Gunternation

My cousin David and his wife Ramona arrived in Dublin Sunday morning. After a little R&R at their B&B, we picked them up, squeezed into the mighty Polo, and headed for Trim Castle. We had collected some picnic items and after the three visitors toured the castle, we had some sandwiches, crisps and biscuits. There was an ice cream truck handy, so Bill and I got 99s.

Chris atop the Keep at Trim Castle.

After Trim we drove to the Hill of Tara, an ancient site in Irish history and mythology. The visitor center was closed when we arrived, but the grounds were still open and we wandered up and down the curious hills and circles, which are now quite popular with sheep.

We expected David and Ramona to pass out at any moment, but they were going strong. We came back to our apartment and walked to the Watermill for dinner.

Monday our visitors toured Guinness and met up for dinner at our apartment for lamb burgers. Thanks, Bill! Tuesday they took a bus tour of the East Coast which included a tour of Malahide Castle. Tuesday night we met in town for dinner at our favorite chipper, Leo Burdock’s. Bill and I went through a phase where we thought the Leo Burdock’s on Abbey is as good as the one near Christchurch, but we’ve repented. Sure, the Abbey location has seating and plates and is more convenient, but after several visits where we were not amazed by the fish, we decided to head back to the original. Tuesday night we got the paper bag full of piping hot fish and chips, doused in vinegar and salt, and it was amazing. As my boss said, it’s Proper Fish. We walked around Christchurch, pinching off pieces as we went, and found a seat on a low wall. After our feast we stopped by a pub for a pint.

Chris headed back to Arkansas Wednesday morning. [Chris introduced himself at church on Sunday, and got quite the happy reaction when he said he was from Ark.] Chris, we had a blast while you were here!

I’m hoping we might get some blog recollections and ruminations from Chris and D&R, but I can tell you David and Ramona had lovely weather Wednesday for their visit to Dalkey. Wednesday night they moved into the Gunter B&B. However, I didn’t even see them Thursday–they left for their tour to the Cliffs of Moher before I woke and returned after I went to bed. The cliffs performed in all their splendor and they had a great day. Friday, they did their final shopping in city centre. We met for dinner at Wagamama. We were so glad to be a part of David and Ramona’s 20th Anniversary trip!

We shuttled our guests to the airport Saturday morning, and then there were two.

Chris in Stephen’s Green.

Driving through the Sally Gap in the Wicklow Mountains on Saturday.

Eating breakfast Sunday morning after dropping David and Ramona at their B&B for a small rest. That’s the mini-brunch.

Back in the recesses of time, three travelers set out for a wild and woolly land. The date was July 12, 2008, and the trio braved a low fare air trip, landing square in the middle of mystery and history, the capital city of Scotland since 1437. This is what they found there:

Edinburgh’s Castle Rock and curvy streets linked with steep staircases, closes and wynds give the city a more medieval feel than the Georgian squares of Dublin. Although I’m not really sure what medieval feels like, and am quite happy to not know what medieval smells like. Somehow the Scots transformed crags and bleak and windswept into a beautiful city that continues to encompass the idea of a New and Old Town, as the main sections of town are called. Edinburgh’s duality is a possible inspiration for Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde. (Let’s all promise to pronounce Jekyll correctly, Jee`-kle.) And the city continues to evolve. With a Gothic core and neo-classical New Town (constructed between 1765 and 1850), Edinburgh also felt a bit more modern than Dublin as well.

We arrived in Edinburgh Saturday afternoon, checked into our apartment and then headed for the Royal Mile. We stopped into a couple pubs, our favorite being The Jolly Judge. This cozy pub has a low ceiling with painted beams taken from a ship. At the Jolly Judge we tasted our first Scottish ale. Cask ales are popular in Scotland. Cask ale or cask-conditioned beer is unfiltered and unpasteurized beer conditioned (including secondary fermentation) and served from a cask, usually without additional nitrogen or carbon dioxide pressure. After delivery to the pub, the beer continues to develop and mature due to the presence of live yeast in the cask. Typically it’s dispensed via a hand pump. Bill enjoyed three different cask beers, two from Caledonian and one he can’t remember. Of the two from Caledonian, the Caledonian 80/- and Deuchars IPA, the Deuchars was his favorite. He didn’t think he would like an Indian Pale Ale as they are often quite bitter, but the Deuchars was very tasty and refreshing and eminently quaffable. Its relatively low alcohol content makes it a perfect session beer (meaning you can drink a lot of it and still play your fiddle). We also visited another pub to listen to a bit of trad.

We had read that it was best to visit Edinburgh Castle in the morning, but we decided to snooze a bit on Sunday and had some brunch before arriving at the Castle around 1:00. Armed with our audio tours, we spent all afternoon at the Castle. We learned tons of history, saw amazing views and the oldest building in Edinburgh, St. Margaret’s chapel, built in the 12th century.

We had lovely weather for our day at the castle. Note the pictures below for comparison to my parents’ visit last November.

Sunday night we went on an entertaining and educational literary pub tour. We heard stories about Walter Scott, Robert Louis Stephenson, Robert Burns and others while visiting the setting for all that literary history. It was a fun two hours, and we wound up at a lovely pub called the Cafe Royal.

We got a slightly earlier start on Monday and visited the Palace of Holyroodhouse. Holyrood was Mary, Queen of Scots, home until she was imprisoned by her cousin Elizabeth I. It’s still the official residence of the Queen of England when she visits Scotland. Adjacent to Holyrood house are excellent ruins of an Abbey built by King David 1 of Scotland in 1128.

While walking around the grounds we noticed some tiny figures atop the peaks in Holyrood Park, so we decided to do some hill walking. After eating lunch in the Palace Cafe–Chris had a baked potato topped with Haggis!–we set out for the hills. The seat is 823 feet high, and while most of the path is grassy hills, it gets rockier as you approach the seat. Chris scrambled easily up the path–he has a natural hill walking physique. Bill stayed with me as I took frequent breaks to enjoy the scenery. I decided the scenery was so nice on one plateau that I stayed and sent Bill ahead. After a bit of rest I noticed people ascending the last bit via a somewhat easier route than the mountain goat trail Chris and Bill used. I’m glad I got the final burst of motivation to climb to the top, as the view was spectacular (and windy).

Arthur’s seat is the high point in this picture, taken last fall during my parents’ visit. We descended to the East, crossed a small field, and made our way down a long set of stairs to the village of Duddingston to find rest and refreshment in a pub called the Sheep Heid–the oldest public house in Edinburgh. The name came from an ornamental snuff box presented to the Inn by James VI in 1580. By that time the Inn was already over 200 years old.

We ate the splendid meal of adventurers that night, after surviving our rocky climb. And that is why Chris was so happy with his fish and chips.

Tuesday morning we explored the Royal Mile a bit more, visiting St. Giles Cathedral. This cathedral is the “Mother of the Church of Presbyterianism,” and houses the Chapel of the Order of the Thistle (Scotland’s chivalric company of knights). We liked the angel playing bag pipes in chapel. After lunch we did our last wandering, and then headed for the airport around 3:00.

By the way, the apartment was the perfect accommodation for the three of us. It was great to have a fridge for soda and yogurt and an oven to heat sausage rolls! Perhaps my favorite part was the huge sofa on which to lounge and watch TV. After nine months with only a love seat, I was sprawled in luxury.

Oooh, a castle sucker!

Additional Reporting by Bill Gunter.

As Kevin reported, we dined on pizza after a sashay through our last château. Many restaurants don’t open for dinner until 7:00 or 7:30, so we wandered the streets of Amboise for awhile, waiting for the pizza place to open at 6:30. We ate in the oleander-lined courtyard, armed with our pizza knives, sipping drinks coordinated with our outfits. Well, Andrea’s matched at least.

Bill and I flew out of Tours the next day around 1:00. Andrea and Kevin took the train to visit some friends. They wound up visiting several more cities in France including Nancy and Dijon. We welcomed them back to Dublin Saturday evening. We didn’t plan anything too ambitious for Sunday. It was not a lovely day, but we decided to take the easy DART ride up to Howth to try a place we’d heard was good for seafood, The Bloody Stream. It’s located beneath the DART station, and was indeed tasty.

It was crazy windy in Howth that day. We walked around, and climbed Church Street to look at the church ruin on the hill. We met with some avian excitement there, but that’s a story for another day. (I’m really into the blog teaser these days.)

Kevin and Andrea spent a few more soggy days exploring Dublin before heading back to the States. We were sad to see them go, but I know they were thrilled to see their son, and of course Toblerone.

Bill and I loved France. Having Andrea there to translate–not just to order food or get directions, but to translate the little comments of passers-by, or the man parking by us who declared that he was not born to park–gave extra dimension to our experience. We were talking to a friend who spent a few days in the Loire valley about 20 years ago. She said that quick trip stands in her memory as magical days. I predict we’ll recall our trip with similar fondness. Til we see you again, France. Til we see you again.