Awards

Ah yes.  Wouldn't be the end of a trip without handing out a few gongs.  In no particular order:

Country with the least stable tables:  England (some were out by more than an inch!)

Most helpful random guy: Dublin, as we arrived at the hotel.  First he gave us his temporary parking ticket, and then advice on how to beat the clampers.  That sounds like a good thing to do...

Most convoluted route from lobby to hotel room: a three way dead heat between the Castle Hotel (Windsor), Baileys Hotel (Cashel, Ire.), and the Castle Hotel (Dublin).  Every one of them was a worthy winner, and we couldn't separate them without doing two an injustice.  For style, the Windsor hotel required going across a covered bridge into another building, but each of the the others had equally obscure aspects.

Best Chocalat et almond pastry - patisserie in Cheverny (France).  Mmmmm.

Most inappropriate music: the cafe we went to for dinner in Oslo.  Superb food, great company...but Deep Purple on the stereo seemed a trifle out of place!

Best chips: This was a packed field, but all the placegetters were in Ireland, and the winner was the Brian Buro pub in Cashel.  Large, crispy chips with actual slivers and chunks of potato in there.  Worth going just to have them.  [As an aside, Justine rated the soup she had there as one of the meals of the trip too.]

Most esoteric claim to fame: the blurb on Killorglin, on the Ring of Kerry (Ireland), states that it is the home of the Puck Festival, the 'world's oldest business event', dating back to pre-Christian times. I certainly didn't slow down as we drove through there.

Most beautiful place: the drive and ferry trip from Espen and Ragnhild's cabin in Norway.  The drive and the lake were just superb.  Better than that really.  Bordering on unbelievable.

Oddest thing (aka the WTF award): The giant (and drivable) pick-up truck that was actually a four-bedroom two-bathroom house, at the car museum in Abu Dhabi. 

Ugliest light fitting:  This was a lifetime achievement award, and was won by a huge margin by the Plaza Bar and Grill in Kilarney (Ireland).

Most spotted object in Europe: Spires.  Spires, spires, spires.  Spires.

Most sirens per hour per 1,000 head of population: St Aignan.  It was unbelievable how many sirens we heard there for a little town.

Best toilet view:  St Aignan for the medieval church (including - you guessed it - a spire!).  A close second was the airplanes - that is pretty amazing when you think about it. 

Most anticipated food:  I am going to award this to Chocolate Croissants; but it was pretty apparent when we got to Abu Dhabi and vegemite sandwiches became available to Lauren that the winning margin was very very narrow!

The Wrap II: End of the time

Well, those pesky sands of time have reached their final destination, and normal service has resumed.  I can handle this one-day-on, one-day-off arrangement with work, but I am pretty sure my contract stipulates something about being there for the next three, so even that will be stripped away soon too.

Really it just remains to wrap the whole thing up, with a bit of perspective.  One bit of perspective is - the 10 days in Ireland seem much better from this position than they did at the time.  A moderate week of holiday is doubtless better than any week at work I guess.

It is actually nice to be back at home, see friends, feel like we are getting on with what comes next.  I had got into a sense that being on holiday was what I did - just traveling around, looking for good food and writing about it.  Sooner or later that probably starts to feel like work, though I am not sure that I could ever holiday for long enough that work would come to feel like the holiday part (maybe I should experiment with that one time...).

Lauren and Aidan were pretty happy to be home.  Lauren sang and danced her way through the first few days, and is thoroughly happy back in her room, with her things, and going to preschool with her friends. After we had been home for an hour or two, she confided that she was happy to be home, in part because she "hated going to museums".  Next time maybe we can put her in cold storage for a month and save a few bucks?  Her favourite things were the horse and buggy ride in Kilarney, the Toby World indoor playground, the cave and just walking around towns.  I think she might have also enjoyed spotting spires with Granny, as that occupied a fair bit of her time.

Aidan was so keen to see his mates that he made us take him to school at lunchtime on the Friday when we got home!  I walked him up, and as he ran out onto the oval his group of mates came running over and collectively jumped on him, before they belted around the oval unstoppably for about 30 minutes.  I think that was the reaction he was hoping for, and he thoroughly enjoyed his hour or so there.  His favourite parts of the trip were Legoland, seeing his mate Hugh in Abu Dhabi, the Gaelic Football match and being allowed to watch endless hours of TV and games on the in-flight entertainment when traveling.  His least favourite part was Lauren singing, trying to sleep on the planes, beggars, the heat of Abu Dhabi and the continuous early nights (even though he didn't have a single early night on the entire trip, he interpreted the late light evenings as meaning he was going to bed early!).

Justine and I pretty much enjoyed all of it.  The trip reinforced how important people are in traveling.  France and Ireland were nice, but Norway and Abu Dhabi were better for the fact that we saw friends, and a whole different side of the places.  Having Granny was also a great thing for all of us.  Aidan in particular loved having her with us, and we hope that it isn't the last time we all travel together (though maybe next time we will build in a little separate time in the middle?).  For the kids in particular, the people are more important than the places, so getting the balance right is important to think about for next time.

We had reservations about how busy it would be to travel to Europe in summer - but there was no-one there!  Not in the places we went anyway.  With the exception of Chateau Chenonceau (France) and Trinity Collage (Dublin), there really were almost too few people in many places.  Odd.  Maybe we just didn't go to the major tourist places?

Bathroom observations: Europeans have better taps (one control for temperature, and one for pressure); but have never heard of towel rails.  Justine still wonders what they do with towels once they have been used.

Food observations:  The food we had was consistently high quality, especially in France, where I think maybe it is culturally unacceptable to produce bad food?  Aidan and Lauren survived on chicken gougons (like nuggets) and hamburgers, and so didn't exactly expand their repertoire in any way.  Funny now that we are home we have gone back to making exactly the same type of food we always do.  The kids see that as a bonus, but I can't help but think that we could have brought back something in that respect.  Maybe next time.

Airline observations:  We had high hopes for Etihad, but they were just any other airline, and the service was very variable on different legs.  We certainly wouldn't go out of our way to use them, but wouldn't avoid them either. 

And that is pretty much it.  It's been an amazing month of experiences, one that hopefully justifies having no matching furniture for another few years (it does!).  Hopefully Aidan is starting to remember these trips, and hopefully they are shaping Lauren as a more balanced and world-wise person (hmmm...).  We've already started planning the next one...until then, a biento!

The Wrap I: Still doesn't know

Just went back and reread my comments from before leaving Ireland. In the air on the way home, they still seem fair. I can't reasonably write the whole place off based on our limited experience, but the fact remains that it was a distinctly underwhelming experience. I sifted through my photos looking for some that really resonate for me, and there just weren't really any like that, other than the images of ruins and castles.

Still, it was a good place to visit. Even if it was just to find out that the romantic ideal I had in mind doesn't really exist, that is part of what travelling is about. I'm not unhappy we went to Ireland, far from it, but that also doesn't mean that I will be rushing back.

Another thing travelling though, is about is trying to figure out the symbology of the road signs in the countries that you go to. If you can't read the language, at least the pictograms are usually relatively universal. In Ireland however, we came across one that was rather opaque on the first day's drive.


My first impression was something to do with Triffids, and we still don't know for sure what it is, but in the end we think it is probably a warning about potential high winds on exposed parts of the motorways.

This next one was more clear:





Even though our car was a bit more boxy than the one in the picture, we did NOT go down this road.

I also didn't like this one at the airport. It just bothered me that this was as much a part of the airport facilities as the cargo section.



There is one other type of sign which was highly prevalent in Ireland which needs to be mentioned.


As I understand, there has been an enormous building boom there for the past few years, but there are nowhere near enough people for all the houses. Everywhere there are brand new developments and estates, full of identical houses and usually quite well finished and landscaped - but mostly unoccupied, and some already starting to show early signs of decrepitness. These signs are everywhere (except when you want to get a picture of one!).

Huge developments were visible even as we were flying in, and everywhere we drove there was a staggering amount of very new building, and heaps of these ghost estates. I understand that this has been the source of the current economic problems, just a huge over-investment that can't now be paid for. Everywhere we went we had conversations with people who were looking to leave Ireland for work, or had had spent time working abroad, especially Perth for some reason.

Interestingly, it sounds as though a similar thing might happening to some extent in Abu Dhabi - a lot of developments, some of staggering scope, and perhaps too many for a post-GFC world to deal with. They are very nervous abut the current economic showdown in the US, there is a lot of money tied up in the US economy, and they do not at all like what they are seeing from the Republicans.

Location:In the air between Abu Dhabi and Sydney

...and we made it.

Well, 10.45am on Friday July 29, and we are home. Apparently it was -6 overnight, and was still 0 as we were coming in to land - a far cry from the 45+ in the Abu Dhabi desert of 24 hours ago!

Travel home all went well, very well actually. No major airport mishaps, well behaved kids, no accidental Hindu meals (thanks Robyn!). The worst bit was having a delayed flight up to Canberra due to early morning fog. We ended up being queued on the ground for a while, and then suddenly the pilot gunned the engines, swung left and took off. I presume he got permission to do so, but there was a sense of him spotting a gap on the runway, yelling "screw you guys" to the control tower and gunning it.

Anyway, we arrived home to find that Mark (whose wife we bumped into in Sydney having flown in from Dubai this morning) had popped in to turn on the heating, and a suitably neat and tidy house. Aidan, who doesn't believe in the existence of cold, decided he was cold and jumped in the shower. Lauren is so excited to be home that she hasn't stopped singing and dancing since we got within 2km of home, so won't feel the cold for a while yet!

Time to go buy some milk - Justine needs a cuppa.

Location:Curtin, Canberra, Australia

Full circle

On something like the morning of 30 June, the four of us sat at a table in the upstairs food court of Abu Dhabi airport, having survived the long leg of the outbound travel. This morning, which I think may be 29 July - but don't quote me on that, we are back, just one table up from the one we sat at back then. We even fly out the same gate as we did last time.

Since then, we've been to 5 countries, 2 theme parks, rented 4 cars, eaten untold chocolate croissants, and just generally had a fine, fine time of it.

I'll try to wrap it all up sometime once we get back, or maybe even in transit if I can get the iPad off the kids for a few minutes.

The time here in Abu Dhabi was all too short. The second day, in the morning Robyn, Justine, Lauren and I went to the Emirates Palace Hotel for coffee. Twice. The first time, I was wearing shorts, which turned out not to be allowable, so had to go home to change. Given it was the first time I had worn them after lugging them around the world, you could probably argue that they would have been better left at home.

Anyway, the hotel, which is 7 Star, was rather opulent. In had the Camelcino, a cappuccino with camel milk, but opted not to have the 24 carat gold flakes on top. Justine's scones were a full range of mini scones, with a range of jams and fresh fruit, while Lauren was very pleased with her milkshake and camel shaped chocolate.






In the arvo we drove out to the Rainbow Sheiks car museum. It was pretty impressive, with everything from classic cars through to futuristic six seat solar powered moon buggy things. He obviously has a thing about BIG versions of vehicles. Aside from some genuinely large trucks etc, there are giant versions of an army Jeep in the sand outside, and a pickup truck in the middle of the main museum. There a stairs leading up into the pickup, and when the guide / guard showed us in, there is a full 4-bedroom 2-bathroom house with kitchen in there! The whole thing is actually drivable, though I couldn't work out from his information if it could do 10kmh or only did 10km before breaking down. Anyway, it was pretty amazing. He also has a real passenger jet parked in the desert outside.

So, in our two days we did the Grand Mosque, Ferrari World, a 7 Star hotel and the car museum in the desert. Probably not a bad snapshot - and greatnto see Robyn, Doug and Hugh. Thanks for your time and energy guys!


And so, the next post might be from home, as I don't think Sydney airport has joined the free wifi crowd yet. Wish us well, we are all just a little tired, which ain't the perfect way to start a 14 hour flight! But spirits are high, and hopes similarly. Looking forward to being home now.

Location:Abu Dhabi airport

Abu Dhabi

It's now the evening of the first of our two days in Abu Dhabi.  I'm still thinking about the Ireland experience, and wondering what would have happened had we gone there first?  We arrived in Ireland after fabulous weeks in France and Norway, and by comparison, perhaps most things would have been a little bit of a let down.  If we had gone to Ireland first, or maybe even just had better weather for the first day or two, it might have made a difference.  Who knows?

Anyway, what was great was to see friendly faces waiting for us at Abu Dhabi airport.  It doesn't often happen that we get met by people at the airport, and so to see Doug, Robyn and Hugh all there was a rare treat.  After a quick and typically 8 year old greeting, Aidan and Hugh were off, sprinting through the airport like a couple of greyhounds accidentally unleashed in the arrivals hall.  Once recaptured, we made our way beyond the airconditioning and for the first time into the ambient Abu Dhabi air.  My strategy of wearing the heaviest items of clothing to avoid packing them was not well suited to that moment.

For those not aware, Doug is the current Australian Ambassador to the UAE, with just a few more months here as it turns out, before a stint back in Australia and then on to another posting.  Arriving back at their house, we needed only to cover 15-20m to get back into airconditioning.  I imagine that the development of refrigerated aircon, and the funds to pay for it, must have totally revolutionsed living in this part of the world.  The house itself is probably the second most convoluted I have been in, with myriad stairs and angles to keep it interesting.  A glass of wine, coffee in china gilded with the Australian coat of arms and what was a candidate for 'World's best chocolate cake' followed.  The hot water tap is a little redundant at this time of year - the 'cold water' shower was probably only a couple of degrees off what I would have at home, and the pool is quite literally like a hot bath.  Apparently only chilled pools are useable here this time of year.

This morning Robyn had arranged for us to have a tour of the Grand Mosque here in Abu Dhabi.  It has been open for a couple of years, though not yet fully complete.  Unlike most Mosques, which are closed to non-Muslims, the Grand Mosque was designed from the outset to allow non-Muslims the opportunity to see inside the faith, and inside the workings of a Mosque.  I never like prying into functioning places of worship, as it often feels an unwelcome intrusion.  However, when invited to do so I am very happy to.  The tour lasted about an hour, and we were invited to ask questions, take photos and generally to take the opportunity to understand more about Islam.  The tour guide was insightful, witty and open, and Justine and I loved the opportunity.

In the afternoon, to continue the cultural theme, we went to Ferrari World and went on the world's fastest roller coaster. 

It apparently hits 240kmh as it accelerates down the opening straight, before a climb that shoves your stomache through your behind, before flinging what is left of it out the top of your head as you pull negative Gs over the top.  To say it was a buzz is an understatement.  We got off laughing uncontrollably with hair sticking up like gonks and wobbly legs.  I don't want to do it again - not because it was in any way scary, but just because it would spoil the memory.  Our first view of it was from the line.  The car (it is set up as a 16-seat F1 car) pulls out onto the main straight, which stretches off what looks like a good few hundred metres, and then pauses.  Then it just shoots away from you in the same way that a ship goes into hyperspace in Star Wars.  Literally in a few seconds it is up the hill and out of sight.  Justine, who likes these sort of things a lot, just said "wow!", and then started jumping up and down with excitement.  Doug and I, who are a little more reticent, didn't jump, but I think we shared her sentiment. 

The kids got to do some rides and things, but to be honest it was the rollercoaster that will stick in my mind for a long time.  Arriving home, Doug and Robyn's cook had a roast chicken dinner awaiting us, with souffle and some left over choccie cake with coffee.  Not at all a bad day.

Tomorrow is the last of the holiday, and I know Lauren in particular is looking forward to getting home.  We probably all are, but I am looking forward to one last fling.  We are planning, amongst other things, to see the Rainbow Sheik's car collection.  From what I understand, this is a large facility 45 mins drive into the desert where he has a collection of cars from VWs to Ferraris, each with seven versions in different colours of the rainbow.  Sounds typically Abu Dhabi from what I have seen so far.  If a large solution is possible, then that is what will be selected.  The place is under construction - and I don't mean that there is construction going on, but rather that whole new large parts of the Emirate are being constructed from scratch.  It is unlike any place I have seen before, and I am loving having a look at it.

Leaving Ireland

On a balmy Dublin evening, the five of us made our way slowly down O'Connell St, across the Ha'penny Bridge and back into Temple Bar for one last meal together. It's always a bitter-sweet affair, the last night together on a trip. It's been long enough to be honest, and we are all ready for our own space, but there is a palpable sadness that it has to end.

Tomorrow morning at about 6.15 the four of us will pile back into the Galaxy for a final fling on Irish roads up to the airport, leaving Mum to get a few extra hours sleep and a day of family history research in the Dublin library. We have a 9.20 flight to Abu Dhabi to get, and given the Oslo airport fiasco, will be taking few chances. Mum has a late afternoon flight to London and on to Perth.

I'm at a bit of a loss to summarise Ireland. It has been, I think I can fairly say, been a bit anticlimactic. After the highs of Legoland, France and Norway, we were looking for some Irish romanticism to quench our European thirst, but somehow we just didn't find it. Cashel, our first night destination was probably the best. The hotel, the town, the castle, the ruins, the restaurant bar, were all what we were hoping for.

From that point on though, pretty much nothing was. The house we rented in Cordal oozed with character, but was also undeniably just plain old in some respects. For me the character made up to some extent for the uninspiring setting, but for Justine it kind of accentuated it. The pub in Cordal, the only walking-distance attraction was soulless, and we only went there once. Castleisland, the nearest town, was functional, not bucolic. The countryside was flat, not rolling. Even the drives were only spectacular in isolated locations.

I was hoping the Dublin stay would fix everything, but if anything, it just made it worse. If you had the time and inclination to bar-hop, then you could certainly have a great time. But there's wasn't much else that we saw on a two-day swing through. The town is pretty drab for the most part, colourless, graffiti ridden and run down. I don't know if that is just the current economic climate, but I don't think you can run down a city in that sort of timeframe. When the sun came out, and we were in the right part of town, it was a lot more attractive - but then it was like an Irish Theme Park full of tourists. I wonder if I even saw a Dubliner in those parts of town, other than a busker / hawker / beggar. We had good meals - Aidan and I had a great lunch at the Porterhouse brew pub - but the whole experience has left me nonplussed. It makes the football stand out even more, as something that was real and a part of Irish life.

I have spent most of the week trying to avoid saying that the whole place is hugely over-rated, getting on a plane and flying out, never to return. Indeed, I wouldn't be surprised if I don't come back here, given how many other places there are to see in the world. However, there is a part of me that recognises that this is probably a bit unfair. Certainly we didn't quite hit the mark with the places we went / stayed and what we did, but there are too many good things said about the place for me to think that we have done a comprehensive survey. We did go to places that by all accounts should have been inspiring, and they were decidedly not for the main part. Ruins aside, I can't say I was inspired at all, except maybe for the 2km stretch highlighted in the photo on the 'into the blue' post. Lots of things have been ok, but no more than that. The overall impression has been disappointing.

Interestingly, all of the people we have dealt with here have been incredibly friendly and helpful, and they have possibly been the most positive part of the whole experience. However, I couldn't help notice how few smiling faces you see in the street. Again, maybe that is the local economic conditions at work, but it hasn't felt a jovial place when we have been out and about.

I have to think about it more before I make any final conclusions. At times today I have been photographing decrepit parts of the city to illustrate a highly negative summary; and at other times I have tried to find images to tell a more positive story. To be honest, the first one would be a lot easier to write and illustrate. Maybe if we were here longer we'd have found a deeper side to the place. As it was, I can't shake the feeling that it was a bunch of ruins waiting to happen, living off past glories and hoping no-one will notice.

Location:Dublin, with one eye on Abu Dhabi

Limerick

Forgot to put up this wonderful composition I knocked together, in situ on the bypass, last Friday on the drive to Dublin. It's a cracker.



Through the window a view not to for-get
One to put away in our own little mental net
Though seen from the car
And just from afar
This is a close as we're going to get

The kids in the back watch a flick
We hope that they don't get travel sick
As we take the bypass
And literally fly past
The lovely old Irish city of Limerick

Location:In the car

Midnight, Saturday

It's a little before Midnight Saturday as I write this, and it will be a little after midnight on Sunday before I let it loose on the unsuspecting World Wide Web.

I'm sitting in the window seat of our hotel room (which is a cube about 16 feet in all three dimensions, a shape that is spacious, but just a little disconcerting) watching Kildare and Cork supporters revel below. There also appear to be people stealing the BMW across the street, but I am not going to do anything. This stems from two main motivations - first, it is hard to tell when revelry ends and major crime starts; but second, and more important, given that I have spent 80% of my cumulative driving time in Europe with some form of BMW right up my (I am going to quote the first paragraph of the introduction to the tourist brochure titled the "literary guide to Dublin" here) arsekicking, I have no sympathy at all for any BMW owner.

Justine and I just got back from a belated anniversary dinner in Temple Bar. Mum very kindly, VERY kindly, if you get my drift, watched what is left of the kids while we headed out for a few drinks and a bite. We stopped off at four places, and each turned out to be an inspired choice, especially given my reservations earlier today.

The first was Fitzgeralds, the bar where I had lunch. It was opened in 1832. To put that in context, Perth was opened in 1829, and Adelaide around 1836 if memory serves me correctly. Canberra was opened in 1913, about 80 years later.

From there we randomly ended up in a place called Temple Bar. I have no idea if it is what the area is named after, or vice versa, but it was one of the best bars I've been in for many a long year. Then a nice upstairs restaurant and a glam hotel bar for a coffee on the way back. V nice all round, though by far the most rewarding part was the 2 minutes at The Oval bar, all of which I spent in the toilet. At 10.30, there is still the last of the evening light out, and it was a super end to a super day.


The afternoon we spent at Croke Park, watching Kildare stitch Derry up in the 4th Round Qualifiers of the Gaelic Athletic Association All Ireland Football. I've always had a curiosity about Gaelic Football, and today only served to enhance that. It is a little like Alien V Predator, in that it is an almost perfect cross between Aussie Rules, soccer and rugby.


Aidan started the game with a raft of questions, most of which I could very honestly and comprehensively answer by repeating the phrase "I have no idea", "I have no idea" over and over. I realised as the game started that I had no idea about some fairly fundamental aspects, such as: 1) the scoring system; 2) how many periods they played for, and for how long; 3) whether they had referees or umpires; or 4) who was playing and which team was which.

Some of these questions were answered more easily than others.

Within the first few minutes, the bloke the in front of us made it clear that there was a 'referee' and not an umpire. I don't think he liked him very much, and Justine and Aidan spent a fair bit of the game like this:


When the first period finished, by checking out the typical scores in the Footy Record we came to the (correct) conclusion that they must play two periods of 35 mins plus stoppage time. The Record also, eventually, gave up the identities of the protagonists, and for different reasons (most ludicrous and some bordering on apocryphal), we all chose to support Kildare.

The scoring system I never fully found out, as only 1 point 'overs' were scored for the game, and I never found out how many points a 'goal' was worth, which kept it interesting at the end, as we didn't know if Derry were still in it or not.

It was a skilful game, though a bit like watching AFL training, as it was all the skills, but without the tackling it wasn't as physical in a legal sense. However, it was also quite 'dirty', with lots of flying elbows and niggle, the sort of stuff that the AFL has quite successfully eradicated over the last generation of players and fans. My Mum wouldn't let me play this game, I am sure. That was the impression she gave, anyway!


In the end Kildare won 0-18 to 0-13, thus justifying all our various nonsensical reasons for supporting them. This was widely appreciated by the Kildare-centric crowd. I have no idea who Kildare are or where they come from, but they had the love of the crowd on their side, and so it was largely a happy crowd that partly swapped places with the Cork-Down supporters for the second match of the double header.

It was nice to do something that felt genuine, not contrived for the benefit of tourism. I always think that it is that unscripted reality which separates sport from art, and you couldn't fake the sincerity of the fans at the game, especially the bloke directly in front of us.

Cork then flogged Down, and thus the revelry downstairs. The BMW was long ago driven away, and I have no idea by who, and less interest. As the music coming in through the open sash window from the Belvedere Lounge across the road would suggest, tonight it going to be a good good night.

Location:Dublin

Midday, Saturday

Just knocked off umpteenth pint of Smithwicks (not all today!), and had very satisfying Beef and Guinness pie at Fitzgeralds, central Dublin. Feeling more positively disposed towards Ireland today, as aside from the pie it is a beautiful blue day here, the warmest of our holiday (though I expect that record to be comprehensively smashed in Abu Dhabi!).

Walked up to Croke Park with the kids and got us all tickets the the Gaelic Football quarter finals for this afternoon. Apparently it is nearly sold out, so it should be spectacular, as the ground looked awesome when we dropped by.

Dublin seems to be swarming with tourists (like us) here to see Dublin. I can't help but feel that what we are seeing is a mildly dissatisfying superimposition of old and real Dublin and the Disneyland version. Clearly central Dublin as it currently is wouldn't develop the reputation that it has, and I wonder how long it can live off it's past without having to build a now and a future? It's a thought I've had a few times on this trip. I love looking at old buildings - castles, abbeys, chateau etc. The ruined ones are even better. But I wouldn't walk around the corner to see the newly built ruins, as it would be missing something intangible. What is being built now that people will be wanting to see in 50, 100, 500 years from now? Or have we past the peak of history, and all the rest is just looking at the detritus? I guess some things will survive and inspire 500 years from now, but I wonder what?

Mirrors a thought about life I had recently - while it nice to sit around with friends talking about things that you have done, at some point you have to go out and actually do new things.

Anyway, enough of that line of reasoning, it is time to head back out and enjoy the moment.

Also, I heard from Ragnhild that while she felt the explosion at work, it wasn't exactly where she was, and that they are all OK. That's the only good news I know of in relation to that situation.

Location:Fitzgeralds Pub, Dublin

Shocking news

We arrived safely, and very surprisingly on time, in Dublin this afternoon. We stopped off in Tipperary for lunch, and for Mum to do some family history research. It is a romantic sounding place, but pretty functional in reality. The main street is a major trucking route, and like most of Ireland, three quarters of the shops are pharmacies, and most of the rest stock what could most accurately (and optimistically) be described as 'stuff'.

It's been pretty low key since then. A drink at the bar, a trip to the playground, and dinner. The Guinness and Beef casserole was uninspiring, and the whole meal was a little missing in presentation for some reason.

However, all that kind of drifts off into the unimportant parts of the world when we heard the news of the attacks in Norway today. Having just been wandering around downtown Oslo a few days ago, and having been flitting around islands just outside of Oslo, which is about all the information I have at the moment about where has been affected, it feels very close to my world. I am hoping that Espen, Ragnhild and Marie are all OK, and that the same is true of their family and friends.

I've had two of the most peaceful and pleasant evenings of my life in my Oslo summer visits, one as recently as this time last week. It is very hard to imagine the sort of pictures I have briefly seen this evening in a place like that. The rational part of my brain knows that has nothing to to with the root causes of these sorts of attacks, but it makes it more real and more shocking when they happen somewhere like that. Makes you realise that the world is a smaller and smaller place, but that we are getting no better at problem solving.

Location:Dublin

To Dublin

9.43am, and we are getting out the door 17 mins early (except for me writing this, which will probably get my in trouble and make us late, and probably jot in that order!).

Heading to Dublin for our last three European nights, which should be good too. Managed to find a Beef and Guinness pie yesterday at the local markets, which was a very good one too, and so there is no pressure to do anything other than have a good time.

Then we split, Mum heads home and we go to Abu Dhabi to see Hugh, Robyn and Doug.

Now 9.46, and I am the last one here! Better go.

Location:Leaving Cordal