On To Dublin

July 15:

We somehow manage to wake ourselves up at 4am to get ready to depart Glasgow en route to Dublin.  Can't say we are sorry to leave as this has been one of our least favorite places we have visited - second to Vientiane, Laos.  Our taxi arrives as scheduled at 5am and we are somehow able to fit all of the luggage (which seems to have miraculously doubled since we left Switzerland) into the "lorry".  The drive is beautiful and rustic.  We get our chance to see the Scottish countryside after all....looks like we will definitely have to return as it appears to be very charming.  The roads are pretty much deserted at this time on a Sunday morning so we make very good time to Prestwick Airport.  Into the terminal we go and check in our bags at Ryanair.  We take advantage of the open weighing station and re-arrange our bags so as to meet the VERY strict weight and size limitations. We have added some extra luggage via the website, but they do not seem to find our payment information.  Long story short, we end up having to pay and extra $165 to check on bag!!!! Can't believe it, but alas, what are we to do.  The flight is very short and we arrive in Dublin at 8:30am, opt for a taxi to take us to the hotel, and arrive shortly thereafter.  We pay a small fee to check into the hotel on the early side and we are off to check out the city.  The most immediate reaction we have is a huge sigh of relief.  Not sure what it was about Glasgow, but here we can feel the tension and heaviness lifting off of our shoulders right away.  The bright sunny day probably doesn't hurt our disposition either.  We make our way along High Street, past ChristChurch and down into the heart of the city.  As it is Sunday morning, most of the shops are closed at present, but it appears they will be opening later.  We amble along the cobblestones and find ourselves in the midst of a great walking street just as it begins to rain outside.  We duck into a burger joint and have a mediocre lunch before returning to the street to listen to street musicians and enjoy bookstores and window shopping.  We discover the bronze sculpture of "Sweet Molly Malone" and photograph the kids with this iconic symbol of "Dublin's fair city, where the girls are all pretty..."  We continue past Trinity College, but decide to return another day as the weather has turned pretty gloomy.  We make our way back up Dame Street toward our hotel

Gloomy Glasgow and Rainbows

Glasgow - July 12-15

Turns out we weren't able to stay in Edinburgh for any longer and so opted to take the train to Glasgow until our flight out on the 15th.  We booked a hotel  that would accommodate all of us...no small task and we are heading to the train this morning via taxi. We arrive at the station with plenty of time for those who wish to visit the Edinburgh Castle to see it while a couple of us guard all of the luggage.  Hudson and I volunteer to stay in the station with the luggage while Paulie, Annie and Sam go to see the castle.  A short time later the group re-unites and it turns out they didn't go into the Castle anyway since it cost too much.  So I go with the kids to pick up sandwiches and to buy belts for the boys who have new pants that are a bit too big.  We get back in time to catch the train to Glasgow and we settle in for the one hour trip. We arrive at the station around 2pm and wonder how to get to our destination.  We go outside the station to look for the hotel owner who has said he will meet us at the station but he is nowhere to be seen.  So, we look around for the bus stop that will deliver us to the hotel we have reserved.  We are finally greeted by a guy who is the son of the owner who hustles us over to his waiting BMW and gets all of our luggage packed away in the back of the car.  He tells us that there is a problem with our hotel room and instead he is taking us to a two bedroom apartment that he has.  We drive for what seems a long time and notice that the neighborhoods seem to be going downhill the longer we drive.  Finally he pulls up to a dead end street where it looks like we are in some sort of ghetto and says that we have arrived.  Hmmm.  We go through a heavily locked door and up a musty, moldy staircase to a wonderfully bright apartment....something is very fishy about this deal??? The guy is in a huge hurry and brushes through the directions on the TV and the like and makes a quick exit, leaving us in an unknown city in an unknown location with no means of contacting anyone in the event of a problem...HMMM.  We just stare at one another in disbelief and come to our senses and decide to make the best of it.  Soon afterward, we meet the next door neighbor whose name is Kathy and she shows us where to go shopping for food and we discover a nice curry restaurant next door.  The neighborhood is very sketchy, but we are resigned to living here for the next three days.  We find the Lidl grocery store and stock up on goodies that we can prepare in our kitchen over the next couple of days.  Paulie locates a great curry place and orders food for the night.  We all tuck in and enjoy satellite TV for the movies and "Friends" reruns for the remainder of the night.

The next morning, we do our best to enjoy Glasgow, but truly there is very little to do here.  We walk around the town and find Argyle street and walk up and along the narrow walking streets amid all of the standard shopping stores:  Accessories, Primark, etc. until we have lunch at a horrible place and decide to return to our little hovel for the rest of the day, but not until we have a little stop by the Lidl and the fruit vendor from Afghanistan.  The evening is completed with an ample helping of "Friends", the "Big Bang Theory" and assorted movies.


Our final day in Glasgow is fraught with indecision - should we stay or should we go???  We have reserved a car to go and explore the countryside, but we are freaked out by the reports that this is a very difficult city to drive in given the numerous one way streets and such.  Also, we have to be at the airport very early the next day (ie:  we have to be on the road at 5am in order to get to the airport which is 1 hour away by 5:45 am)  and since we don't know the way, we risk missing the airplane.  We research the bus schedule to see if it is possible to take a train or bus to the airport, but alas, the city transportation only begins at 8:00am.  So we still have two options:  taxi (for $100) or drive ourselves to the countryside and to the airport tomorrow ($108).  Hmmm... in order to get to the airport, we have to take a bus out there at a cost of $30 and two hours of time, but first we discover that we don't have our passports that will be necessary to rent a car. So, Paulie boards a bus back to the way out neighborhood where we are staying in order to get the passports that will be needed to rent a car.  Once he is back, we conclude that taking a taxi is the way to go and so we venture off to find a pay phone to call a taxi to pick us up at 5:00am on the morrow (like the little Scottish flare at the end there?)  We finally find a pay phone and acquire the necessary coins to make a call and lo and behold once we get the taxi company on the horn, a marching band passes by the phone booth in favor of gay rights...everybody paint their faces with a rainbow PLEASE!  As I cannot speak or hear the person on the other end except to find out exactly how much ^*@# money it will cost to get a taxi on a Sunday morn (I just did that Scottish twang thingy again) I hang up the phone and join the revelry of the "Gay Pride Parade" of Glasgow.  After all the hoopla has passed, I get some more coins from the nearby grocer and proceed to make another call to which I receive a different set of information:  "No phone to call up and confirm, No taxi on the morn"...old Scottish proverb. As we are in the corner of the universe without phones thanks to our mixup with the hotel,  I am almost in tears as we are swept up in the rainbow-colored flags and escorted into the George Michaelish concert event.  Not to worry, we are ejected from the event shortly and I approach the experts (aka;  REAL taxi drivers to ask them for assistance)  They make a call, we have a taxi scheduled, everyone is happy!  Wow!  So we are off to enjoy rainbows of a sort.  After a while, Paulie, Sam and Annie return to the hovel and Hudson and I venture off on a short jaunt....can't you see us jaunting?  We get home and settle in for more "Friends" and off to sleep for a 4am wake up.

Edinburgh - Castles and Cobblestones

Edinburgh:

We awaken feeling refreshed but not very eager to get out into the cold and rain.  First things first, we head downstairs for the breakfast buffet and get a surprise....pay for the adults and the kids eat free.  We are thrilled!  we enjoy a most satisfying buffet breakfast and dine on our first taste of haggis....not too sure whether I could say I "like" it or not.  After breakfast, we are deterimed to walk around.  We make our way to the nearby bus stop and get onto the 26 bus (which we are now certain is the bus for us) and head into town.  Boy, had no idea we were this far away from the center, but at least we get a nice tour of the outskirts of town???  We amid the wonderful stone buildings surrounding the town and walk in the rain along the quais and sidewalks until we arrive at the National Museum of Scotland and enjoy checking out the great European collection until we get a bit hungry and settle on a quick soup and sandwich place.  After lunch walk around a bit more until the gloomy weather gets the best of us and we get back to the hotel for the remainder of the day.  The following day we are more ambitious and walk to the "Old Town" until we reach the Waverly bridge and catch another bus to Holyrood Palace, the home of Queen Elizabeth II when she is in residence.  The Palace has a gallery that houses personal items of the Queen and we enjoy seeing the likes of Faberge eggs and Chippendale furniture.  Afterward, we tour the home of the Queen and have an audio tour that helps explain all of the history of this vast house.  This was also home to Mary, Queen of Scots before she was imprisoned by her cousin Queen Elizabeth I in the tower of London for 19 years before being beheaded. After the Palace, we walk along the cobblestones streets and taking in the awesome history of the amazing city.  We duck into a quaint tea room for lunch and continue along the "Royal Mile" to the Castle of Edinburgh.  We spend several hours making our way and by the time we arrive, the castle is closing for the day.  We hope to extend our stay here in Edinburgh when we get back to the hotel so we can go to the castle tomorrow.  Later in the week, we are heading to Glasgow before flying out on the 15th to Dublin. 

Leaving Switzerland & Onto Scotland

July 9:

Today we are departing after several wonderful weeks here in Switzerland. First thing, I am off to return to a bead store where I have found a much sought after tid-bit for the new pieces I will make upon my return.  After a short bus ride, I am back at the store and pick up my package, return to the apartment and we are off to the tram stop and onto the train to Geneva where we will catch a flight to Edinburgh.  The travel is fairly uneventful and we arrive in Geneva without problems.  After a very touch and go checking of our much too heavy bags, we wait for the flight and head to Scotland around 6:00.  When we touch down in Edinburgh, we are thrust into a whole new climate....cold, rainy and grey!  Not sure we have the right attire for our final leg of the journey and with not an inch to spare in our suitcases, we most likely will not be buying any new cloths.  We manage to find the bus into town and hop a ride into the great unknown.  We are told to depart the bus on Drum Brae Road and do as we are told.  After that, the directions get a little murkey....take the 21 bus, no, take the 26 bus,  not sure, hmmm.....well, well.  Finally, we hoof it a little ways up hill to the 26 Bus stop and are lucky to learn we have chosen wisely.  After a short ride, we are let off on the side of the road in the cold rain, but luckily we only have a short walk to the hotel.  The place is quite a comfortable place.  In fact, one of the best family rooms we have encountered.  The kids have a set of bunk beds and well as a large pull our sofa and Paulie and I have a very cozy king-size bed with "don't want to get out of bed" soft linens.  At this point, it is around 9:00 pm and our stomachs are calling for food.  The restaurant bar offers a variety of good eats and we dig in.  After our meal, it is back to our comfortable room for a very restful evening.

Summary of our visit to Switzerland

In the nearly four weeks we were visiting family in Switzerland we had time to see many of the beautiful sites and gorgeous landscapes that the country has to offer.  We traveled to the canton of Bern and visited the Wednesday market in the city, the Paul Klee museum, the Zytglogge (musical clock) and walked in the steps of history to the city's "muenster" (city church), the newly designed bear habitat and under the covered arches of the shopping district.  We also ventured further west and drove through the small villages of Langnau, Wasen, up to the LudernAlp, Thun, Spiez, and onto Interlaken where we spent a couple of days at the "Funny Farm" (a hostel located in an old restored hotel).  Onward, we traveled to Grindelwald and visited a home cheese-maker where we bought some of the best cheese ever!  We passed through the Alps and over the Goddard Pass into the south of Switzerland.  We spent a couple of days in the Tessin/Ticino (Italian part) in the small town of Locarno and enjoyed the stone covered houses and small alleyways that are typical of this area.  Paulie and I stayed in a very cozy Nouveau Style hotel where we watched Italy defeat Germany in the European Finals of football....quite exciting!  Around Zurich, we visited the Rapperswil Kinderzoo which was a great experience to visit a "neighborhood" zoo where you could really get up close with the animals.  We took a couple of day trips to visit the German town of Konstanz, on a beautiful lake, and also to the towns of Hergiswil to visit a glass-blowing factory, to Engleberg to see cheese-making in an old abbey, to Lachen,with Chris Kaelin, our friend we met in Beijing to see a traditional Swiss festival where we enjoyed Pig Knuckles, Alp Horns and other Swiss past-times and also with Chris to the town of Einseideln, home of one of Europe's only Black Madonnas.  We climbed mountains, rode on ancient "gondolas" to the top of the snow-covered peaks, hiked the hills, and walked around the beautiful lakes that dot the country.

Most of all, we had a lot of fun, food and family time with our Swiss cousins.  There were hours of Soccer played, kittens petted, and many wonderful meals shared.  We couldn't have asked for a better or more relaxed time and are so appreciative to them for making us so welcome.

Selected Photos from Switzerland

Bern on a beautiful, sunny day

Alp Horns in Lachen

Go Switzerland

Interlaken panorama

Goddard Pass panorama

Italian church in the town of Re

View from the "Funny Farm", Interlaken

"Hee Haw" kinderzoo in Rapperswill

Annie feeding the Llama

Snuggly "kid", Rapperswill Zoo

"Here's looking at you"

Walking around the lake of Zurich

Happy Shirt

Visiting the Rigi

Up, Up and Away

Family Photo (minus Hudi) on day of arrival in Zurich

Beautiful Green Meadow from window of train

At the Rigi

"Yodel-lay-he-hoo"

Luzcern by boat

Big bird in the Lake of Luzcern

Smiley Annie

"The Last Supper" & Arriving in Switzerland

June 13

Today we are up early to go to see "The Last Supper" by Leonardo Da Vinci.  We were able to purchase tickets online to see the chapel where the painting lives.  Only 25 people are allowed to see the painting at a time for only 15 minutes and the time slots are highly regulated...no reservation, no seeing the piece.  First, we have a wonderful breakfast at our hotel and one of the best coffees we have had in months.  Once we are all ready to go, Hudson's nose starts to bleed and doesn't seem to want to stop.  We get the bleeding under control just in time to get ourselves to the metro and off to the church by 8:00.  We arrive at the church and are surprised at how small it looks from the outside.  We check in and the first time spot is for Paulie, Annie and Sam to go in at 9:00.  Hudson and I look around the church at the other works of art and wait our turns to be let into the chapel.  Once our time arrives, we stand in line and make our way to an automated door where all 25 people huddle inside and a climate control door closes us into the small ante-room.  Then a new door opens and we are allowed into the chapel.  It is amazing to be in the presence of such an amazing work of art and the benches provide a great place to rest while contemplating the scene.  One reason that the painting is deteriorating so quickly is that Da Vinci tried an experimental technique of painting on dry plaster instead of wet.  Wet plaster is much more typical of the time period and has proved to be much more stable over time.  After we depart the chapel, we are off in a hurry to return to the hotel and to get ourselves back to the train station where we arrived.  We go ahead an decide to walk (I know, I know), but at least we have realized the error of our ways and can get there in about a 10 minute walk.  Once again lugging our stuff, we walk briskly through the streets of Milan and we arrive at the station with moments to spare for our train that is taking us to Zurich.  Turns out the train is slightly delayed and we go to the ticket counter to print off our tickets.  In our haste, we are unable to get our tickets printed and instead just keep our confirmation number handy for the ticket taker.  We get on the train and shortly after departure, we arrive at the Swiss-Italy border where we are asked to disembark and get onto a Swiss train.  We have to explain the mistake about our tickets to the conductor who says he will try to get the next conductor to explain that we have paid for a ticket, but do not have a printed copy.  We transfer all our stuff to the next train and are underway.  The scenery is amazing as we pass by the Lakes of Lugano, Como and Maggiore and we continue on through the Italian part of Switzerland climbing ever steeper into the alps until we arrive at the Goddard Tunnel.  There has been a rockslide there and we are expecting to be asked to depart the train and ride on a bus around the rockslide where we will resume our train trip.  We get all of our stuff off of the train, once again, and packed onto the waiting buses and drive for about 20 minutes where we are dropped off in the pouring rain and fog at the station at Fluhlen, a picturesque lake village.  We get back up to the correct track with all of our stuff and wait for about 15 minutes for the train to arrive.  We get back underway and before we can settle in, we are instructed to depart the train at Zug and get on our final means of transport to Zurich. After our final leg (four trains and one bus) we pull into the station to be greeted by the smiling faces of family!  What a relief to finally be here.  While not home, this certainly feels like a great place to simply rest for a while.  We get to Carol's house and settle in and enjoy our visit and a lovely carbonara dinner at Baebli's house.  It is so nice to be here.  We sleep very soundly this night.

Leaving Athens, Arriving Milan

June 12
Today Annie, Hudson  and I get up and out early to check one last time on the elusive macrame artist and to revisit a couple of places including our most favorite restaurant one last time.  I have decided to purchase a pair of wooden cobbler shoe forms from one of the vendors in the Monastiraki area since they do not make shoes any longer in the USA and I would have no hope of getting them there.  We are successful on one front and purchase a pair of wooden shoe forms before meeting up with Paulie and Sam to have lunch at our new favorite luncheon place.  We return to the Hotel Delta to collect our stuff and headed off toward the metro to the airport.  Underway we meet a really nice man who is originally from Iran, but is now a British citizen living in Brighton.  He is on a sage searching for his two nephews who have disappeared (ie. run away) and are traveling illegally without passports.  We has been searching for them for around three months and is currently on his way to Istanbul where he has a tip they may have stowed away on a boat.  Upon our arrival at the airport, we are now under the gun to get to our terminal and onto our flight to Milan, where we will spend one night.  We arrive at the departure gate without incident and amazingly we are allowed on the plane with more than one carry-on per person....normally, EasyJet is very strict but this time we were able to sneak on with our numerous bags.  The flight is uneventful and we arrive in Milan and are amazed that we do not have to clear any customs at the airport.  We board a bus to the main train station.  Once we get off, we are under the impression that our hotel is very close by, but according to the taxi driver it is not close at all.  In another effort to save money, we decide to walk and intermmitantly ask for directions.  At one point, we meet a really nice Indian man who says he is going that direction and we can follow him....so off we go.  After we have been walking for about 3 miles (it seems) and lugging all of our stuff along with us, we arrive at a huge intersection where the Indian man says he thinks it is off to the right!! Great!  We ask several other people and get differing directions until we decide to rely on an elderly but very sophisticated woman who knows exactly where it is.  Sure enough, another mile and we are there.  Once we arrive, we get checked in and rest up for a little while before setting off to see the Duomo.  We walk, on our very tender feet, to the Metro and find that it is practically deserted.  After the sticker shock of the cost of each metro ticket, we proceed to the main piazza and are rewarded with a fantastic evening in which to see the amazingly beautiful church.  We grab sandwiches and eat them in a picnic at the base of the church.  The piazza is alive with activity - kids doing stunts on bicycles, musicians playing great music and lively cafes and bars with people spilling out onto the huge square. After we have a tour of the outside of the Duomo, we return home to rest our weary bodies. Buona notte!!

Photo Catch Up from Greece.....

Temple of Hephaestus with cute kids

Temple of Hephaestus, Ancient Agora, Athens

Temple of Hephaestus

In the footsteps of John Lennon....

The "Poet" Sandlemaker and his three customers

Parthenon at Night