Today we all went to Belfast, about a 2 hour drive from Dalkey. Belfast is “over the border” (Northern Ireland) – Micah’s first trip to the UK! The border is pretty much invisible apart from subtle changes and different road signs. We went straight to the Shankill Road area and spent some time wandering and looking at the now famous murals, testament to the voices & struggles of the past. Has improved my understanding & appreciation of past & fairly recent history!
Dalkey
Matt & Kat’s village of Dalkey is a seaside suburb, about 30 mins by train, 15 mins by car (off peak) from Dublin city itself. In medieval times, Dalkey was Dublin’s most important port town with 7 castles- only 2 remain today. Was a walled town on 3 sides with a double ditch or rampart on the other side. Dalkey Island has a Martello Tower- one of 26 along the Dublin coast built to defend against a threatened invasion by Napolean. There is also another Martello Tower in Matt and Kat’s backyard, one just up the road that now houses the James Joyce Musuem and another at Bray is owned by Bono.
Dublin Delights
Micah and family time!!
Daytrip to Powerscourt House & Gardens – extensive grounds and views to Sugarloaf Mountain. www.powerscourt.ie
Yummy lunch at Avoca cafe www.avoca.ie with delightful “window shopping” – we need one of these experiences at home!
Daytrip by DART (train) to Greystones with views of the Irish coast. Discovered another yummy lunch spot – Three Q’s in Greystones Village – mmm so much for the diet! But quite a lot of walking too 🙂
The Irish Connection
Safely in the lovely little village of Dalkey, Dublin with one very cute little grandson who has an Irish passport! So great to meet him at last! Micah is doing very well now and is full of smiles and “chatter!”. Enjoying lots of cuddles, chat and walks around the village together.
The temperature here is definitely a shade or two cooler than Shanghai and London but very pleasant for strolling! Great sea views being enjoyed too from Matt and Kat’s apartment right beside the cliff edge. Yesterday we also enjoyed some views of Dublin city from the top of the Google building including the new Landsdowne Road stadium, just a stones throw from Matt’s office.
Hot and humid in Shanghai
The Yu gardens were a stunning start to the day – originally a private garden over 2ha, 16 years to build during the Ming dynasty. Now under cultural preservation – beautiful vistas, rock formations, bonsai, relics etc, the zigzag bridge of 9 turnings, lotus pools, turtles and very large koi carp!
By now very hot and hazy, not clearing so decided to spend rest of the day hopping between air-conditioned attractions as much as possible! The Urban Planning Exhibition Centre was an excellent choice displaying Shanghai, past, present & future. Amazing models of the city with light display & including the deep water port accessed by 34 km bridge , photo histories and plans for the future – 9 new cities, 60 towns, more rural villages and all the associated infrastructure including eco considerations – amazing!! Next stop Shanghai Museum was less appealing to us but LOL – feature exhibition is Maori taonga from the Otago Museum!!
Stopping over in Shanghai
Very hot in Shanghai today – bit hard to know how hot cause Mark’s usual source of such information – Google search is blocked here! Checked in about 10.30 am had a rest and freshen up and then walked about 10 mins to the Bund area – had an explore – went through a cool cable car tunnel (Bund Sightseeing Tunnel) under the river and then up the iconic Oriental Pearl Tower for lookout over the city. Did a tiki tour of the city then jumped on a twilight river tour – whereas the city is perhaps a little drab and dusty during the day, at night it comes alive as the buildings old (neo-classic) and new (all shapes & sizes) on both sides of the bund are lit up with lights many quite fantastic creations. Fascinating! Ongoing view of the lights from our window! Drinking heaps of water!!
Off to see Micah!!
Micah arrived 10 weeks early in Dublin on February 19th 2011 after 4 anxious weeks hanging in there! He is now progressing very well indeed and we have booked to go and visit! We leave at the end of July flying to Dublin via Shanghai. After a couple of weeks in Dublin we will depart for several weeks of cruising around – Croatia, Greece, Prague and Russia – Moscow to St Petersburg. Home mid-September and hopefully we will have avoided the worst of the NZ winter! We will keep you posted on our travels via this blog.
Looking back- 2010 at a glance – update!
To briefly catch you up on our news – the edited New Year letter
Matt and Kat remain resident in Dublin – Matt is loving his work with Google as a Site Reliability Engineer. Kat is working freelance from their home in the suburb of Dalkey, right on the Irish coast , where she is inspired by the views of the Irish Sea not too many metres from their door. We are very excited by their news that we are to be grandparents in early May – hence our holidays later in the 2011 year when we plan to head to Ireland!! Matt and Kat were “home” in NZ briefly for Christmas – was great to see them and the bump! (the little “Brown” kiwi).
Hong Kong
A brief stop over in Hong Kong – changing airlines mean schedules do not match – checked into Novotel Citygate near the airport – opportunity in the morning for a ride on the gondola across the bay with great views of the airport and through peaks to a village and back again. Very pleasant way to spend an hour or two.
Checking in for flight back to Sydney with Cathay Pacific and on to Auckland with Qantas – and now Cathay have very helpfully offerred a seat on the direct flight to Auckland – arriving 7 hours earlier which is a great way to finish the travels. Fourteen flights in the whole safari become thirteen 🙂
Dubai
Arrive in Dubai around midnight – the busiest time apparently for the airport. The Emirates flight is parked on the tarmac miles from the terminal and 15 min bus ride to the terminal! long queues at customs! a shouting match between some Arabs when some people made a mistake and were perceived to have jumped the queue. Hotel is comfortable but not 5 star on the beach – couldn’t afford that – sigh! Welcome sleepin in the morning. Visit to the gold souk – well out of my depth there!!