St. Patty's in Dublin!

Dublin for St. Patty's weekend, is something everyone should do once, so when my friend Slavi invited me to go, I had to agree.

Even our early morning flight from London didn't stop us from enjoying ourselves in the cute little city that is
Dublin.

The River Liffey that separates Dublin.


The Ha'penny Bridge, named so because of the toll that was once required to pass.

Our first visit of the day was to Dublin Castle

The Records Tower (the circular one) is the only original part.

a courtyard

Eventhough it's March, the sun was out, the weather was decent and the trees were budding.

After the castle we headed to St. Patrick's Cathedral, where Jonathan Swift (the man who wrote Gulliver's Travels) was once Dean.

After a day of culture, we were more than happy to make our way to the Temple Bar area, a street loaded with watering holes.

Slavi and I in the heart of Temple Bar

Apparently the city is always buzzing on the weekends, but this one certainly wins for spirit.

Getting into the spirit of it, I started my Irish drinking with a pint of Guiness.

This is Daniela, showing exactly how I feel about Guiness. One was enough!

We couldn't just drink in Dublin though, we got right into it with our lovely Leprechaun hats.

Unfortunately, after a few hours of drinking my hat didn't hold up.

That would be the rim that is hanging around my neck.

After the first night of drinking we got some more culture. Slavi was initially devastated that Dublin wasn't green, so we took a bus tour through the countryside.

This is a pole at the Reconcilliation Center where peace agreements have been signed by both the Republic and Northern Ireland.

Steps away from the Reconcilliation Center, the German cemetery holds soldiers lost in the war.

hands for peace

But the really great thing about the tour was seeing the beauty that makes up Ireland.

This loch (lake) is on the Guiness estate.

The little white building in the background (behind Slavi's left shoulder) is the Guiness Estate.

We also stopped by a lovely cemetery.

This river is at the meeting of the waters, where 2 rivers meet.

Night #2

started with some pre-drinking in the hotel.

and us pretending to be models. (That's Slavi's friend, Daniela in the middle)

After a bottle of wine, a shot of whiskey and some beer, it was difficult not to have fun.

But before we knew it we were at Dublin airport (after 3 hours of sleep)

watching a man on an ostrich...

and a leprechaun on stilts...

thrilled we'd gone to Dublin, but wishing we'd thought to take the later flight.

The sunny island of Sicily!!!

Sicily

The 'ball' of Italy. It's the island that the boot is kicking.

Sun and sand (sort of), Sicily has quite a few draws. Our first stop was the city of Catania. After an overnight train ride, we found our hotel and immediately left the city on a day trip to Syracuse, where Europe's largest outdoor Greek theatre is located.

Seeing as how it is Southern Italy, and it was only February, we didn't have as much luck as hoped (everything closes when tourists aren't supposed to be there). We got to the ticket booth at 3.04pm.....it closed at 3pm. Needless to say we didn't see the theatre, but we did get an interesting view of the closest thing...this outdoor bandstand.

Use your imagination and it looks almost like a theatre.

The city was also closed (since all things close between 1pm and 4pm), so all we could do was wander around and look at the sights..like this ancient Roman temple.

Back in Catania at night, we wandered through the city and saw some of its sights.

Catania's Cathedral

Another reason for being in Catania was to see Mount Etna, Europe's largest active volcano.

We took a public bus there, with the hopes of spending a great day walking around the mountain, looking at the crater and just seeing great things in general.

Well we got there, and this is what we saw....

SNOW!!!!

Admittedly that is volcanic rock under the snow, which is very cool, but it was snow nonetheless. Good thing we dressed sort of warm (the temperature dropped from 10 degrees in Catania, to -2 degrees on the mountain).

There wasn't much visibility either.

That's Mat, hiding in the fog.

Despite the weather, we are still troopers and made our way up the vunicular to visit the crater.

If you look really carefully, you can just see the crater. You'll also notice the ski lift. Yes, we went to a mountain that is currently covered in snow and is only used for skiiing---and we didn't have skis. So what did we do for 6 hours while waiting for the bus????? Good question.

We took pictures that looked like we were floating.

And drank (ate??) the world's thickest hot chocolate---like warm pudding. Not so good.

After 4 hours of sitting in the lodge at the top of the mountain we decided to head down and mooch off of another establishment. Bad idea, as most were closed, but luckily there was one restaurant where we sat for 2 hours, ate a $10 bowl of soup, and prayed the bus would pick us up. The bus was to arrive at 4.30pm and at 4.40pm we got nervous. Luckily, just a few minutes later it arrived and I spent the next 30 minutes with my frozen toes under Mat's butt on the bus.

The bus ride also showed us some neat things, such as this home, surrounded and partially buried in volcanic ash.

After 2 days in Catania, we took a gorgeous busride across Sicily to Palermo. The sun was shining, the weather was warm and we spent 3 days seeing the sights.

This is the Cathedral, known for the blending of architectural styles. When Sicily was taken by the Moors, the city's architecture received a middle-eastern influence.

We also stumbled upon this monument against the mafia. Sicily has a HUGE history with the mafia...it's basically the hometown of all the big mobsters. If you go into a bookstore, they have a mafia/anti-mafia section.

The city gates

Those Moors.

I really liked the signs.

More Middle-Eastern influences.

a pigeon on a bunch of somethings. If anyone knows what these are we'd love to know. Olives?

We did find some interesting pizzas. Fries and wieners.

The area near the water even comes equiped with areas to lounge.

a very cool sundial.

Dinner and an Opera

Just down the street from our hotel was the Teatro Massimo, Palermo's beautiful opera house. In the afternoon we took a tour of it, and then bought a ticket to see, Adriana Lecouvrer, the opera playing that evening (eventhough it was in Italian--yes we are very cultured).

We had an interesting dinner before the show. Interesting, because we ordered from one restaurant, but we realized that our pizza came from a restaurant down the street.

'When in Rome...' Mat even got into the wine!

I think this is the nicest photo Mat has ever taken (OK, it's one of the few he's taken, but it's still nice)

Pizza is a staple, but what's very interesting it that it's so huge...and you're expected to eat it by yourself (not that we had problems with that)

Seeing an Italian opera in Italy (and in Italian) was a great experience. We spent most of the time trying to figure out what was going on, but the best part was that we got our very own room.

The panels on this ceiling used to be opened for circulation. It's the original airconditioning system.

That's the Queen's Box. It only gets used for royalty or guests of honour. No matter how much you're willing to pay---you're not supposed to be able to sit there. We did get a tour of it though and it's not that fancy.

Ha Ha...we've been in the Queen's Box.

The seats were plush and velvet covered, but we were seated on the side, so this is the view we had. Mat says he felt like he was peering through bushes. I think it added a new element to opera.

Monreale

One of the big draws in Palermo is the Cathedral at Monreale (just a short bus ride out of the city). We got there on Sunday and when we were greeted by very large, locked gates, we figured it was just another moment when things didn't quite work as planned---then we realized we were at the wrong door. The Cathedral was open and we had 1 hour to get through it.

The outside of Monreale

Mat outside the big gates, thinking that another thing in Souther Italy was closed when we wanted in.

the ceiling inside

The inside of Monreale Cathedral

One of the many golden mosaics that show important moments from the life of Christ.

Trapani

Just a 2 hour bus ride from Palermo (through what I believe to be the most beautiful countryside in Italy, is the tiny town of Trapani. A seaside port, Trapani basically closes in the winter, but since the temperature was starting to climb, we got a little taste of what it would be like in the summer---but without all of the tourists. We even found a great self-catering apartment where we lounged on Sunday (after hunting for 3 hours for food--yes it was like hunting, since everything closes on Sunday...and everyday between 1pm and 7pm--the time we were starving).

Mat, being his handsome self.

My gorgeous husband looking as handsome as ever.


Me doing everything I can to get some colour. The locals thought we were nuts. I guess we were, considering they were walking around in sweaters and jackets.

We even got our lazy butts out for a run. It was a great way to end an already great trip!!