Clapp Radical Sabbatical

Our second day in Limerick we took a side trip to Cork. On our way there we went to Blarney Castle, home of the famous Blarney Stone. The stone is at the top of the castle and so we wound up the tight stairways, toured the empty rooms, and eventually made it to the top.  Drew went first. You sit down in front of the stone and lean backwards holding onto two metal poles. There is a guide there to help spot you as you lean all the way back and kiss the stone which is at the bottom of the outer wall.  My fear of heights started to kick in but I pulled threw. Drew has yet to experience the “eloquence” the stone was supposed to bring :-). We also hoped that bottle of disinfectant sitting next to the guide was used regularly.

The castle area also had some gardens including the Poison Garden which contained many varieties of poisonous plants and described what they were and which parts of them were poisonous. Some of the plants they had growing included nightshade, wormwood, opium poppy and cannabis. Other attractions included a small waterfall and druid caves which were pretty neat. They say if you walk up these stairs with your eyes closed and think of a wish you will be granted it by the witch of Blarney Castle – so far I just got a bump on my head where the cave above the stairs got particularly low.

We went to the English Market for lunch which was very impressive. We wish we had a market like that in San Diego where you could buy all kinds of fresh pastries, meats, fish, olives, desserts, etc. all in one spot. We killed time by walking around the outdoor shops as well. Drew really wanted to buy a flat cap or old man cap as I refer to them to fit in with the locals but his good sense prevailed.

5 years ago 15 (yes 15) Irish people moved into the apartment next to me in PB – they were frequently raucous in the evenings and I always threatened that I would one day go to Ireland and keep them all up on weekday evenings. Well that didn’t happen but we were able to meet up with Eamonn and Aoife who were incredibly good hosts.  They cooked us dinner and we went out to some local pubs where we had some grand drink, a little Irish dancing and loads of craic (or fun as us Americans would say). We had a great time and it was nice to experience a small town (Mallow) that was not as touristy as Dublin. We crashed there and in the morning we went to see Mallow Castle (yes, another castle!) which also had a fenced in herd of white deer which was neat to see. Drew apologizes to the motorists of Mallow for the Saturday morning traffic jam he created trying to leave the town center. Thanks for the grand time guys!

Next we drove to Galway which is a quaint little seaside town and also the town referenced in Ed Sheeran’s hit “Galway Girl” which we heard a million times on the road. We walked passed the Spanish Arch, through the busy latin quarter, and stopped for a nice lunch. On the way back we walked by the Galway Cathedral and along the river path.

From Galway, we had a 1.5 hour drive to see the Cliffs of Moher (otherwise known as the “Cliffs of Insanity” in the movie The Princess Bride). The drive was very picturesque but also very stressful for Drew.  Driving around the winding roads with stone lined walls as shoulders was fun until the large tour busses started their return trips. They did not fit in their lanes and we had to drive uncomfortably close to the walls and even stopped a couple of times to pull over.  They really shouldn’t be allowed on that route. Anyway, once we arrived the view was breathtaking. This is one of those rare places on earth that is special to witness. We walked in both directions from the visitor center to get views from both ends of the cliffs. You can go further than we did in either direction but I don’t believe the views got better past our stopping point.  We tried to see the puffins perched on the side of the mountain, it was difficult given how far away they were, and Drew wants to me to add even more difficult while I had the telescope reversed : P

The drive back we took a different route that was less stressful and we were hoping to get back in time to catch the Munster rugby match down the street from our b&b in Limerick. By the time we got back the game was over and we also were spent from our long day.

For our last day in Dublin we took it easy but we still got to take in a few wonderful sites. Our first stop was the Trinity College Old Library, the home of the Book of Kells, which is over 1000 years old (older than most of our countries as tour guide reminded us). It contains four books from the New Testament created by monks and is lavishly decorated with tons of beautiful colors including tons of bright gold. We were able to see two original pages (they flip the page once a day) and lots of reprints – it was pretty amazing to imagine the patience it must have taken to create the intricate designs by hand. The second floor of the library houses thousands of books over hundreds of years – it literally looks like the library out of Harry Potter (because Harry Potter was filmed at Oxford which has an almost identical library). It also houses Ireland’s oldest harp – which is what the Guinness logo was modeled after and Ireland’s national instrument.

Our second stop was the Chester Beatty Library which we were happy to hear was free but we were also amazed by the collection. Alfred Chester Beatty was born in the U.S. but  he fell in love with Ireland and left his entire collection to the people of Ireland. He was very interested in other countries and especially religion. The collection consists of paintings, statues, silk artwork, and books from various religions including Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity. It was incredibly interesting and informative.

Of course we had to make a stop by Saint Patrick’s Cathedral and since a little bit of sun was shining through the clouds there were tons of people out enjoying it in St. Patrick’s park. Our last stop in Dublin was by the Molly Malone statue which was created in memory of the song – you’ve heard it:

‘In Dublin’s fair city,

Where the girls are so pretty,

I first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone,

As she wheeled her wheel-barrow,

Through streets broad and narrow,

Crying, “Cockles and mussels, alive, alive, oh!”

“Alive, alive, oh,

Alive, alive, oh,”‘

The next day we picked up our rental car (Drew got a Ford Focus, not a Mercedes, ha!) and headed out of Dublin to Limerick. On our trip over we stopped at Birr Castle. Unfortunately we were not able to visit inside the castle itself because it is a private residence but we were able to walk all around the gardens which were absolutely amazing. The tenants of Birr Castle were engineers and extremely  interested in the sciences and Birr Castle was the location of the largest telescope for over 70 years when it was constructed in 1840 and it is still on the grounds.

When we arrived in Limerick we took a short walk down to the river where we had a great view of King John’s Castle and had a fantastic dinner – Drew finally had some oysters. At dinner we also made a very important decision – if we ever buy a castle it will have to have a moat! To the right is the only castle Drew said he’d buy me.

We had a quick 1 hour flight from Inverness to Dublin and arrived at our hotel around 1 pm. However our first day in Dublin was quite uneventful. We checked into the hotel (the first hotel we’ve stayed at on our journey), had lunch and then promptly took a nap. As our friend Wilcy said, ‘that’s part of the sabbatical anyway – rest and recharging’ but it doesn’t make for a very good blog post!

Thankfully we made up for it on our second day in Dublin. We started the day off with a free walking tour that was about 2 1/2 hours long on the South side of Dublin. The River Liffey divides Dublin into the North and South and the North side has a reputation of being the seedy side although we were told that the crime rate on either side is incredibly low. On the tour we got to hear a ton about Irish history and we saw the Dublin Castle which is interesting because it is comprised of several different styles of architecture including medieval, gothic, Georgian, and even modern (our tour guide described this part of the building as looking like the Google headquarters).

Another interesting part of the tour was the stories behind Christ Church Cathedral. Apparently after Henry the VIII declared that all of Britain would change religions from the Catholic to the Church of England the Irish people were incredibly upset (rightfully so) to be told they had to change religions. So when Henry VIII converted this cathedral to the new religion the people revolted by making it more of a market than a cathedral and even opened a bar and distillery in the basement. Eventually it was decided this was disrespectful and the cathedral was converted back and is now the cathedral of the United Diocese of Dublin.

The guide took us through Temple Bar which is an area of Dublin that is parallel to the Liffey and is known for it’s night life – our hotel is located in this area. He also told us about the ‘Monument of Light’ which was originally commissioned to mark the millennium however it wasn’t finished until 2003 and it cost 4 million euro which is an incredible amount given that it’s just a giant needle with no functionality. Apparently the locals lovingly refer to the monument as the ‘stiffy by the Liffey’ and it would be rare to find a local that knows its actual name.

The tour ended at Trinity College where we got to see the buildings of ‘heaven’ (the school church) and ‘hell’ (the exam hall). And although Trinity College was built at the same time as Oxford and Cambridge it is much more affordable – Irish residents can attend for around 500 Euro a year! It is probably good that it’s quite cheap since students will need to save their money for beer – Dublin apparently is one of the most expensive cities in Europe to drink in.

In the afternoon we decided to take a trip to the Guinness store house. The building is on the location where the original Guinness fermentation room was however that closed in 1988 and it has since been a visitor center. There are seven floors which walk you through the process of brewing, the history of Guinness (including its 9,000 year lease) and the advertising strategies over the years. It even has a tasting room (where we got the smallest glasses of Guinness I’ve ever seen), a learn to pour the perfect Guinness course, and what they call the ‘Gravity Bar’ which has beautiful panoramic views of Dublin. We chose to enjoy our pint of Guinness with the beautiful views.

One of the things Dublin is most known for is its night life, especially in Temple Bar, so we decided to experience this by going on an organized pub crawl. We were a little hesitant at first, I thought we might be too old for one, but it ended up being a great time. The reasons I enjoyed it were: 1. we got to meet and talk with lots of new people (when you are staying mostly in Airbnbs interactions outside of each other are very limited) 2. we got to visit several different bars that we wouldn’t have found on our own and about half of them had really good live music 3. we got to see Irish dancers perform. We ended the night by asking the tour leader what Irish ‘drunk food’ is – he pointed us to a gyro shop where we got a gyro with a cabbage mixture and chips in it – definitely an interesting twist on a Mediterranean classic and it was a delicious way to end our experience.

As the title suggests, this post is provided by Drew.

They say marriage is all about give and take.  So while the London castles were neat, the city had a lot of what I like to call “lady crack” (palaces, Crown Jewels, afternoon tea, theater, etc.).  So next up to Scotland we went for a man-trip.  The home of golf, Scotch whisky, and…kilts? (our walking tour guide made it a point that William Wallace (Braveheart) probably never actually wore a kilt).

The first portion of my man trip included a short train and bus ride to St Andrews, Scotland.  If Megan wrote this post you’d be hearing how it was the place where Kate Middleton met (stalked) Prince William to University of St Andrews and they lived happily ever after. But thankfully I am here to save you (or not). We took a short walk from the bus station of to St. Andrews Links, the Mecca of golf.  From the town street we cut across the path of the 1st and 18th fairways that you can walk or drive across…at your own risk.  From there we strolled along the path to the clubhouse lined with sand dunes and the beach that the running scene from Chariots of Fire was filmed. You know the tune-bum bum bum bum buuuum buuuummmm…

The Links Clubhouse was where we met our tour group and also had some nice facts about the course and photos.  Our guide was very informative and friendly and she walked us around the famous Old Course and eventually took our photo on the iconic Swilcan bridge. It’s a good thing because I planned on taking one anyway somehow. We saw someone disappear into the infamous 17th hole road bunker but did not get to look at it up close. You might be wondering did I actually get to play on the course? The answer is sad. No I did not. As you can imagine, like Torrey Pines (south course especially), it is extremely difficult to get a tee time. Also, you need to show proof of your handicap which I do not have (except for a limp from falling down the stairs as Megan previously posted).

Some interesting facts about the course were:

• Because it is links style, most of the bumpy terrain is all natural.
• It was originally 22 holes instead of 18.
• there are 18 holes but not 18 greens. Most holes have two pins per green, one for the front 9 and one for the back 9.
• There is a hilly putting course “the Himalayas” that is home to the Ladies’ Putting Club.
• the Old Course is closed on Sundays and turned into a public park.

After the tour, we had lunch at the cafe next to the Royal and Ancient Clubhouse which had a good view of the course and beach.

We took the scenic route back to the bus station which wound around a peninsula with views of St. Andrews Castle and Cathedral across the street.

The next part of our Scotland man trip we took a train from Edinburgh to Inverness (capital of the highlands and home to Lock Ness monster). But the real reason we were there was because it is home to the Malt Whisky Trail.  I convinced my lovely wife Megan to rent a car and drive me along said trail (the bus and train schedule was bad because of the holiday weekend) to take pictures and ultimately take the Glenfiddich distillery tour. Her good karma was immediately rewarded by getting handed the keys to a brand new Mercedes. You’re welcome and don’t get used to the luxury car…quite yet.  She was actually very good driving on the “wrong” side of the road and was very patient while I had her slow down, turn around, and wait for me to take a bunch of pictures.

For lunch we ate at Glenfiddich while we waited for our tour. I tried some Balvenie (owned by same company) which was pretty smooth. The tour of Glenfiddich was a fun experience for both of us and we learned a lot. We took a separate route home through the Cairngorms National Park which was nice and had a lot of wildlife.

Yesterday we had kind of an easy day and I was celebrating not having to edit many photos after dinner (don’t forget to check out my photos page) when suddenly a parade of bag-pipers came marching in front of us after dinner. Having nothing better to do, we followed them down the street where they ended in the town park. It was really cool to see. Apparently it was made up of several local pipe bands.

Tomorrow we are off to Ireland!

Our last day in London we took advantage of the fact that all the museums are FREE! We went to the British Museum and the National Gallery. At the British Museum we saw the Egyptian Rosetta Stone, some tombs of Pharaohs, and loads of Egyptian statues and walls from pyramids – it really makes me wonder between the Louvre and the British Museum what’s left in Egypt? Don’t get me wrong I’m happy someone had the foresight to rescue these antiquities from destruction I just hope the pyramids are as grand as I envision. We also saw a statue from Easter Island and tons of amazing British Victorian cups and carvings. At the National Gallery we viewed famous paints from Monet and Picasso. We also had to find a ‘Madonna and Child’ with a suckling baby Jesus – Drew spotted it first. Of course it still doesn’t compare to the one we found in Peru with Joseph joining in on the action.

Rosetta Stone

Egyptian Statue

Picasso’s Sunflowers

After the museums we went to Piccadilly Circus and Chinatown – both had some great people watching. We finally settled down at the Porcupine which used to be a meeting point for the Free Masons and had drinks and dinner. Drew enjoyed a rhubarb gin with a ginger beer tonic (the bartender complimented him on his choice) and I had a Rose which are extremely popular in London. We ended the night at the theatre – it was a real treat!

Haggis

The next day we headed to Edinburgh by train – what a cute city! Our flat there was really nice and had a great view of the Castle. We tried haggis and it definitely has an
interesting texture but I’d go as far as to say it was tasty. I was surprised by the fact that it was kind a spicy.
We only had one full day actually in Edinburgh so we crammed a lot in but because it is a smaller city we didn’t feel rushed at all. We started with a hike up to the top of Arthur’s Seat. We went early in the morning and the sun was out which made it really enjoyable even though it was 40 degrees out and windy. I was impressed that Andrew was able to make the climb because on our way there he was looking at dog poop and stumbled down the stairs twisting his ankle. After I found out he was ok, I found it kinda funny because he’s aways telling me to watch where I’m going!

After that we did a Free Walking Tour which was extremely interesting – our guide was also an actor and he did a great job getting into character – he was incredibly funny. We learned lots of Edinburgh history everything from Saint Giles to Greyfriar’s Bobby to the school that Hogwarts was based off of. We even learned that J.K. Rowling took the names of her characters from a graveyard in Edinburgh so we got to see Thomas Riddle aka ‘he who should not be named’s’ grave along with other Harry Potter characters.

You did read earlier that we had a great view of the Castle and based on my earlier post what do you think we did next? Well of course we toured the Castle! It was an impressive fortress and we got to see more Crown Jewels which is always awesome as well as hear some interesting tales of various prisoners that were held there. Andrew was also finally allowed to take pictures of the weaponry and he wants you all to know that this is what he is hoping his ‘man cave’ will look like one day.

The final stop of the day was to the Scotch Whisky Experience which is kinda like a mix between a whisky tasting and Disneyland – you get to ride a barrel around and learn how  whisky is made. You also get to learn about the different whisky regions of Scotland and you even get a scratch and sniff card to help you understand the aromas of the whisky that comes from each region. The experience culminates with you choosing the region you’d like to test and heading into a room with the largest Scotch Whisky collection in the world. I was brave and tasted both the one I chose and Drew’s – I didn’t enjoy either so Andrew ended up with two drams of whisky which he said helped ‘heal’ his ankle and knee.

I’m pretty sure I was supposed to be born royal, rich and in a different era because I have a slight obsession with formal dinners, place settings and anything royal. In fact our wedding was set in a way that you felt almost transported back to another era and attending a ball from one of Jane Austen’s novels. So of course we had to make a stop by Kensington Palace – Andrew was NOT excited by this but his interest piqued a little when we saw the beautiful White Garden – planted that way in memory of the 20th year anniversary of Princess Diana’s passing. And I have to admit although the state rooms and bedrooms of Queen Mary and William III were quite impressive the best part of our tour was the Diana: Her Fashion Her Story Exhibit which just happened to be going on while we were there.

Princess Di’s Pearl Dress – she wore it to Hong Kong and the White Garden

After a delicious Indian food lunch (apparently London has some great Indian food) we went to the Tower Bridge which is commonly confused as the London Bridge and we took the lift up to the top, walked across the glass floor and explored the engine room (I almost had to drag Drew out of there – he was enthralled). Then we took a river boat cruise toward Big Ben and finally walked through St. James gardens until we found the Wellington Arch. We could have actually done a lot more but we stumbled across this little thing called the London Marathon and there were hoards of spectators. As a runner it was kinda neat to see – there were millions of spectators and a lot brought picnics and most were drinking. It really looked like a fun atmosphere to race in but apparently there aren’t any time limits like the races I’ve been in cause we saw people crossing the finish line until 5 pm and I’m sure there were some even later. Due to the streets being blocked off and all the spectators we had to walk around A LOT so much so that our feet required a cocktail at the end of the day.

The following day we took an organized tour to Windsor Castle, the Roman baths in Bath, and Stonehenge. The state rooms in Windsor Castle are absolutely astounding, unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take pictures in there. Drew enjoyed it too because there were several ‘man caves’ as he called them which were really guard rooms that displayed coats of armor and various weaponry from different eras. Bath was a super cute city with the majority of the structures made out of yellowish lime stone. The Roman baths were really interesting too – it’s amazing to see what spectacular structures could be built before modern technology. The natural hot spring water is said to have special properties to keep you looking young – Drew had some and I did not (I’m allergic to sulfur and it definitely had quite a bit of it) – does he look younger?

Roman baths

To the Castle!

Windsor

The culmination of the tour was Stonehenge which was really incredible. It’s amazing that after all the years we still don’t really know what it was for, except that it lines up with the summer solstice. Something I did not know about it is that there were 56 holes in a circle within the circular earth berm each with a skeleton of a man in them. I know a lot of people say it has something to do with aliens but we didn’t see any while we were there, nor did we get any ‘funny feelings’ as they say some do.

For our first full day in London we did two Free Walking Tours (or pay what you like tours). Basically there is no charge to take the tour and you just tip the tour guide at the end. The first was a Westminster tour where we got to see Buckingham Palace, the Changing of the Guard, the Household Cavalry Changing of the Guard, the Prime Minister’s House, and Big Ben.

The second tour was of the City of London (which apparently is only 1 square mile) and it included the Memorial of the Great Fire of London, the original Twinings Tea House, St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Tower Bridge and the London Bridge and ends at the Tower of London. These tours were not only a great way to hear the history of London at a great price we also were able to get the layout of the city and decided what we wanted to see! The best part about the tours was that I only lost Andrew 3 times! However the best part of the day was meeting up with Natalie and John – we met them in Shoreditch and had a great time talking, laughing, and eating – thanks for meeting up with us guys!

We spent our second full day in London exploring both Westminster Abby and the Tower of London. Since we have a love of visiting old churches we had to go to Westminster Abby but it was definitely more of a treat than we were expecting – there were so many famous kings, queens, writers, poets, and musicians buried there (Darwin, Isaac Newton, Queen Mary of Scots, Queen Elizabeth I, just to name a few) – it was quite amazing. Even though we’ve visited other churches where people are buried in the floor we still find it odd to walk over people’s tombs! I especially enjoyed viewing the church where William and Kate were married as I was definitely one of the millions of people watching their wedding. On a side note – if you’ve watched ‘The Crown’ then you’ll be happy to know that the coronation is actually quite accurate!

The Tower of London was definitely the best attraction we’ve seen thus far. We went on a brief tour done by a Yeoman Warder (or Beefeater as the world knows them) and he injected a lot of humor into his historical information. In addition to seeing the areas of the Tower where they tortured prisoners, kept Anne Boleyn prisoner, and beheaded several of King Henry VIII wives we also saw the Crown Jewels (unfortunately we couldn’t take any pictures in there but don’t worry Drew said he’d get me a crown just like the one used for coronations). The last thing we toured at the Tower was the White Tower which houses a ton of historical suites of armor. My favorite part was seeing the various suites of King Henry VIII – you can definitely see how large he became after his leg injury- in fact apparently every part of him got larger including his codpiece! A little girl actually asked her dad what it was while we were there – he was quick witted and said it was for riding horses.

All in all it was a beautiful spring day in London with tulips blooming everywhere. We ended the day by going to the local pub to watch a football game – Chelsea verses Tottenham and since we are staying in Chelsea we rooted for the Blues –  they won! Sorry Natalie!!!

Before we departed we said one last ‘Farewell’ to our friend Cheryl who joined us for drinks at the LAX Hilton. She took this photo of us and all of our gear – she also bought the drinks – thanks Cheryl!

We were a little nervous about flying on Norwegian Airlines. They are a budget airline similar to Spirit or Southwest in the U.S. and we had heard that they charge for EVERYTHING. We ended up booking their LowFare Plus ticket which included a checked bag, seat selection and two meals (one of which came with an adult beverage). Even with the upgrade the flight was a steal at $375! On top of it all – we were on a brand new Dreamliner – it ended up being a very comfortable 10 hour flight.

While we waited in line for immigration I noticed that several people were put in a ‘holding area’ and I was a little scared that we might be put there too since we don’t yet have tickets back to the U.S. My fears increased with the questions we received from the immigration officer. The first was expected – ‘how long do you plan to stay in the U.K.?’ and my response was ’12 days,’ the next one got more interesting ‘do you go anywhere after that before returning home?’ and my response was ‘yes we are going to Dublin’ but that did not satisfy him and he probed some more ‘anywhere after that?’ with which I responded ‘we will be traveling through Europe and Southeast Asia’ and then his questions got a little more pointed:

I.O.: ‘do you have a flight back to the U.S. booked yet?’

Me: ‘No’

I.O.: ‘do you have jobs or did you have to quit?’

Me: ‘I was able to take a personal leave of absence’

I.O.: ‘What do you do?’

Me: ‘I’m a Program Manager at Intuit and we build tax software’

I.O.: ‘How long is your trip?’

Me: 6 months

And then that was it – he stamped our passports and let us through – whew! We were able to easily catch the train into London and find our flat as the British say. We are staying in Chelsea which our British friend Natalie called ‘posh’ however the flat is probably less than 200 square feet so I definitely wouldn’t call it posh! The location is great though. Our final goal of the day was to get some food and since it was too late for lunch and too early for dinner we opted for some traditional English Bar Food. I had a beet root and cheese open pie and Drew went for some sausage and mash and we both had a local brew – perfect way to end our first travel day!

Welcome to our site which chronicles our 6 month siesta from work to travel around the world.