James and Marissa Visit - Venice, Italy

Finally another chapter of the blog, sorry that it took us so long to update recently! All is well in Dublin, Erin is home visiting her fam for a couple weeks while I endure the summer that we are still waiting for in Dublin. It isn't too cold and has been dry since April, but the last few days have been a little wet, so bring a sweater before visiting; or just drink lots of wine like our friend Adamo, great man, famous in America:

We had the fortune to be part of Marissa and James' first European adventure earlier in June. We consider it an honour that they decided to do this trip despite having a new house and having never traveled out of North America. Nonetheless, the Italian adventure that has been months in planning can now begin!! James and Marissa arrived on a Thursday, when which we spend a full day walking around Dublin and went to the Guinness Storehouse (I think Erin has a permanent stool in the sky bar).

We departed to Venice on Friday morning, spending 24 hours walking around, trying the local cuisine, and enjoying the €4/liter house wine at all the restaurants. We took the Grand Canal to the San Silvester stop on which our b&b host met us at the stop and led us as we weaved in and out of skinny canals and side streets to a quiet little spot called Residenza degli Angeli, http://www.angelibb.com/ which was perfect for us and reasonable for Venice standards in terms of cost (€180 for 4) and location (5 minutes from Rialto bridge). Once we dropped our stuff off we just wandered the streets of Venice, getting lost, getting some amazing pics, and some amazing gilato. We had lunch at a restaurant called Banco Giro, which was right on the grand canal, but slightly over priced for the quality of food served (€14-€20 for a main). Regardless, it was amazing to soak in the vibe of Venice with a couple jugs of house white.

We continued to wander around the city, going to St. Marco plaza and walking all along the surrounding area. There is no other place like Venice, which makes the scenery so spectacular and makes us fortunate to have the opportunity to visit the historical town.

Grand Canal from Rialto bridge...

Rialto bridge....

We later went and had an appertif before our gondola ride at Cantina do Mori, a very old wine bar that serves countless wine by the glass and tapa-esque finger bites. They put the wine by the glass on a chalkboard everyday and have great cheese. Kevin Garnett would hit his head on all the pots on the ceiling though as they didn't have him in mind when it opened in the 1800s. I definitely recommend it as it has great ambiance.

After our wine stop we flagged Comedian Gallagher (hopefully the pic below is expandable), who coincedently was giving Gondola rides that night! Although the price is steep and the ride isn't long enough, it was a great experience that I highly recommend while visiting. We wandered through narrow canals where you could only hear the voice of a few small kids kicking a soccer ball in an otherwise empty square or the perfect movements of the Ore of our Gondoliere.

After our Gondola ride, we had an amazing meal at a very local restaurant near the Rialto bridge (for a true Venitian experience, the restaurants off the grand canal are usually a little more local). I apologise but the name escapes me; what doesn't escape me is the amazingly tasty and cheap house red, James' black, black fish dinner, and the fact that a couple locals brought their dogs into the restaurant! See Erin's facebook for related photo!The next morning we walked around the Rialto fish and fruit and veg market, observing a truely alive fish market, fish, customers, and vendors alike.
The Venitian experience was a great one....off to our 10th Century Abby/Hotel/Restaurant/Vineyard near Radda in Chainti!

Euro Free

Erin and I have done our fair share of complaining lately about how expensive Dublin is. Literally, we thought that people were joking when they told us that DC doesn't have anything on Dublin prices. But, alas, it is the truth. So.....the last couple weekends we have challenged ourselves to get creative and think outside the box to find euro-free, entertaining things to do.

Along with the 20 friends of Katie, Rob, and Strauss, Bruce Springstein came to Dublin for a few shows, which our friends and friends of friends of friends all went to. Given that I didn't know that Bruce played Born in the USA, we opted out of the tickets. However, curiousity got the best of us as we could hear the show from our apartment. On Friday we wandered towards the show, first in a park where we had seclusion on a bench, we kept on towards the RDS and sat right outside the door along the canal with about 25 other people. At about 10pm, the security guards are released for the night and they either left or left to watch the show. As such, all those listening from outside made our way into the show and caught the last 45 minutes. It was actually a great show and we even heard glory days, it reminded me of my reign playing four-square in 5th grade. The show was great, the price was greatness.

In addition, Joel moved to town for a 6-week internship on Saturday. Following a nice walk with the wife in the Temple bar food market (sick olive bar) and around town, we had dinner with Joel and met up with the usual suspects for a few drinks. The following day we did about 5-7 hours of trekking the city with Joel to welcome him to the pricey, yet humble, friendly, and comfortable town.

I also went golfing about a month ago and didn't get a chance to post a photo or two. Strauss, myself, Cormac, and Eoin went to Druid's Heath near the coast and the Wicklow mountains.

Off to Italia!!

B-Riv's Been Der

The week before our trip to Morocco we shared a crazy time with the infamous BRiv who spontaneously came to Dublin. Seriously, we encourage all of our friends to be more like him. First, consume many a beverages on St. Patrick's Day; two, decide that there would be nothing better than to enjoy a fresh Guinness in a real pub; three, realize that you have two friends that could make such an opportunity happen; four, leave said party to purchase online ticket to Dublin, and lastly, return to said party to continue festivities. Entire process = 5 minutes. Brett did miss a critical part of the process, which would be to check to make sure that we were around (luckily, we were), but for an unbeatable price, sometimes you just have to take a chance.

Brett was blessed with the most beautiful Irish weather we have seen since moving here....60's and sunny everyday. We took the DART to our favorite local seaside town, Howth, and then also did a hike to Kilkenny Park, which is perched upon a mountain top and overlooks towns along the coast below. We also spent many nights out at the pub and had a good time as evidenced by the Ben Der video posted earlier.

We'll throw up a few pictures later......its later:

We had one misty afternoon, on a hike to Killenny from Dalkey (recommended), it was fairly clear out and these thick, really low clouds rolled in from Wales like the front line of an army, and before you know it we could only see 40 feet in front of us, as evidenced by the last pic.

Marrakech, Morocco

T.I.A....

We finally did it, after two cancelled flights that we had to rebook and probably the most extensive planning, we had our long weekend in Morocco. David, Erin, myself, and Rob travelled to Marrakech for the bank holiday weekend for a new and worthwhile experience. Apologies to Jessica, who couldn't make it down for the weekend...we missed you! We got in at around 1am on Thursday night after three flights (you can see the lengths we had to go to get there) and wandered through what looked like a dodgy part of the Medina (old town) to our Riad. The next morning we found out that it was a very key location that paid dividends for the whole trip. Our Riad (Dar El Souk) was quaint and beautiful. Each room was decorated very nicely and there was a small pool for dipping your feet into on the bottom terrace, tables and chairs overlooking the courtyard for each room, and amazing terrace on the roof that we had breakfast on each morning.

When Rob got in from London, we embarked with a guide and explored the souks for the day, as well as visited a Koranic school from the 11th or 12th century where up to 700 students once studied the Koran. It was one of the most unique buildings I have ever seen, beautiful Moorish architecture.

We wandered through the souks all afternoon; they are a labyrinth of hundreds of shops where the locals harrass you to death. I think if they just let you look, you might actually buy something. The souks were unlike anything we have ever seen, little passageways with a new surprise at every corner. Very cool!

Following the school, we had an amazing lunch (€18 for all four of us, fresh olives, bread, meat, hot sauce....very yummy)! We walked around a little more and then parted ways with our guide. While David and Rob went to the Hammam, Erin and I hiked across town to a cute ice cream store. We have the blisters (moreso Erin) to prove the walking that took place. The new part of town was nice, but I would stick to the old town if limited on time.
After getting lost on the way home, we made it to dinner at Cafe Arabe, an amazing Moroccan restaurant in the Medina. The tagines and Moroccan wine were supurb. The desert was excellent as well. After dinner we went to a club outside of town and met some hard working Moroccan women. Drinks were expensive, but the Mojitos were tasty.

The next morning we got up bright and early and went to Essouria, a coastal seaside town about 2.5 hours from Marrakech. The town was very different from Marrakech, with white-washed walls overlooking the sea from a fortified village. It was amazing!

Notice the Octopus in this man's left hand.

For lunch in Essouria, we went near the port to about 25 stands where the fish are still squirming and you get to pick out your favorite one! I think I am allergic to shrimp as the jumbo prawn didn't agree with me, but the 6 lb sea bass winked at me before they put him on the grill. We got back from Essouria and headed to Jamaa El Fna, the Moroccan night market where about 100 vendors sell food for the masses. Stand One by BIG MOMMA definitely serves up the best dish on the square, definitely good eats for about €3 each. The following day, Erin and I spent most of the day wandering around different mosques, ancient buildings, and historic landmarks, enjoying the 90+ degree weather. We got a few goodies from a ceramic vendor (the only merchant in Marrakech who doesn't haggle you, pricing his goods already low) and Erin gave me a personal hammam for my birthday. We enjoyed sunset from our terrace with a bottle of Moroccan wine before heading to dinner at a beautiful restaurant! The trip was terrific, we loved every minute of it and give our first trip to Africa high five!!

Been Der

On our walk home from the Porterhouse microbrewry Friday night, Brett poetically used the Gaelic name for Howth (Binn Eadair) an Irish village we had hiked around earlier, for the founding of an epic northern minnesota classic. Its not so much the video, but the audio, so make sure your volume is on.

Krak-oo-wow That's Good Wodka

It took us 19 days in April before we made our first escape for the month, but it was a good wait as Erin and I choose Krakow, Poland for the second saturday-sunday excursions during our European stint. Krakow is a vibrant student city with a population of about 700k, in the south-east corner of Poland, not far from Ukraine and the Solvak Republic. We choose to come here as it is an up-and-coming destination with all the history and screnity of Prague and Budapest, but less tour buses and segways. We arrived and went directly to the main square, lined with churches, towers, and buildings dating back to the 1200s.

Our first stop was St. Mary's Cathedral, where John Paul II presided prior to becoming Pope. The church is absolutely beautiful with carved and colorful details that we've never seen. It is very different from your York Minster's and St. Peter's as there is not many priceless stone carvings, but they did a fabulous job with what they had.

We saw this group of breakdancers along the square on Sunday, regular looking lads with amazing atheletic abilities.

That night we had an amazing dinner after wandering around the jewish quarter (very nice but nothing spectular, we had a local beer in an old pub called Alchemist). The dinner was about 1/3 the price as those in Dublin, which was nice to have a top-tier meal without killing the wallet. After dinner we did a good job experiencing the night life of Krakow, known as some of the best in Europe, with cavernous clubs, bars, and more vodka than one can handle! We had a great night, going to 5 different places, capped off by a delicious kabab.

The following day we walked around, enjoyed the square, and visited the Wawel castle, which was formerly home to Austrian and Polish kings. We also went to a little mom and pop shop that distills and flavors its own vodka, which we had a sample of! It was a perfect escape from the work grind and another unforgettable weekend.

6 Hours in Bangkok

On the way home from our relaxing honeymoon, we decided to forego spending an 8 hour layover in the Bangkok airport and instead ventured into the abyss of the city. And what a bizarre, crazy place cluttered with rickshaws, stray dogs, beautiful temples, orange-clad barefooted monks, amazing shopping, street vendors and scary street food. Luckily, we had two excellent navigators....my high school friend Pat and his wife Tara, who are temporarily living and working in the city who helped us explore the chaotic city on a little bit of time. The size of the city is unbelievable and it took us about 40 minutes to get to the old side of the city with all of the temples. Thus, the six hours in Bangkok. As it was already 4pm we unfortunately were unable to tour any of the historic sites so we hopped on a local water bus. Public transportation safety is not a consideration as you literally hop on the back of the moving boat as it passes. Note Lou is preparing to jump in the photo below.

We had dinner sitting on the deck of a nice (clean) restaurant that overlooked the famous Arun Wat temple.

After dinner we went to Khao San Road, basically a backpacker hang-out and cheap shopping haven, where we spent all of our remaining Thai bhats on cheap clothing and home entertainment.

Thai photos

To see more photos from our Thailand trip, please visit http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=391640&l=03a86&id=525733463.