Next stop - Dublin, Ireland

Traveling to Dublin with Steve, Yoshimi, Howie, Bonnie, Warren, Eric, Brooks and myself ended up being a great choice! Dublin is a fun small-scale city, with lots to see within a fairly compact local area. The sights were all relatively bite-sized - even the top-ranked sights only required a couple of hours to see them - which helped when trying to be tourists while accompanying two active little boys. Yoshimi and I had to duck out of a few activities at various points to give Howie and Brooks a break, but for the most part, we were able to stay together as a group of 8.

The exception to the group togetherness, however, was almost every single sight that had an entrance fee. Brooks seem to decide that he was done with grown-up activities on cue, and choose to communicate his feelings with lots of shouting, mere moments after paying for and beginning three separate guided tours. Note - when a very vocal toddler starts yelling, it's impossible to hear a tour guide! So, Eric and I took turns at Trinity College, Dublin Castle and Kilmainham Jail, listening and reporting back an executive summary of the tour guide's info to whichever one of us was with Brooks. Less than ideal perhaps, but we had several good laughs about it, and thankfully, no one else in the family seemed to mind us ducking in and out of the sights.

Trinity College is home of one of history's most celebrated texts - the Book of Kells - illuminated manuscripts of the four New Testament Gospels in Latin. Our group visit there was difficult, as Brooks was just *done*, but I ended up really getting to enjoy it in the end. After unsuccessfully trying to take Brooks through the museum and library in the backpack, I carried him outside and found a fleeting spot of sunshine to rock him and let him fall asleep on my lap. After Eric finished his tour, while his family went on to the next sight, I carefully transfered a sleeping Brooks to him, and ran back inside to see the Book for just a moment. I had been there twice before on trips with Wendy and Eric, but that afternoon in the moments before closing time, I had the quiet, darkened room to myself. I could lean over this priceless treasure and study the colors and words and patterns and age marks on each page. It was a great "stolen moment", especially after Brooks's challenging last hour. I didn't feel rushed by tourist crowds or by the baby, but had time to savor the beauty and the significance of what the Irish Monks had accomplished almost 1200 years ago. I loved it!

The weather was incredibly windy while we were in Ireland and we found ourselves on one really long head-wind walk to the Guinness Brewery and Storehouse, but we had a great lunch there after our educational stroll through the museum of beer and we re-fortified ourselves before venturing out to tour the Kilmainham Jail. The Jail tour guide did the most amazing job of telling the complete history of the Irish Rebellion in fast-forward. I have never heard anyone talk that fast in my life!

One evening Bonnie and Warren stayed in with the boys so that Steve and Yoshimi and Eric and I could go out on a double date. It was a great evening, and reminded me of their visits to Chicago before any of the kiddos came along. We had a great conversation about work and ex-pat life and I wished for more opportunities to have a sit down visit with them!

Our last day in Dublin, we briefly visited the art museum (a small but quality collection) and the natural history museum (filled with Celtic gold hordes and bog men) and then had a tasty lunch of Boxty's - traditional potato pancake meals. I was glad for a couple of big group meals in Ireland, while the boys were easily entertained across the table from each other and we could talk about what we were seeing. Here are some of the pictures of the trip, mostly of the family but a few of the sights that we saw, too!

Eric and Brooks at Trinity College (pre-tour one of them is smiling!)


Before our tour of Dublin castle...


Howie introducing Brooks to "Puppy"


Cousin Howie and Dada helped Brooks do laps around the Dublin Castle parlor while we waited for the tour to begin, to the delight of his mama as well as other tourists!


Yoshimi and Howie enjoying the Water exhibit at the Guinness Storehouse. Brooks could yell as loud as he wanted next to the falls... He loved this room!


A late lunch at Guinness, enjoying our free pint... Brooks liked the crayons, but I think he confused them for food.


After lunch, the boys each sacked out on his dad's back for a little shut-eye.



Yoshimi and Howie check out one of the jail cells in the new "modern" portion of the jail house, built in the Victorian Era.


Graffiti left by the Irish Rebels. There were lots of reminders of the men and women who died to earn the Irish their freedom from the crown, as well as many stories of the Famine. The poor would commit petty crimes so they could be thrown in jail - an over-crowded prison was actually preferable to freedom, as no one had any food outside the prison walls.


Brooks contemplates a hungry night in prison.


Leaving the Victorian wing of the Jail...


A quick visit to the National Gallery of Ireland - Howie enjoyed the audio guide, I enjoyed the Vermeer and Rembrandt.


Our last group dining in Ireland, sampling boxtys. We missed the Irish musicians by only moments, but still loved the meal.


I can't believe how grown-up Brooks looks in this photo.


The boys got all their wiggles out in the hotel lobby before we took off for the airport.


In the van on the way to the airport.


Brooks getting silly with his kissy face!


Sweet kisses for Nana.


Getting sleepy...


Everyone was exhausted by the time we landed back at Gatwick, but Grandpa did a great job of entertaining the boys on the train ride home with the "disappearing puppy act"! Brooks was fascinated and not yet a great guesser, but Howie figured it out fast! Good job, Grandpa, with keeping everyone happy!

Music time for Brooks

I've been sitting at my computer blogging this afternoon, and Brooks has been pretty content to play by himself... crawling over every few minutes to say "Hel-lo!"

Just now, I heard him playing away on his mini-piano and then he started singing "Doh, Doh" - on pitch. He just sang "Doh" and it was a C, completely in tune! It took him a moment of vocal searching to help his voice match the keyboard, but when he got it, he knew it! Wow!

It's so fun to realize that he's moving from just pounding on the keys and dancing away for the "gross motor" enjoyment to actually absorbing the songs and sounds - really learning about music.

Oh my goodness, he just sang "La" in tune - a nice clear A! This is awesome!!

Where is the video camera when I need it?! :)

Paris, in two sleeps and a wake-up!

We had a really good time bopping all over Western Europe with Bonnie and Warren (my in-laws) and Eric's brother, Steve and his wife, Yoshimi and their son Howie over the last month. Steve and his family were here for a week, and Bonnie and Warren came for 2.5 weeks! It was great to show them our world here in London and to explore some great cities together!

While everyone was here, we tried to pack in as much as possible, which meant that we traveled light and fast and zipped around quite a bit, just hitting as many highlights as possible.

With so much to share I'll limit the descriptions, so I can use lots of pictures. We had three or four cameras going at any given time for three weeks, so we ended up with LOTS of photos!

So - Paris! Seeing the City of Light in 60 hours is ambitious to say the least. As you can tell from the photos, the weather was gray and chilly for much of the trip, so we kept the pace up and drank lots of lattes and cafe americanos! On day 1 we woke up early in London, left home before it was light outside and took the Tube to King's Cross / St Pancras station (yes, HP fans, we were there, but we didn't see the Hogwarts Express), and then jumped on the new super-fast Eurostar train. London to Paris in less than 2.5 hours is wonderful!


There was napping on the train as we zipped past the misty French countryside. We got to Paris before 11am, dropped our bags off at our hotel and then explored Rue Cler before heading to Notre Dame.


After lunch we walked to the Louvre and saw as much world-famous artwork as some of us could stand.



That night we had supper in the Rue Cler neighborhood and then walked over to the Eiffel Tower for a peek during it's romantic night-time best.


I had never gone up in the Tower, and since it was a foggy sort of evening in February, there was NO line. We got tickets and rode the glassed in elevator to the second balcony to take photos and enjoy the city lights. A great way to celebrate Brooks's 15 month birthday!



The next day we had a delicious omelet breakfast and then started at the Arc de Triomphe. Another famous monument I'd only seen from street-level, we climbed the spiral staircase and enjoyed the view from the top tremendously. It's amazing to watch the cars and buses and taxis and scooters all navigate their way in and out of the tangle where 12 different streets meet.




After a picnic snack of pain au chocolat (yum!) we strolled several miles down the Champs Elysees, over the river and back again, finishing at the Place de la Concorde. We stopped at a crepe stand (yum!) near the Tuileries Garden and sat in the park chairs in front of the fountains for a quick lunch. Brooks LOVED getting out of the backpack to stretch his legs for a few minutes.









After our break, we headed to the Musee D'Orsay for a feast of Impressionism. We got our fill of Monet and Manet and Renoir and Degas and Van Gogh, and then rode the Metro up to Montmartre to soak up some historical ambiance and see the area where all these famous painters lived and worked. When we arrived at Sacre Coure - the enormous white church at the top of the hill - we entered to the sound of angels. A group of nuns was conducing the service and the moment's reference was incredible. I was so pleased with our timing!


We wandered around the hilltop village and eventually found supper at a wonderful bistro. Unfortunately, Brooks wasn't all that impressed and had a bit of a meltdown, but we survived to head home and off to bed, tired but full of yummy French food.

The next morning we went back to Ile de la Cite to do a walking tour of the two urban islands and the Latin Quarter. We saw all sorts of old buildings and cathedrals (one was even warming up its organ!) and streets that pre-dated the Roman conquest. We finished our walk at the Sainte Chapelle - the gorgeous Gothic chapel built in 6 years during the 1200's by Louis IX to house the religous relics he had acquired - supposedly including a piece of the true cross and the crown of thorns. Relic significance aside, this is one of my favorite places in all of Europe. The colored light from these windows, the blue starry ceiling, the golden candlelight all make me long for heaven.




After the chapel we stopped for lunch behind Notre Dame and then walked over to Ile St Louis for the best chocolate ice cream (no, sorry - glacee!) outside of Italy. Brooks complained that he wasn't getting his own, so the shopkeeper gave him a cone to munch on. :) We strolled back down the Left Bank of the Seine, enjoying the view and the chocolate and then made our way over to the Rodin museum.




At that point, we were thankful for our Museum Passes as we were running out of time and so wanted to hit a couple more sights. We did the fly-by version of the Rodin Museum, spending just a few moments in front of The Thinker, the Kiss, and the Burghers of Calais. It was fast, but worth it - Rodin was a masterful sculptor.



And then we raced over to Napoleon's Tomb and the Invalides war museum. Eric and I had lots of conversation comparing Napoleon to other war heroes/dictators from history. It was really interesting to me to see the shrine that was built for a defeated exiled has-been, right in the heart of Paris (history buffs, take comfort. I recognize that there is more to the story than that!). From there we zipped back to the Rue Cler, picked up our final taste of Paris from my favorite street creperie and gathered our things and headed to Gard du Nord to catch the Eurostar train back through the Chunnel.

What an amazing trip. More than a dozen beautiful sights, hundreds of pieces of art, and thousands of delicious calories in just 60 hours! When can I return!?

Blogging silence...?

I've been having some trouble with photo blogging over the last week. It seemed to be working again for me last night, so I'm going to renew my blogging efforts.

However, I'm now sick with a cold and am about to take my happy antihistamine pill. I hope to nod off into a drug induced stupor while Brooks naps.

But I plan to have more stories - and photos - online soon. Thanks for your patience and do check back again in a bit.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

In honor of Eric's family's visit the last several weeks, here's a picture of Brooks enjoying his cousin Howie's company. They played together remarkably well, especially given their ages (15 months and 2.5 years). This is in the cabins in the Princess Diana Memorial playground outside Kensington Palace.