Snap Shots

So here's some random photos I've had laying around for the last couple months.

This is Windsor with our friends Lynn and Jacques

Heath chatting up Lynn

Heath and Vince

Pictures from when we had the heavy snow

Dublin with Kevin

Kevin came to visit this month and we headed off to Ireland so he could connect with his 25% Irish heritage.  In Dublin the main attractions are the Guinness Brewery and the Jameson Distillery. We did manage to squeeze in a few historical sights while we made our way between these two important monuments.  

First of these was the Book of Kells at Trinity College.  The Book of Kells is an illuminated manuscript containing the gospels circa 800AD.  It's amazing.  The exhibit includes demos on how they created the detailed drawings and the super thin vellum used. Unfortunately you can't take pictures in there.  At the end you come to the Long Room which houses the library's oldest books.  It's one long room , two floors, stacked floor to ceiling in old books.  Smells amazing!  It is a fantasy archive come alive.  

Next we visited hiked across the city and took in Dublin Castle (sounds more impressive than it is), St. Patrick's Cathedral and tea at the Queen of Tarts before heading to the Jameson Distillery.  

The Jameson Distillery is full of swanky decor mixed with rustic warehouse chic.  Quite an odd combination but it works.  The tour takes your through the distilling process to the tasting room which is definitely the highlight.  Kevin got to do the taste test while Heath and I enjoyed a Jameson with ginger ale.  It's actually really good!

We spent the first evening in a pub by our house listening to a really cool group of classic Irish musicians that ranged in age from 20 to 80.  Including an accordion.  We were quite lucky to find this place as we searched the following two nights and never came across anything near as good.  Pretty much we spent most meals sampling what the many pubs had to offer.  Heath was excited because we were there for the final 6 Nations Rugby game where Ireland beat Wales in the last 30 seconds!  The entire pub went deathly silent and then erupted into a frenzy of cheering and sighs of relief.  

The highlight of the trip though was the Guinness Brewery.  The experience is a seven stories climb up through different exhibits celebrating Guinness and culminating with a pint in the Gravity Bar overlooking all 360º of Dublin.  Written on the windows are quotes from Dublin's famous authors celebrating their city's sights.

Spring Bloom

Jameson

Guinness

Switzerland

For our midterm break Heath and I chaperoned the high school ski trip to Les Collens, Switzerland.  We got to spend a week snowboarding in the Alps in exchange for watching the kids at night.  The students were enrolled in a ski camp and their counselors were in charge of them during the day and organized the night activities.  We helped out and dealt with any behavior problems, which there weren't too many.  

We returned without any serious injuries, although I did get a black eye.  Heath is now capable of doing just about any run on the mountain.  I, on the other hand, can now link turns.  Les Collens is in the french part of Switzerland so I used my very poor french to order hot chocolate and ask for help on the button lifts.  The button lifts are my nemesis.  I highly suggest taking a valium before attempting them on a snowboard.

From where we were you can see the Matterhorn on clear days.  Very Exciting.  Just like Disneyland.

No, not the Matterhorn

Us with the Matterhorn.  It's the one on the left behind the cloud.

Cordoba

While in Seville we took a day trip to Cordoba.  Famous for having a beautiful mosque turned church.  It was the one day that we had sunshine the whole time and it was warm enough to eat ice cream on the steps of the mosque.  Cordoba is very touristy and you have to run away from the gypsy palm readers but if can get past that it has a pretty little old town with an alcazar and small synagogue.  Both of which were closed when we were there so we had to content ourselves with the church.

Like the church in Seville, there's an old minaret turned bell tower and orange tree filled courtyard.  What was amazing about this one was that despite the stark difference between the moorish mosque and the church basilica they built in the middle they actually blended very smoothly.  The mosque was one large room of arches and nooks with intricate designs. The basilica was build on top of the many arches and comes up to a domed roof that filters down light.  The mosque part is darker and the light is warm like candlelight.  The basilica is cool white and bright compared to the shadows around it.  Despite being smaller and not as ornate as the one in Seville, there is something about it that makes up for that.  

 

Real Alcazar

The Real Alcazar is the moorish royal palace in Seville.  Maybe my favorite part of the entire trip.  The interior of the palace has ornately carved roofs and pillars with walls covered in decorative tiles and mosaics.  You can picture it filled with low divans and cushions.  I could happily live in the Alcazar.  That's saying a lot because most palaces aren't actually that livable!

If the interior is beautiful the gardens are even more so.  I cannot begin to describe the peace and tranquility that covers the gardens.  The gardens are set within huge walls and although there are busy streets just on the other side it's impossible to tell.  The walls block all thought of the outside world and you're left in this place that is absolutely perfect.  The gardens are a series of courtyards built around descending fountains.  There are benches and hidden nooks where you could spend the whole day undisturbed.  Beyond the structured gardens there is a wooded area that is made up of tall trees and mossy grass.  Here too you find small fountains and benches as well as peacocks that roam free.  The prevailing sound is the humming of doves broken only by the soft calls of other birds.  People walk the gardens in silence reveling in the beauty.  I spent my time there imagining all of the history that must have taken place inside the walls and wandering around in a sort of trance trying to take it all in.  I hope you enjoy the pictures but they don't come close to actually being there!

  

Heath and his favorite fountain

Seville

Go to Seville!  Seville is absolutely beautiful!  I was completely blown away by the Moorish architecture in Seville and Cordoba.  It rained on and off while we were there but that didn't stop us from having a great time.  Seville is just packed full of life.  In Spain most people don't have dinner till about 10pm.  It was a little hard for us the first day but we soon got into the rhythm of staying up late and sleeping in.  We weren't impressed by the tapas though.  The best food we had was from a Lebanese kebab shop.  While in Seville we went to the art museum that focuses exclusively on Spanish artists including Velazquez.  It's in an old monastery with beautiful tile work.  Although after a while there's only so many paintings of Jesus dying on the cross that one can take.  

The entire city is covered in orange trees.  We were lucky and the oranges were ripe.  I've since learned that Seville oranges are only ripe for two weeks of the year and that they're used for marmalade because they're bitter.  We couldn't understand why people weren't picking them and eating them until we actually tried one.  They look great though!

One of the highlights of any trip to Seville is the cathedral.  It used to be a mosque until the Moors were pushed out of Spain and they converted all the Mosques to churches.  It is one huge room that has a basilica in the middle that was added later.  Behind the alter there is a huge wall of gold coated sculptures.  There's no way my pictures can show just how amazing the sight is with the candles playing across the gold.  Left from when it was a mosque is the courtyard filled with orange trees.  The bell tower use to be a minaret.  It's big enough for a horse to climb up the ramp.  It's the largest gothic church in existence.  

We also went to the Plaza de Espana which we still can't figure out exactly what it is.  The building has a tiled tribute to each Spanish state around the courtyard.  They were really cool.  

  

We spent New Years Eve in Seville.  We started the evening at a Flamenco show.  It was in a small courtyard of a hotel.  The fifty or so people there sat around the edges and in the middle was a small stage.  The was a singer, guitarist and two dancers.  Besides the Alcazar this was my favorite part of the trip.  The artists were amazing and the show felt so intimate.  It made me wish I'd spent more time exploring different types of dance rather than only ballet.  After we went to the Irish Pub.  Sad I know, but besides a few restaurants it was the only thing open.  They had a DJ who played mostly American songs and then every so often a random European hit that none of us knew.  We ended up staying and dancing till late with a couple we met at the bar.  Christian is German but he's studying at St. Andrews in Scotland and he's the spitting image of Prince Harry.  People actually came up to him throughout the night to ask if he was the prince.  We hung out with him and his girlfriend Lisa all night and it ended up being a great New Years!

This last picture is for Cole.  We thought of you one afternoon when we gorged ourselves on Churros y Chocolate.  You would love it!  Actually I can't imagine anyone not liking them!  At the stand they fry up the churros fresh for you so they're warm and crispy.  They them wrap them up in newspaper and serve them with thick hot chocolate to dip them in.  Amazing!