Wednesday's tour

Yesterday (Wed.), Chris's conference started. She and Rico headed off to the bus station early to get there for the opening meeting. On the bus they met up with one of Chris's former students (Morgan) and a current employee of Rico who will be presenting a paper she prepared as part of her masters thesis.

As for me, I set off on a bus tour on my own to places south of Edinburgh. I arrived at the bus pick-up spot to find a statue of Adam Smith, the famous 18th century economist.

And right across the street was a sign I could not resist taking a photo. I am sure we all know some people who would work here (or already think they do):

Anyway, it was off to our first stop, Melrose Abbey. This is where it is believed that Robert the Bruce's heart (remember The movie Braveheart) is buried. Apparently, burying one's heart someplace different from the rest of the body wasn't that uncommon back in the old days. The ruins are more than 500 years old.

There was a very narrow stone spiral staircase that took you to the roof where you can see the surrounding area. Beautiful!

After visiting the Abbey museum, it was back on the bus as we ventured into England. We traveled by the "Welcome to England" sign so fast I could not get a photo of it. Bummer! Next stop was Alnwick Castle.

Alnwick castle is the home of the Duke of Northumberland. Most of the castle looks like a museum, but the Duke and his family still live on the grounds. But equally important, this is also the place where the following movies and TV shows have been made: Harry Potter, Downton Abbey, Robin Hood: Prince of Theives; Black Adder, Joan of Arc, and a few more that I cannot remember -- even though they keep reminding you. For you Harry Potter fans... 😉

And I hope you can see and hear the tour guide talk about one of Harry Potter movies here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gpe26dWQmQQ

And here is another video of the inside court yard:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvFkHrXGTOE

Here is a panoramic view:

And one for Chris and all the rest of you Downton Abbey fans:

The Duke, back in the 17th century, also played a part in North America negotiating with the Mohawk Indians. 

They even had a small collection of Mohawk pottery on display. (I do not know if they had more, but here are a few photos).

When the tour was over it was back on the bus ... Next stop Bamburgh Castle on the coast. Unfortunately, it poured and we -- as a group -- decided not to try walking down to the beach on the other side of the castle. (You cannot actually walk on the grounds of the castle because it is a private residence and not open to the public). Here's a photo:

Then it was back on the bus and our ride back to Scotland with a stop or two along the coast of the North Sea.

And a couple more ruins along the way...

Once I got back to Edinburgh, I met up with Chris who was at a reception for her conference. Having traveled with Chris over the past 30+ years, I have gotten to know many of her colleagues from around the world so it was nice seeing many of them here.

Tuesday in Edinburgh

Today was a day for catching up (i.e., do some laundry, schedule a bus tour for Rick, meet with Rico in preparation for their presentation, etc...) before the conference starts tomorrow for Chris.

We also managed to fit in a short walk around our neighborhood (just a couple of miles). We soon came to realize that pretty much wherever you walk, you can see the castle in the background.

 

Along with seeing the castle everywhere, you can also see those cute British taxis all over town. 

We found out that the taxis are a bit pricey so we haven't used one yet. (Plus, the US dollar ($) does not do very well against the British pound (£). Ouch!)

Tomorrow, Chris's conference starts so she will be busy for the next three days. Rick will keep himself occupied over those days starting with a day tour venturing into the Borders region (southern Scotland and then into northern England), Melrose Abbey (the resting place of several Scottish Kings), Ainwick Castle (featured in some of the Harry Potter movies and Downton Abbey), Bamburgh Castle, and sea views along the east coast). If you are interested in this trip, you can see more at this website:

http://www.highlandexperience.com/tours/edinburgh/Scottish-Borders-Tour.htm

Hopefully we will have more pictures for you tomorrow. 

Monday in Edinburgh

Our flight yesterday from Dublin was a bit late arriving here but not a problem. Last night we got settled in our cute little flat, got some provisions and then crashed!! We've been going strong for about 31 days.

This morning we headed for the Castle. It  truly dominates the city. There it was as we came around a corner:

Note the glorious blue sky and then be sure to note the dark clouds in subsequent photos. The wind was brisk up top, with a few raindrops, then the sky would clear and the views were spectacular: 

We also visited inside several of the buildings including the Great Hall:

 

As well as stopping into to see the Scottish War Memorial and the royal  jewels, unfortunately we were not allowed to photograph them. The grounds around the War Memorial were decorated  with flowers.

Following out tour we stopped at a tartan store where they were running a powered loom.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1dbtkrEGe8

Next stop was at St. Giles Cathedral, 14th century Presbyterian church.  

We then meandered through the Edinburgh streets making our way back to our flat ... ocassionally catching glimpses of the castle.

 

Saturday PM

Today is our last full day in Dublin. This afternoon Chris, Rico, and I went to the Cobblestone Pub to listen to some Old Tyme Music.

Here are 4 videos that we recorded - some quite familiar:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7I1ySlmJdc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDy-C9N4ysA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n229I3PCOus (if you look carefully you can see Chris in the mirror, recording)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwUBfrgmZRI And the man singing - born and raised in Dublin but sure sounds like he grew up with Old Time music, eh?

Back to the hotel to pack and prepare for tomorrow. We will fly out around noon for Edinburgh.

Saturday AM

And now for something completely different...

This morning when Chris and I were wandering around town we came across a sizable group of people dressed the same way playing some type of unusual instrument. It sounded like a cross between a reed instrument (like a clarinet) and a kazoo.  We thought we would wait to see what was going to happen. Here is what it looked and sounded like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LejVQKk9du4

As for what they were setting out to do ... well, It turned out that they were all from Spain and that they were going to build a human pyramid. They were going to do this every 2 hours today in different locations. We happened to see them doing it in front of the Mayor of Dublin's residence. This is what the pyramid looked like (and the music provided while they were doing their thing):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn5yV7Llpek

When they finished, they all posed for a group picture.

One never knows what one will see in Dublin. When we arrived we were told that Dublin really is an "international" city. This, I guess, proves it.

Friday: A trip to Newgrange

Initially we were planning on going to Newgrange on Saturday (tomorrow) but due to Joe Biden's scheduled visit to Newgrange for the same day, they shut the site down to the public. Thus the last minute change for today.

Newgrange is a 5,000 year old archeological site that predates Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids in Egypt. Although not far from Dublin, we had to get up early in order catch the bus because it was going to make a number of stops that day. Rico would also be joining us on this day trip.

We started with an unscheduled stop to see a tree carving. It was quite interesting as you can see for yourself.

Next stop was at a small fishing village (Howth) nestled among €1 million homes. We walked along the pier taking some photos and picking up a few munchies.

On our way to (and from) Newgrange, we passed several castles and ruins.

The next stop was Newgrange. As noted above, it is a 5000 year old neolithic tomb. The door opening to it and the surrounding tombs are set in correlation to the annual solstice and equinox events. Very cool to say the least!! Here are some photos. (We were not allowed to take any photos inside the tomb.)

We then had one more stop at the Hill of Tara. This was where the Kings of Ireland were coronated for hundreds of years.

Finally, a quick stop at St. Patrick's statue and the return trip to Dublin. 

Once back in the city, the three of us went for a delicious vegetarian meal at Cornucopia. Yum!  

It was another long but fun day. Tommow is our last full day in Ireland and then it is off to Scotland. Stay tuned.

Thursday: A Day Late ...

It has been a very busy two days. I am going do one day at a time to catch you up. Thursday was the day for Chris's panel discussion (to be discussed below) and her last day as a "Research Fellow" at Trinity College Dublin (TCD).

(We had to do some reshuffling of our schedule because Vice-President Joe Biden came to Dublin and was going to many of the same places we had been hoping to go to ourselves on the same days, consequently Chris finished her work one day early so we could work around his. TCD was very accommodating for Chris.)

So as Chris was finishing up office work and prepping for her talk, Rick spent the morning at the laudromat getting things cleaned and ready for our next leg of our adventure: Scotland on Sunday. When Rick finished he set off wandering around town listening to some of the many street musicians. Here's one ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyoiJu362e4

Meanwhile, Chris brought her colleague Rico to see the Book of Kells and the Long Room. They followed up with a lunch at the University Commons with many of the other faculty, some of who wore their regalia. Chris and Rico had a great time. 

Speaking of Rico (as I promised to update you), his clothes at this time still had not yet shown up thus forcing him to go shopping that afternoon in order to have clothes for the evening discussion. After he purchased some new clothes, his clothes finally showed up almost two days late. (Now he has to bring his newly purchased clothes back.)

By 6:30 pm, the panel discussion was ready to go. The panel included Lorraine Leeson (our host), Rico Peterson, Robert Lee, and our Chris Monikowski. It was very well attended by several academics,  interpreters, and members of the Deaf community. It was also video streamed to more than 40 other places. Here are a couple of pictures of the panel discussion.

Following the panel discussion, a group of at least a dozen people who attended the discussion went out for a few pints 🍻 carrying on the discussion. 

It was another long day -- especially for  Chris -- but another good one! ☘

Wednesday: around Dublin Town

Today was spent in and around Trinity College. It was a nice day with a morning ahower. In other words, nothing too exciting. However, we cannot say that for our friend, and Chris's colleague, Rico.

He flew out of Toronto yesterday and everything went well until he arrived in Dublin this morning to discover that his luggage was "lost" (and note that I did not say "late" because as of 9 pm this evening it still hadn't shown up -- and the airline had not been able to locate it. We will fill you in tomorrow to let you know if and when it does show up).

Chris, feeling sorry for Rico, took him out for a nice cappuccino. Meanwhile, I went wandering around town stopping to see some other parts of town that I hadn't yet visited. In one of the shops I came across "Spuddy" dolls. (Keep in mind the Irish love of potatoes):

After my walkabout town, I stopped by Trinity College to visit Chris. We then wrestled our way into the campus giftshop to pick up a couple of TCD teeshirts. (We will model them for you later.)

Chris then returned to her office and I went to the National Museum of Ireland -- Natural History.

The locals call it the "dead zoo" because of all the stuffed animals. The lower level houses animals indigenous to (in and around) the island:

It was interesting but felt very late-19th and early-20th century.

Later this evening we met up with Rico (whose luggage still hadn't arrived) and went to Lorraine's office where she took the three of us back to her home on the outskirts of Dublin for a wonderful home cooked meal. And after a month of traveling and eating out constantly, it was really great to have a delicious home cooked meal, great company, and a stmulating conversation!!!

On the ride back to our hotels, the cab driver (Donley) had his radio on while we all listened to the final minutes of the Euro 2016 soccer game between Ireland and Italy. The Irish won with a goal during the last minute of play. You could hear people cheering all over the city and car drivers laying on their horns -- including our driver. Donley was in such a good mood that he turned off his meter and gave us a price break. It is now more than two hours later and people are still driving around town blowing their horns and cheering. Whew-hoo!!

🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪

Tuesday: Leonardo, Pablo, & Vincent

Today was another sunny day in Dublin. Chris headed off to work and Rick set out to find some gloves in preparation for the next leg of our journey in Scotland. (I forgot mine at home.) It did give me an opportunity to wander around the other side of the River Liffey.

After visiting several sporting goods and camping stores (as well as several more music shops) I finally found a pair of light-weight gloves at an army surplus store. With all the young people traveling from town-to-town and hostel-to-hostel carrying backpacks and sleeping bags, one would think that gloves would be readily available. But I guess not.

After lunch I went to the Irish National Gallery that is exhibiting 10 of Leonardo DaVinci's drawings. Chris snuck off campus and came to join me. The exhibit is free to the public. The details in DaVinci's drawings are absolutely incredible. His drawings as well as his creativity and genius are really what it means to be a "Renaissance Man."   (Unfortunately, photographs of DaVinci's work was not allowed so I cannot include any here.)

After viewing the DaVinci's work, we took the opportunity to see some of the other artwork housed in the Gallery including:

Pablo Picasso,

John Singer Sargent, and

Vincent Van Gogh among others.

Then it was back ro Trinity College Dublin for a reception for the launching of a new Journal of Sociolinguistics. There were several linguists in attendance as well as a number of graduate students. Wine was provided. 🍷

When it was over, Chris, Lorraine, and I went out for a quick pint of a beer that came from a micro-brewery in County Cork, Ireland. So for those of you wondering, people do drink beer other than Guinness around here. 🍺

That's it for today. Time for bed. 😴💤

Monday and Up & Running

Today was a beautiful, sunny day again. The locals are having a hard time believing the weather. It was the longest day of the year and there was 17 hours of sunlight. The sun did not set until almost 11 pm.

Chris went to work today preparing materials to be used jointly with scholars from Ireland and Switzerland as well as preparing for her panel discussion to be held on Thursday evening.

Rick spent the day traveling around town again on a different "Hop-on/Hop-off" tour bus. It hit some of the same spots as the other company but several different ones too -- plus it was 1/2 as expensive as the tour bus that we took last week. 

So here are some pictures of Dublin beginning with all the road construction:

They are putting in new tracks extending their light rail system. It will connect two other lines around the city, they are not simply laying down track but placing cobblestones between them. It will look beautiful when completed but I am not sure if it will really alleviate any of the traffic congestion because there are busses, cars, and taxis everywhere.

One of Rick's stops this time was for a tour of Teeling Whiskey Distillery, the only functioning one in the city. There were once 37 distilleries in the city in the 19th century but they all closed down decades ago. Teeling is the first to open in more than 125 years. (Jameson moved their distillery out of Dublin back in the 1970s).

And here is a little FYI (that I did not know until today):

After Rick finished the tour he had an opportunity to sample their wares (e.g., a single grain, a blended, and a single malt)

And then it was back on the bus visiting other parts of the city -- including the rugby/football (soccer) stadium,

a Cricket field (also where Bruce Springsteen played 11x before), 

And some beautiful neighborhoods featuring Georgian and Victorian architecture. (Each of the doors are painted different colors in defiance of a British requirement to paint all the doors black when Queen Victoria died in 1901 -- or thereabouts).

This evening we walked to the Thomas House (just under a mile each way) to listen to some local musician play some American (Appalachian) Old Tyme Music. We had a great time sharing a couple of pints of Guinness while listening to and talking with these musicians. (The videos are a little dark but the music is good):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ISSII2nQEE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rl0WYMcXqcw