Friday, October 22, 2010

COUNTRYSIDE, CATHEDRALS, CHURCHES, CASTLES, CELTIC CROSSES, COWS















































































Well our trip in Ireland is coming to an end tomorrow, we fly to London. But the title sums up our visit here. We have been so fortunate and enjoyed Ireland with mostly clear blue skies. The people are very hospitable and there are no signs of road rage, just the opposite. We have been down many backroads, dodging the sheep, pigs, cows, tractors and horses. Travelling 100kph on a road that one car should only fit on, with hedges on either side. Suddenly there is a large truck coming your way certainly makes us appreciate taking out all the insurance we did on our car rental. Alan has done a super job of driving. We have managed to put not a scratch on, but with our luck and history of windshields we did pick up a rock on the motorway yesterday and now have a chip.
Being out of tourist sesson has allowed us the convenience of finding great accommodation without too much planning. Also the sites we have visited are not crowded, in fact sometimes we are the only ones there.
Flying to my nephew's in London tomorrow afternoon. We will certainly enjoy his family and seeing Hannah (5) and Ethan (3).
























Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Dublin Ireland


We arrived in Dublin Sunday night. So nice to hear English. Life seems so easy. Dublin has only 1.5 million people, we are enjoying less crowded conditions. Irish are so helpful and very happy lot, must be all the Guinness. Yes we did the tour of the Guinness Plant. Lots of walking around Dublin and seeing the sites. We did the Literacy Pub Crawl last night. The buildings seem to lack something after visiting the Palaces and Cathedrals in Russia.
The photo is of a bronze statue on the street in Dublin, it is of Molly Malone selling cockles and mussels alive alive o.

Back to the airport this morning and picked up our DIESEL Ford Focus, so Alan is happy, didn't take him long to get used to driving on the left side.

We are presently in Westport on the west coast of Ireland just north of Galway.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Moscow Metro











The metro has mosaics, chandeliers and sculptures.

Red Square

inside the GUM department store, you would need to have a Tzars income to shop





Moscow

Russisan Quick Step

Military Parade on the centre square of the Kremlin


The BALLS of the Kremlin








Kremlin Wall and Tower