Bergen to Helsinki

 Photos coming soon!!

Bergen-Afternoon 1-

We got to Bergen in the late afternoon and were able to spend the evening walking around the beautiful waterfront with many cafes, an amazing fish market and the lovely town that is Bergen.

One of the main things to know about visiting Norway is that things are FREAKING EXPENSIVE!!! I mean $14 beers, $30 hamburgers, $6 Cokes and the like. OMG! So we did most of our meals on the ship unless it was included in the tour! So much for the food experience of Norway.  There were also beautiful Norwegian sweaters that cost millions of dollars and we learned that these beautiful sweaters are made in Estonia so hmmmm-we are going to Estonia (which is on the Euro and just less expensive generally), maybe we should look for that gorgeous  sweater (that we will wear once or twice a year) in Tallinn, Estonia when we visit there from Helsinki????  Mayyyybeeee!

Beautiful Bergen

Fishmarket with everything including including whale!

Bergen

Day Two-the Fjord- WOW

Went took a trip to see the Aurlandsfjord  Fjord that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We went there by bus and after spending a couple of hours having our minds blown by the most beautiful scenery ever we boarded a train >>>then another train>>then back to the bus to make our way back to the ship. The trains were amazing and took us higher and higher into the mountains above the fjords with beautiful waterfalls (hence, lots of hydroelectric power) and just gorgeous views of the Norwegian countryside.

On the ship-on to Oslo!!

Oslo-Day 1

Day 1 Ship Museums-

We started the day at the Viking Ship Museum which is a small museum that houses some of the oldest and best preserved Viking ships in the world. When I did a study abroad program in Denmark in ..... many years ago, I was fortunate to see what was then a new exhibit of the excavation of a Viking vessel they had found in the ocean and required them to build a wall around it, pump out all the water and dig up the boat-pretty impressive. The main one we saw in Bergen was a beautifully carved boat that had been the burial boat for 2 Viking women. Vikings were pretty smart about Viking women owning and running things. I knew there was something I liked about the Vikings (in addition to their carpentry, shipbuilding, trying to take over the world, etc.)!

We were fortunate enough to meet with one of the archeologists on staff who was able to talk in great detail about everything involved with that ship and 2 others. The burial ships were a great deal like the pyramids in that they were filled with a great many things that might be needed in another life and just to show their wealth. That ship as well as the others really showcased the Viking's shipbuildings

skills.

We then made our way to the Fram museum that showcased the explorations made to both the arctic circle and Antarctica by>>>>Pretty cool stuff (pardon the pun) considering the type of ships they had and what it took to do that. I get grumpy if the temperature drops and I have to put a sweater on not to mention ice bergs, sleds with dogs and all that stuff!!

Our last stop for the day was the Kon-Tiki museum with the rafts used by Thor Hyerdahl were on display. I had read the book The Kon-Tiki years ago and had seen some film clips of the different voyages but basically-those guys were just whacked!!!  They sailed from South America to Tahiti, and from the West coast of Africa to South America to show that early people in Peru could have settled Polynesia-okey dokey then!!!! Apparently the movie “documentary” made about one of the voyages received an Oscar in the 1950’s so I may have to check that out! It was interesting and I got a good pen!!

Oslo Day 2-

Rick took his Social Psyc class to the Nobel Peace Prize museum as part of a discussion of Peace and Conflict Resolution and it went really well.

Tina took a city orientation tour and got the lay of the land.

After Rick’s field trip and Tina’s tour we went to the City Hall building where the Nobel Prizes are actually awarded and it was a completely amazing building. Frescoes on every wall of every room showing the history of Norway room by room-absolutely amazing.

As we walked around the outside of the building we saw such an interesting sculpture on one of the sides of the build-check out the photo (woman with her husband (?) reaching around to hold the hand of another man (???). Is this a lover? A brother who was left behind while she moved to the aristocracy???-interesting-why is it on City Hall?  Curious!!

We went to the Oslo National Gallery where we saw many great Norwegian artists as well as many Picasso’s and the such but the main purpose of the trip was to see an exhibit of Edvard Munch (The Scream). He makes Edgar Allen Poe look happy! What a tortured individual-the stuff that projective psychological tests are made out of!! (There is a young woman with torn clothing and a man looking very ashamed-what do you think this is hummmmm?”) The only normal looking woman in all of his pictures was a woman who we think was his mother!!

Oslo is a lovely city on the water, beautiful flowers and LOTS of very naked sculptures. Park after park devoted to the most amazing naked sculptures doing many amazing things! The Norse sure love their nakedness-many of the frescoes in the City Hall had MANY naked people- just saying!!

Norway was an absolutely lovely country with very lovely people who  were very kind. Now to get a beautiful sweater in Estonia!!!

Saint Petersburg-Day one

 COREY IS HERE!!!!!

Corey made it in from Viet Nam via Kuala Lampur (after the misbegotten shot down airline-they say the safest time to fly is after something like that!), via Dubai where he spent a day and on to Saint Petersburg.

After months of making arrangements for him to stay on the ship with us which took tears, appeals and general hand wringing for the ship to agree, the Russians decide that “there will be no visitors to the ship-overnight visitors are the same as visitors so-Nyet”.  After meeting with the Staff Captain I tried one last time to see if there was anything else I could do to get him on board he said in his very Russian accent, “Don’t pursue it.” End of discussion-immoveable object-finito. So a friend on board who had lived in St. Petersburg found a hotel at the port-some 100 feet from the ship. That’s the good news. The bad news is that Saint Petersburg, a major world power, has no air conditioning-anywhere. So Corey had this very clean albeit very basic room (all he wanted was a bed-as opposed to a plane or train seat-and hot water) but it was about the size of a large closet with no air conditioning. It had a glass door leading to a postage stamp sized balcony but if you opened the door the mosquitos came in. Who knew that Saint Petersburg was built on a swamp? That’s why no one had built anything there before! So he had a nice clean sweatbox with a bed and a fully functioning shower so he was happy. 

Usually when the ship in in port in Saint Petersburg they dock right in town and it is just a matter of getting off the ship and walking to major destinations.  However, this year we are here during “Fleet Week” for the Russian Navy who spent days getting all of their ships into St. Petersburg (where we would normally dock-grr)  with the culmination being “Navy Day” on Saturday with all the ships and sailors celebrating Russia’s victory over Sweden several hundred years ago. (See pictures of drunk sailors in the fountain below!)

So we were docked well outside of town but there was a local tram that took us into town for very little money. Things in general were certainly less expensive than Norway! After being faced with paying as much as a small car costs just to get dinner anything looked better!

Day one-we had five full days in port so the first day was spent getting Corey in and have time to recover from several days of travel to get here. In the late afternoon we headed out for dinner with friends and had a really nice time.

Day two- The word that most fits the art and architecture of Saint Petersburg is Excess. It is no wonder there was a revolution!!! The disparity between the amounts of gold used in the palaces and the lives of the serfs was unbelievable-just too much! The scale of the buildings in Saint Petersburg is so huge that a person feels dwarfed. Everything is sooooo big to show their might and power that it is a bit overwhelming.

We went for a tour to the Hermitage-the Winter Palace (and many other buildings) of Catherine the Great. This also involved a general city tour to help get oriented to all that Saint Petersburg offers to help with the rest of your trip.

The Hermitage was a marvel of gold, gold, gold. There were wonderful paintings by DaVinci, Rembrant, sculptures by Michelangelo and so many things that they say if you spend one minute in front of each item in all of the buildings that make up the Hermitage, it will take you 8 years to see everything.  Again, overwhelming and unairconditioned. (this is the 2^nd major art museum, Oslo being one other, where they have a room full of Rembrandts or Picasso’s and the windows are open, the sun is shining in on the paintings and it just boggles the mind.

After the Hermitage we took off on our own with one other friend and explored the city, found a fun place for dinner (lots of borsht, beef stroganoff, salmon, caviar…) finding different neighborhoods, went to some grocery stores (always interesting to do) and found a great park to stop in and people watch. The sun was not going down until 11:30 so we never felt unsafe although the constant reminders about pickpockets were a bit unsettling. One tour guide wouldn’t even let us take our bags in the museum because the pickpocketing had gotten so bad even in the museums.

Back to the ship-ready for the next day!

The three of us at the Hermitage

The plaza at the Hermitage

The grand staircase-the beginning of the gold!

Corey and Zeus

Day three- Orthodox Russia-amazing churches

We went to a number of churches, some of which were working churches, some that are now museums with occasional services and while the museums were spectacular we found that going to the working churches were a quaint experience, complete with baptisms, choirs practicing, etc.

The winner by a long shot was the Church of Spilled Blood which was erected over the spot where Nicholas II was assassinated and it is one of the wonders of the world. I hope the pictures convey some sense of the wonder that it was.

After the revolution the churches (some 700 of them) were reduced to 17 churches with the others being used for storage, as hospitals or morgues, barns, any number of terrible things but many of them have been reclaimed and reconstructed.
That night we took a cruise through the canals of Saint Petersburg getting a view of the city from the water-very nice evening!

The Church of the Spilled Blood

Mosaics in the Church of the Spilled Blood-amazing

Smile for the camera!

Our evening cruise!

Day four- Catherine’s Summer Palace and the gardens of Peterhof.

The summer palace of Catherine and all of the Kings and Czars-Can I say it again-EXCESS. Gold and amber everywhere. However, this palatial palace was almost completely destroyed in WWII and they have completely reconstructed it which means they spent money building it not once but twice-wow.

Peterhof’s gardens-the gardens of >>> that are even more over the top than the Hermitage and Catherine’s palace put together. These folks really had something to prove and gold was the medium! It was impressive but the heat wave that was engulfing the area was at it’s worst that day and we faded by the end of the day.

But not to fear-after returning to the ship to shower and rest up a bit we headed out for the evening of “Navy Day”! Yep we were going to brave the crowds in St. Pete to drink some vodka and hang with some sailors.

On the way to dinner we went through the park where we encountered sailors in the fountain and just generally having a great time. Drunk but no danger. We at dinner at the Vodka Room which was great-complete with a local Russian band and good food. Really lovely dinner. Off to the banks for the river for fireworks (not too effective at 10:30 p.m. since the sun was still pretty high in the sky!) but it was interesting to be with all the families and the  locals who had come out for the event. The sailors were all wearing these navy and white striped shirts that me and a friend were determined to  get one of-either from a sailor or from one of the places selling them on the river-not a tourist shop! So we wandered along the river after the fireworks and not only got our shirts but Rick got an awesome hat!! Back to the ship before they open all the bridges (from 1:30 am-5:00 am) and we wouldn’t have been able to get home! But we did get home safely but sadly because Corey was to leave the next day.

Catherine's palace

The gold just keeps coming!

The palace at the Gardens of Peterhof

More of the gardens-excess anyone??

Captain Barnes?

Winding up a great evening with food, great local music and drunk sailors!

Day Five-Corey got off to the airport in the morning, Rick and I did a little shopping for Russian goodies and off to Sweden!!!

Sailing away with Corey :(

Sweden- Day 1

Rick had a trip with his class (the other half of the Nobel Peace Prize trip) to the Nobel Prize museum in Stockholm. They give the peace prize in Oslo and the other 5 (Chemistry, Physics, Medicine, Literature, Economics) in Stockholm.

While he did that I went on a tour to get oriented to the city (not easily done as it is on lots of islands and it is a little hard to get your bearings at first!) and went to the VASA museum. This museum showcases a ship called the VASA that the King of Norway had built in the 17^th century to “scare his foes” when they went to battle in foreign lands). The ship sailed for scarcely more than a few minutes before it promptly sank-seriously! Completely sank. Turns out that the shipbuilder had built the ship and the king decided that he wanted double the number of cannons which meant building 2 rows of cannons which not only would make the ship unstable but would make the lower row of cannons too close to the water with the possibility of flooding in through the gun ports. The king said he didn’t care-he wanted his cannons so the shipbuilder did it. That coupled with not enough ballast and after setting sail there was a good gust of wind that made the ship go over a little and the water came in the gun ports and down it went!!!

In the 1960’s they were able to raise the ship in it’s entirety and it is on view! There you have it! A major restoration project and museum devoted to a ship that sailed for only a few minutes and then sank!!  It was kind of cool but doesn’t it look just like the ship in Goonies????

We went out with good friends who were leaving the ship the next day and (since we haven’t had enough sailing) we went on a cruise around all the islands in the Stockholm archipelago while eating shrimp and reminiscing about this voyage and the one in Fall 2010. Lots of fun and laughs and wine and shrimp…….plus some lovely scenery-a lovely time.

Also saw an amazing display about the Romani people in Sweden. People who have been coming since the 1500’s from Romania, Serbia, Kosovo, India etc. who have just been recognized as the 5^th minority in Sweden (along with the Sami, Lapplanders and a few others!). Learned lots about the ancestry of these folks, the stereotype of them as gypsies and a great deal about their heritage.

The square where the Nobel Prize Museum is located.

On a cruise with our friends who were leaving!

 Day 2- Sustainable Stockholm-

In 2010 Stockholm was named as the first European Green Capital. We visited a number of places in Stockholm that have incorporated some unique types of “green” infrastructure as well as housing developments that have been built with “eco” friendly materials, alternative energies, using less energy overall, incorporating gardens and the most amazing garbage system. But first- there are no houses inside Stockholm-everyone has apartments. You put your name in for an apartment when you are a child-it takes sometimes 25 years to get the right to rent an apartment or gasp-own a condominium. So 25 years and lots of money and you have your apartment!!

Garbage-Outside each set of apartments are some doors leading to vacuum tubes. You put the specific types of garbage in the specific tube and they just suck the garbage away. That way there are fewer garbage trucks picking up garbage, better ways to recycle and it is just amazing. There are tubes for plastics, paper, wet garbage, and newspapers. In the basements of each set of apartments they have facilities for glass, hard plastic, cardboard, etc. So cool!!

We went to 2 different types of housing developments with lots of Stockholm scenery in between. We almost got to go to a brewery that is a partnership between Brooklyn Brewery and Carlserg but it was a little too early for it to be open!!

Pump you up!

Vacuum packed garbage!

Recycling station in a grocery store

Day 3-How many miles can one person walk in Stockholm?

Rick decided that this was the day he was going to stay on ship and get things prepared for the next couple of weeks so that when we take our little anniversary trip (the 37^th) to Tallin, Estonia on Aug 7^th and 8^th he wouldn’t have to work.

So Tina headed into Stockholm with friends and made a day of it-most of it on foot! We went to the City Hall where the Noble Prize banquet is held and it was almost as amazing as the one in Oslo but not quite.

Stockholm city hall

Banquet hall for Nobel laureates

Gold Hall-these folks are really serious about their mosaics!

Grab a bite of ridiculously expensive lunch and then go to check out the set up for the Gay Pride Parade happening that day. Some 600,000 people projected to be there. We got to the parade just as a number of people from the ship were passing by marching in the parade so we marched with them for awhile which was great!!! The entire country of Sweden was completely supportive of the march and it was just a great feeling.

Of course since a pretty large percentage of the population of the entire country was present for that parade was here several other groups took advantage of the situation to have their own demonstrations and parades. There was a Palestinian protest, one for the Assyrians and even the Hare-Krishna’s made an appearance!

After the parade we went to the Nobel Prize Museum and then decided to find a less touristy side of Stockholm so we ventured to another island and had a wonderful adventure finding a fun outdoor pub where we met a lovely couple of Swedish men who were in town for the parade and we shared drinks and lots of interesting conversation. We left with new BFF’s and decided to venture back to the ship. That trip would have been much easier if one of the only two buses that actually goes out to the ship hadn’t stopped running 2 hours earlier (who knew it was Saturday??? Or Lordag???) So-lots of walking to find the other bus that went to the ship (rather than taking out a 2^nd mortgage to fund a taxi!) picking up students and crew members from the ship who also didn’t know that it was Lordag and that the bus had stopped running! We made it back with over 20,000 steps on the Fit bit!

Ready for the last day!!!

Helsinki and Tallinn, Estonia

Day one- Rick had a field lab with his class learning about the green city planning processes and infrastructure so Tina went on a city orientation tour that covered many of the highlights of Helsinki including going to a great open air market, seeing a monument to the composer Sibelius, lots of the islands around Helsinki and Finnish ice cream! Apparently Finland is one of the top, if not the top consumer of coffee and second or third in ice cream! Go figure! Trolled around the markets and the senate square and just soaked in the Helsinki sun which there is precious little of most of the year!

Days two and three- trip to Tallinn, Estonia

When one has the chance to visit a former Soviet country who has struggled to gain and maintain their independence it seems like a good idea to take that chance. So off we went on the ferry to Tallinn which includes a walled medieval city that is just lovely. After participating in many tours on this voyage that while affording you the opportunities to see many things you might not otherwise be able to see, we decided to dial it back and take a leisurely trip and have a bit of a vacation for our anniversary and it ended up being a lovely trip. Tallinn has only been independent for about 25 years and has only been independent about 60 years of the last 500 years!

We went with some friends, strolled the city, bought sweaters that were too expensive in Norway (and made in Estonia), had  some great traditional Estonian food and just enjoyed the scenery.

Day 4-

Back to Helsinki and Rick worked on the boat to prepare for finals after the next port so Tina headed into town to shop for Marimekko fabric that one friend wanted and for a surprise for Richard for his birthday. Didn’t find the fabric but got the birthday present! 

Off to Poland and then on to home sweet home!!!

Scotland-

Day 1- Highland Games-Luss, Scotland-on the western shore of Loch Lomand

We had expected this to be a completely touristy experience and were okay with that but it turned out to be a quaint cultural experience. This was the real deal! First we looked around the village of Luss which was filled with cottages with flowers and gardens that were the absolute stereotype of the small village in Scotland.  Then appeared the Chief of the Clan Colquhoun. The tradition dictates that the chief leads the people into the games so the parade proceeds with the chief and his family, then  comes a band of bagpipers and drummers, then all the people going to the games, so we all joined in the parade and followed the clan chief into the games. It was filled with Scottish families with many men in kilts picking up large rocks, throwing telephone poles, tossing sheaves of branches over poles (high jump style). It is was easy to imagine when (for generations) the clans got together to showcase their strength, doing it through the everyday tasks they had to do (removing rocks from the field, throwing bales of hay into the barn, etc) and proving who was the strongest and best among the clans. There were races of all sorts where both locals and guests could join in, which was great fun. The food was amazing. We had our first haggis of the trip (having had it when we were in Scotland 13 years ago) and it was just perfection. Rick had haggis with neeps (turnips) and tatties (potatoes) and I had a haggis burger which was haggis on a lovely bun with a piece of cheese and whiskey chutney. It was just delicious and Rick's was lovely as well. I followed that with some ice cream and Rick had a locally brewed Loch Lomand stout.  All in all it was a delightful experience even though Rick did not don a kilt and take part in the throwing of telephone poles!!

Quaint stone cottages with beautiful roses

On  the shores of Loch Lomand (you take the high road...)

The Chief of the Clan leading us to the games

Followed by bag pipers and drummers

Throwing sheafs over the pole

Hanging out having a pint!

Musician a la Braveheart

For my "Outlander" friends

Our first haggis of the trip-yummmmm!

Day 2- Edinburgh-a revisit

Even though we had been to Edinburgh 13 years ago we took the opportunity to go again and see it with more experienced eyes and with new people to share their experience. We were not disappointed. We were taken aback with the sheer number of people there that seemed exponentially more than when we were there before. There were just throngs of people to wade through. Nevertheless we felt like we were visiting an old friend and we were happy to see things again. We enjoyed the views from the castle as well as envisioning the history as we thought about it through the lens of Braveheart (even though that was not completely historically accurate Tina still clung to some of the illusions). We had a guide who was determined to shatter these illusions by referring to the historic Edinburgh that had roads not with quaint cobblestone streets but streets of mud and “mire” (human and animal excrement), rats, disease and general unpleasantness.  With the knowledge that this was the accurate historical perspective, it was much more fun to cling to the romanticized image of the historic fiction with the siege of the castle, manly men in kilts sweeping beautiful lassies off their feet and crushing the English at Bannockburn. So there!! We ate lunch at our favorite restaurant (more haggis-delicious), Deacon Brodie’s Tavern.  Deacon Brodie was the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson’s Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The story says that Deacon Brodie was a city council member by day and a thief and general scoundrel by night.  It appears that he actually designed the gallows on which he was hung-you gotta hate that!!!

Edinburgh Castle on the hill

Entrance to castle-Wm Wallace and Robert the Bruce

More castle

Deacon Brodie's tavern-interesting story

Haggis #2!!! Such a lovely color (with neeps and tatties!!)

At the tavern-retake of a pic from 2001!!!

For Richard and Corey-an old friend!

St. Giles Cathedral-one of our favorite places-Thistle Chapel

Somehow we always find a pastry shop in the rain!!

Hollyrood Palace-Queen E's Scotland residence

Day 3- Robert Burns-the national bard of Scotland

We decided to take a trip to the birthplace of Robert Burns as he is so important to the Scottish people but it was also because the trip would take us to the southeast area of Scotland where Rick’s ancestors hail from. We haven’t been able to find any evidence of the Hoggs or McClungs but we know they were there!  The Robert Burns site was a lovely area including the thatch roofed cottage where he was born. The area around the Robert Burns center included the Brig O'Doon bridge that was part of his famous poem Tam o’ Shanter. The story says that the witches can’t follow him over a body of water so he crossed the Brig O'Doon bridge to escape them.  I prefer to remember the musical with Gene Kelly and Bing Crosby with the magical village of Brig O'Doon that only appears every 100 years.  The monument to Robert Burns included a spectacular garden with the most luscious roses and the bridge was like something out of the movie!!  The drive along the coast was also beautiful. That coupled with a sandwich made with local smoked salmon made it a great day!

Birthplace of Robert Burns-Scotland's national poet

Burns Monument

Tina and Rick at the bridge to Brig O'Doon

The bridge

Where are Rick and Tina-Have they disappeared in Brig O'Doon?????

Day 4-Glasgow

Rick got a cold and decided it was best to stay on ship, get some work done and nurse his cold. This meant that I was tasked with going to Glasgow and taking pictures of the famous Buchanan Street, a pedestrian shopping street that he needed pictures of for his lecture on Glasgow. Hard work but someone has to do it. I think Rick would rather have had a cold than go shopping!!  I went with a friend from the ship and his family and we embarked on a day of seeing the sights of Glasgow.

This started with lunch/tea at the Willow Tea Room that was designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh whose architecture looks very similar to that of Frank Lloyd Wright.  The tea was one of those things straight out of Downton Abbey and was just amazing. Sandwiches on one level, scones (softball sized!) with clotted cream and jam on the next level and then the cake of your choice on the top. I chose a Victoria Sponge which was a lovely vanilla cake with a layer of whipped clotted cream and jam. There was a pot of honey almond tea to wash it all down and lots of pictures to document that we actually ate it all!  We then went to take a tour of the city chambers that was just a spectacular building but the tickets were not available. We had to be content with the pictures of the interior which were just amazing

On to Buchanan Street shopping area. Your basic upscale shopping street with lots of street performers, shop keepers giving out samples of tea, going into Lush for lotions and potions and lots of pictures for Rick. I nearly bought a pair of shoes until I saw the price-will be glad to be back on Euros in Ireland with an exchange rate that is better than the sterling pound!!  We saw lots of squares with lots of sculptures (some with traffic cone hats just to be quirky!) and evidence of the preparations for the upcoming Commonwealth games to be held in Glasgow. This is second only to the Olympics but just for the UK and their former colonies.

Back to the ship to sail to Ireland!

Dublin-Welcome to Ireland!!!

Unfortunately the first thing the ship did upon docking in Dublin was to turn off the internet service for the duration of the time in port-L We felt stymied in our attempts to communicate with family and research things to do in Dublin!

However-Rick could smell the Guiness and as part of our City Orientation tour we did indeed go to the Guiness Storehouse where we attended the “how to build a stout” pouring session and we now have official certificates that show that we know how to use a tap to pour a proper pint of stout. We then went took our perfectly poured pints to the Gravity Lounge at the top of the brewery that has 360 degree views of the city of Dublin which was pretty spectacular-and the views were good as well!  On to St. Patrick’s Cathedral that was beautiful and we learned  a lot about Robert Louis Stevenson who was actually a Deacon of the church for many years.

On to Trinity College where we learned about the history of the college and found where to go the next day to see the library and the Book of Kells-not to be missed!

A little shopping on Grafton Street-another pedestrian shopping street but one where they have many ‘buskers”-street performers-as well as live sculptures who are perfectly still until you do something and they respond to you!! What fun!

Then in typical Irish fashion the clouds rolled in and we got drenched because we had left our “brolleys” (umbrellas) and raincoats on the bus while we had a quick look around  on what had been a beautiful day!  Back to the ship to dry off, warm up and have a quiet evening on the ship.

Days 3&4-The Roots of Irish Music

We left early in the morning to drive from Dublin to the Cliffs of Moher (the spectacular cliffs that adorn every tourist publication from Ireland) which, due to the predictably unpredictable weather in Ireland, we were standing just feet from and couldn’t see anything due to the fog that had rolled in with the rain and gale force winds!!  What are you going to do? There was an interpretive center that had lots of information with a gift shop where I bought a pen with a puffin on top of it as that was the closest that I would get to seeing the puffins that hang out at the cliffs! Rick said that instead of seeing the Cliffs of Moher we saw the Cliffs of Less!

We then drove to a small village called Ennis located in County Clare which is apparently one of the prime locations for traditional Irish music-it just seems to be in their souls.  Here we had a lovely lunch with fish chowder with brown bread and the beginning or our 2 days of music. We spent the afternoon with our own private session with 3 musicians. There was one man on a bouzouki (I know-how strange is it that a Greek instrument has found it’s way into the Irish music culture!), one woman with a fiddle and one woman with an concertina who could also play the fiddle. They played for us, educated us about traditional Irish music, the protocol for the “sessions” that are played in the pubs nightly and encouraged everyone on the trip to play with them, sing with the songs and even dance along with the music. It was pretty awesome. Then there was dinner at our hotel that was just delicious and then came the evening of roaming the pubs to hear the type of Irish music that is common to this area. In one pub there was a group of men on the fiddle, uilleann pipes, a cousin of the bag pipes that sound much better although they are a little strange looking. Rick describes them as looking like the radiator of a 57 Chevy! Very strange looking but they have a hauntingly beautiful sound.  Another man on the accordion and one on the bodhran (Irish drum) which Rick plays. On to another pub to hear the women that we had the session with earlier in the day and ending up in the pub of our hotel where the younger musicians played with a concertina, fiddle and guitar. Just as we were heading to bed a woman sat down with the group and they carried in her harp to play-a really harp- and it was great!!  Each pub was accompanied with a pint of beer so we were ready for bed!!! The next day we headed for Galway to see the “buskers” (street performers) which is a music tradition in Ireland. There are some lovely pedestrian streets with shops and cafes (I am seeing a pattern here!) with performers up and down the streets. Just lovely!!

On the way to Galway we passed through an area of Ireland called The Burren, a geological feature where the landscape changes from the green rolling hills to what looks like a moonscape. The pictures can show what this is like. This area was formed from glacial movement and is very striking. 

Back to the ship to sail to Norway!!