Fast Tourist, Slow Tourist: Stuck in the Middle of Paris

Arrived in Paris and met Kimmi at the fancy Sheraton. Had a beer, some lovely olives and smoked out brains out.....ah. All had gone very well, we congratulated ourselves and went down to get an RER ticket into Paris. Guess what....the ticket machines only accepted coins and European credit cards....we had neither. The Bureau du Change was out of change and the local shops refused to give out change - even if we bought something. The line-ups were huge and we began to think that our Paris trip would consist only of Charles de Gaule.....Brainstorm - back to the Sheraton where cute waiter boy gave us change....onto Paris!

Found our hotel with very little difficulty - with the exception of somehow walking through the Metro Tunnels from one station to another - how we don't know - lugging our bags up and down stairs and the like...silly girls. Sarah was leaning out the window waving as we arrived with a bottle of wine ready to be corked!!!!! Good Sister - and then she dragged our jetlagged asses all over the damn place until we almost died! Check out Sarah's blog for further details about how we terrorized the Latin Quarter and nearly got kicked out of a restaurant due to me throwing money around followed by some flagrant alcohol abuse - spray. http://sudsandsarah.blogspot.com/

Wicklow, PowersCourt, Glendalough and Teinahely

Powerscourt

The 6th Viscount Powerscourt hired the architect, Daniel Robertson, for the gardens.
Robertson was one of the leading proponents of Italianate garden design which was influenced by the terraces and formal features of Italian Renaissance villas and perfected in gardens in France and Germany. He is said to have suffered from gout and directed operations from a wheelbarrow, fortified by a bottle of sherry. When the sherry was finished, work ceased for the day! I wonder if UBC needs a boss like this?????

Glendalough

We finally arrived about 6:30 - it seemed really close to our final destination for the night so I suggested coming back in the morning - no go. Which is good as we soon learnt close on the map means nothing when you're driving R roads - as opposed to N roads.....


The Village of Tinahely (Tigh na hÉille)

Tinahely in the valley of the Derry River, was burnt to the ground in 1798 and while today, Tinahely is known nationally for the annual county show - the largest agricultural shows in Ireland, attracting up to 20,000 visitors - in August.....Kim and I seriously wondered how the hell the town supported 4 pubs on a population of 250........this is of course before we saw similar villages throughout the country!

Clonakilty

When we arrived in Clonakilty wanted a B&B with a view of the water....but we had live through prissy in pink to have it....something Kim appreciated more than I....








But the view and the gardens were well worth our jaunt into the land of pink.










This is De Barra's (http://www.clon.ie/debarras.html) a pub in Clonakilty. We spent to awesome evenings here thanks to Kevin O'Riley, the sweet and handsome owner of the Stone Kilty Tavern just up the street. The music enjoyed was 1) and 2) Duke Special http://www.dukespecial.com/audio.htm. You can check the sounds out on the links.....

OK. As many of you know I don't find comedy funny. But man, this is one of the funniest things I have read in a long, long time. Go to http://www.carolynmark.com/ then click on ALLIES and then HILARIOUS LETTERS TO GARTH. It just about killed me.

Love....stay tuned for Europe photos and stories.