Geo: 51.8768, -9.58479July 26, 2009Those Wild Irish RoadsLast night, on advice from Mrs. O'Dwyer, we ate dinner at The Coachmans, across the street from Foley's. The food was great, but couldn't be topped by the live music that followed. The brothers O'Connor took the place by storm with a night of contemporary and traditional Irish music that had us clapping and singing, along with everyone else. We will have to do some research on these two once we get home, but fear any Google search will probably have a lot of random results. One of the brothers sang and played an extraordinary fiddle, and the other was a guitarist who sounded a great deal like "the Boss" (Bruce Springsteen). It ended up being a late night, but was well worth our time… we bought three CDs.We ... read more

Geo: 53.8542, -9.30174July 23, 2009We got up for breakfast in Westport and headed in the direction of Castlebar. After about 20 minutes in the rain, we arrived at the Old Cemetery. There, we randomly stumbled upon Mr. Ernie Sweeney, a Castlebar local who has made restoring the Old Cemetery his life's passion. Definitely in possession of the "gift of gab," Mr. Sweeney walked us through the cemetery as if he was giving a tour of his own home. He brought to life the stories of people we had never met as if they were members of his family or otherwise close friends. After an hour and a half of slogging around through wet grass, and despite his helpfulness, we failed to locate the gravesite of the Devlins (possibly Jeannette's great, great grandmother). A bit disappointed, we ... read more

Geo: 53.8011, -9.52221Greetings from Ireland. We started our day at the crack of dawn in order to catch a 7am cab to Schipol Airport in Amsterdam. The cab was a cheap 28 Euros compared to the 45 we got taken for a few days ago, thanks to Paul, our host. We had two flights, the first from Amsterdam to Dublin and then a quick change across the airport to board a second flight from Dublin to Shannon. We were all a bit tense that our luggage would not be making the same journey we did, but perhaps we're a little paranoid after previous experiences. All of the connections were actually unbelievably smooth.We had lunch at the airport and then picked up our rental car. It's called a VW Jetta, but is nothing like the US equivalent ... read more

Geo: 52.3731, 4.8999Yesterday was a full day of travel. Our first class cabin on DeutchBahn was the best accommodation yet for train travel. We had a door of our own to close, nice, cool air conditioning, and a nearby dining car for lunch. All of us managed to get in a little rest, a little snack, and a little crosswording. We arrived safe and sound at Amsterdam Schipol Airport (yes, it's a train station AND and airport). Our taxi driver completely scammed us on the way to our B&B, but what were we to do?Our dissatisfaction with getting ripped off quickly faded away when our host, Paul, gave us a tour of our luxurious apartment suites on the canal and an orientation to Amsterdam. We walked across the bridge and enjoyed what was to be the ... read more

Geo: 52.5235, 13.4115We started off the day early with a large breakfast. Taking Rick Steves' advice, we ate at 7am in order to arrive at the Reichstag (German Parliament) early and avoid the lines. Even though we were in the first group to be admitted, it took about 25 minutes to get through security (metal detectors, etc.) Jake got the pat down, but no weapons were found.The Reichstag was originally built in the late 19th century as a home for the German government as established in 1871. It is the same building that mysteriously caught fire in 1933 just before Hitler's selection as Chancellor General. It was not used by the legislature from 1933 until the 1990s (no Nazis or Communists), when after the reunification of Germany, Berlin was chosen to be the capital city once ... read more