An Irish Christmas

Well from no entries in ages to 2 in one day!

Today we had Mary around after mass for an Irish Christmas dinner. Mainly it was an excuse to drink on a Sunday and for Emmett to roast a duck. The duck was delicious and it was a great way to spend an afternoon.



Emmett carving his duck delight.



After dinner we all went for a walk through town to photograph the Christmas lights. The lights are hung all through town and many businesses have their own lights as well making the main shopping streets very festive indeed.





I really like the angel photo.





So from Galway in all it's glory, although it's been said many times, many ways, daidi na nollag to you!

Aimee and Emmett

Looking spiffing for Christmas

Hello and a merry Christmas season to you all!

We're great, Christmas is coming and we can't wait to get to Edinburgh as we're totally ready for a break. And judging by his duty free request so is Richard.

I took the picture below a couple of nights ago, we need to take a few more as like the giant tree the whole town is covered in lights.



Town is actually really pretty, and so is Emmett because he has a new haircut. Based on what he calls his "no one knows me here" theory he let me cut his hair. So I've never cut hair before but it turns out I've a bit a natural talent for it because I think he looks quite good.



The whole thing started with a serious case of the nervous giggles, neither of us really thought this was good idea. Emmett kept saying things like "that's not how hairdressers do it" and "careful" and putting his glasses on to check on things. All this made me laugh more.



In the end though I was starting to look quite professional in my technique, even Emmett thought so. And the end result...







Ta Da! What a handsome husband!

A very spiffing Christmas to you all!

Aimee and Emmett

(Hello,

Long time no news! Well generally all we've been up to is working and trying to stay warm, so to break the monotony we took a weekend to Cork. We know we're supposed to make the most of every trip and all but really all we did was wander around, shop and drink (moderately). We could have kissed the Blarney stone but hanging upside down from the top of a castle in the rain is not our idea of fun so we skipped it.

What we did see of Cork was great, very much the Wellington of Ireland if there is one. Many more coffee and independent shops than Galway and well worth the 4 hour bus trip.



The alleys and streets had their Christmas threads on. Cork had lots of little nooks and crannies to explore and shelter in.



Cork (unlike Galway) has hills, the hill streets are lined with houses mostly painted in pastel colours. If the street curved then so did the house fronts, kinda like a giant maze.



A nice view of the city, we were pretty lucky with the weather it was cold (Emmett's teeth were chattering at on stage) but mostly dry.



Cork is a port city and the river Lee runs through it. Or you could say the city gets in the way of the river as the CBD is between two channels of the river.



These crazy lads were out in the cold rowing boats with what appeared to be very inefficient oars.

So we liked Cork, probably if we were here for longer we'd make a second trip but it has to be said that on our time line it's unlikely. We found a pub owned by Kiwis and drank listening to Che fu on the forst night. And on the second found a pub with a mystical spring that brewed it's own tasty beers (the pub brewed the beer, not the spring). All and all a great place and a great relaxing weekend!

Birthday blog, well not really - it's the day after.

Well I had a birthday, and what a birthday. I started it on NZ time and finished it on Irish time so it lasted a whopping 37 hours, Emmett was a good husband and played along nicely. He even took me shopping on Saturday before the whole thing started for a gift, what a gem.



Me! 25 years old and looking remarkably similar to when I was only 24. I'm wearing the hat and gloves from Christine and Paul, they're very warm and I like telling people they're made from possum fur.



This is the watch Emmett bought for me, perfect as like all my watches it's too big and matches nothing!

I also got a card from home and chocies from the boss and one of the families at work. All and all not bad at all.

Love the now old,
Aimee

Halloween

Howdy folks,

Well if you thought Halloween was an American holiday you've obviously never spent the 31st of October in Ireland. Halloween is a big deal here and like a really big fancy dress party it's very hard to watch everyone get ready and not dress up yourself. We didn't dress up but we did get into the spirit of it slightly by making jackolanterns. When I say we, I mean me, our new friend Erin from Perth and our jackolantern expert Audrey from Canada.



Our pumpkin party, Audrey is the one digging in while Erin sorts the seeds from the pulp. We then roasted the seeds but it didn't really work, it was fun though.



This is my jackolantern, I went for a classic pumpkin face. Not bad for a first attempt.



Audrey's pumpkin was covered in stars and a moon, mine only had four stars but they were very patriotic.



After a few days the pumpkins shrivelled and my scary face looked even cooler, it was however time to throw him in the bin.

So next time it's halloween and you think you can't enjoy it because it's American rubbish, just think of it as Irish craic instead. I know we will.

Aimee

Letterfrack 2

So there were a few more photos that I shunk for the Letterfrack blog that never quite made it. Having done the leg work I've decided to upload them anyway in a better late than never "Letterfrack 2" blog entry.



Emmett sheltering from the rain under a tree after we came down the mountain.



This is part of the local Mary shrine, it was built in 1987 and is big by comparison to other grottos we've seen. It has built in seats and kneelers as well as a letterbox type cabinet that you can put written prayers in.



Also the shrine had the signs of the cross set into the hill around it, below is one of them closer up.



And lastly this photo of the old wreck in the docks is just a nice picture of a run down sort of place that pretty much describes a lot of what Letterfrack is like.



We loved Letterfrack so put it on your list of places to see if you're ever over here,

Aimee

Letterfrack.

Hello there, we've just had a long weekend and just because we could we spent Sunday night in Letterfrack.

Letterfrack is a tiny town about 2 hours away by bus from Galway. There's not much in Letterfrack but it is the gateway to the Connemara National Park. Connemara is the most dramatic scenery we've seen so far on the mainland, and while the mountains are hardly Ruapehu they are easier to climb and still very pretty.





The view from as high as we climbed, as you can see the incoming rain was somewhat of a concern.



The internet is slow and this is taking too long, I have to get up and get on with my day. Consider this a preview and I'll be back to finish it off tonight, scouts honour !)

*************

Well Aimee was never a scout anyway so I ( Emmett ) will now finish this entry.

We stayed at the Old Monastery Hostel which was fabulous. Just think of a junk shop and an old house which were combined in a tornado?

There was an old dog, two cats, a rabbit and a guinea pig to welcome us upon arrival.



Which was good because there was no concierge on duty.

Quirky doesn't begin to describe it.











There was a bar which was built into what may have once been a courtyard area but was now covered over. The bar wasn't running the night we were there but was apparently in full swing the night before with a traditional session (music session) also held in the living room.

After our walk up the hill ( see above) we opened a bottle of wine, made ourselves dinner and sat in the living room. This is as far as we got all evening as we met an Aussie called Erin from Freemantle and chatted with her.

In the morning we were served a hot breakfast of hot scones, hot brown bread, porridge and boiled eggs. It was funny watching the Italian and Belgin couples at our table trying porridge for the first time and nice to chat with them.

Well there are more Letterfrack pictures which we may blog latter in the week. It will be a Mary special (you'll see what i mean).

Dirty old town...

Hello,

We both took Monday off this week and had a long weekend, here's how it went.

Saturday we hung out in Galway the sun was shining and with Autumn in full swing the place is quite pretty, so pretty in fact that we took a couple of photos while wandering the river.



I bought a new hat at the market to keep my ears warm, next week we might buy Emmett one but with less rainbow colours.



Look how big our swan babies are, they still hang out with their parents but at a safe distance so as to still be cool - teenagers!

So after a relaxed day in Galway we got up bright and early on Sunday to catch the train to Dublin. We've been there before but only as a means to getting somewhere else so this was our first real visit.



Looking good first thing in the morning in very misty Galway.



A sign from above at the railway station.



The haze grew thicker as we travelled inland and the sun didn't break through until after 10am at least.

In Dublin we weren't too sure where to go first and since we didn't have a map even if we did know where to go we wouldn't have known how to get there. However when walked out of Houston station the decision was made for us when I looked across the road and said "isn't that the Guinness factory?"

The factory is huge so we did have to walk a city block or 2 to get to the tourist entrance but it was worth it. Unlike a lot of brewery tours you don't get to see the beer being made you instead get a lot of marketing and history but it was still cool. There was stuff you never thought of like how they had a commercial timber mill at one stage so they could make enough barrels to ship the stuff or that they had their own railway on the brewery grounds. Now they own heaps of trucks and I think a few ships still. You get a complimentry pint in the gravity bar as part of the tour, gravity bar is at the top of the tour building and has 360 degree views of Dublin city.



The Gilroy advertising room, Gilroy was also a portrait artist, he painted portraits of several royals.



Having a pint with the zoo keeper.



Guinness, moustache and all.



Dublin from one of it's highest points.

So after the factory tour we consulted our map (they were free at the bar) and headed to the city. We wandered for a bit then met up with our friend Jess and it was off to the pub.



Emmett had a tasteing tray of stouts, one of them had real raw oyster in the brew.

After an early dinner and a goodbye hug (Jess is home in Canada now) it was off to the hostel for an early night and plenty of sleep. Sleep that was briefly interrupted by a phone call from Ema-Joy - big smiles for those in the know.

Monday was our best day I'd say, we headed out early to Trinity College to see the book of Kells. We were in luck as the campus tours were still running and we even got a very serious former student as our guide.



Trinity College, the two massive trees were loosing their leaves like giant snow flakes it was really cool.



Our guide and this super famous sculpture.

We saw the book of Kells and it was OK, really though you can look at pictures of it on the net and get the same feel for it. However you can't walk through the college's old library on the net now that was a super cool place. Everything was roped off to all but it's 16 librarians but the volume of old books and the space itself was impressive.

After Trinity college we shopped and wandered the city side of the river, not much to report a bit like Auckland - same shops only bigger. We did find a couple of shops that we loved and were unique and they were good for present hunting. There were some things about Dublin that weren't like Auckland at all like...



Horses and carts in the fruit and veg market and...



Ladies selling fruit out of baby buggies.

So that's it ladies and gents a trip to Dublin and several "things to do" ticked off the list. Needless to say we arrived home safe and well and are back in Galway planning our next escape.

Love ya,
Aimee

Sleepy Galway

So this is what we wake up to most mornings now, it crisp and cold but the mist burns off into cool but sunny days. This suits me just fine as it means I can still shoo the kids outside if needs be, I just have to rug them up first.

Things have been pretty sleepy here, Emmett still works at the council and will do for another few weeks at least. I go to work 3 mornings and 5 afternoons a week which is about perfect because it's a fairly intense job and without breaks I still notch up enough hours to avoid secondary employment. The cultural diversity continues at Little Treasures with a Russian girl and a Polish boy our latest newbies, only 3 of the about 14 kids on the role are Irish. Many of the other kids are irish born but would not describe themselves as Irish, do not have Irish accents and are strongly aligned with their own cultural community. Fortunately no one seems to see this as a bad thing and things are rolling along nicely.

We're off to Dublin next weekend for a little trip, looking forward to it as we've only ever passed through the big city. There are a few essential sights like the Guinness factory and Trinity college with the book of kells that we intend to see so look out for a more lively blog entry soon.

We of course watched Ireland get knocked out of the world cup by Argentina, in fact my co-worker Sophia went to the game as she's Argentinian and her husbands cousin is in the team. We're hoping that the rather cool merchandise will now drop in price as most of it's made by canterbury and is very tempting indeed.

Well that's about it really, we're alive and well and one of us will write again soon!

Aimee

Three Hookers Please!

Yesterday ( Friday) I had a day off work and had a nice time hanging out in sunny Galway.

I picked Aimee up from work at the end of the day and we went to the McSwiggans for a Guinness. When we got home Audrey ( our flatmate) mentioned that some french friends were watching the rugby at the Univeristy Bar so we tagged along with her.

The University bar is a sight to be seen, it was huge with a big screen and was packed with merry people ( many with those beards that only students can grow). There were plenty of French present and the atmosphere was electric.

Amidst the hord I was able to make my way to the bar and yell "Three hookers please!". Usually one would discretely pull the barman aside to make such a request but not in Galway.

Here a "Galway Hooker" is a type of yacht and also the only locally brewed beer available in pubs. It is very similar to Macs Copper Hop (Now called Hoprocker) or Limbergs Hopsmacker (Hawkes bay brewery).

Apart from Guinness ( a glorious brew) most Irish bars also serve generic lagers and American beer. Budweiser and Millers are on tap everywhere and Bud tastes just like Lion Red ( i.e. awful). Next month the Great Irish Beer Festival is on nearby (cross the road and walk the length of the carpark) so we will be attending and seeing what other local beers are hiding away here in Ireland.

Notice how I steered the conversation away from Rugby! Well that is exactly what the Irish are doing ( Rugby? What Rugby?). Unfortunately the Irish Soccer team has not been doing well either, so we will have to talk about Hurling and Gaelic Football which are safe topics.

Here is a photo of me just for my mother (note the new haircut and new hoody). (I am in the reading corner at Aimee's work.)