Farewell to Dublin

I just landed in Denver about 8 hours ago. I am back in the states! The only problem is that it is 2am in Denver as I sit in my living room surrounded by boxes and suitcases and type this message. It’s 9am in Dublin, so my body thinks that it is day time. It will take a bit of re-adjustment.

My last week in Dublin was crazy. The bible study girls gave me a wonderful send off dinner on Monday. I am so thankful for the incredible friends I met in Dublin. I am planning to visit one of girls when she and her kids are home in Florida for Christmas.

The girls that I worked with gave me a beautiful Ireland picture book. They said they want me to look at it and miss Ireland and come back. I’m not so sure about the coming back to live, but I definitely wouldn’t rule out coming back to visit! J

Packing up and moving out of my apartment took a lot of logistical planning. In the end it went pretty smoothly, but it’s never easy or fun to pack up and move! I ended up shipping 5 Fedex boxes and they were all in Denver when I arrived. Now I just have to figure out where to find room for all the stuff in my house.

I want to thank all of you for reading my Ireland blog and I hope that you have enjoyed joining
me on this journey. It was an incredible opportunity to live in another country and travel. I thoroughly enjoyed my time, and I think that living in a different country and experiencing different people and cultures has influenced my world view.

Tara

Germany & Austria

I just returned from a wonderful trip to Berlin, Germany and Vienna, Austria. Before I start writing I have to warn you that my spelling may not be accurate..the German words have way more letters than I am used to and also dots and such above letters that I can’t do on my US computer.

I met my parents in Berlin and traveled with them for a week. Berlin is a fascinating city and the wall that came down in my lifetime. It has so many museums that they call it “museum island”. We went to sites that my parents remember seeing on tv including Checkpoint Charlie, Brandenburg gate, we saw the Jewish memorial and new Jewish museum as well as the Pergamon museum, Egyptian museum and the Gemaldegalerie art museum and walked the Unter den Linden. The Kaiser Wilhelm church was left in ruins and a modern memorial was built around the ruins that are still standing. It is a visual reminder of the bombs that devastated so much of the city. We also visited Reichstag and toured the new glass dome on the top. One evening we listed to the Berlin symphony orchestra. We also enjoyed wonderful food including a Prussian soup with beets. It sounded weird, but it was actually very good. And we made a last minute stop at the KaDeWe – a famous shopping mall. It is the largest shopping mall on the European continent. My dad gave my Mom and I 20 min. to wander around..it was not enough time to do any serious damage J

We flew from Berlin to Vienna mid week and our time in Vienna was a mix of sightseeing and time with relatives. Josef and Sisi Herfert warmly welcomed us into their home and served my Dad a wonderful Austrian cake for his birthday! The cake is called and here is the description from Wikipedia..it was incredible!

“ The cake consists of two layers of dense, not overly sweet chocolate cake (traditionally a sponge cake) with a thin layer of apricot jam in the middle and dark chocolate icing with shreds of chocolate on the top and sides. It is traditionally served with whipped cream without any sugar in it, as most Viennese consider the Sachertorte too "dry" to be eaten on its own. “

I’m not the genealogy buff that my dad is, but here is the family connection as I understand it… Josef’s Grandfather and my Dad’s Great-Grandfather were brothers. My Dad’s great-greatfather immigrated to America and all of his siblings remained in Austria and many of their descendents are there today. Josef and Sisi took us sightseeing around Vienna to many churches and also the Hoffburg treasury which was incredible. My parents and I took the train out to Schonbrunn, which was the summer home of the Hapsburg family and is similar in grandeur to Versailles. We also took a tour of the Vienna opera house and listened to the Vienna Imperial Orchestra.

I only have 5 day s left in Dublin, so I am working on packing and cleaning my apartment and I will return to Colorado on Nov. 16. I can’t wait to see everyone at home!

Black Tie

Last week I received an email from the managing director of the Ireland office inviting me to a Black Tie Charity Ball sponsored by the Irish Canadian Business Association. My first reaction was OH NO I have nothing in Ireland to wear to something like that!!! I sat in my desk chair at work and realized the event was only 10 days away and one weekend is NOT enough time for me to find something suitable to wear and even if I did find something, it would be so ridiculously expensive. So, I called my mom in a panic and she went to my house gathered a dress, shoes, a handbag and a wrap and shipped it all to Ireland. Mom you are amazing!

The event was last night and it was fun! My company sponsored a table and some of us on assignment were invited...everyone else on assignment is from Canada, so they were pretty excited to hear the Canadian Ambassador speak. It is one of those nights that makes you feel like a little kid playing dress up. Apparently a tux in Ireland does not include the different versions like the vest. They consider that just a suit, so all the guys were in black tuxes with bow ties. There were beautiful ball gowns and of course the simple black dress. It was a night of wonderful food and they raised money for Crohn's disease research.

I head back to the states soon, so I need to start packing and preparing. I am flying to Germany to meet my parents tomorrow and spend the week traveling with them in Germany, Austria and Slovakia. Then one more week of work and I head home. I am getting excited to see family and friends and just to be in my own house and bed and to drive a car!!

Hill of Tara

I visited my hill yesterday! I went exploring with two people from work. Fred is from our Canada office and was in town for 2 days in the Dublin office doing some classes for the local employees. He rented a car for the 3 day weekend and invited Trish and I along. We started with tours of Knowth and Newgrange which are ancient burial sites about an hours drive North of Dublin. Here is an excerpt from a website about the sites I saw...

"The Megalithic Passage Tombs of Newgrange, Knowth, Dowth, Fourknocks, Loughcrew and Tara are located in the present day County of Meath on the east coast of Ireland. The Boyne Valley Mounds at Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth were built around 3200BC making them older than Stonehenge in England and the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt. Built by Neolithic farming communities about 5000 years ago, the passage tombs have clear astronomical alignments such as the Winter Solstice Sunrise at Newgrange and the Equinox Sunrise at Loughcrew. "

Then we will to Hill of Tara and I took quite a few pictures :) We also did some exploring of Trim Castle and other castle and church ruins. It was a great day trip and concluded with dinner in a wonderful Italian bistro in Sandymount (just south of where I live).

Tomorrow is the Dublin Marathon and bank holiday. As far as I know, there is no significance of why we have the day off. However, the trains are completely shut down where I live this weekend due to a stadium renovations about a mile south. So, I am on foot anywhere I go! Lauren and Jon, my American friends in Dublin, are running the marathon tomorrow. I am planning to cheer them on! GO LAUREN & JON!!

Galway & Aran Islands

I went away for the weekend all by myself. I have never traveled on personal time alone and it was actually good. I met lots of interesting people that probably never would have talked to me if I was traveling with someone. I took the train from Dublin to Galway on Saturday morning, arrived in Galway located my hotel and toured Galway on foot. It is a really charming town. I don't know if I would call it a city, but it does have great shopping! It has a pedestrian only street with restaurants, pubs, clothing and jewelry stores and of course the cheesy tourist shops. Now that tourist season is over (I think it officially ends in late September), the stores had some sales. I enjoyed the shops and then found a quaint little restaurant for dinner. I was the first person in the restaurant and about 20 min. later an American couple from Texas came in. The man was joking with the waiter, and I could tell they were American, so I asked where they were from and the three of us ended up talking all the way through dinner and then going to a local pub. The pub had the most fantastic music I had heard in Ireland. There were 8 musicians and the place was packed!

On Sunday, I took the bus and the ferry to Inishmore, the largest of the Aran Islands, off the western side of Ireland. The American couple from the night before were on the ferry too. Our ferry ride was quite rocky and we had a bit of excitement when a coast guard helicopter landed on the back of our boat. We later found out it was just a drill, but they attached a basket to the helicopter before it took off. I spent the day touring with a group of 8 and we hiked up to Dun Aengus in the pouring rain! The island of Inishmore is actually the largest of the Aran Islands and it is only 9 miles by 2 miles. The islands are very desolate! I think one day on Inishmore was enough for me! On Monday, I walked around Galway and caught a train back to Dublin. All in all it was a great trip!

Yesterday was Oct.16 and I fly home on Nov. 16. Only one month left! I have come down with a cold and I am missing Panera soup, medicine that I know what it is and my comfy bed! I went to the pharmacy yesterday and I asked what you take for a cold and they recommended lemsips, strepsips and Day nurse...I didn't have any idea what they were! I'll be home soon!

Starbucks & Howth

About a week ago on my walk to work after I got off the train, I looked up and was surprised to see that Starbucks was moving into a newly renovated old building in Blackrock, Ireland. I was excited for them to open so I could get a latte! I told the girls at work and was actually a bit surprised by their reaction. One of the Irish girls thinks that American companies are trying to take over the world, such as McDonalds and Starbucks. She was upset that it was opening and hoped that the Irish coffee shop, Insomnia, which is on the same street about a block away, would not lose business. I had no idea that Starbucks could be so controversial.

I went with a friend from work yesterday on the cliff walk in Howth. It is absolutely beautiful and has amazing views of the Irish sea and the rock formations on Howth peninsula. We hiked for several hours and then had very upscale fish and chips in a restaurant at the end of the Pier. I am recovering today from all of that hiking..I have some sore muscles! I am realising that my time is quickly coming to an end in Ireland, so I am trying to see a couple more things before I leave. I'm planning to head to Galway next weekend which is on the western side of the Ireland.

Quiet Weekend - 8 weeks til return date

It's Sunday evening and I have had a blissfully quiet weekend. I read, slept, ate, and just bummed around. After nearly 6 weeks of company, I needed some R&R. I loved having everyone here, but I was worn out! It feels like fall here (well actually winter the other day), so I'm going to make a pot of chili.

Now it is back to work to try and get lots done before I head back to the states in 8 weeks. See ya all soon!