colours.





Had to share couple of labels. "Change the world or go home."

Snails and snail shells

Just a couple of pictures of the snails we saw at Bunbeg yesterday and the shells we brought back. The smallest shells we saw were about 2/3 the size of the smallest shells in this picture and the biggest snails were probably 1.5 times the size of the larger ones. I especially like the pink shell.

It's Always Something, Part 2

As we were heading out to take M to the birthday party yesterday, we heard a bumping sound at the front of the Passat (or, as we've nicknamed it, the land yacht). We got out to have a look and, sure enough, the front bumper had developed a crack and started to pull away from the car at the left (passenger) side. Steve got the original paperwork out and there is a cryptic mark on the previous damage diagram that makes us suspect that the problem was already there before we got the car. But, over the course of the weekend, it has gotten much worse. Steve took it in this morning and it sounds as though we'll get a loaner tomorrow while they replace the bumper.

A birthday party and a night in Donegal

We got a slow start Saturday AM, after being out late at the Derry F.C. game on Friday night. Once we were all up, we went to Wetherspoons for brunch. We all had variations on the traditional Ulster Fry. Yes, Wetherspoons even has vege sausage for their vegetarian breakfast.

Steve and I dropped M at Laser Space for the much anticipated birthday party. The birthday boy, who was turning 8, is the 2nd oldest in a family of four kids, so there was a big crowd of kids between the ages of 2 and 9. They played laser tag and had treats. It must have been quite the time because, as soon as we picked M up and started our drive to Donegal, he fell asleep! That's the sign of a good party!

We drove for about an hour to get to Glenveagh Park and Castle. We decided to tour the castle, which was built in the 1870s as a hunting lodge. The tour was very informative but long and by the time it was done, we were running out of time and hurried out to get back on the road to the hotel. We will definitely go back to walk the grounds.

We spent the night at Bunbeg House, on the Atlantic coast. For dinner, we went to the Seaview hotel. On Sunday morning, we walked the beach in Bunbeg before heading home. M and I like to collect seashells. We didn't see many but we did see lots of snail shells. We brought home a few empty shells and watched snails on the rocks. M felt that snails move faster than we give them credit for and I was surprised by the variety in size and color of the shells.

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Derry F.C. wins 3-0!

We started the weekend by going to the Derry F.C. game against Bohemians F.C. (who are one of three teams based in Dublin). The game is a big rivalry. Our taxi driver helped us find the shop that sells tickets, saving us from wandering the neighborhood, and a family of season ticket holders showed us a section of seats near mid-field that were marked "Reserved" but which are always empty. The stadium isn't as large as I had expected and I think all of the seats would have a good view of the field.

One section at the end of the stadium was reserved for Bohemians fans, who were a noisy and aggressive crowd. At the end of the game, we met Caroline and Mike, Derry residents and avid fans, who told us that because of the rivalry, the defection of the Derry manager to Bohemians, and a little racist attitude on the part of a few Bohemians fans toward Derry's top scorer Eamon Zayed (who scored two of Derry's 3 goals on Friday and who M tells me is the league's top scorer), the visiting fans on Friday night behaved much worse than fans usually do at the games. Caroline was worried that a fight would break out in the street after the game and insisted on giving us a ride home rather than have us wait for a cab. Another example of how kind people are here. In talking, we learned that Caroline has several aunts in the Minneapolis area. What a coincidence!

And, of course, it's always good when the home team wins.

Friday 17 June 2011

Yep, we're still here. It's been a quiet few days after our trip to Portrush on Tuesday. This morning, we checked out another branch of the Northern Ireland libraries, one that is walkable from our townhouse but in a direction we hadn't walked before this morning. While the Waterside branch is smaller than Derry Central, Waterside does have a larger children's area and M found many books he'd like to read.

Now we're home for a quiet afternoon, before the start of a busy weekend. Tonight we are going to see Derry F.C. (football club, football meaning what Americans call soccer) play and tomorrow M is going to a birthday party. After the party we are driving to County Donegal and spending Saturday night in Bunbeg. I'll post photos on Sunday or Monday.

Have a good weekend!

Portrush!

M and I took the train to Portrush today. The train ride was an hour long, beautiful ride along the coast and Portrush is a fun seaside resort town. Unfortunately, I left the SD card for our camera in my computer, so was left taking pictures with my phone. Just means I have to make another trip there, right? :)

We went to Barry's Amusement Park and Arcade. Since it's the middle of the week and school isn't out for summer yet, we mostly had the arcade to ourselves. M rode the carousel a couple of times (and was the only kid on it both times!) and we collected loads of tickets on a ball dropping game. M turned the tickets in for a pullback racer and a plastic dinosaur.

We walked up and back along the beach and collected a few seashells. M played on a playground, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. It was a wonderful day but we came home so tired that this was dinner.

A Trip to the Dentist

When Steve was helping M floss his teeth the other night, one of M's fillings popped out. No pain to M, just a hole where the filling used to be. Steve asked one of the Springtown managers, who has four kids, for a dentist recommendation and learned that the manager has a cousin who is a dentist and whose practice is five minutes from our townhouse. Katherine, the dentist, was able to see M this morning. She quickly cleaned the tooth and filled the cavity, in much less time than it has ever taken a dentist to fill one of my cavities. Steve and I were impressed with how good she was with M. Before we left the States, I scheduled an appointment for M with his regular dentist for a cleaning and now am glad for the timing.

After the appointment, Steve went back to work and M and I filled our day with postcard writing (M), cleaning (me), and a walk to the playground at St Columb's.

We also learned that M will be invited to a birthday party this weekend. He is excited to meet some kids and to play laser tag.

Sunday drive to Grianán of Aileach

I drove for the first time today! We went to Grianán of Aileach, in County Donegal, Morgan and my first trip into the Republic of Ireland. The Grianán of Aileach is a ring fort, dating from approximately 600 A.D.

I had expected to title this post "Stay left, stay left, AAAH ROUNDABOUT." But on the approach to Grianán of Aileach, I found myself facing something else. We were headed uphill, on a road only about half again as wide as the car, when out onto the road popped two ... sheep.

Conversation in the car:

Steve: "Just keeping going. They'll move."

Me: "I don't want to hit anyone's livestock."

M: "Mom, if you hit them, they won't be anyone's livestock. They'll be someone's deadstock."

Thanks, M.

The sheep apparently had been through this before. They came forward until there was a convenient shoulder on the road and then crossed safely. We continued up to Grianán of Aileach and enjoyed the fort, as well as beautiful views of Donegal.

I later drove us to the Tesco and back and was glad to see only roundabouts, no livestock or deadstock.

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Giant's Causeway and Bushmills

Giant's Causeway was absolutely beautiful. Pictures I had seen didn't do it justice and I'm afraid my photos won't either. I'll write more later but, as a start, here are the photos.

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Update (13 June 2011)
I had seen video footage of Giant's Causeway on Rick Steves. I had seen others' photos. But nothing (including my own pictures) captures how stunning Giant's Causeway is or how big it is. There are several rock formations, of different heights, all with the hexagonal columns. One of Steve's MN coworkers who recently finished a short term assignment here, after visiting Giant's Causeway, described it as the best kids' playground and M certainly agrees. M climbed and explored each bit of rock.

On the trip out to Giant's Causeway, M told us that before we even knew we were coming to Northern Ireland, his class read and acted out a play based on the folk story about the creation of Giant's Causeway. He said that in the play, the giant says "Now I can get to Scotland in just three steps!" M and his classmates thought that was very funny! A brief version of the legend can be found here.

Exploring the City

We've been taking advantage of the local buses to explore more of the city. On Wednesday we went to the Tower Museum and walked the city walls. The Tower Museum has two main exhibits: a history of Derry and an exhibit about La Trinidad Valencera, a ship from the Spanish Armada that sunk outside Derry in 1588 and was excavated in the 1970s. Both exhibits were well done. We learned were that Derry means 'Oak' and that Springtown, the part of town where Seagate is, was formerly a World War II American naval base. I also enjoyed the short film about Derry as a seaport for Irish sailing to North America. M liked reading about the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). M wrote a few postcards when we got home.

Yesterday, we headed back to St. Columb's Park. In the afternoon, we rode back into the city and walked along the river. Steve met us at the end of the footpath and we all had dinner at Chilli's. Dinner was yummy.

And, today, we rode the bus back in to pick up some odds and ends for the townhouse. Steve met us for lunch at the cafe at the top of Austin's department store. It was a clear afternoon and the views from the restaurant were well worth the cafeteria lines. After Steve headed back to Seagate, M and I walked to the Derry Central Library and got library cards. We both found several books -- even though we're also both in the middle of great reads on our Kindles! :)

This weekend, the plan is to drive to Giant's Causeway tomorrow and for me to practice driving in town on Sunday. "Stay to the left, stay to the left, stay to the left."

M's comment on being caught in a couple of brief rain showers this week: "Of course, you're going to get wet in Ireland. Well, if you stayed inside all day, you wouldn't. But then you wouldn't get to see St. Columb's Park and a bunch of other awesome stuff, so that wouldn't be good."

St Columb's Park

Steve went back to work today. M and I walked down to St. Columb's Park, about a mile from our townhouse. The park is huge and has walking paths, soccer fields, and two large playgrounds. We found the "big kid" playground first. M climbed to the top of a tall teepee and along a long rope net, while I watched and took pictures. The "little kid" playground was around the next bend and still had great climbing ropes, ladders, and a huge slide. After playing we came home for lunch and plan to spend the afternoon at home, doing some laundry and unpacking.

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Our first day (6 Jun 2011)

M and I arrived last night. Uneventful travel = my favorite. M was very excited that the newsstand in Heathrow's Terminal 1 had Match Attax cards. Steve picked us up in Belfast and then we went to dinner at Icon, just 5 minutes from our townhouse.

Steve took the day off today to show us around town and to help us run some errands. I got a cell phone and we picked up some groceries. We walked about a quarter of the way around the city walls. Later in the afternoon, we went to Kilfennen Park, which is about a 5 minute walk from our townhouse. Steve and M brought a soccer ball and practiced passing and defending.

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3 kinds of mango tonight

M had a mango lassi and mango ice cream at India Palace tonight. Then we came home and logged into our library's language learning center (Mángo!) to learn a little about the Irish language. In lesson 1, we learned about greetings:
"Dia duit, cen chaoi a bhfuil tú which is the formal way to say "Hello, how are you?"

and the informal "Haigh!" (which is pronounced like and means the same as the English "Hi!").

The pronunciation for the formal greeting is not at all what I would have expected. It's:
Dee-u rit, ken khee u WIL too?

First Photos

M and I are excited to be getting on a plane on Saturday and starting our adventure. Meanwhile, Steve has sent photos of his first couple of weeks...

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The slide show has photos of our townhouse, the Foyle River in Derry and Grianan (a ring fort), and Malin Head in County Donegal.