We have been going to and fro so much lately I just haven’t had the gusto to write much.  After we returned home from the Christmas holiday, visiting the Little family in Maryland, including the Terach’s new golden retriever puppy, Midas, Reeves left for a business trip two weeks later.  He returned home the day after I had left to Oxford to do a weekend workshop on Palaeography, meeting me with the car after I had finished the class on Sunday evening.  We then drove into London where we stayed at my favorite hotel, The Pelham in South Kensington, for 4 days.  While in London we went to the show Mary Poppins and enjoyed some really yummy cuisine at Bibendum.  En route back to Ireland we drove through Wales – what an enchanting countryside!  I absolutely LOVED the place we stayed near the town of Hay-on-Wye, The Felin Fach Griffin – it had modern and comfortable updates while still keeping all the authentic and traditional details which make up the soul of a home.  It is one of the few places I know I will visit again.  We drove about the countryside quite a bit and ended up visiting three of Edward I castle’s on the North and West coasts of Wales.  I also loved the car ferry experience – is was so much easier and relaxed compared to air travel, especially in this day and age.  In all, the trip was a wonderful time spent in our neighboring country!

I have also been busy trying to break into the archival world here in Ireland.  I have joined the 2 associations/societies and after attending the annual meeting of the Irish Society of Archives last week, the contacts paid off, I have a job!  Well, it is a volunteer position, but it is the first good step in the right direction. I will start at the National Archives of Ireland the day after I return from holiday.  I already know some of the collection on which I will be working, which is extremely exciting.  Even if I don’t get a paid position here, at least I will have the opportunity to work with some wonderful “old stuff”.   

I am now off to the States on Friday to stay with Amy for 10 days.  We are going to visit Boston for 4 days while I am there – some place I have never been and very excited to see all the history in which this town is steeped. 

We promised ourselves that if we moved to Dublin we would make the most of living so close to so many great countries, and we are starting the year off with a trip to the UK.  One of the things I personally am so excited about is living within an hour flight (and then only a 30 minute bus ride) to Oxford.  Ever since I did a summer course there in 2001 I have been hooked. Now, since we are within a reasonable distance, I can attend some classes. I am SO excited - in 2 weeks I am doing a 2-day workshop on palaeography! (yes, I am a big geek) I have dabbled in it a bit while doing my masters, but now I will actually have some formal training in it, and from a renowned institution.  For those of you who don’t off the top of your heads, palaeography is the study of old handwriting, specifically in this case late medieval handwriting of England. 

As English history has been a passion of mine for over 20 years, this will be a great opportunity to enjoy a closer look at some original documents, as well as adding to my greater knowledge base. Since Reeves has to be in Redmond, WA for work up until the first day of the workshop for me, he will meet me in Oxford with the car at the end of the weekend (he is taking the car ferry over from Dublin to Wales) and we will go into London for 3 days, returning West to Wales to stop at Hay-on-Wye for a day so I can load up the car with old books and then drive north to visit some of the castles built by Edward II of England before we take the car ferry home again.  In all we will be gone a week.  I am so excited because I have not been to the UK since 2002 and I have been aching to return.

Trina put me up to the "what are 5 things people don't know about you" challenge...here is my response......  :)

1) I play the accordion and I have always wanted to learn to play the banjo.  I have played a multitude of instruments over my lifetime, mostly in the first 20 years or so, including the accordion which I took lessons for about 8 years and got pretty good. I haven’t picked it up in awhile, but it is here in Ireland with us and I do hope to dust it off again.  Other things I have played; the piano, the clarinet, various recorders, the organ, a very little bit of guitar, and the ukulele, which I wasn’t half bad. It is the banjo, however, that has always fascinated me and is something to which I aspire, but have a feeling I will never get around to doing.

2) I am the first one in my family to go to and graduate from college.  Neither my parents nor grandparents on either side of the family ever went beyond HS.  Both of my parents were from farming families in the mid-west (Iowa and Kansas) and came from farming families. It is a personal and family victory to have my undergraduate, much less my graduate degree, accomplished. 

3) I love to people-watch and pick out which women are carrying fake hand-bags.  It is a little guilty pleasure of mine.  I have a personal thing against “fake” designer bags.  The reason you buy a fake bag is to look like a real one, right? I have never understood this. Is it to impress? The problem with that is the people you are trying to impress (e.g. other women) who can afford the real thing are going to know it is a fake to begin with.  Is it because you just really like the style but cant’ afford it? Fine, that is understood, but then forgo the “designer” bag and find a wonderful unknown handbag designer with great talent and quality materials which is in your price range, or save up for the real thing.  I personally equate stealing a designer look by trying to identically copy a bag the same as someone trying to sell me a fake Van Gogh or Picasso – they are works of art designed by an artist who shouldn’t have their work facsimiled and talent diluted.  An art lover wouldn’t frame one of those cheesy Monet posters (you know the ones, you had them in your dorm room freshman year at college) and hang it over their mantel, why would a handbag lover use a crappy copy of the real thing when there are tons of great bags out there of better style and quality.  OK, rant over.

4) The longest relationship I had before Reeves lasted 3 months.  I think after 11 ½ years of marriage and 13 years of being together, this one is going to stick. :)

5) I used to have about 24 pet Gerbils. Yes, that is a lot, and frankly, too many gerbils for any one household. This was my first pet which I got in 5th grade and I thought it would be great idea to get a boy and a girl gerbil to see what happened. Well, 24 gerbils happened! After the first litter, we let them grow up in the same cage for awhile, but we A) didn’t know how short the reproduction cycle was and B) even when we separated them by wire partitions, those little hormones were strong enough for them to chew though some serious metal. This all happen within a couple months. Needless to say, I am not sure what my mom was thinking when see agree to this, and we quickly decided two girl gerbils was plenty.

I am supposed to tag 5 more bloggers, but I have to say my blog-o-shpere is pretty limited and all the people I know with blogs have already been taged, so if you are reading this and you haven't been, please feel free to add yourself to the list.

Just a really quick note to say I PASSED my final masters portfolio project!!  I found out the day before we went to Maryland for Christmas so I think that was my best Christmas gift ever!! I are a grad-u-ated! :)

Hope everyone has a wonderful New Year's Eve.  Reeves and I just came home from the store with a few new DVDs and a fire log - the perfect even for us recovering from jet-lag and colds.

..and a Happy New Year's to all!

I knew stress did strange things to you but I have never had so many outwardly physical signs as the past few weeks.  [Warning, this is a bit of a whine-fest so stop reading here if you don't want to indugle me] To sum up, I have developed more pimples than I have had since college, haven’t slept a full night, frequently waking to get up and work, and now, just when I am getting close to the end, my body decides I really needed one more lovely reminder of this project: a gigantic cold sore on my face. 

It is just like ones you might get on your lip or on your gums, but instead, lucky me…. I get them on my cheek, a little to the side, between my nose and mouth.  I have had about 6 or 7 of these things in my life, any every time it is the same, they start with a tingle-itch and then, within a few hours it is a large throbbing pustule, about the size of a nickel.  These things are painful and last a couple weeks in total.

This may sound quite vain, but I hate leaving the house when this happens.  How ugly these things gets can be summed up by a little story from my retail days back when Reeves and I were first married.  As much as I wanted to hide at home, I had to work and while helping a women with something, she stopped, paused a moment to tilt her head and look at me exclaiming, “my GOD, what IS that thing on your face.”  That little exchange made quite an impression on me and I have to say made me even more paranoid about my face.  These episodes have also started to leave scars and although they are supposed to be less evident every time, again, lucky me, always the over-achiever, they seem to be the same or even worse…..geeze, I can’t wait till next week. 

Sigh…OK, whine-fest is officially over….

Ok, yes, it is one more posting of excuses of why I haven’t kept my own personal goal of blogging, but I am still amazed at how much finishing my masters would kill me.  Tthe stress of what I have been feeling over the past 6-8 weeks...sigh... selling our house, cars and a 1/3 our life, picking up and moving to a new country was a breeze compared to completing my e-Portfolio.  AAAAHHHHHH – I really need a vacation….wait, we are taking another one! J  

The next posting here will probably be when we return from our trip to Rome.  We leave Nov. 22 and basically, we are spending Thanksgiving in Rome. Turkey-smurkey, here’s to authentic Chianti and pasta!!!

Last night I caught part of a news segment where the newscaster was interviewing an expert on global warming & its effects on the oceans in terms of how and when it would affect life in London, especially considering London is bisected and greatly influenced by the Thames River.  I don’t remember the totality of the response, but it wasn’t so much about the details of his response as it was about the perspective he placed on the situation.  He stated, at current trends, the world’s oceans could rise enough in the next 1000 years that London will be underwater.  My first reaction to this was wow, that is a really long time away, but then what really hit me was his next statement…(and I am paraphrasing here) ‘London was here a 1000 years ago, and we certainly imaging it will be here in another 1000, we really wouldn’t want to move the whole thing.’

This is what really hit me, especially being an American who has lived in places with maybe, if you are pushing it, 200 years of history of ‘settled’ civilization, is that London has buildings and infrastructure that are still in use from 1000 years ago!!!  In fact, it will be only 60 years from now that we will all celebrate the 1000^th anniversary of the battle of Hastings in which William the Conqueror came over from Normandy and decided to make England his new year-round residence. He and his decedents changed to the course of English history and if your family has its origins in England, it is a good chance your are descended from one of his conquering hoard. Anyway, I degress….

This little exchange really underscores one of the reasons I really am happy with our move to Ireland – the imbedded history in the people and culture, not to mention all the cool old houses and castles!

Day 4 and 5 (04-05/10/2006)

We our in our final couple hours and I have to say this has been a perfect trip.  Just the right amount of time to not feel rushed, to do everything in a couple days, and a manageable size town in which to accomplish everything we wanted to really see that represents the town.

The food has all been wonderful and we didn’t even eat at a 'fancy' restaurant this trip - it has all been bistro-type places with local Austrian/Germanic food and a little Italian thrown in for a change of culinary scenery.  Maybe because it is in my heritage, but I do love this region's food -  although one needs to be a manual laborer to burn all the calories the dishes have!  Reeves has also been quiet the little German speaker.  He always thinks he doesn't do well, but he understands so much and can at least order food, converse short dialogues with the locals and get us where we need to be.  In fact, he had an exchange in German with a wait-person whereby he told her his German was very bad and he had forgotten most and she said "well, you are understanding me now aren't you!"

We have also been a bit shocked with the smoking everywhere here.  We realized we had been eating every meal outside and commented that it wasn't that bad until we were forced, by the rain, to seek refuge in the cafes. We definitely admit we would have a hard time living in a country that allowed smoking as many places as they still do here.

Yesterday, however, was my birthday and I had a wonderful day.  Although we woke up to overcast skies, the rain stayed away enough for us to not be caught outside getting wet. We started with the Dom museum which I have to say was a really well done exhibit. It was located in the mezzanine level in the cathedral, on the upper levels above the ambulatories.  On one side there was art and artifacts from the church and its history. One then crossed over to the other side via the platform for the large pipe organ at the back of the church.  On the other side they had a special exhibit on Mozart, placing his life, work and religious devotion, or lack there of, within the context of the time and the city's character.  There were many different sorts of artifacts, letters, hand-written pieces of music, etc. from Mozart which we were excited to see in this display. 

As a side note, we were a bit annoyed with the cost of exhibits and museums - there was not a free one the whole trip.  In fact, several places charged you multiple times to see different things with the same location.  Additionally, most were over 10 euro a person which, I think, is excessive for some of the smaller ones.  I am all for supporting the arts, but we must have spent half what we spent on food in "seeing" things.

The next item on the agenda, however, was the Rezidenz which was a beautiful series of palatial rooms used by the Prince-Archbishops as state receiving rooms, as well as their residence.  The rooms are still in use and we were lucky to get in as they were closing early for an event. Like the cathedrals, the rooms were in the Baroque style, again, very different than the multitude of English, French and Italian palaces I have toured.

Our very last tour was visiting a Mozart exhibit created especially for the 250th anniversary year and featured the latest state-of-the-art in museum display technology.  One of my enjoyments of visiting museums is not just in what is on display, but how it is being displayed.  Call it the archivist or historian in me, but I love evaluating each collection on a few different criteria...

1. Are the items pleasingly displayed?

2. Can you see the item from a 'normal' upright position?

3. Do they have descriptors for each item?

4. Do the descriptors contain date, location of origin, something more descriptive than "hat" or "shoe?"

5. Can you read the descriptor card from a 'normal' upright position? 

- these all seem logical and simplistic when read like this but it is amazing how many of these are lacking even in the most modern and most 'high tech' of exhibits.

Case in point, the Mozart exhibit - of the few 'original' pieces presented, many had the overly simplistic labels like "pair of shoes", no date, no origin, no context other than they looked old.  Additionally, many cards were illegible due to the color font on the chosen backdrop or because of too low of lighting.  Yes, one needs low lighting for conservation issues, but these objects were REPRODUCTIONS!

My last, and the most annoying observation, was in the audio tour. Normally I am a huge fan of the audio tour, I will even pay extra for one, but even with the cool technology this one used <it would automatically start playing the correct soundtrack when you walked in a room or touched an object on an interactive screen> we were ready to throw the thing out the window by the time we were done.  It was done in first person, specifically Mozart was speaking, with sidebars by his sister, mother and a few other people.  Not only was it annoying to listen to his trite repartee, he spoke in definitives, with 'modernized' history.  It is true there is much known about his life and work through an extensive library of letters and other correspondence, but much of what “he” was spouting was stated as 'fact' which really is speculation and supposition.         

We had a late flight out of Salzburg, which, of course, was delayed by an hour.  We didn’t get home till quiet late, but it was certainly a wonderful trip to remember!

Day 3 – 02/10/2006

We just finished with the evening Organ concert at the Dom.  It was a concert of the five pipe organs installed throughout the cathedral, each with a concert-level Organist from through out Europe.  The concert was titled Konzert an den Funf Domorglen.  Each organist began with their own solo, in ascending chronological order of composition dates, then began the "battle of the keyboards" - each doing their own improvisation on the Choral "Schonste Herr Jesu".  By the end all the organists were belting out their rendition, making one wonder, at what point do multiple number of organs just make a din? The ending however was lovely when they all finished with their crescendo and the pipe’s last chord reverberated and echoed throughout the vast space – chilling to the toes!

A short walk later to what is now our nightly ritual and we stopped at mozARTs for wine and ice cream.  It is a lovely outdoor spot and we were only ushered inside because of the pouring rain and wind driving the rain sideways.  The large umbrellas were doing fine until the cafe decided it was even too windy for them to remain. I personally like the power of the storm and would have been happy enjoying the natural show!

Today however started a bit earlier since we were going to go out to Hellbrunn to view the palace and grounds.  It did not disappoint and the trick fountains were definitely fun, although annoying if you were the recipient. It is amazing these were designed and implemented over 250 years ago with their intricacies and detail.  Also on the grounds was the gazebo which was in the Sound of Music featured in the song "Sixteen going on Seventeen".  After another wonderful alfresco lunch at the Hellbrunn café, we took the bus back to town, whereby the bus actually back into another car causing an accident!

We rested a bit before heading out to the Alter Platz for a traditional pizza dinner in the square.  There are so many wonderful dogs about who seem to accompany their people everywhere.  Their was a woman on the buss with two, including a 4 month old Afghan and a lovely black lab which sat next to us at dinner.  We are in dog heaven here and what is even better is they all seem so well behaved. I guess that come with their acclimation at an early age to being in public so much.

We are now killing time at the cafe before we venture out in the rain.  We have been so blessed with great weather up to this point I really hope tomorrow, my birthday, is pleasant.   

Day 2 – 01/10/2006

We woke to a bit of rain, but by the time we were done with our leisurely breakfast at the hotel, it was just overcast and a great temperature for me, tepid.  We started at the post office and then walked to the Modern Museum, but like unseasoned tourists we try not to be, we didn't check the opening days and were disappointed when we found out they were closed on Mondays.  This diverted us to across the river with a gorgeous view up and down the Salzach, the river that bisects the city. 

The leaves are just beginning to turn and the atmosphere is turning to fall.  We walked through the Mirabell Gardens with the fountain from the Sound of Music where they sing the Do-Re-Mi song and proceeded up to the XXXX Closter.  We took the 'scenic' path where by Reeves got some great shots of the city and fortress, but Paula got over heated and wasn’t prepared to do a two mile hike with steep inclines and declines in city walking shoes. (Can you hear the grumbling coming from me even now…) In all, however, it was a lovely view, just not a well labeled sign and path.  The Closter itself was a striking small chapel with an active monastery, fully equipped with monks in full length brown robes, complete with hoods, tending the picturesque garden.

It was almost three pm by the time we were down from the mountain when we finally had lunch off the Linzer gasse at the Gablerbrau restaurant.  Reeves had a yummy Weinersnitzel while I had a spinach and cheese crepe baked with yet more cheese - quite decadent but very apropos after our long and tiring hike.
 
We walked back across the river toward the shopping district where I picked up a new bag (very cool, unisex bag that I can use as a handbag, laptop case and just general duffel.  Here is the url: http://www.george-gina-lucy.com/ggl/content.html) and a gold charm for my charm bracelet.  We proceeded back to the St. Peter's church to look inside.  I have never visited a place with such Baroque influence.  Although it is not my taste, it is very impressive craftsmanship and artistry.  We stumbled across the St. Peter’s Stiftskeller restaurant which, deciding upon one glance, would be our dinner spot. It had then most unique interior, being part outside in a courtyard, and part enclosed in a Romanesque arched grotto – very atmospheric! On the route home we stopped at the Dom to take a tour of the interior and the crypt - again, the baroque influence is the dominant style here in Salzburg and was in no short supply in the Cathedral. 

After a short rest in the hotel room we proceeded to dinner in the St. Peter’s Stiftskeller for which the building dates back to 803 A.D.  It was set into a beautiful Romanesque arched grotto with ivied arches and candelabras.  We again has some wunderbar Austrian dishes and because it was still early when we finished, walked around the town a bit and stopped that the mozARTs cafe to have some wine and ice cream.  It is still a lovely evening, just perfect to sit outside with a sweater and a glass of warming liquid.   

After another month of craziness, I am finally getting back here again.  We had our house delivered and that just took over our lives.  We were, however, able to get away, for the first vaction in several years, that just included the two of us.  I journaled our trip while there and am finally getting around to posting. 

Here is the first day...

Journal from Day 1 – Salzburg (30/09/2006)

The morning bells were ringing at 11am with the Glockenspiel ringing in our day. It is a a pretty day with just a few clouds.  We had breakfast at the lovely little hotel restaurant – a fabulous continental breakfast, including pate, croissants, and fancy cheeses – the antique tables, buffet and cabinets were in a traditional setting with modern touches – picturesque! - Karen Brown never steers us wrong! (if you like boutique hotels, you should check her out: http://www.karenbrown.com/  The small room was busy with visitors, always a good sign of a good hotel.

The Hotel Wolf is very close to one of the main plazas  - Mozartplatz which is also next to the main cathedral, the Dom.  On the plane coming in yesterday I was actually sitting next to two women in a Choir from Bray, Ireland which was performing at the Dom today at 'half eleven'.  We stopped in at the beginning of the service/performance and listen to the large choir fill the cathedral with music.  Since is was a full Catholic service, we only stayed through the fist couple sung prayers, but with the pipe organ, soloists and choir it was a majestic scene.

Up the hill a bit we stopped off at the very quaint graveyard of St. Peter which looks like a scene out of Rivendell in The Lord of the Rings.  I have never seen wrought iron grave markers which were so charmingly designed and maintained with plaques and flowers.  Some of the family mausoleums were alcoves in the colonnade lining the wall of the fortress and had family members buried there going back hundreds of years.  There were painted family portraits, devotional oil paintings and other carvings open to the elements. I wonder how long they have been there!  The cemetery led to the catacombs actually carved out of and built into the side of the cliff below the fortress.

We took the funicular up to the fortress, started in 1077, with quite the Bavarian history.  It was such a lovely day with the sun peaking through the clouds washing the white stucco walls in warm light.  We had the loveliest lunch of goulash, wurst and sauerkraut while sitting out on the patio overlooking the Tennengebirg valley.  The veiled Austrian alps were in the distance in graduating shades of grey and blue rising into the sun. One of my favorite things about visiting museums and historical venues is reviewing the cafes – this one definitely rates very high with the great food and spectacular views!  

We did our normal thorough tour of the fortress including the underwhelming audio tour.  It had some interesting tidbits of information, but the only historical points of note were the views from the top and the 'bull' or pipe organ from 1502.  After a stroll through the museum, mostly containing implements of war and war making (not my forte or interest) we meandered down the very steep entry path to the Stift Nonnberg, a Benedictine convent which has been in constant use as an Abby since the 8th century, the oldest in the German-speaking world.  While in the chapel, which we had to ourselves, a nun in full habit came to change the candles. I felt I was on the set of the Sound of Music, which was very poignant since this was the church use in the scenes of Maria at her Abby.  It was a picture out of another century, especially since there was no artificial lighting, just the natural sunlight coming through the small high windows and the stained glass above the high alter.

We walked back the Motzartplatz and are sitting facing the Residenzplatz which has the sun setting just below the roof of the Residenz building.  It is the perfect place to people watch and we are enjoying a glass of rotwein and Reeves his only vice, eis.

To quickly recap yesterday - Last evening when we arrived, we were starving for dinner, but en route while walking to the restaurant we came across a traditional band playing the Mozartplatz and followed it as the proceeded, marking band style, through the plaza and over past the Dom.  It was such a magical evening, the perfect weather and the back drop of the city seemed like a movie set with the perfectly backlit and up lit buildings.  Everything seems is so clean and perfectly restored here – gotta love the preciseness of the Germanic peoples.

We walked down the main shopping street, the Getreidegasse, and although all the shops were closed, the window shopping was lovely.  We couldn't find the restaurant we set out for, but came across a traditional looking villa with yummy food and our own private dining room. It actually held two tables, but the other couple sitting in the room left shortly after we arrived, so we were left alone to enjoy our dinner and view of the little plaza below.

The architecture here reminds me a bit of Switzerland, but the colors of the buildings are softer with a more muted pallet.  The buildings are taller and a bit more symmetrical than Geneva, but the city is such a lovely intimate size, without being too small for lovely cathedrals and palaces.   And they even have a Hermes boutique to boot!