Saints, Scholars and Homer Simpson

Despite what you might guess from this quintessential souvenir of Ireland (can you believe it rolls a sheep, leprechaun and pot of gold all into one?), Ireland is known as the "land of saints and scholars." I'm sure this is true, after spending only four days there. But, I am equally sure that neither are involved in running RyanAir! The good thing that can be said of RyanAir is that they have transformed airfare competition in Europe much like Southwest Airlines did in America many years ago. Aside from ticket prices that are cheaper than the taxes and fees layered on, the only other good thing I can think to say is that the airplanes will take you to Ireland..

Where are the Saints and Scholars When You Need Them?

Unfortunately, RyanAir has taken the worst of Southwest's early business model and made it worse while Southwest has taken the best of their model and made it better! While Southwest has improved the efficiency, civility and manageability of their "no-assigned seats" boarding process by implementing an orderly numbering process based on when you check-in and, they remain now the only US airline that does NOT charge for checked baggage, RyanAir has taken the contrary approach. You pay as much for your suitcase to fly in cargo as you do for your own ticket.

The improvement to the chaotic boarding process is to sell "priority boarding" upgrades and then begin boarding the plane 30 minutes prior to scheduled boarding so that those with priority boarding, who don't happen to be at the gate a half hour before the posted boarding time have just donated their money to the RyanAir coffers for no reason (yes, I speak from experience!). And, whilst boarding, they pipe in over the PA system a speeded up version of Franz Liszt (the famous piano player who plays with uncommon speed and skill) to generate a sort of musical chairs - hurry or you'll get no seat at all - atmosphere made all the more chaotic by boarding the plane through both the front and the back doors.

Another observation, which admittedly may be coincidence, but... we have flown RyanAir three times in four years and to locations in three different countries. Each time, we have experienced what are the most turblulent and dicey landings in all our experience. Turbulent enough that each time, the passengers have broken into spontaneous applause as we landed safely. Coincidence?

Homer Simpson is My Co-Pilot

We landed at Kerry airport after 10:00 at night and were glad that the airport makes our old Cedar Rapids, Iowa airport look huge! After a long wait we got our rental car and headed out into the dark, wet night, driving on the left side of the road in our manual transmission Skoda with 95,000 kilometers on the odometer! Thankfully, Gary has some experience with this from travels in England, Australia and New Zealand. Nevertheless, it is an odd experience each time - not least for the person sitting in the left-side passenger seat who periodically feels she should be pressing the clutch pedal!

But, we had the "luck of the Irish" with us as Homer Simpson joined us on his maiden trip as our co-pilot! After re-programming our TomTom with a US map for my trip to Minnesota and then back again to the European map, Homer was added into the mix. Homer is always there when you need him! Not only is he smarter than one might have thought - being able to navigate the wilds of the County Kerry peninsulas even in the dark (most of the time), he was very good at providing comic entertainment with his voiced instructions. What could feel better than being told to "hold your head up high, you are a genius" for arriving at our destination - especially under the circumstances?

I mentioned in an earlier post that we had hoped to stumble upon what is probably the world's most remote chocolate factory and Homer was actually of no help in that endeavor, but we enjoyed truly spectacular scenery along the way in any case. And, that was the real point of the trip to the County Kerry anyway! The first day, we explored the Dingle peninsula along winding and windy roads and cliffs. We were particularly careful walking along these cliffs, but the view made it very tempting to get close enough to peer over!

We were able to explore a sampling of the abundant castles, tower houses and abandoned abbeys. We took a 15 minute ride in a boat to reach this abandoned abbey which included a small chapel with a Celtic cross over 1,000 years old that had been retrieved from the sea - probably having been tossed into the sea during an ancient Viking raid. These Irish outposts suffered a number of Viking raids during their early history.

We are now traveling with just two kids and, the dynamics have shifted - while Ethan and Audrey are rediscovering they can be good buddies, Ethan's previous protector role has changed slightly as this photo, snapped of what has become their more typical relationship, shows.

A Test of Bravery?

We spent the evening at a pub enjoying traditional Irish music and dancing. It was a somewhat touristy affair but I enjoy Irish music and dancing in almost any setting! We were seated next to another American couple living in Germany. He is a First Sargeant in the US Army and was going to deploy for his third year-long tour in Afghanistan. He unknowingly gave Gary a great compliment on his "bravery:" This First Sargeant told us about his role as the leader of troops who clear mines and IEDs , treating it relatively casually as "all in a day's work." Later in the conversation, he responded in horror at the fact that we were driving a rental car in Ireland. He told Gary that he would be scared to death to drive. Quite a high bar for "scary" coming from a man who is about to spend his third year in Afghanistan clearing IEDs! It goes to show the level of training and competence the Army develops in the men and women who serve, that he would be more confident in that role than driving on the left side of the road. We wish our friend for the evening God's Speed. We will keep all of them in our prayers and only hope that the coming year brings nothing more scary than driving on the left side of the road for them.

Here's just a hint about why driving can be a bit nerve-wracking in Ireland. It seems impossible to believe, but they are more cavalier about speeds than the Germans. At least the Germans limit their recklessness to the smooth, well-maintained Autobahns. In Ireland, with the exception of the immediate approach to Dublin, the national roads are all about 1 1/2 lanes wide, have no shoulders -in fact, berms are built right up to the side of the road, leaving about a 6" distance between the berm and your car - they are winding more often than they are straight and, the speed limit is always 100 kilometers per hour (about 65 mph). This pair of signs above say it all perfectly!

The next morning included a trip to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells and a walking tour around the historic downtown Dublin. Mostly, we scoped out what we still want to see and do on a future trip. In addition to visiting Skellig Michael, which stormy weather and rough seas prevented while staying at Kilarney in County Kerry, at the top of the list in Dublin is this newly opened museum (if you can't read the sign - it is for the Leprechaun Museum!).

Thankfully, the best and least expensive flight back from Dublin was on Ireland's other airline, Aerlingus. As you can see, Audrey was anticipating (and was rewarded with) a much better experience!

Chocolate and Other Adventures

All Roads Lead to Chocolate...


We are, of course, surrounded by chocolate over here. And, it seems, everywhere we travel. I don't think it is a subconscious homing instinct leading us to chocolate, I think it is just pervasive here!

One recent morning I walked into the grocery store as is my usual routine after dropping the kids at school, daily grocery shopping being the routine because, as you no doubt recall from my previous posts, our fridge can hold about a day's worth of food and some staples. Anyway, I was met with a life-size Milka cow! Milka is a popular chocolate brand and this purple cow was not only life size but was shaking its head and winking at me! Bear in mind that grocery stores are quite small here and not prone to many "in-store advertising" displays - but, this display looked to me to be sized for a Super Target or other American-sized grocery, not my little, stock one or two varieties, grocery store! You can see the photographic evidence, taken on my cell phone, that I was not hallucinating.



Last week was Fall Break and we took two long-weekend trips so that Gary could still fit in nearly a full week of work in between. The first weekend, we headed up to Berlin. Berlin is our favorite city in Germany, primarily because it is chock full of interesting history and has become the most cosmopolitan city in the country since the wall came down in 1989 but, also not least because it has a one-of-a-kind Ritter Sport store called "Chocoworld."

Now, we did see the sights of Berlin as the kids hadn't been here since 2003 when we stayed a month during a sabbatical Gary spent at a German think-tank. They were too small then to do much more than the zoo and lots of city playgrounds. We took a four hour walking tour of Berlin which was a great way to see the sights while learning much of the WWII and more recent history of the city. We ended at the Brandenburg Gate which was the site that evening of a big outdoor party celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Reunification of Germany.


But, I imagine what the kids may remember most was Chocoworld! And, what's not to love? Many of you are familiar with Ritter Sport bars as the most popular flavors are available at Trader Joe's grocery stores and Targets everywhere. Chocoworld is the one place in the world where you can not only buy all the standard and seasonal flavors but, you can make your own custom bars. Picture an assembly station like any frozen yogurt or make-your-own sundae ice cream bar - about a dozen different choices of "add-ins." Mini-marshmellows, gummy bears, jelly beans, red pepper, chilis, toffee chips, roasted almonds - you get the idea.


Lest anyone think we ate our way through Berlin, there were other things that made an impression on us. One of the more memorable memorials we saw was actually underground. On a square in the center of Humboldt University campus, there is a plexiglass window looking beneath the square to a room walled with empty white bookcases - floor to ceiling. This marks the spot of the first Nazi book burning where 20,000 books were burned. The bookshelves represent the space that 20,000 volumes would fill -- an excellent way to visualize just how many books that is. The place is marked with a quote of a German poet, Heinrich Heine who died in 1856, not knowing just how prophetic his poem, which included this line, would be: "Where they burn books, at the end they will also burn people."

Audrey was particularly taken with the Checkpoint Charlie museum which, though amatuerishly displayed (due to the actual amateur nature of the effort - a labor of commitment and love but not much money by eastern Bloc immigrants since 1961!) is a remarkable testament to the wildly creative and sometimes successful efforts made by East Germans determined to escape the tyranny of the Stasi (the East German Secret Police) and East German life: musicians smuggling their girlfriends through the checkpoints hidden in speakers (not possible in today's era of micro-sized speakers!), people hidden in VW beetles under the trunk floor or even inside the front seat, modified so that the escapee replaces most the cushion material. Even escapes using primitive, home-built hot air balloons and underwater escapes with scuba gear made from everyday materials available in hardware stores. The desperation motivating these people was brought home by seeing the actual modified cars and scuba gear there on display.

...Except When They Don't!

Our second long weekend was spent in County Kerry and Dublin Ireland. I will write more on that soon. One day deserves mention here. We spent a day driving the beautiful "Ring of Kerry" which is on one of the three peninsulas that make up the most western edge of Europe. This is very wild, rugged country and the roads are wide enough for two cars only if one drives with left wheels in the ditch while passing each other! Few directional signs and, as we learned, this is a location that even the GPS system does not know well.


We were not only viewing the scenary but on the trail of what we thought would be an interesting stop -- the Skellig Chocolate Company, the most westerly European chocolate factory, noted for gourmet chocolate. We couldn't imagine why a chocolate factory would be located in this remote, although beautiful, location. Well, we never found it! Between maps and the GPS, we still must have taken a wrong road - hard to believe as there are few roads in this area. But, we had to admit defeat although the scenary - even on a cloudy day- made up for the disappointment! We do know the place exists as we found some Skellig chocolate for sale in a town in the more populous area of the peninsula. It is probably the only way the sell enough chocloate to survive -- that and their website: http://www.skelligschocolate.com/ . This will no doubt be the one and only time during our stay over here that chocolate has eluded us!

Adventures in Virtual Reality

Gary and I are regularly confronted in many ways by the difference in view point between those born in the 1960's and those born in the 1990's! Specifically, what our kids take for granted, we could never have imagined at the time they were born. Now that Molly is off at college in Minnesota, our family dinners and birthday celebrations have taken on a new look. Here is our recent family celebration of Ethan's birthday. As you can see, Molly joined us for dinner (which conveniently happens to be lunch-time in Minnesota) as she does now on a weekly basis!

We are adapting easily to this techno-change in our lives because it is so nice to have more than just a phone call to keep in touch. There is something so much more gratifying to seeing each other's faces as we talk. And - it's free! Who knew that video-chatting across the ocean could be so easy and free to boot?! Seems the one person in the family who did is our youngest, Audrey. She has used video-chatting since we moved to stay in touch with one of her best friends back in Indiana, Lindsey.


Never forget that it is often a 10 or 11 year-old who has the most to teach you!