The Second Best Carrot Cake in Dublin

I was devastated to find that Bewleys, an Irish institution and one ofour favourite coffee stops, is closed until September. When we were last here, we loved sitting upstairs in the window watching the passing parade of shoppers along Grafton Street and listening to the buskers. We also loved their carrot cake!

Consequently, I searched the internet to find "the best carrot cake in Dublin" and found the "Queen of Tarts". This gem is located in Temple Bar and serves pastries that make your mouth water and of course, carrot cake! Tea is served in dainty cups and tea for two could have served ten. We were not disappointed but was it the better than Bewleys?... I think I  need another visit before I make that call!


                                                             

Apparently "Flans Yer Only Man" or so the title of the play at the Viking Theatre at Connolly's Pub says. We went to this show about Ireland's most famous satirist on Thursday evening. I struggled to understand the broad Irish accent of the actor of this one man show and certainly did not understand the humour! The small theatre which probably could hold 50 comfortably had more like 70 squashed into this tiny space. There is another theatre in Temple Bar which has "The Importance of Being Earnest" coming on in August. This theatre, The Smock Alley Theatre" is one of the oldest in Dublin and I look forward to this production!

On Friday night we caught up with Sue and Chris Perrin, who are travelling around the UK and France. I work with Sue at Holy Cross. We met up at the Merchants Arch before heading off to dinner at Oscar's. The restaurant had chairs of different shapes and sizes. We sat on the movie theatre chairs. The menus were inside old record covers, some with the records still inside. Sue was the winner with a Kris Kristofferson album. Meeting up with Sue and Chris makes you realise how small the world is. It was great to catch up and hear about their trip and news they had from home.

Mike The Machine, Mario Queen of the Circus and Million Dollar Eyebrows were just a few of the acts from the "City Spectacular" performing at various venues around Merrion Square this weekend. The various acts danced, juggled, moved like robots and contorted their bodies in ways your body shouldn't, all with maximum audience participation and humour. My favourite was Mario whose whole performance was done to various music from Queen. In fact I think he fancied himself as Freddie Mercury! He was very funny and got my vote for best performer. David may have preferred Million Dollar Eyebrows. He selected him from the audience and every time there was applause David was called on to twirl his nipples. Very embarrassing! (No photo to follow)

We ventured up to Howth for dinner on Saturday evening. We had a lovely dinner at Findlater House, followed by a walk around the harbour and drinks at The Bloody Stream.

We have done sooooo much walking this weekend.

Dublin resolution on track!

Sunshine and Exercise

I know that I need to exercise more! In fact, I should say I actually need to start exercising. That is one of my goals while I am here!

As part of this new resolution, we planned to do the Greystone to Bray cliffside walk. We did this walk last time we were here and as Saturday was a beautiful sunny day we took the 60 minute train trip south to the town of Greystone, where the walk back up the coast begins, with Pawel, one of David's colleagues, who was in Dublin working at DCU (Dublin City University) with David.

The narrow path from the town takes you firstly across fields that are scattered with vivid pink wild flowers. Eventually you walk closer to the cliff face where the gulls and cormorants dip and dive. The path was busy with locals and visitors taking advantage of the weather.  Half way along the track we sent Pawel, who is a daily runner, up the alternative route over the top of the mountain beside the track where a cross stands as if it is protecting the seaside town of Bray. He said the view from the top was spectacular so we plan to go back and do it when we are in better condition.

Walking along the seafront to the pub for lunch, we were amused by the people sun baking on the hard stony beach and the three people swimming on a hot summer's day!  After lunch, we caught the DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit train) back to Dublin and then a bus to a North Dublin suburb where we had arranged to meet Sean who had some bikes for sale. David rode to DCU last time we were here and as there is no direct bus route from our apartment in Clontarf, a bike still remains the most sensible means for him to get to work (as long as he doesn't mind sharing the bike track with the double decker buses). After purchasing two bikes with an agreement that we could sell them back when we leave assuming of course that they have not been stolen, we slowly did the 5 km bike ride home. Apparently, there were 40 bikes being stolen a day last year at DCU!! Sean kindly gave me a bike helmet, although they are not compulsory here. I will look very stylish riding in my WWII German war relic.

We finished Saturday with a visit to the Cobblestone to hear the traditional Irish music the pub is known for and a quick catch up with Dermot Diamond, David's DCU host, his wife Tara and daughter Helen. Dermot was playing the fiddle and Helen singing and playing the banjo.  We won't see them for a few weeks as Dermot and Tara teach at a summer music school and Dermot is away for another week brushing up on his Gaelic! The extraordinary life of an Irish chemistry professor!!

Having purchased bikes, we needed to get bike locks to avoid contributing to Dublin bike recycling. Sunday saw us catch the bus into town to attend mass and to buy some much needed items like wine glasses, as the apartment was missing these, and of course bike locks.  The mass at St Therese's, a large and beautiful church in the heart of one of the main shopping areas of Dublin, was beautiful and the singing of the choir unbelievable. The church is down a narrow ally and, apart from some signposting, there is nothing to give away the size of this church as it is hidden from view amongst other buildings.

We were also looking forward to a walk along the main pedestrian shopping street, Grafton Street, round the corner from the church, and particularly to a visit to Bewley's, the home of the best carrot cake in the world! To our great dismay, it was closed for renovations and will not reopen until September.  I am devastated! I am now in a desperate search for an alternative coffee venue!

We returned home laden with our purchases and ready for a bike ride. We dumped our things and took off along the Clontarf waterfront towards the park at the next suburb,  Fairview.  A quick ride through the park and a quick return home meant that I had got through Day 2 and kept my resolution!

But not so sure how the muscles will feel tomorrow?

"They're Back" (spoken in the voice from Poltergeist, after a Guinness or two!)

Its such a pain that Australia is so far from Europe!  30 hours of flying with 14 hours of those with a very young child who coughed every 3 seconds. Thank goodness for David's access to the Business Club lounges where a shower revived the spirits.

Outside our apartment block

We've arrived to blue skies and a comfortable 20 degrees. Apparently Dublin had its summer the day before we arrived when the temperature was 26 degrees. 

Prior to us leaving Sydney, David emailed the owner of the apartment, John O'Connell, to let him know the time we were due to arrive and to arrange the collection of the keys. Fortunately, David checked his email whilst we waited at Heathrow for our connecting flight to Dublin. Three emails or should I say clues had been sent to give the information about the whereabouts of the key. 

Emails 1 and 2 (Clues 1 and 2 ) were photos of the garden at the front of the apartment block. Email/Clue 3 gave a description of where we needed to dig in the garden to find the key. You have got to love the Irish! Very tricky Mr O'Connell!

Back at the Merchant's Arch

So now we have phones and bank accounts sorted out and have visited one of our favourite pubs. David is organising a bike so he can ride to work. We have been out walking to check everything is still where we thought it should be from our previous visit and have planned our weekend. We are looking forward to the coastal walk from Greystone to Bray followed by meeting Dermot at the Cobblestone for some Irish music.

And for everyone at Holy Cross... not an Angry Bird in sight!

Stay tuned for more installments of Anne's Dublin Dalliance 2!!!

Our Last Dalliance with Dublin

Drama at Connolly's pub!

So here we are counting down to our last days of three months in Dublin.  In the last 2 weeks we have almost managed to do the final things on our "to do whilst in Dublin" list.
One of our earliest plans was to attend the Viking Theatre, which we discovered when out walking one night.  This is a very small theatre, above a pub in Clontarf, about a 20 minute walk from the apartment. We saw a play entitled Down by the River, a one man play, that left us pondering its meaning.  We enjoyed this late, but first visit so much, we went back this last week to the opening night of "Dusty Memoirs". After the performance, everyone in the theatre was invited to join the director and performers in the pub.   We met the director, an ex school teacher who was living her passion of writing plays and who brought her sister over to meet us because her brother lived in Blacktown.

Dermot and tradional musicians

The Cobblestone

Dinner at The Hairy Lemon

As usual, we have also had numerous visits to and dinners at various pubs and restaurants around Dublin. Some have been with David's colleagues, whilst others have been purely out of interest. On our last Saturday night in Dublin, we finally got to hear Dermot fiddle playing at the Cobblestone with other tradional musicians.  I was amazed that all he wanted to talk about when he came over to see us after his session was the bubble experiments that David and a student had been doing during for the last few months!  Then after not finding the Italian restaurant Nico's that Dermot recommended, we ended up enjoying pasta at Bruno's, the 5th Italian restaurant we have eaten at in Dublin and all of them very good. Early Sunday evening, we had a lovely catchup with Sue and her husband Justin when they popped into Dublin. Sue used to teach with me at Glenwood.  David searched the Internet for a pub that claimed to serve truly authentic Irish food. So, the Hairy Lemon was where we headed and were not disappointed by the Irish Stew or the Coddle. Of course our meals came with the standard serving of spuds done at least 2 different ways.
So for the 4th night in a row on the Monday, we ate out and this time at Cafe En Seine or Cafe Insane as the locals call it. We had dinner with David's PhD student, Joseph. This pub is art deco and is completely ostentatious. I enjoyed my chicken meal but the men were disappointed with their lamb.
After a tapas dinner the following Thursday, our final restaurant meal in Dublin was at The Winding Stair with Dermot, Tara and Helen. This restaurant had been recommended to us and indeed it was lovely and, being opposite the Ha'penny bridge, was a short stroll from our favourite pub, The Merchants Arch, that we had discovered during our first week in Dublin. Our last dalliance with Dublin would not have been complete without a final visit. We were not disappointed and enjoyed the music once again!

At Bewley's Grafton St Cafe

We also couldn't have had our last week in Dublin without at least a couple more trips for chai latte, cappuccino and carrot cake at Bewleys - the best carrot cake ever!
Dublin also celebrated Aurthurs Day in our last week in Ireland. Arthur's day is a celebration of Arthur Guiness' birthday, although apparently no one knows when his birthday was but celebrating it in Ireland (and now world wide) has turned into a very successful PR stunt.  A number of international acts play unannounced in pubs across Ireland and so David was keen to find where Mumford and Sons were playing in Dublin, trying to guess at which one of over a 100 pubs with music on the night.  Needless to say, we never found them, but found thousands of Guiness-fueled mad Irish men and women, at times squeezed down streets shoulder to shoulder with them.  So one of  the few disappointments of this Dublin dalliance was to find later that night on the internet that Mumford and Sons had played at Whelans, one of the top music pubs in Dublin and the only place on our "to do" list that we didn't get to!

St Patrick's Library

Up to the last week, I thought that I was going to have 3 months work free until one of David's colleagues at Dublin City University organised for me to spend my last Friday morning at St Patrick's, a school associated with the university teachers training college.  It was an interesting morning seeing how the Irish organise a school and exchanging views with teachers but a few of their jaws dropped when they found out that I had come to Ireland on long service leave, not something they have in Ireland.

Visiting the Book of Kells, Trinity

A visit to Trinity University and the Book of Kells was something we had been meaning to do for 3 months but it took us to our final days in Dublin to get there. THe Book of Kells is an illuminated celtic version  of the 4 gospels. Whilst the display of the books is amazing, the old library was spectacular and straight out of Harry Potter. Rows of old texts on shelves reaching 2 floors looked more like fim props than the real thing. This was a fitting last tourist attraction for us!
We have had so many adventures  in the last 3 months and have had a ball. There is only one thing left to say and that is  (insert Irish accent).... "Its been GRAND!"

Can't wait until David takes up another Fellowship.




See you,
Anne

Looking for George

Tourette sur Loup

From the quaint old towns perched on hillsides in  Provence to the self-sanitising, rotating toilet seat in Germany, this trip has been one of contrasts.
Our trip to Europe began with a very fuzzy early morning start after a previous late night saying goodbye to Dolores and Paul, who were returning home to the US.

A street in Vence

We flew into Marseilles, picked up our rental car, adjusted to left hand drive and were off ( a little tentatively on my part) on our road trip from France to Germany via Vence, Aix en Provence, Como (to search for George), Appenzell,  Erlangen, Ingolstadt and finally Munich.

A Tourette street

The weather was warm and we were basked in beautiful sunshine as we made our way along the Nice motorway before taking the road to Vence. The roads narrowed the closer up the hills towards Vence we got. The hillside towns would appear as you turned a corner, perched as if they could tumble to the valley floor below. The terracotta walls and roofs were contrasted by brightly coloured shutters that seemed to open on to a sheer drop. Our hotel was opposite the market square and a short stroll to the old town. We spent the afternoon exploring the old town, wandering between streets, which were a mix of little restaurants, shops and residential. The local children were playing hide and seek, racing around the streets and hiding behind old rustic fountains. We visited the colourful Chapel of the Rosary designed by Henri Matisse and the cathedral in the square with a Chagall mosaic.

Chagall mosaic

This area of Provence is known for its many small villages home to  local artists and for its perfume. So on day 2 we went in the direction of Tourette sur Loup. This small hillside village was beautiful with unique art shops all displaying and selling the work of locals artisans and a market with varied ceramic wear. We could have spent so much time here, we will have to save the perfume tour for next time,  but we knew we had to get on the road to drive along the Cote D'Azure before getting to Aix en Provence where David was to give a lecture at the university. We drove through Antibes and Cannes and stopped off at Cassis to dip our feet in the Mediterranean (it was a painful walk across the pebbly beach). Cassis is where the French go for a day at the seaside and is not generally a tourist haunt. The best beaches can only be accessed by boat so the marina was filled with boats of all sizes, usually bigger boats than smaller and tall cliffs shelter the seafront. A castle was perched looking over the village and although it was late in the day the place was alive with people.

Cezanne statue, Aix

Soothing feet after Cassis beach walk

Whist David was busy working on the Monday, I spent the day wandering the town of Aix en Provence. Whist it is known as a city of fountains and the home of Cezanne, it lacked the charm of previous villages we had visited. However Aix (or X as it's pronounced) is not a village but a city known for its "baroque splendour". George, David's colleague there, took us out for a delightful meal where we were treated to specialties of the Provence region, with the meal carefully prepared and beautifully served. The French certainly place great importance on their food!

Monaco

Tuesday was to be our longest drive. We once again headed off in beautiful sunshine, stopping off in Monaco on the way. The many boats at the waterfront were magnificent, including one with a helipad. The place was dripping in wealth. David did his best James Bond impression as we drove our little Chevrolet Spark passed the Maserati's and Ferrari's at the door of the Monte Carlo Casino. We saw the palace and the resting place of Grace Kelly before our drive to Como.

View of Como from Brunate

Despite my best efforts, George Clooney eluded me in Como. It could have been the terrible weather that kept him away as it bucketed down, spoiling the view from the top of the funicular railway at Brunate. There was however, the most magnificent church, which had high ceilings all beautifully painted in the Baroque style. I think probably the most beautiful church we have seen. So after coffee and pastries back in Como whilst we waited for a break in the weather, we set off towards Switzerland, across the market square, where cars are not meant to go!

Hotel Kaubad, Appenzell

We drove around Lake Como to Mennagio, through winding streets where it was necessary to pull over for a car to pass, through Lugarno and up into the alps via the San Bernadino Pass. The scenery was spectacular as we climbed  and climbed and climbed. Our overnight stay was in  Kaubad, Appenzell, which we had chosen because it was in the  pristine Swiss countryside nestled amongst rolling green hills. We ate a traditional Swiss meal and awoke the next day to crisp alpine air. We passed cows with cowbells ringing as we made our way to St Gallen and it's old town. We ate lunch in Lindau where we had views of Austria and in fact realised breakfast had been in Switzerland, lunch was with views of Austria and dinner was to be in Germany. Lindau was a pretty spot overlooking a small harbour.

Lindau view over Lake Constance

We eventually got to Erlangan and met Dirk and Corrina for dinner. David was to attend meetings the following morning, so Corrina offered to show me around the town. Erlangen is mainly a university town, where you need to sidestep students on bicycles as you walk around. It was a beautiful sunny day so after Corrina left I spent a lot of time people watching and even had an odd conversation with a women who didn't speak English and I of course don't speak German.
Our final leg of our trip was to meet my cousin Belinda in Munich. In order to return the hire car by the required time on Saturday we had an overnight stop in Ingolstadt to be closer to Munich. We then caught the S-Bahn train to Pasing, a suburb of Munich, where we were met by Belinda and her daughter Lucy (her son Felix was doing his best Federer impersonation at his tennis tournament).

Rathaus, Munich

After catching up on all the family news Lucy took us into the city and played tour guide, taking us to the Rathaus (townhall) in Marienplatz, where we watched the glockenspiel (animated clock), went into Peterskirche, the oldest church in Munich, and up the tower for a view over the city, through the Viktualien Markt, the market square in the city centre, and to a cafe for Schmalznudel and Striezerl, traditional Bavarian pastries. We then met Belinda and Felix for dinner at the Hofbrauhouse, the most famous beer hall in Munich, where we had a great evening of Bavarian beer, food, music, singing, crowds and noise!
So now we are back in Dublin for our last 2 weeks. We have a list of things we still want to do including walking off French pastries and German cakes!!!!  Cheers, George!

                            

Hei (hello in Finnish)

Knit n Tag, Helsinki

The winding cobble-stoned streets, the endless steps climbing up medieval towers, the hospitality of the people, great weather for most of the time  and one of my favourite foods-salmon, it's been a wonderful, exciting week with many unexpected surprises!
Finland and Estonia - I'm so lucky to have experienced them both. We had a very early start to this trip and were amazed at the number of people drinking Guiness at 6 am at Dublin airport. The early start meant that we had more time in Helsinki before a flight to Turku the following day. Upon our arrival, and after we'd had a late lunch, we came across a park not far from our hotel where there were numerous groups sitting knitting. Apparently it was a "Knit n'Tag" event.  All the trees were covered with knitting from pom-poms to traditional designs to characters. I'm not sure the reason for this but everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. 
 
From here we walked towards the ferry terminal and market area. The market stalls were beginning to pack up, however we saw stalls selling reindeer sausage which did not look at all appertising. The hotel had sold us a 2 day travel pass so we took advantage of this and set off on the ferry, which leaves from near the markets to Suomenlinna Fortress. This was an intriguing place as whilst it was a fortress in the middle of the harbour, it had more a village-type atmosphere with dirt paths covering a series of islands, which were linked by bridges. It mainly seems to have museums and restaurants on it now.

Turku Cathedral and Aura River

Day 2 saw us head off to Turku, a 30 minute flight from Helsinki, where David was to spend the next two days at Åbo University. Turku has nothing much of note except a lovely river front, although it used to be the capital of Finland. We found that arriving on a Sunday meant it was a challenge to find places to eat for dinner.  Surprisingly, we had dinner at a lovely rustic cafe beside the river with loads of atmosphere.  Monday is also a day where most things were closed,  so it was another walk along the river and a browse through the shops to keep myself occupied.

Naantalli waterfront

Once David's work commitments were completed, we took a bus to Naantalli. Normally it's a busy seaside town that thrives during the summer months but on a bleak day it was almost deserted.  
Back in Helsinki on day 4 after another early morning start, we took in the sights of Senate Square, Helsinki cathedral, Uspenski Cathedral, the market square, the old market building and the church in the rock. The architecture was varied and the cathedrals stood out on the Helsinki skyline when viewed from the harbour. We were blessed with beautiful weather and our day ended with a wonderful evening dinner cruise around the many islands in the archipelago out from Helsinki. The golds and oranges of the sunset were amazing. The boat took us past holiday homes scattered around the many waterfronts. Each of these had what looked like small boat sheds on the edge of the water but these were in fact saunas. Finland has over 3 million saunas throughout the country such that everyone in Finland can have a sauna at the same time!

Harbour view Helsinki Cathedral

Archipelago island sauna

Helsinki dinner cruise

Toompea Hill, Old City, Tallinn

Back to the waterfront on Day 5 for a 1 and 1/2 hour fast ferry across the Baltic Sea to Estonia and the capital Tallinn, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  This place was definitely a highlight of the week. We spent 2 days exploring the old medieval walled town, stumbling along the cobblestones streets, walking up numerous wall and tower stairs and eating salmon morning, noon and night! Well at least I did!

Climbing a Tallinn tower

We toured through the Bastion tunnels, underground passageways dating back to the 1600's upon which high walls were constructed. These were used to move soldiers and ammunition throughout the town but during WWII it was used as a bomb shelter and even more recently, homeless people would live in them. We climbed the tower of St Olav's church for a remarkable view of the town, walked along the top of the walls, wandered up the hill to the Alexander Nevski Cathedral and saw Fat Margaret, Tall Hermon and Catherine's passage ( the names given to towers and lane ways).

Dinner at Restaurant Kaevukohvik, Tallinn

We ate beautiful meals in restaurants with serene atmospheres  and, in fact, after searching for places to eat and being told we needed to book, we found a perfect restaurant where I ate "fried salmon" and David ate "moose stew". We had a room to ourselves there, with a view over the ancient town well. Perfect food, music and company!
We were truly disappointed when it was time to leave this interesting and beautiful town.

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