Adventuring
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 🙂
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.
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!!
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!!
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.