Ireland

We were back home in Bratislava Wednesday night and left again on Friday afternoon for Dublin, Ireland.

Looking west toward the Samuel Beckett Bridge on The River Liffey.

Thug Life at

Custom House Quay on The Liffey River.

On the Sean O'Cassey Bridge looking west.

Alexandra looking at Oscar Wilde statue in St Stephen's Green.

Bedford Row, Temple Bar area, Dublin.

Street art in Temple Bar area.

There are many, many, many great pubs in Dublin. This one happens to be The Auld Dubliner. 24 Temple Bar, Dublin. We didn't go in as this was taken early Sunday morning, they were still washing down the street from the night before.

A Guinness a day is good for you, a little whisky and some Baily's Irish Cream also taste good.

Limerick Ireland, from our hotel room. Looking at the River Shannon and bridges.












The poor economic state of the country has made the real estate market open up.

Massey Ferguson tractor and cart in the Irish Folk Village at Bunratty, west of Limerick.

Bunratty Castle

Durty Nelly's and Bunratty Castle.

Irish Folk Village at Bunratty. Not a single pretty face on any of the sheep.

Cliffs of Moher, County Clare, Ireland voted one of the New 7 Wonders of the World.

The Cliffs of Moher are 710 feet above the sea at the highest point. Behind me to the west are Newfoundland and Labrador.

Paris for the New Year

Alexandra and I left Seattle on the 30 of December in the morning and flew to Philadelphia, PA there we change planes and flew to Paris. When we got to Paris it was the 31 of December, New Years Eve! After taking a train and the metro we arrived at our hotel and unpacked. Time to bring in the new year. Alexandra has family in Paris, so we spent the evening with them having dinner, playing music in the studio, drinking wine and finally bringing the new year. There was a jam session right up until 10 minutes to the new year. Champagne and cake to celebrate 2011!



Sight seeing around the city. The grave of James Morrison in Père Lachaise Cemetery .













The grave of Oscar Wilde in Père Lachaise Cemetery. See the post from Dublin for more of Oscar Wilde.
















Montmartre
















F is for funiculaire, Montmartre. Riding cost covered if you have a metro day pass.













Enjoying coffee and people watching in Montmartre.












Sunset from Montmartre.

Picture the top from the top of the Arc de Triomphe. Alexandra got a Eiffel Tower hat that lit up from a vendor at the base of the Eiffel Tower the day before. I saw a giant rat crawling around the base of the Eiffel Tower, sorry no picture.

Tunnel from Avenue des Champs-Élysées to Arc de Triomphe.

View of the Arc de Triomphe from Avenue des Champs-Élysées.

Musée du Louvre courtyard

Advertisement inside the metro tunnel for the Big Four tour of Europe.

Also a number of ads with Bob Sinclar, French DJ, selling headphones.

Inside the metro on the M2 line, heading to our hotel.

Street art by Invader. Also saw one of these in Montmartre by the funiculaire.

A number of pieces by Invader were featured in the movie Faites le mur/Exit Through the Gift Shop that we watched while in Paris.

CA for the holiday

We went back to San Jose and then to Seattle for the last two weeks of December. It was a busy trip, we had friends and family to see everyday while in San Jose.



This is what happens when you have a get together with friends and leave the camera out. Great pictures turn up on your camera! Thank you for the great pictures, stopping by to say hello and cleaning up Jeremy's house.

24 of December in Santa Cruz, CA.

Sunset on Dog Beach, Santa Cruz CA.

Christmas day was split between San Jose, CA and Seattle, WA. We went to church early in the morning, had presents and lunch then got on a plane to Seattle. Seattle was dinner and presents with Alisa and Paul.

Vienna on the weekend

Heading to Vienna on Saturday afternoon.

Saturday night at Advent Market in front of Vienna City Hall. There were more crazy looking people than should be allowed in one space. Very crowded.

City Center of Vienna on Saturday night.

Sunday afternoon at another market, much more enjoyable even though it was raining.

Hot chocolate always brings a smile to your face.

Enjoying the market!

Thank you Coca Cola for making this possible.

Dinner at Huth Beisl Sunday evening. Brat with sweet potato fries.

Wiener Schnitzel, potato salad and green tea.

http://www.germanfoodguide.com/schnitzel.cfm

At the Holiday Market in Old Town

Video from the Holiday Market in Old Town Bratislava on Saturday night. It was very cold.




http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=IBRATISL5&month=12&day=4&year=2010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhPaWIeULKk

Holiday Buzz

Saturday morning, blue skies, it's gonna be cold today.

Blowing snow last night and the last snow flakes from the system. That's our car, a Skoda Fabia. Diesel with a five speed manual transmission. Built on the Volkwagon Golf chassis. Sneh means snow.

Heading back from the Billa market with breakfast, it only got colder as the day went on. We spent Saturday afternoon at IKEA looking for a bathroom storage rack. It's really no different than any other shopping center, the bright lights and people mindlessly walking around in search of something to make themselves happy.

PwC building during much warmer days in May.

Monday morning, the south side of the building.

Look at the temperature, really a heat wave on Monday. Heading to Old Town for lunch at the Holiday Markets.

Look at all those onions, chicken and pork cutlets, sausages and bread grilling. Ciganska kuracie coming up. Those are green and red peppers on the left.

I found a holiday beer at Billa on Monday. Zlaty Bazant Bock, it looks and tastes like a Moose Drool.

Kyiv, Ukraine for the holiday

There was no Thanksgiving in Europe, but there were enough Americans around to celebrate with turkey and trimmings for dinner. There was a charity function, put on for The Children of Chernobyl, at the hotel we stayed at on Thursday night. We had dinner with some friends, Laura and Salus. Chernobyl is a little more than 100 miles north of Kyiv on the border with Belarus.





St. Michael's Golden Domed Monastery

In the square in front of the monastery.

Funicular

Looking toward the Pechersk Lavra/Kiev Monastery of the Caves.

Rememberence day for Holodomor, 27 November 2010. There is a Metro stop at this location that is the deepest in Europe. Arsenalna Station 105.5 meter down.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsenalna_(Kiev_Metro)

We rode the subway to Dnipro, the wrong direction, switched trains and went to Khreshchatyk station back toward our hotel.



Monument to Victims Holodomor, Kiev

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor

Orthodox church at Pechersk Lavra

Everybody likes a happy elf with a barrel of beer!

VW Touareg, chrome on black wheels on Khreshchatyk Avenue. This large central avenue is closed on Sundays for citizens to walk and shop.

Near European Square on Khreshchatyk Avenue.

Take your pick of exotic flavors of Lays chips: salami, crab, green onion, sour cream and onion and pepper I think.

Getting ready to board the plane back to Bratislava, SK we stopped and took a picture with Kris. Boryspil International Airport.