Lazy Days

2-22-06

Today, we went into Lahinch, the next town over, in order to buy supplies. This was our first experience at seeing the landscape in the day light since we only drove into town last night and couldn't see anything of our surroundings. We're only a few hundred feet from the water of Liscannor Bay. There's nothing around us but farm land, pastures and a couple of knobby golf courses (which we'll soon play).

We're getting to know some of the locals by name now. Everyone is so nice and accomodating. The world should takes notes. We have discovered that most of our neighbors are just temporary residents from Eastern Europe. They are mostly construction workers who have been hired to build a large visitor's center at the site of the Cliffs of Moher. The Cliffs are indescribable. I can only relate them to some of the cliffs you might see in Yosemite National Park; only, these make up the last step before the giant 1,000 foot fall into the Celtic Sea.
From the visitor's point on the cliffs there is a small medieval castle at the hightest point. From there one can look down along the cliffs and see a large set of castle ruins at the farthest point of the Mohers about 3 kilometers away. These are the ruins of the Castle of Moher. We asked how to drive to the ruins, but apparently there is no direct route to them. We'll have to secretly walk over to them one day I guess.

Liscannor, Ireland

2-21-06

We're now in Liscannor, Ireland (hence the title). For some reason (I guess I never looked closely at the map..? Or looked at a map at all?) I thought our house was close to Dublin. Actually, it's no where near it... So, I guess it's close if you're comparing it to say, Santa Monica.

We arrived at the Dublin airport and rented a car (yikes) and drove (yikes) 4 1/2 hours (!) to Liscannor. This beautiful town is on the southwestern coast right next to the ancient Cliffs of Moher.
The setting here is something made of a dream. You can't know what I'm attempting to describe without seeing it for yourself; the crumbling stone-stacked walls along the carriatge paved roads which divide off large plots of flat lands and ever soft rolling hills; the color of which is a vibrant green that only a few weeks in early spring can provide in California, but I'm sure there's never a day here without it. The crisp cold air breathes salty (what band?) and the frothy waves spill over dark pebble beaches. It's unbelieveable, really.

The town: so small that it doesn't need a traffic light. At every street corner and several lots in between an individually unique pub replaces a Starbucks. And there's not a bar-top around that doesn't have a couple of McCoys or O'Malleys talking over a pint of homegrown Guinness about anything having to do with football (soccer). I haven't met a person yet who hasn't flashed a smile and been all too happy to welcome us into town.

One entire month we'll spend here... The days will be relaxing beyond description, God willing. There's plenty of walking, driving and castle exploring to do. And we both hope to get plenty of reading and writing done on our scripts as well.

Last Days of London

2-20-06

Well, we never made it back to Oxford. Too much to do and too little energy to do it (since we're both still sick). We did go out with some friends to a nice Italian restaurant in Kensington right near Notting Hill.

The night before that Paul and I attended the play A Man For All Seasons at the (Royal Theater on Haymarket Street); an exceptional true story on the final years of Thomas Moore. After the play I went out on my own while Paul got some rest at the hotel. It was very enjoyable just walking around Piccadilly Circus and Lester Square observing people. I actually met some girls that promised to show Paul and I all of the touristy London sites on Sunday, but they never ended up contacting us... How appropriate that it rained all the next day. Oh, well. No London girlfriends to write to I guess. But I digress.
We did find some cool sites on our own such as; Big Ben, the London Eye and Westminster Abbey. We actually went into the Abbey and listened to an organ recital of JS Bach played by Ian Keatley. That was an awesome experience. What a beautiful structure to play music in! And there were graves of honored citizens buried all over the room that dated back hundreds of years!

To prove that our itinerary is loose during our travels we have already bumped our visit to Scotland to the very beginning of next month as we've stayed extra days in London and need to be in Ireland to claim our rented home on the 21st. We'll just come back to Scotland for a few days after we're settled down in Ireland.

By the time most of you have read this we'll have hopped onto the Tube to visit Stonehenge and will have returned to London in time to catch a theatrical showing of Embers starring Jeremy Irons. The play is being shown at the Duke of York's where Peter Pan premiered over 100 years ago. Not a bad way to finish up our stay in this great city.

Cheers.

More Delays

Well, the internet situation around here is proving to be a nuisance. We've located a better internet connection with a keyboard that still has a spacebar in mint condition, but we can't place a memory stick into the comp so, at the moment we can't post pictures. I'll continue to leave posts, but pictures won't show up for a while I'm afraid...

Delays

Sorry that there hasn't been an update for so long. We're in Liscannor, Ireland. The local town internet computer is 3 miles away, slow internet speed, and doesn't have a space bar! Each time I finish a word I have to shove my chubby finger into the keyboard to press the button the spacebar usually hits... my finger is about to bleed... Will update when I find a normal comp-agh! Blood!

Oxford, etc.

Today, we ran some errands and then took the train from Paddington Station (home of Paddington Bear) to Oxford. The train we were scheduled to take was delayed so we jumped on a different one that was to end up at the same place. Unfortunately, the new train stopped at every train station on the way and Oxford happens to be the last stop. So, it took us over twice as long to get there, but the scenery was very pleasant with rolling hills and nearly ancient churches and moss covered roofs and rivers with picturesque ducks and swans.
Due to the delay we were only able to catch the night life in Oxford, so tomorrow we’re getting up early and catching the fast train back there so as to see the museums and C.S. Lewis and Tolkien tributes and the University. We did grab dinner and a pint at The Eagle and Child where “The Inklings” would meet every Tuesday at lunch in order to discuss their writing endeavors. As many of you know The Inklings club was a group of local writer’s in Oxford that consisted of several members including C.S. Lewis and JRR Tolkien.
Oxford is a beautiful city, the likes of which I’ve never seen before; with its old and enormous buildings and narrow brick streets. And as Americans we were received very well by everyone we met.
Along with the return trip to Oxford tomorrow, we’re also meeting a mutual friend’s brother whom lives out here. He’ll take us to dinner and show us some sites.

Oh, holiest of pubs...

How happy we art to quench our thirst and our hunger within thine walls.

P.S. Jeremy shaved the beard. No worries... It'll be back as soon as we move further into the cold North.

London: Intro

2/16/06


We ventured down into the London Underground today and rode the Tube around the city. It’s actually easier than the New York subway which I thought was fantastically simple. We saw Buckingham Palace and some museums and then rode the double-decker bus around for a bit. We got off at Lester Square and checked out some local stores. There’s this one building (I forget the name) that looks like a typical miniature mall in the States, but this one in London is actually a gigantic video arcade! It was like 3 stories of games and “they” made it impossible to get out of the place without walking through the entire thing. I should have taken pictures of it, but I was so disoriented and distracted with all of the noise and flashing lights and kids running everywhere that I forgot.
I also checked out my first H&M store. Pretty cool stuff.

Two Faucets

2/15/06

We’re now in the Queen's country – The U.K. We’re staying in a nice district called Lancaster Gate. There’s a very large park outside our hotel and a river (I’m sure it’s got a name, but we don’t know it yet) of which you can see downtown London waiting for us maybe a 5 minute cab ride away. Directly across from our room and on the other side of the park is the Royal Albert Hall where many a famous musician has performed.

Since our flight from New York left at about 1am EST and neither of us slept on the plane, we got to London, grabbed lunch, took a $100 cab ride to the hotel and slept from about 6pm to 7am. And we still don’t feel rested. Jet lag sucks…

The first thing I noticed about our hotel room (which is quite comfortable) is that our sink has two separate faucets. One for Hot and one for… yes, Cold. So, in order to get an appropriate water temperature to wash one’s hands or face you have to do your own quick mixing from one faucet to the other. Man, the Brits have it all wrong.

Anyway, we’re off to eat and see this land of Narnia! Cheers.















Off to London.

Goodbye U.S of A

Today we say farewell to this fine city and fall into the waiting arms of London.

New York was amazing! We survived the Blizzard of ’06. At least that’s what the locals are calling it. In one day it snowed almost 27 inches in New York… A new record! Paul and I were too caught up in wandering around the city to notice that there really wasn’t anyone else outside except us. We ate at some great restaurants, listened to some good comedy at Caroline’s and met some beautiful Italian girls that have promised to show us around Sicily when we’re there (yessss). Mastering the subways was a challenge, but what a great way to travel quickly. I wish L.A. would develop a better system.
At one pretty funny moment we were out in the blizzard and decided to get out of the elements for a bit. So, we bargained with a bouncer to let us into his club for a discounted rate. Pleased with our ability to haggle and thankful to be out of the snow we entered the club… for about .02 seconds. That’s how long it took for us to notice we were entering a room that was completely packed with half naked men and a gay porno playing on several screens above the bar. All in one quick movement we were standing back out in the snow looking for the name of the bar on the door. The bouncer wiped the snow off of a blue colored bathroom sign posted on the front door that read “The Boy’s Room”. We decided that wasn’t for us and braved the storm to the next place. (Sorry, Aaron.)

Anyway, I love that city and it was sad to leave it behind. But we have other continents to conquer. Here's the pics o' the day:















This was our place. 3 blocks from the WTC















Il Vagabondo has been around for over 90 yrs. They have a real indoor bocce ball court right next to our table. Veal Parmigiana and a Chianti for dinner; bueno.















Our cool italian waiter has worked for Il Vagabondo for nearly 40 yrs.















Our friend Brooke's birthday bash.















The subway at Union Square just after the storm.















Waitin' for the train.















This is the closest we got to Dave.















Strolling down Broadway.















Apparently, ever since the network slipped to fourth in the ratings they haven't been able to afford routine maintenance.

The Big Apple

Alright, we're here safe and sound. We had sushi at Nobu last night. That was really good although it has a different taste than the sushi in L.A.; a little more salty here.

We did some local exploring. Paul did some shopping and picked up some new gadgets like a GPS system.

We're staying just down the street from Ground Zero, so we visited that. It was a somber and amazing sight.

We're staying at the Cosmopolitan Hotel. It's pretty nice. There's a Starbuck's right next to it which is fantastic.

We're going out tonight for a friend's birthday party.

Here's some pics:

Paul at WTC site

Jeremy at the WTC site

Jeremy's side of the room

Goodnight Paul

New York, Neeewwww Yorrrrrk!

We're headed to the Big Apple today. Should be a lot of fun. We're meeting a friend there and she's going to show us around town. Hopefully we'll have some cool pictures up within the next 24 hrs.