The beauty of Burgundy (and at last -- Ireland pictures!)

Most of my growing up years were spent in a small mountain town in Colorado. It was beautiful in many ways and for many reasons (the view of Pike's Peak, the shimmering aspen trees, the true-blue sky and year-round sunshine, stars that go on forever). But the high altitude and the almost non-existent spring and only slightly-longer fall didn't really allow for an appreciation of the changing of the seasons. That lesson -- especially the wonder of welcoming in spring -- didn't come until I left for university in the Pacific Northwest (where I remember calling my parents to proclaim "The trees here have FLOWERS on them! Blooming! All over the place!") and then later for Philadelphia (where I called my parents to announce "The dirt in our backyard is BLACK! And we didn't even have to buy it! It just comes that way!").

Well, this week is showing us that Burgundy knows how to do seasons just as well as any place I've ever lived. It is springtime here in every sense of the word. Everywhere I turn, there are bursting flower buds, lush green fields, quick moving rain showers, and the wonderful damp smell of things growing. The world is waking up -- and we are, too.

I think my favorite view right now is out the kitchen window, where this gorgeous cherry tree has been adding new flowers every day. The violets covering the path up to the top of Mount-St-Victor (aka Coconut Mountain) are a close second. The golden daffodils and pastel tulips, the bright yellow forsythia, the moss and green fields and vineyards... well, they're not so bad either.

We are feeling very, very lucky indeed (and hearing of a long chinook -- multiple days of 80 km/hr wind -- in Lethbridge only makes us appreciate this more.)

***

And as promised -- a few (dozen) pictures from the Ireland trip. We started at Bunratty Castle:

But we went straight to the folk park and had lunch at a pub. Lamb stew for me, fish and chips for John... the first of many many potatoes we would eat in a quick visit.

We stopped to say hello to real Irish wolfhounds.

And toured lots of great old cottages, workshops, barns and shops (loving the thatched roofs).

 

After lunch, we toured the castle, which dates from the 1400s and is quite impressive. One of the many interesting points -- there are tiny little stairs to the nursery, so if that castle was attacked, they'd send the children (and a small woman or two) up to their rooms, and the big men in all of their shining armor couldn't get up the stairs, at least not right away...

We did talk to the kids about firearm safety after their fun peering in the cannon of the ship in Bristol... but they still had to take a look here.

We crossed a real moat and drawbridge to enter.

The kids took their places at the head table in the Great Hall

And after climbing up (and up and up) the tiniest spiral staircases, we arrived at one of the towers. Unfortunately we then had to go down (and down and down)... and then did it again (just to get a different view).

And here are a few other pictures from our quick trip... enjoying a Guiness, an Irish whiskey, and lots and lots of potatoes. The picture of the pub "Kathleen" is for my aunt, the original Superchicken in Chicago.

Both girls became somewhat reluctant to have their pictures taken on this trip (we called it "being Amish"). I love this photo of Katie with that big pouty lip... a few second later, she was smiling.

After our whirlwind visit, we flew back to Beauvais, north of Paris, and had a great walk around the city Tuesday night (which is home to a beautiful cathedral). Here are a few shots from that part of the trip as well. And despite the strike interruptions, we DID make it "home" (as our French village house does feel like home by now) and we are all happy to be here -- at least for a few days!

When North American eyes are smiling (in Ireland)

Happy Easter!

We started the day in Beauvais, a small airport north of Paris that has become a hub of cheap flights to other European destinations. We had in fact found very cheap flights (around 20 euros or so a person each way before taxes and fees) to Shannon, Ireland, and then had found a hotel near a castle that seemed to cater to kids over the Easter holiday with an amazing package deal for Sunday and Monday night. Yes, it's true that on Saturday, I wasn't so sure about the idea... but now that we've arrived, I am so glad we came.

None of the five of us had ever been to Ireland (unless Jack's been having more adventures than I know about... which wouldn't surprise me) and we thought it would be good to take advantage of the close proximity of all of these countries and see as much as we can while we are here. The same trip from Lethbridge just would or could never happen.

So off to the airport we went, a good two hours early. That turned out to be very lucky. It seems we weren't the only family heading out on a trip during the start of the school holidays. We were in line after line, only to discover at one point that they hadn't stamped our ticket in another place... so off John went to another line while the kids and I waited, and waited, and waited. We eventually made it on the plane with about seven minutes to spare, and the kids were stars in a stressful situation... patient, calm, and quick when needed.

While we were in line, we chatted a bit with the family in front of us... who turned out to be from Calgary! The father was a professor at the University of Calgary, the mother was a radiologist specializing in multiple births, and they were traveling with their three teenaged daughters, an older one and twins three years younger. We really hit it off with them... each of us enjoying a glimpse of the past and the future...and said warm goodbyes at the Shannon airport. What a weird, small and wonderful world.

We arrived and took a shuttle to our hotel, the Bunratty Castle Hotel. No, we are not staying in a castle -- but we are *near* one. Bunratty Castle sits on the edge of the Shannon River and has a storied past (murder, mayhem, the usual fun castle dramas). It is a beautifully preserved 15th century Norman fortress, with a folk park next to it. So (as part of the special package deal we got), we took our tickets to the castle and folk park and had a great afternoon exploring old houses, barns, pubs, schoolrooms and churches that have been moved to the folk park in recent years when development threatened to destroy them or reconstructed after development took the original away.

The first house to be reconstructed at the park, in fact, is a copy of a farmhouse that used to sit right in the middle of what is now the Shannon Airport's main runway. What an effort to preserve these great parts of Ireland's history...even if the originals of that history were lost.

I'll post more pictures of the castle (where we climbed up and up and up two of the towers and then had to climb back down and down and down... but it was worth it) and the folk park once we get back to our France home... but I wanted to add a few other funny comments before I forgot.

* Waking this morning, searching for cartoons, we were all intrigued to watch Elmo in Gaellic. Somehow it seemed as amusing as the Simpsons in French. Jack was quickly picking up words and trying to teach his sisters.

* The hotel has a great swimming pool (hooray!) but there were two differences here. First, children aren't allowed in hot tubs (which makes it nice for the adults, but hard on these three kids who love hot water) and second, swim caps must be worn by everyone in Irish swimming pools. Thankfully they were selling some (and for a reasonable price... they kind of have a captive audience and could have charged a lot more) so off to the pool we went. France has a few different swimming rules as well. Laura (our lovely landlady) has written a great essay about how and why men and boys are required to wear speedos at public swimming pools in France. Such interesting differences in a universal sport.

* The kids went to a "children's high tea" last night for children, followed by two movies, while John and I had free dinner in the hotel (also part of the package -- what a bargain!). We were a bit worried leaving the kids (especially the girls) in a room of strangers and a hotel employee charged with watching over them (and a dozen other kids of all ages) and we checked in a LOT.  Our kids did great, and all of the short visits served as a different kind of reality check to remind us that there is a true range of buggerish behavior in the world in general and among children in particular. According to the kids this morning, there were some kids at the tea in there who were *real* handfuls... dumping food in the water glasses of others, physically fighting throughout the meal, even calling Ireland's version of 911 for a joke! "I told them it's against the law to call 911 unless it's an emergency!" Katie informed us with all the earnestness and seriousness of a law-abiding four-year-old. The beleaguered hotel employee let us know our kids were VERY well behaved. Good to have some perspective.

* Liv did decide to join us in the middle of our dinner date (she said she had a tummy ache, which is not surprising as she had eaten her whole dinner, plus all of Jack's "chips"). We had a nice visit with her while we finished our meal (which started with a Guinness, of course). At one point, Katie came running into the hotel pub where we were eating (and may I say here that ALL the children seemed very comfortable and calm finding their way around the pub, a place that was already crawling with children!) with an Easter chocolate for Liv. She then ran out just as quickly (needing help to open the heavy door) to continue the movie. A few minutes later, we said "well, that was a nice date, wasn't it Livie?" And she sighed, and said "Yes, until Katie interrupted us!"

* Jack has been very interested in language during this short trip. We told him most people here speak English, but he quickly noticed the accent was different (yes, we fear his English lessons in French school could now include a third bizarre accent). Then, at lunch yesterday, he was upset that his meal came with French fries (which he doesn't like) and not potato chips (which he adores). So we explained the difference between chips and crisps and fries and other words that are used differently in England and Ireland versus the U.S. and Canada (sweater/jumper, trunk/boot, etc... we were helped greatly by recent readings of the British version of Harry Potter). Since then, he'll say things like "Oh, I let Livie eat all my 'chips', get it, chips," and give a wink and a nudge, like he's in on some big secret. Waking up to a Gaellic-speaking Elmo just added another layer of intrigue!

And I think that's about it for now. Check back for wonderful pictures in a few days... the castle and folk park really are something to see.

Reality check

Today, we hit the road for a short trip. These are some of the highlights so far:

11 a.m. BEAUNE. The train is late and it looks like we'll have about three minutes to make our transfer in Dijon. Katie arrives at the station carsick, which means I have to dig through my purse three times to find 50 cent coins so she could use the public (pay) toilet to throw up but she never could; dosed her with Gravol (a Canadian anti-nausea medicine that helps settle upset bellies, but also usually knocks you out) just before train pulled in, which meant carrying 35 pounds of deadweight (along with backpack) to change trains in Dijon while John carried both carryons, a backpack, and kept Liv and Jack on track.

1:30 p.m. GARE DE LYON, PARIS. Livie not pleased with how her coat feels as she gets off the train. As I pick her up to hurry her along, I knock off her headband. This insult results in a full scale meltdown (facedown on quay with kicking feet and everything, occasionally to be heard crying "you messed up my hair!"); I try to be thankful that I will never see any of these people again.

2 p.m. SOMEWHERE ON THE METRO, PARIS: Jack manages to irritate everyone with whom he interacts in the course of a 10-minute subway ride (bossing his sisters around, asking me if he could play the video game he sometimes can play on long train or plane trips after being told (several times) that he could not, not listening to John's requests to stop, wait, or hold a hand as we navigate through crowds and crowds of people...)

4:30 p.m. GARE DE NORD, PARIS. After listening to whining, fighting, complaining kids for 2:45 of the last 3 hours, John and I  call a family conference where we talk about how we are taking this trip to have fun, dammit! Forcing fun on people... that always goes over well. I won't even dwell on the part where I try to get them to appreciate right then and there all of the amazing opportunities they have, and that most people don't get to experience all of the incredible things they're experiencing, and that they are so very, very lucky and should feel grateful, too. Ah, forcing appreciation on someone... also another surefire recipe for success.

4:40 p.m. GARE DE NORD, PARIS. After ice cream (for kids), lukewarm coffee (for John), and a nice cold Coca Cola (for me), we all decide to start again. Things are looking up.

5:50 p.m. SOMEWHERE NORTH OF PARIS: A rainbow. Really. Sure, the kids were REALLY loud about it (and I don't think anyone on the train could have not known it was there, right outside their window, can't they see it?), but it offered a bit of hope.

6:30 p.m. BEAUVAIS: The map directions tooks us on a long walk when the hotel was right across the street from the train station... but it was a beautiful night and I think the walked did us all good. And our hotel has room for FIVE people in one room. Plus, it has a fancy staircase. How could you not like that?

9 p.m. BEAUVAIS: Three kids asleep. I am still debating the wisdom of ever leaving Lethbridge (and since we did that, the wisdom of ever leaving our village).  The jury is out... but I am hoping for more miracles (like the rainbow) and fewer meltdowns (like...the whole day) when we head back out tomorrow. Not too much of an Easter wish, is it?