February 2009

Hello all, and happy almost-spring! I know it’s still another few weeks away, but I am continually heartened by the ever-increasing daylight we’re getting here…it really helps with the whole getting-out-of-bed thing…

We’ve been lucky enough to have relatively dry, clear weather these last couple of weeks, which is always a huge treat. However, the first week of February brought below-zero temperatures and – wonder of wonders – snow. Apparently it was the first time in 15 years that it has snowed in Dublin proper…I’ve been hoping for this since I arrived, despite being laughed at numerous times for hoping for such an outlandish thing... So I was delighted when the white stuff began to fall…until it interfered with my travel plans – but more on that later.

I had a great three-week holiday over Christmas, although it was a very busy and highly scheduled time. I’m sorry that I didn’t get to see everyone, but there just weren’t enough hours in the day. Despite the weather, I was quite successful in negotiating my way around Seattle, Vancouver, Calgary, and Kimberley and managed to use every form of transportation available – planes, buses, trains, ferries, etc. – with minimal delays – even my flight to Calgary was only an hour late. I think I had a little travel angel watching over me:)

Anyway, after a brief period of post-Christmas blues and hibernation, I started feeling relatively normal again.

The last weekend in January I went on a hillwalking trip to the Mourne Mountains in Northern Ireland. This was probably not the smartest time of year to go, but I like these weekends – they’re fun and sociable and the people are always great. It turned out to be a rather eventful weekend though, starting with a torrential downpour on the Friday night drive up north. One guy got lost and by the time he found the place we were staying, the roads were fully flooded and he had to abandon his car. The police were called to rescue him, and they ended up having to abandon *their* car. Finally he was collected by the woman who ran the hostel we were staying at…

The next morning we headed out on our walk – into the wind and lashing rain. About a half hour into the walk we had to cross a stream – not particularly wide, but wide enough that it required a running jump to cross, and it was quite deep. During the crossing of the stream, several things happened… One guy fell in as he was throwing his daypack across, and one of the women joked that the men should have to carry the women across – and then she pretended to jump on the back of the guy standing in front of her…unbeknownst to her, he had a bad knee, and crumpled like a paper bag…so that was it for him for the day – for the weekend really. She felt terrible of course, and the two of them headed back to the hostel. The rest of us soldiered on and while the rain eventually stopped, the wind never let up. I’ve never experienced wind like that – it quite literally took my breath away. It was so loud you couldn’t hear what anyone was saying unless they were standing six inches away and shouting at you, and it was so strong I couldn’t hold my camera still to take photos – so I took fewer photos than normal:)

But the Mournes are lovely – in a classically Irish way – windy, misty, foggy, with low stone walls running from one peak to another. I really enjoyed the walk, and would like to go back again – maybe in better weather though…

My friend Robin and I went to Edinburgh as a birthday treat for the first weekend in February. The aforementioned snow wreaked all sorts of havoc in the city, as Dubliners have even less of a clue as to what to do with snow than Vancouverites do:) My Thursday night flight was cancelled, so I had to go the following morning at an ungodly hour, but at least I didn’t lose too much time. Edinburgh is one of the most beautiful cities I’ve been to in Europe – it definitely lives up to the hype. We did a lot of wandering…down the Royal Mile, up to Arthur’s Seat, over the “bridges” to Princes Street. I’ve never seen so many bridges in a city that has no water…

Robin and I went on a tour of the underground vaults, which were built in the 1700s and have been used in all manner of ways since then – as storage, as meeting places for gangs and criminals, as brothels, as places of worship. The legend is that they’re haunted and there are lots of bizarre and scary stories that have come out over the years, and it was one of the spookiest places I’ve ever been so I was glad to get out at the end.

We were lucky with the weather in the sense that it was dry all weekend, but it was also absolutely freezing – I wore all the clothes I had with me practically all the time. As a result, we were forced to stop frequently into the pubs to warm ourselves up:) Some friends of Robin’s were in town that weekend as well, and we had some great meals with them, including dinner at a fantastic Indian restaurant with naans the size of flying saucers, and a big pot of steamed mussels at the Mussel Inn…yummmmm.

Anyway, that’s the latest with me. Oh! I went to a film on the weekend at the Jameson Film Festival (only in Dublin would a film festival be sponsored by a whiskey distillery:) and saw a film with Liam Neeson, and he was there afterward for the Q&A. It was pretty cool seeing him – and he is more gorgeous in person than he is on screen…

Everything else is fine…just cruising along, travel planning as per usual:) – next month – Budapest!

Love you all,
Tessa