Weekend in Skerries

Death Grip

Saturday morning we headed out on our "Big" Adventure - Jim's first time driving on the other side.  I think that he was much more relaxed than I was...I kept looking out my side window and worried about how we were veering left, as he was worried about getting too close to the center line/oncoming cars.  In spite of my nerves and Jim's reassurance that he had it under control (mostly) we managed to find our way to the motorway and headed north to Skerries.  It was an easy navigation until we got to Skerries and encountered the many roundabouts, some very narrow roads, and street signs in locations that we didn't see.  We had been to Andrea's house before in 2010, and saw the windmills that are across from her house, but it seemed we kept driving in circles around the windmill park, unable to find the way in to her street.  We asked one woman who was very friendly, but when we followed her advice we were in circles again.  Almost ready to admit defeat and call Andrea to rescue us, we asked one more person "can you direct us to Greenlawns?" He smiled and said that it was the street we were already on. Of course, then we noticed the "obvious" street signs embedded in a low stone wall.

Mama and Papa 

Andrea's garden is spectacular, so we were quickly able to relax and enjoy the lunch her son-in-law Mick had prepared.

The seagulls were also hoping to be served and hovered close by waiting for handouts.  Their 3 babies were on a nearby roof waiting for their food to delivered.

and their three little ones

Some other little ones: Mick and Deirdre's (Dee) kids, James and  Chloe

The big event of the day was watching Dee participate in a Triathlon.  The first event was swimming in the Irish Sea (56 degrees) while we all comfortably (and warmly) watched from the Skerries south beach.  It was followed by a bike race, and the 5K run.

James kept busy while mommy was in the water

We all took a nice stroll along the beach while Dee was on the 5K

This was our first chance to cheer her on as she raced down to the point at the end of the beach 

And looking good on the final stretch

Crossing the finish line

Andrea's younger daughter Eimer, fiancé Leo, and baby Evelyn

Eimer and Leo's daughter Lillian

Dee and her cheering squad

After the race, we walked to the market and then back to Andrea's house.  Skerries is a charming beach town - very quaint -- and she lives in walking distance of the beach, the downtown and the windmill park.  It was another beautiful day in spite of being overcast.

Mick is the chef of the family - while they are living with Andrea temporarily after having lived in England for a number of years.  Wanting to return to Dublin, Mick was able to get a job coaching rugby, and Dee is now a high school PE teacher in Dublin.  He started off by offering a cocktail - he was going to make mojitos, which are our favorites.  He said he'd never made them, but we were more than happy to have him experiment on us.  Five pitchers later...

Dee and husband Mick get the Mojitos started

Looking like I had one too many

It was a very fun evening - and a late one.  Very light here until late at night - so suddenly the sun is going down and it is after 10:00 p.m.  Not sure if it was the mojitos, the relief of having survived the first "drive" or all the fresh air, but we both had a great night's sleep.

Today (Sunday) was Father's Day here as well.  Mick got it started with a breakfast of pancakes, berries and creme before they headed out to see his parents.  Eimer and family came for a short visit, then we headed out with Andrea to see some more of Skerries.

Took a lovely walk through Ardgillan Park.  It houses an 1738 British country estate, now owned by the city and used as a park.  Spectacular views of the Irish Sea and the mountains of Northern Ireland, and colorful gardens.

Petite ferns growing between the stones

Rose garden

Vegetable Garden

Jim getting new ideas for our backyard

Jim and Andrea

Headed back into Skerries for lunch at the Mill-house

California poppies behind the big red poppies

Next we were off to see Andrea's most recent acquisition - an "allotment" at nearby community garden.  She does such a good job with the flower garden at her house, we expect that soon her plot will be as abundant as the surrounding ones.

One last peek at the Skerries harbor and we were on our way back to Dublin.  Jim was an expert on the drive home.  I think I only gasped once...

The first week has flown by!  We have so enjoyed our time with the Irish relatives, but no that they head off to their holiday in France, we have to get down to some serious sight seeing!

Enjoying Our First Few Days

Stopping for a view of Lough Owel, en route to Longford

We arrived to Dublin Tuesday morning and were met there by Jim’s cousin Andrea.  In addition to picking us up, she had a bag of groceries to get us settled in.  The house is WONDERFUL.  Lots of space, very comfortable.  A beautiful garden and deck – and backyard includes a 40-year old tortoise.  Across the street is a bus stop with a direct bus into city centre, as well a small shopping area including a grocery store and a restaurant where we treated Andrea to lunch.  Fabulous food, so I suspect we will go back.  Here are some photos of our Dublin "digs":

Before Andrea left to head home, she let us know that tomorrow she would bring us to Longford (where Jim’s mom was born and raised) to cousin Bernadette’s (“Barnie” – Andrea’s sister),  house where two of their siblings, John and Pat, would join for dinner, along with John’s wife Norene.  All sounded great to us.  We had enjoyed Barnie and her wonderful cooking during out last visit, and had not been able to meet John or Pat last time as they were on vacation.  What we DIDN’T pick up on until we arrived there, was that we were spending two nights there.  I guess we were in a complete jet-lag fog!  So it wasn’t until we arrived and Barnie pointed out what room we were staying in, that we realized what the agenda was.  After a few hours of touring around the area, including a walk along the Shannon River,

River Shannon

cousins Andrea and Barnie

we made a quick trip to the store to pick up toothbrushes and a few other items helped to settle us in… but Barnie doesn’t have computer or internet, so we were “screenless” until we returned home today (Friday).

We so enjoyed meeting more of Jim’s mother’s first cousins.  Interesting, full of family stories, travel suggestions for us, questions about our lives, etc.  All fueled by good food and 5 bottles of wine and some Irish Whiskey.  

Jim's mother's first cousins - all sibling- from left: John, Pat, John's wife Norene, Andrea and Barnie

We showed them photos of Jim’s mom (they are younger so only some vague recollections of her by Pat), the Gioia sibs, nieces, nephews, as well as our boys.  They all agreed that Kevin looked very Irish, and even determined that he looked like he would fit right in to a specific soccer team.  Of course, the next morning when I asked again the name of the team so that I could write it down and let Kevin know, none of them could recall the conversation.  Testament to the wine and whiskey…

On Thursday, Barnie and Andrea took us on a picnic at Lough Key. 

They hung out on a picnic bench while Jim and I took a walk through the forest.  Lush vegetation, wildflowers, interesting trees, moss covered branches, wild rhododendrons, stone bridges – all that we expected to find in Ireland.  

From there we took a circuitous route (yes, lost) to an old castle-turned-hotel/spa for coffee.  

Coffee and Scones at the castle

We took them out to dinner in downtown Longford (“The Black Olive” – fabulous dinner) then back to Barnie’s for more wine and conversation.

Today (Friday) Jim had a driving lesson with Barnie – managed to arrive at the destination in one piece, and with Barnie’s compliment and reassurance that he would be fine driving on the other side of the road.  On the way back to Dublin, we stopped in Mullingar to have lunch with Andrea’s daughters in-laws,  Mike and Mary.  They were so gracious and welcoming (a common trait here).  Many of Mary’s relatives had located in San Francisco, opening a bar in Fisherman’s Wharf (probably in the 1940s) but she didn’t know what it was called and has never visited.  Mike is retired from the Bank of Ireland.  They loved talking politics, economics, etc.

Back in Dublin, we have been relaxing at “home”.  Over the past two days, the tortoise has managed to make his way from the back fence to the area in front of the deck.  I guess that we all had a full two days of travel.

Tomorrow we will head out – with Jim driving (probably gripping the steering wheel with terror) and me navigating (while I hold my breath) – and be off to Skerries to spend the weekend at Andrea’s.  Skerries is a charming seaside town north of Dublin – we were there for dinner last visit and are looking forward to returning.

What does this mean???????

Your quiz for the day:  This picture is hanging in the house here.  We have yet to figure out what it means other than it is JFK and Rose Kennedy.  Hope somebody has the answer!

Coming Soon: Fáilte go hÉirinn = Welcome to Ireland

This is the house we are trading to - in Churchtown area of Dublin

With our master bath remodel completed we thought it made good sense to use the credit card miles to  head off on another home exchange - and particularly appropriate since our home exchange website is "Sabbatical Homes.com" and Jim is finishing up his sabbatical year.  Putting the trip on the calendar was a good incentive for him to (nearly) complete his research so he can relax and enjoy!

We considered several options, but when we were contacted by a couple in Dublin we decided that was the spot.  At the start of our 2010 house trade in Oxford, England we spent a few days in Dublin Remember Jim's infamous "Pub Crawl" story?  If not, look on the list to right and go to 2010 August  posts to find it.  But during that trip we didn't have time to fully explore Ireland, so this will be a perfect opportunity.  The photo above is where we will be staying - June 9 to July 7.  We will have use of their car to explore beyond Dublin, and their location has easy access to public transportation into the city center.  We look forward to spending more time with Jim's cousins who we met on our last visit - with a few more (2 babies born since 2010) added to the mix.  

We hope you will "join us" on our trip by following the blog - travel updates and photos by me, and more eloquent prose and commentary by Jim (with his Irish relatives he will revert to "James").  You can either just check the blog every couple of days for updates, or you can sign up to get email notifications when there is a new post.  To sign up, go to the top of this page and enter your email (just under the "Gioia Travels" heading) and then click "submit." This will bring you to a Feedburner screen to complete in order to activate your subscription to the blog.  

Next time you hear from us, it will be from Ireland!

For those of you that are already signed up to follow the blog: you may have a received a notice for a post from Israel that you can disregard.  As I was adding this post, I noticed that our final post from the 2011 Israel trip somehow got switched to "draft" format - so changed it back to "published".