8-9 July: Dublin (evening flight and first day)

We decided to take advantage of Steve having 12 July off from work (for the Northern Ireland holiday for the Battle of the Boyne) and go to Dublin for 5 nights. We flew out on Friday evening and back this morning (Wed 13 Jul). Steve took a little teasing at work for us splurging on airline tickets for what would have been a 3-4 hour drive. But we were glad to be able to arrive Friday evening and stay Tuesday night without Steve having to take Wednesday off. The flights were just 30 minutes. None of us had ever been in such empty planes: there were only 7 passengers on the flight to Dublin and just 4 of us coming back, even though the planes seated 68 and 32, respectively. The customs officer in Dublin told us that often there was only one passenger on the flight!

After arriving Friday night, we took a bus to the hotel, got a quick sandwich for supper, and went to sleep to be ready to get an early start Saturday. On Saturday morning, we walked along the river and through Temple Bar. We then went to Dublinia, a museum about the Viking and Medieval periods in Dublin's history. M loved Dublinia! He took notes for himself, especially about the Viking runic alphabet.

Dublinia is next door to Christ Church, a Gothic church that occupies the same site as the first church in Dublin (c. 1070). I was excited to learn that Christ Church has been used for filming some of the church scenes in "The Tudors" and the wedding costumes worn by Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Henry VIII) and Annabelle Wallis (Jane Seymour) were on display!

We walked back to Temple Bar for lunch and stumbled upon the open air book market. I was tempted to shop the books, but Steve reminded me of the baggage weight limits and I contented myself with photos of books to add to my "to read" list.

Continuing the day's theme, we walked to the National Museum's History and Archeology. M always loves the kids' activity sheets available at European museums and the National Museum's Viking sheet was no exception. His favorite activity was to draw a Viking shield. Finding his favorite object, though, was difficult and Steve and I rested on a bench while he checked back to narrow down the list.

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And, to close, here's a shout out to my favorite radio station BBC R2, which just finished playing an "oldies" set that included the Stones' "Paint it Black," America's "Horse with No Name," and Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit." I love that the radio stations here don't stick to a single genre or format. I am discovering, or in today's case, rediscovering lots of great music.

8 July: Recap of Soccer Camp

Hallo, it's M! I had a great time at soccer camp! We played the Mini World Cup today to end it all.

My Career Stats:

Goals: 3

Assists: 3

World Cup Assists: 1

Matches: 35

Starts: 32

World Cup Matches: 5

Club: Oranges=7 matches

Greens=23 matches

National Team: Holland=4 matches

Northern Ireland=1 match (sub on)

The Mini World Cup was made up of Argentina, Northern Ireland and Holland. I think either Northern Ireland or Holland won it all.

I got a Nutty Krust goodie bag for participating. Along with some other things, it had a loaf of bread and a funny sticker that said "Do you know the Muffin Man?"

7 July: Top of the Hill Park

After I dropped M off at soccer camp this morning, I drove up to Top of the Hill park, where a taxi driver had recommended we go to take pictures of the city. What a beautiful view! I walked the park for about half an hour, taking loads of photos looking down on Derry.

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M continues to enjoy soccer camp and promises an update after tomorrow's mini-world cup! And then we are off to Dublin for a long weekend.

6 Jul: Rainbow

We didn't see a leprechaun or a pot of gold, but we did see the rainbow.

4 July: Happy Independence Day!

Happy 4th of July to everyone at home!

The 4th isn't a holiday here, not even for Americans at Seagate. But Steve reports that the Seagate cafeteria decorated for the 4th and served hot dogs and other barbecue foods for lunch. There was even a band playing in the corner.

M started soccer school today and was excited to write his first post about it. I am sure he will have more to report as the week goes on.

We have our own barbecue planned for tonight. Here are the fixings.


No fireworks, though.

1-3 Jul 11: Sligo and Galway

Our weekend started Thursday night, when we met another Seagate ex-pat family for dinner and another visit to the Grianan of Aileach.

Steve took Friday off from work and we drove to Sligo, on the west coast, stopping at the Yeats Tavern in Drumcliff for lunch. We arrived in time for the 3pm show at the Irish Raptor Centre. The show lasted a full hour and included many raptors flying right over the audience -- close enough that M and I even felt talons across our ears and forehead! The Himalayan vulture was one of our favorites. He is 3 years old, weighs 10 kilos (22 lbs), and has a wingspan of 3m (9 feet)! Flying is tough if you are that big and he tried to "cheat," hopping from trainer to trainer to get his chicken treats. I always like the owls and we were allowed to pet the back of one of the owls, so soft.

After the raptor show, we checked into our hotel and walked into the town center for dinner. After dinner, we walked more and looked at the abbey ruins through the gate. The abbey was built in the 1280s.

Saturday morning we got an early start and drove to the Carrowmore megalithic cemetery. We enjoyed walking among the tombs and through one of the larger ones. From Carrowmore, we could see Knocknanera, the legendary tomb of mythical Queen Maeve.

We drove south from Carrowmore and were surprised at how much flatter the land is south of Sligo, not the rugged rolling hills we're used to in the north part of Ireland. We arrived in Galway mid-afternoon. Galway is a vibrant town with a large pedestrian shopping area. It's also the first spot we've visited where we've seen crowds of tourists (and mostly American tourists). I bought some yarn made in Donegal at a yarn shop in the pedestrian mall.

Sunday morning we drove home so Steve and M could rest before heading back to work and to soccer camp, respectively.

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p.s. thanks to M for teaching me how the spell check in Blogger works.

4 Jul 11: M talks about soccer school

M here. Today I started soccer camp. I was put with 13 other boys between the ages of 8-10 and we kicked off by practicing dribbling skills.

Then we got to the really fun part: matches. I was wearing my USA jersey. I was picked by the Oranges, so I was just wearing the orange bib after that. The Oranges lineup was this: M (me), M (a different one), L, A and J. L was the tallest person on the team. A is from Vancouver! We played 7 matches and we won 5 and drew 2. Our record was almost 5-1-1, but I slotted a last-second goal to keep us at 5-2-0. Here is how it happened. I had the ball from a cross. I used my new Nike T90s to boot the ball up. Too high, I thought. The goalkeeper thought so too. He stayed on the left. The ball went and went - and flew into the upper-right hand corner! Goal!!!!! And there's the whistle! 2-2. A draw!

My Nike T90s (pictured below) are fabulous! They fit me perfectly and are worn by EPL stars Wayne Rooney and Fernando Torres plus Yaya Toure, who scored the FA Cup winner! Can't wait until Tuesday for another day of camp!