Rab, Island of Rab, Croatia

I know I alluded to our travel ‘issues’ earlier, so I might as well summarize them on the post. Our original plan was to fly into Pula on Saturday and fly out of Dubrovnik two weeks later. That being said, we arrived in Croatia with both the to/from Dublin plane tickets and a hotel for two nights in Pula. Nothing else, just this vague notion that we would be able to ferry it down the coast.

According to our guide book and map there are ferries heading south out of Pula that connect all the islands of Croatia. Well apparently these ferries only run in July and August. Maybe June as well, but not May. So we ended up spending three nights in Pula while I sorted out the travel situation. The solution we found was to take a bus to the port town or Rijeka. This was about a two hour bus ride, actually two busses because we had to change busses mid trip.

We were in Rijeka for long enough to get tickets for the Catamaran that headed to Rab island and grab a bite to eat. That’s about all. From Rab we planned on continuing south down the coast. The view as we left Rab:

The sister ship of ours:

As this post is about Rab, we will continue the travel dramas in the next post. Now about Rab:

Rab is a very beautiful island. All told there are around 12,000 inhabitants on the island, of which 6,000 or so live in the city of Rab. That is where the Catamaran dropped us off. We arrived via boat around 4:30 pm and needed to find a place to stay. We went to the tourist office and in true Croatian tourist office fashion, they picked a place for us. No we didn’t get options, they just said “go here, you will like it”.

Having little choice, we went there. Unfortunately ‘there’ involved scaling this mountain of stairs:



Paty took the pictures whilst I did my sherpa impersonation. (on a totally unrelated note, if you are ever doing a trip like this BACKPACKS are a much better option than suitcases)

The place that we were referred to was a private apartment type residence. There were three rooms for rent, all with private bathrooms, in the house and a shared kitchen and lounge area. We originally committed for one night, but couple the difficulty of getting to the luggage moved with the view from our room and we easily convinced ourselves that three nights here was fine. Our view:


And the view from the patio of our little rental apartment:

After toweling off from the climb, we settled into exploring Rab. A few things were readily apparent, that if Pula was slow in the off tourist season, Rab was a virtual ghost town. Curiously enough, over the three days and nights we rarely saw or talked with many fellow tourist but one there were an inordinately high amount of pregnant women in town. The town was populated with small children, grade school up to early high school aged kids, old people, and women in their late 20’s or early 30’s that were pregnant. I think it is the island mentality, when you are young and able to move you leave the island. But as you get older and want to start a family yourself you come home. Because we were in town during the middle of the week when the men might have been working and the women seemed like they stayed at home with the kids.

Another thing that was very obvious from the start was that Rab was an absolutely beautiful place. This is where the fact that it seemed like we were vacationing in a post card was really hammered home. The water was clear and aqua blue in color. For someone that has grown up going to the Oregon coast ‘beach’, this was such a cool thing it is hard to describe. But even little miss ‘I grew up in the Yucatan’ was taken aback by how stunning the scenery was.

Enough of my typing, how about some pictures? Here is a bar that is on the North side of Rab, right along the walkway that circles this part of the island by the water:

Sunset from the same bar:

Typical Rab street, the main part of the town is walking only:

We stumbled upon some type of festival, this must be everyone from Rab:

Being by the sea you get to pick what you want for dinner:

Why Rab you ask? I mean with all the options in Croatia, how did we end up in Rab? Basically after our rocky beach experience in Pula we were looking for a sandy beach to just chill at for a few days. With that in mind we found this website:
Croatia Sandy Beaches
Lopar Beach on Rab
Since we were in the North part of Croatia, we kind of just picked the closest sandy beach we could find. We expected a few people on the beach as it was really famous.

Instead we found:


The beach was as nice as advertised and it was about 2 miles of sand around the bay all told. And I think we were sharing this beach with a family that had their beach camp set up close to a mile away from us. A really cool beach as you could go out like 500 yards into the water and still not be over your head in the water. As it was so shallow, the water was also quite warm.


The next day instead of taking another shot at the beach, we decided to take a little water taxi tour of the island. We chartered a boat for two hours to give us the island tour. So we putter out of the bay by the main town at a measured pace, of course giving off no wake. I figured once we get into the open water we would pick up the pace a little, but nope two hours without ever worrying about getting the boat up onto a plane. Once we got used to the snails pace we were ‘cruising’ around at, the ride was quite nice.
Rab is famous for it’s vista of the four church spires in the city central:

No good boat ride would be complete without a local pivo:

The ‘beaches’ here were quite rocky as well:

The island was filled with these hidden coves, some had really large private houses on them. Most were empty. This sailboat is only unique in that when they got closer we realized it was a nudist boat, populated by four very old men, they waved at us.

Two hours of cruising around the island with these vistas is not a bad thing:

Back to the harbor after a tough day on the boat. This is the square that hosted the little party the night before. Also if you look closely you will see the stairs I had to scale on the left and if you look more closely there is a flag almost completely unfurled in the middle of your picture, behind that flag you see a house with a room with open white shutters directly in line with the end of the top right of the flag. That is our room!

Last night in Rab, back to our beachside bar. One of the nicer places we found on the island:



All three nights in Rab cost us the princely sum of 490 Croatian Kuna. That works out to $98 US dollars. Not per night, that is the total for three nights! Most of Croatia was a good deal, but this part of the trip was especially thrifty. Dinner with two main courses, salad or soup, a bottle of local wine and coffee would never cost more than $40 in Rab or Pula.

Next it was back to Rijeka, I never thought I would see that city again, to catch the long overnight ferry to Dubrovnik. Our plans to ferry our way down the coast had by this time been shattered by the realization that off season in Croatia really means OFF season.

But if you ever get a chance at some point in your life to visit the island and city of Rab, the Tobin’s recommend it heartily.

Pula, Croatia

This is the first of my summary on the Croatia trip blog posts. Forthcoming are:
Pula
Rab
Dubrovnik
Montenegro
Final Croatia Summary

Or something like that. But on to Pula.

This was the only part of the trip that we had a hotel reserved for. The rest of the trip we were just 'winging it'. We arrived in Pula about Noon local time on Saturday via our love/hate airline RyanAir. And we took a cab to the hotel. On the way from the airport to the hotel I commented to Paty that there was no one out and about. The city seemed almost dead. (Little did I know that this would become a theme of the first half of our adventures in Croatia.)

The view from our hotel room balcony:


Slightly overcast, but a beautiful view nonetheless. This picture was taken at 1 pm on Saturday as we arrived, notice the total lack of people in the view.

We decided on Sunday to hang out by the beach and do a little 'chillaxing' as the last few weeks had been very stressful. Everything about our future was up in the air, Paty was travelling around trying to have meetings and such. So we (meaning Paty) needed some beach time.

The beach:



Yes, that is a typical Croatian beach. Mainly rocks. One thing we learned is that when you ask for Croatian beaches, you have to specify that you are looking for sandy beaches. Most are super rocky like the one pictured. A very foreign concept to Paty and I. We ended up hanging by the hotel pool with the four other hotel residents, it was a beautiful day:

The next day we decided to explore more of Pula itself. The city is relatively small, very nice for walking. Most of the influence on the architecture and history of the city is Roman, with some Venetian tossed in for good measure. The entire core of the city is set up on the water next to a hill. Predictably there is a fort on top of this hill and the city is set up with ascending rings around the fort. To walk the entire circumference of the city only takes around 20 minutes. A few pics:


The reason people come to Pula:


This is one of the four largest Roman Coliseums still standing. It is a very impressive sight. And unlike the Coliseum in Rome, you can go inside this and climb around the marble structures and such:


One other thing you will notice about these pictures is that we are the only ones in the photos. We were in this great historic building all alone. It was a little surreal to tell the truth. But very cool nonetheless. During the summer they have concerts and short plays here. A beautiful setting with the stage backlit by the Adriatic Sea.
Since we were all alone I had to do my Gladiator impersonation:

I didn't have a mace handy, so this two hand camera bag (1-2 dmg, 2.0 swing speed, 0.5 dps) had to suffice.
This is a photo from the fort around which Pula is built. The city and coliseum are in the background:

In summary, Pula was a great city to visit. The main reason that people come is the Coliseum and it does not disappoint. The heart of the city is quite charming. You immediately notice the extensive Italian influence as almost every restaurant is Italian. Plus there are many cafes and more than that, there is a Gelato stand on almost every corner. We saw more Gelato stands and people eating Gelatos than in anywhere in Italy we have ever been. The Croatians love their Gelatos, this was true in every city from Pula down to Dubrovnik.

If you were planning a trip to Croatia, one or two nights in Pula would be sufficient to see the sights. Pula does have an airport, but up until 2-3 years ago it was solely a military airport. Thus there are about 7 international flights a week in and out of the city. So it is still a largely undiscovered tourist destination. I would definitely plan a trip during the summer when the ferries from Pula down the coast are working.

Next post, Rab and how we got there. With no flights out of Pula and no ferry until July, this was an adventure.

Blog Update and odds and ends

Most of you have been wondering where the rest of the Croatia post is, don't worry it is coming. Most of my time this week has been occupied with packing duties. Packing you ask? Yes, packing. For those of you that don't know, WE ARE COMING HOME!

It's confirmed, we will be home next weekend. Unfortunately this means we are going to miss the annual Cape Lookout Camping trip. But the good news is that we will be in Amsterdam for Memorial Day, or as they call it in Great Britian: 'Bank Holiday Weekend'.

I mean what would you do, hang out in Amsterdam or do this:




And the kickers:



Looks like fun, eh?

Unfortunately while in Holland I can't partake in all the vices that Amsterdam has to offer. Again I hear you thinking, 'what could you possibly mean Chris?' One vice is off limits because I have a wife who would severely disapprove and the second becasue in the off chance that I get a job as soon as I get home I might have to take a drug test. Thus the red light district and 'coffee houses' are off limits.

I'll work on the Croatia posts soon, a lot of good pics to sort through and post.

Cheers!

BIG DAY TODAY

On a totally unrelated to anything note, tonight is the NBA draft lottery.

The only way I see for the Sonics to stay the SEATTLE SuperSonics is to beat the odds and get the first or second pick in this draft.

Greg Oden
or
Kevin Durant

could just possibly save the franchise for our city.

Plus it will make my season tickets next year MUCH easier to sell.

Yes, I am a sucker and I renewed my season tickets. Same seats, same price. And as an added 'bonus' the price will not change on my tickets for the next three years. Of course that is the last three years in Key Arena and then they will most likely be moving. BUT, not if we win one of these two lottery spots!

Good luck to us!

follow up:

CHEER!!!

I don't know what I am happier for, Brandon Roy to Greg Oden in Portland or Ray Allen and Kevin Durant 41 times a year from Sec 228, Row 10, Seats 25 & 24

I am at this moment stunned beyond belief as to how well that went.

For those of you living under a rock:
NBA Draft Lottery:
#1 pick Portland
#2 pick Seattle
The playoffs are coming back to the Northwest!

Comments.........?

Okay, so a few days ago I did this great (all right, good) blog post from Croatia. My first in a while. And looking at the site tracking stats, more people are reading than ever.

BUT, with Shannon in Vegas no one is leaving a comment.

I wasn't even sure if the blog was updated until a few days later when Dan left the very appropriate white blur joke!

So, if you surf on in and see that there is a new post and no one has left a comment then feel free to enlighten us all with your wit and wisdom. Barring that, then just a 'confirmed, post up comment' will do.

New passport stamp for us tomorrow, Montenegro. We are taking a day trip to the capital. Sadly I don't even know the name of the city, but I do no it is South down the coast from Dubrovnik.

On an entirely unrelated side note, I am starting to run out of passport space for stamps. I guess we will just have to come home then........early June, confirmed.

Cheers! off to dinner. no pics today as I just realized that I carted my camera all over Dubrovnik today but did not take a single picture. We are starting to become jaded tourists.

Dubrovnik post 1

Today is our second full day in Dubrovnik. Yesterday we spent almost the entire day at this beach:

Paty got so tan, she almost looks like a Mexican again. She actually got a little too much sun. A new experience for her, as we were at the pharmacy looking for some type of aloe and she kept telling the lady "but I am from Mexico, this shouldn't happen".

Last night we ran into the two professional basketball players again. We actually hung out for a while, I bought them a few beers. I got the impression that being a professional women basketball player in England is a lot closer to a 'life enriching experience' than the riches of an NBA contract.

They were VERY tall:


Today we took a ferry to the island right across from Dubrovnik. It is an uninhabited island that is more of a nature preserve. A lot of peacocks:

And unbeknowst to me before today, I guess the peacocks can fly:


The island is really beautiful. You can get there via a 15 minute ferry, which we did, or by private boat or even by kayak. We again saw our basketball friends on the island, they had taken the kayak option. Being as they were professional athletes and all, I figured this was a better option for them than Paty and I. Paty and I would have to take one of those two person kayaks, and we all know who would be doing the bulk of the paddling!

Paty took her first true dip in the Adriatic Sea:


While I went for a little more adventure:




The basketball girls had actually jumped first, so between that and the gaggle of Japanese tourists on the boat in the background cheering me on I really had no choice but to climb up and take the plunge. It was quite fun and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Don't worry mom, the water is quite deep.

All for now, my internet cafe time is up!

Busses, Catamarans and Ferry's : Croatia Update Mid Trip Update

The story so far.

First off, let’s just say that it has been much more difficult to find internet access than I anticipated it would be. Thus the lack of posts. But now that we are in Dubrovnik, I don’t think that will be a problem. But let’s not get ahead of the story.

We spent the first three nights of our trip in Pula, Croatia. From there we were planning on heading south via ferry through the Adriatic Islands and end up in Dubrovnik. Well this is where the story all breaks down. Apparently the ferry from Pula south only operates during the peak summer months of June, July and August.

So we took a bus, two buses actually as we had to change buses, to Rijeka. This took about two hours. From Rijeka we were able to catch a ferry south to the city of Rab on the island of Rab. We only had enough time to get a quick bite to eat, buy our ferry tickets and get a drink in Rijeka. A pity as the city was really pretty with the typical European walking only shopping/eating district. I figured I would never be back there again. Little did I know we would be back in three days, but I am getting ahead of the story again.

We spent three nights on Rab, a very relaxing island. (Note: I am planning on doing separate posts for all the cities with lots of pictures and mildly entertaining commentary.) While in Rab we came upon a now familiar problem. No ferries heading south. Actually there were really not any ferries going anywhere. We seemed to have landed on a dead end island. So after much finagling and local bartering we came up with two options. Either take a one day excursion boat trip to an island called Mali Losinj and just get off at the island instead of coming back to Rab or take the ferry back to Rijeka.

We decided to just cut our losses and head back to Rijeka, see I told you we would be back. One problem was that the only ferry off the island was at 6:45 am. This was not so much a problem as an inconvenience. Because let’s face it, I don’t like to be anywhere at 6:45 am when I am not on vacation. And really who wants to be somewhere that early on day 6 of a 14 day vacation? But as we had no option, it was up with the dawn.

We arrived in Rijeka as about 9 am. We had decided as part of our ‘let’s just get moving south plan’ that we were going to take the overnight ferry to Dubrovnik. This ship left at 8 pm and would put us in Dubrovnik at 2:45 pm the next day. The ferry was actually pretty nice, it had both inside and outside lounge areas and a restaurant. We had our own cabin. Unfortunately the ferry was quite full (a new Croatian experience for us : crowds) and we were stuck with an inside cabin. But we didn’t have to ‘rough it’ with all the backpackers and those type of people that just slept on the deck.

One of these roughing it people was a girl, obviously American, wearing an Oregon hoops tee shirt. She and her friend were very tall and I figured they might actually play basketball at Oregon. Well, it turns out that both are from Seattle, and they are on a six week holiday from their regular job. Playing professional women’s basketball in England. Manchester and London based teams if you cared. Luckily neither went to Oregon, so I didn’t have to be rude to them on general principle. Turns out that the girl with the Oregon shirt went to high school at Kennedy. For those of you that don’t know, this is very close to our house in West Seattle. That was our small world moment for the trip so far.

We arrived in Dubrovnik at 2:45 pm and were promptly assaulted by the meat market that is all the old ladies trying to rent rooms to tourists. We ended up hooking up with one such person, and got a room right next to the old town walls. It had a great view with fabulous deck, BUT we had to share a bathroom with one other couple and it was REALLY small. Needless to say this did not go over very well with my better half.

As we only paid and committed for one night, we went to the tourist information office and tried to locate a place to stay for the next few days. Since this is Croatia after 5 seconds of conversation the tourist agent knew a guy with ‘the perfect place for you’. Apparently this place was already booked, but of course he knew another guy with ‘an even better place’. And the guy with the even better place was willing to pick us up in his car and take us to the apartment to show us.

A little reluctant we were. And we were thinking of just cutting out and getting a proper hotel, but it turns out that this place was great. We decided on the spot to book it for the next three nights that it was available and ditch the other shared bathroom place.

As I write this, we are on day 2 in Dubrovnik. We have two more nights in this wonderful apartment and then need a place for four more nights. Our landlord has an apartment inside the old town walls that is available. We are considering it, but it is going to be hard to give up this view:



More later.
Cheers!

Croatia Post #2

Well this post arrives to you via an internet cafe in Rab, Croatia. Rab is located on the island of Rab no less.

No pictures in this post. We are having a hard time finding reliable ferry service to take us south from here as our final destination of Dubrovnik.

It looks like we are going to have to take a ferry back north to Rijeka and then take an overnight ferry to Dubrovnik from there. But we will see. I did find an excursion boat that would take us another island south.

Great weather and almost no people in Croatia at this time.

More when I get a good connection!

Cheers

Pula, Croatian 1st post

Okay, so we made it to Croatia. No worries there.

We are now in Pula, Croatia. In the Northern portion of Croatia. It is a really pretty town. But definitely a town and not a city.

We arrived via the inexpensive and also cheep, Ryanair. We took a cab to our hotel and on the cab ride from the airport I commented to Paty that it seemed very quiet today and that no one was out and about. Little did I know that this would be a theme of our time in Pula. Here is a couple pictures from our hotel balcony:



Because the one overlying impression we have of Pula is: empty. It seems like the town, hotel, people and everything are just waiting for the summer tourist crush. Because when we walk through town, go to the restaurant or the beach it is empty.

As for the beach, let's just say that the area is almost overwhelmingly beautiful scenery, but the beaches leave something to be desired. Actually the beach's seem to be made of rocks:


Needless to say, we ended up spending most of the rest of the afternoon at the hotel pool. Really nice weather today though:


Tomorrow it looks like we are heading to the island of Rab. I think we might need to take a bus to Rijeka and then maybe a ferry from there. Allegedly there are sandy beaches on the island. Notice the 'maybe' moniker everywhere. Let's just say that Croatia is a little closer to Mexico in their treatment of time and schedules than we expected. Not a problem, just a slight adjustment. For instance, the ferry we were taking from Pula apparently only operates from June to September. Nowhere in any of the literature or research I did was that fact mentioned. Thus the bus to Rijeka tomorrow.

More to follow as I get internet and some content to write about.

Good News, Bad News or just News?

Okay, so I had my plane ticket home tentatively issued today. I was going to be back three weeks from yesterday (the 23rd). This not only would have gotten us home sooner than expected, but as an additional incentive I would have been able to make the annual Tobin/Last camping trip at Cape Lookout. I even planned on not telling anyone I was coming home and just showing up at the campsite. Or maybe pull up to the group in my own crabbing boat.

But alas, in the space of less than an hour after we had decided to confirm those tickets home something came up.

Now we aren't going to be here for the additional 2-4 months that I suspected, but it looks like we are going to be in Europe until early June. We will most likely head home the weekend after Memorial Day weekend.

That ends the news portion of our blog, now for some pics.

Today was a beautiful day in Galway. I decided to leave the computer for a while and head out to the water and see what all the fuss is about.

For those of you that have not visited, we live right next to where the river empties into Galway Bay. Really close to the Spanish Arch if you are familiar with Galway.

This picture was taken about 20 yards from my apartment across the main street that I live on:

So when it gets nice people just hang out here. The Spanish Arch is in the background behind the tree.

Looking up the river towards the Cathedral and NIU Galway:


Lovely day for a cider:

or two:

And yes, I now drink cider. Make fun of me all you want, but only after you try a nice cold Bulmer's with ice on a sunny day while sitting outside admiring the view. If you still don't like cider, then you can make fun of me all you want.

Mostly I added these pictures to show you what Galway looks like. So when my better half or myself complains about being 'stuck' in Galway these last seven months, realize that it wasn't all bad. Our apartment is in the background of this picture. We live right behind the girl wearing the very last year capri pants with the sun glare over her shoulder.

I mainly took this picture to show you the zeit geist of Galway when it is nice. No worries on public drinking, lots of hanging out by the river, many picnics, etc..... But as we were leaving I noticed the shirt this guy was wearing. Yes, you are correct, that is a Seattle Mariners shirt. I so felt like I was on Alki beach! The first Mariners paraphernalia I have seen in Europe that was not worn by myself or a Japanese tourist.

The problem with Galway was, how would you feel about moving to Seattle for seven months? Starting in October and lasting until the end of May? Just the absolutely wrong time of year in terms of weather. Galway's winter is a lot like Seattle's, but more rain and much more wind. Plus Galway is farther north than Seattle (it is actually North of Whistler) so there is even less light during the depths of winter.

In summary, Galway isn't bad at all. We just let the winter get to us somewhat and that biased our opinion.

Homecoming News..............er, kind of

Okay for those of you sticking out the vast wasteland that is the lack of entertaining blog posts lately: I appreciate your patronage. The two of you that have been checking the blog everyday make me feel guilty for not adding anything.

Okay, here is the update:

We still don't know EXACTLY when we are going to be home. But, it is looking very likely that we will be home in early June.

One thing I do know is that we are flying to Pula, Croatia (get an atlas, look it up) on Saturday. We fly out of Dublin very early so will most likely go to Dublin Friday night.

You think; 'Chris, why of all places Pula?'

This is one reason:

So starting Saturday I will be filling the Canon Rebel 1GB memory card back up with photos of exotic places destined for the blog. And since I have nothing to distract me whilst in Croatia (for those of you that know what I have been occupying my time with lately, you know what I am talking about (by the way, we dropped Attunement, Moroes and Little Red Riding Hood tonight; my first time for all. Maiden proved too tough though(all Dunn family reading this refer to Matthew Dunn for translation))) the blog will surely get some good posts and pictures going forward the next two or three weeks.

So to recap, we are flying in to Pula on the 5th of May. We are tentatively planning on flying back to Dublin on the 19th of May. But we don't have tickets yet for that flight. As we are 'playing it by ear'. We do have a hotel in Pula for the first two nights. From then on, we are just going to drive/ferry/yacht/bus/train whatever our way down the coast over the next two weeks to Dubrovnik.

This is the first time we don't have a detailed itinerary as part of any vacation. Paty is a little leery of this new system, while I am looking forward to 'going south as we go'.

All for now. Going to be doing a lot of packing the next couple days. Leave comments, they are always appreciated!

Oh, and if you know of a good and high paying job, I am almost officially starting to inquire.

Editor's note:
By the way, this entire itinerary pertaining to our homecoming is still VERY subject to change. Actually it is all subject to change. We actually kicked around the idea of going 'to the land Down Under' for three weeks starting Saturday. So even the Croatia part is subject to change.

Travel News

Okay, for those of you that have been asking and wondering when we are coming home. The answer is........We don't know.

YET

But on a high note, we now have our plane tickets for Croatia. We are heading to Pula, Croatia on Saturday May 5th. We don't have a confirmed flight back yet. But most likely we are heading back to Dublin on May 19th. Giving us two weeks in the Adriatic beach paradise.

We are planning on heading back to Dublin from Dubrovnik. That means we have two weeks to beach it down the length of the Adriatic.

More details to follow when we have them.

Ireland update

So for those of you that do not know, I have my last visitor here from the States. My buddy Steve Piacitelli.

On a side note, Steve solved a major Tobinblog quandary for me. I have this software attached to the blog that shows how many people view the blog everyday. But as an added bonus it also shows where in the world they viewed it from.

Most of the locations I can figure out who is viewing the blog, of course there are always the random people who surf in from a strange location. But on a relatively regular basis I have had someone from Leavenworth, KS check out this site. I would never have noticed that city except for the fact that my buddy Dave lived in Manhattan, KS for three years after high school and before we went to Ellensburg. He was in the Army protecting our heartland from rampaging Indians.

Well, I just found out that Steve's sister lives in Leavenworth. Mystery solved! Hi Denise!

So back to the regular portion of the blog.

Today we played at Druid's Glen Golf Course, Dublin branch.

Tomorrow we are playing at the K Club. In and of itself this is not a big deal, except that the K Club hosted the Ryder Cup last fall. So we are playing at the same course where the Euro's smoked our American duffers. I guess that means that I will toast Steve, as usual, in our two person Ryder Cup match play simulation.

I didn't play that well today, it was my first time out this year. Which is a much better excuse than this is what we did last night:

If I was in a mental state that convinced me taking that picture was a good idea, then that explains the bad golf.
Maybe the reason for Steve's bad golf as well:

For those of you looking for pics of Steve in Dublin (hi Denise!, again)

More pics/stories/nonsensical nonsense coming over the next few days.

Ring of Kerry

Okay, we are in Killarney for a couple days, the Irish get Good Friday and Easter Monday as a holiday, as it is a four day weekend.

I will most likely have a few pics when we get back to Galway.

For those of you 'jonesin' for the Prague post, Klisch did a great one. I keep meaning to put up my pictures, but I would honestly be embarrassed by any prost that I wrote to match his great post. Check it out. Klisch's post! There is also a link to the right under the 'How I spend My Day' section.


No internet in the room at Kilarney. Doing this post from a 'it's a good deal 1 Euro/8 min' lobby computer.


All for now, running out of time.................

no time to spell check