We Take Ourselves With Us

One thing we had learned on our Switzerland trip was the benefit of staying near the airport the night before the flight, so our travels on our last full day would take us from Galway back to Switzerland by train, then to an airport hotel, and then--whatever. Three of us grabbed breakfast again at Esquires, where our server--the older gentleman from our first breakfast--remembered us and was happy to share that they were fully staffed that morning! Breakfast was again delicious. Ned went back to the hotel to ensure we'd all be packed and ready to go, while Harper and I ran off in search of Hazel Mountain Chocolates in the Latin Quarter. It was right next to the kinf_olk store (of course, how did we not see it?). We were plied with chocolates by the gracious HMC staff, learned that everything was gf, and bought a bunch. Another big up for Galway, the staff in every shop we visited were super nice, welcoming, and helpful--plus they had gorgeous accents! After chocolating-up, we grabb...

I woke up very early and started to rethink our plans.  As this blog documents, we always do a lot  on our vacations, thinking that we won't be back so we need to see as much as possible while still enjoying the culture and little nooks and crannies of the places we visit. But, I began to wonder if we were trying to do too much in Ireland: catching four cities and the cliffs in seven days, thinking about driving on the wrong side of the very narrow roads around a country where it got dark around 4:30--especially given our increasingly differing waking schedules. And, I was back in the boot.  So, I started to think it through in the dark of an early Dublin morning. What if we just focused on Galway rather than adding in two more cities? What if we ditched the car and took the train instead? Then, we could just take a bus tour from Galway to the Cliffs of Moher, so we wouldn't miss this amazing site. We might lose a couple nights hotel deposit, but it would be worth it to h...

A night with the penguins leads to a day on the railroad!  Ned dropped us off early at the lovely Dunedin rail station--the city's most photographed site--and rushed up the street to drop off our rented minivan.  Located right next to the Cadbury plant, fronted by ornate, sculpted gardens, the train station looks like a giant gingerbread creation. Back in the day, when Dunedin was a bustling commercial hub, the train station was an engine of commerce.  Today, its entire purpose is tourism: sending off trains that basically go "nowhere" except to sight-see.  Inside the station, millions of small tiles create mosaics that speak to the past, when a train or even electricity was something remarkable and worthy of commemoration in artful design.   Imagine the craftsmen setting each of these tiny tiles in anticipation of the station opening in 1906, so proud of all that it meant to this city and to the future. There could ha...