John and Max

It is morning, it is sunny, and we are in Paris! We decide to eat in the hotel breakfast room- a lovely subterranean cave with a dandy machine that makes lattes- to help us get an earlier start on the day. John has already been down to the front desk to assure that we are moving out of the light-less room. Getting ready for the day in the interior, no-window bathroom has been a challenge. Luckily the hotel hair dryer is hardwired in so that worked, however I am not quite sure if my make-up is on my face, at all. "Oui, oui. We will move you, just pack up your luggage and we will take care of it." Pack up. oh. The room is 10x10 with a European king bed; we have unpacked everything so ... read more

Well hello again! Yes, we have been bad bloggers for quite a while now and to answer the question "where have you been?" the answer is simple. We have been home since May 31st--sort of. It seems that we have terminal jetlag and really do not exist in any known time zone. However, we do seem to be functioning a little bit better the past few days, so hold onto your ales, we are travelling across Ireland today! After yet another lovely breakfast in the sunroom at Lawcus Farm, we pack up and, amidst a trail of hugs, kisses, and promises to return soon, we are on the move. Today we are heading north from County Kilkenny to Drogheda in County Louth. Our friends Niamh and Pierce, along with their fine family of little boys, are ... read more

It is sunny, windy, and cold. We are traveling to Gowran (pronounced Goran) and I am slathered down with extract of green-lipped mussels. Don't ask me how or what they extract because I really don't want to know, however my back is thoroughly trashed from our ring fort climbing and this stuff seems to be providing some relief. By this morning I could barely walk down the stairs and down the path to the breakfast room but somehow I forced myself to make the effort :-) We arrived at Father Donley's residence for our morning appointment and he showed us into the front room where he presented us with the computerized list of all the information that is recorded (actually it is only a brief summary and not complete) and then, he began bringing out these ... read more

We appear to be in a muddle as to which day we are in of our trip--but as John says, "Does it matter?" I guess it doesn't as long as we are able to make connecting flights and train trips on time. We are still here at Lawcus Farms in County Kilkenny, Ireland, mainly for the purpose of digging up records on John's family, but also to spend a bit of time with Ann-Marie and Mark who run this wonderful rambling establishment. We were here 18 months ago so we are feeling fairly comfortable with our surroundings. This makes the days much easier. You could translate that to "we don't get lost nearly as often as we used to. We arrived here with almost all of our clothes dirty, so we spent the morning doing laundry- ... read more

It is so nice to be nice and have others be nice to you. If you share this thought, come to Ireland! This has been such a wonderful day and one much needed. When we came to Galway, we had no plans--we weren't even sure why we were here except that everyone who has travelled in Ireland said, "You must go to Galway!" So we did and never have we been so glad for random advice. First of all, the B&B we are staying in, Cappa Veagh." was written up everywhere as having two of the nicest Inn keepers in the world. Now, I haven't been around the world, but Catherine and Patrick bend themselves into pretzels to accommodate their guests. So, until I see and hear differently, I nominate them into our personal Innkeepers I ... read more