Tag Archives: wendi peterson

We Hate Edith

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Meet Edith

Meet Edith

We downloaded an app in Holland called NavFreeNL and it worked so great that when we got to Spain we downloaded NavFree Spain. NavFree speaks to us with a very refined female British accent so we have named her Edith after a dear friend in Northern England who is intelligent and extremely well organized. We have quickly discovered that the GPS Edith is none of these things. In fact, the GPS Edith is slow, dim witted and couldn’t find quicksand if she where buried to her neck in it.  And to make matters worse she’s a big fat liar.

Recently we were going to an intercity address in Bilbao to meet a friend of a friend. I transferred the address from my notebook into the phone and Edith led the way. Edith, being a little slow, has a tendency to point out exits just after you have passed them so working with her requires quite a few uturns, but this country has a lot of roundabouts so we have learned to compensate. We’re just like the Griswolds in European Vacation.

No matter, we have made it to Bilbao and have begun winding our way through the narrow streets in the old town. Only now the streets are getting narrower and with the height of the buildings we find ourselves in passageways that the sun never reaches. The doorways and alleys are filling up with pimps and streetwalkers. The police presence has increased.

Just a little scary.

Just a little scary.

We are clearly not in Kansas anymore and everyone is staring at us like we are foreign missionaries who have been beamed in from an alien church social. It feels as though people are slowly beginning to encircle the car. Right in the middle of this seedy decaying urban jungle our anxiety level has reached DefCom 5 when Edith proudly announces, “You have reached your destination.” Wendi, who’s a little nervous at this point, turns and says, “Bruce, get me out of here. NOW.” A few rights, a couple lefts, we burst out into the sunlight and find ourselves on a narrow passage that runs along the bank of the river. I’m not even sure it’s a road, most probably a pedestrian walkway, but we won’t be turning back at this point. Up ahead I see two well dressed men holding leather notebooks, talking with each other and pointing towards a dilapidated storefront and I think, architects or maybe developers, but clearly educated. I pull up next to them, roll down the window and say in the calmest voice I can muster, “Do you speak English?”. NO!

Undeterred I thrust my notebook at them gesturing wildly at the address written on the page. They take the notebook, study the address and begin to have a discussion about it. Two very scruffy North Africans wander over from a park bench and join the conversation. Now a nasty looking street person with some kind of psychotic disorder staggers up and stands a little off to one side keeping a close eye on the strange activities.

The four men are all passing my notebook around and talking at the same time as they gesture wildly. The whole group is doing a sort of dance now as they keep turning in complete circles clearly looking for some sort landmark or escape route perhaps. Finally, they all stop talking. One of the black men takes my notebook, leans into the car window and in absolutely perfect British School English says, “I am very sorry Sir, we don’t really know where this is, but it is not near here”. He then, very precisely, lays out a long and circuitous route that will take us across a bridge to the other, far more civilized, side of the river. Where we clearly belong.

Size Matters In Bilbao

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The Guggenheim Bilbao

The Guggenheim Bilbao

We are in Bilbao, a medium sized industrial shipping port in Northern Spain. It’s an interesting little city whose core retains some real character. The real attraction though is the Guggenheim Museum. How exactly the Frank Gehry designed building ended up in Bilbao still eludes me but that’s neither here nor there. Its beauty and grace are without question. Since it’s completion this building has become an instant icon and the city’s star cultural attraction.

Guggenheim Entrance

Guggenheim Entrance

There are two major exhibits in place now, retrospectives of both George Braque and Yoko Ono.

Exhibit

Braque, the early 20th century abstract painter, is credited, along with friend Pablo Picasso, with being one of the founders of the cubist movement. The paintings are interesting and thought provoking, but the retrospective is a little like an art history lesson. Are there really enough art historians out there to draw huge crowds to Northern Spain?

The Yoko Ono retrospective shows work from 1963 to 2010. The problem I have with Yoko’s work is her. Like so many people my age, that are a little “stuck in the sixties”, she will always be the person that committed two unforgivably heinous crimes. She popularized the primal scream and broke up the Beatles. Now even if you can get past all that and learn to somehow appreciate what she does as an artist, does she really have the capacity to attract people from around the globe to this somewhat remote Basque city? I don’t think so.

What makes this place work is the sheer scale of it all. 

Guggenheim Interior

Guggenheim Interior

Guggenheim Interior

Guggenheim Interior

Puppy by Jeff Koons

Puppy by Jeff Koons

Puppy by Jeff Koons

Puppy by Jeff Koons

Richard Serra

Richard Serra

Giant Tulips

Giant Tulips

Titanium Facade

Titanium Facade

Guggenheim Interior

Guggenheim Interior

Size really does matter at the Guggenheim in Bilbao..

 

Graffiti – Granada Style

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Mop

       Those of you that have followed the blog for a while know that I have ambivalent feeling about graffiti. Sometimes I think that spray paint should be universally outlawed, but then, occasionally,  you can’t help but smile.

Violin2 Violin TearDrop Skirt SachMo Lollipop HummingBird Corner Button BusStop

Alicante

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Alicante is our favorite coastal city, so far! This historic Mediterranean port  has a population of about 400,000. Since the 3rd century BC it has been invaded and conquered by cocky Carthaginians, rapacious Romans, vicious Visigoths, moody Moors, clobbering Castilians, volatile Valencians, rascally Republicans, nasty Nationalists and finally an Armada of Cruise Liners.

Invading Foreigners

Invading Foreigners

The bustling core of the old city sits right on the waterfront and is full of wide palm tree shaded walking arcades, great historic buildings and a labyrinth of narrow streets and open air markets.

Marina

Marina

Explanad De España

Explanade De España

Alicante1

Meat

Meat Lovers

Pension

Pension

Alicante16Alicante15

Setting Up The Street Fair

Setting Up The Street Fair

Cheese

That’s A Lot of Cheese

Alicante has two, not to be missed, art museums. Both El Museo de Bellas Artes Gravina (MUBAG) and the Museum of Contemporary Art of Alicante (MCAA) are terrific museums that are the perfect size, big enough to be really interesting and small enough to be experienced in a couple hours. And they’re free. They both house great Spanish collections and, like all great museums, the buildings themselves are terrific works of art.

MUBAG

El Museo de Bellas Artes Gravina

Necesita Usted Modelo by Fernando Canto

Necesita Usted Modelo by Fernando Canto

Museum of Comtempory At Alicante

Museum of Comtempory Art Alicante

Assume The Position

Assume The Position

MCAA1

 Bye for now. We’re going to go drink a little.



Farewell to Rostrevor

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Moon over Carlingsford Lough

Moon over Carlingford Lough

As night falls on our home exchange let’s take a final look at Rostrevor, the lovely little town in Northern Ireland that we’ve called home for the last month.

Rostrevor

Rostrevor

Rostrevor

Rostrevor

Kilbroney Park

Rostrevor is dominated by hugely popular Kilbroney Park.A lovely 97 acre park that starts on the shores of Carlingford Lough and runs 1000′ up the side of Slieve Martin. [portfolio_slideshow id=1622]

 

Fairy Glen

Fairy Glen is a mile long trail that runs between the town and Kilbroney Park. Tradition has it that the Fairy Glen was the home to many of the “wee folk”. Residents were careful not to use this route after dark as it was widely believed that the fairies could be heard dancing to otherworldly music.

Thristy?

One thing I discovered about Rostrevor is that you won’t die of thrist here.

Guiness Sold Here

Guiness Sold Here

 

Rostrevor Cemetery

A trip to Rostrevor wouldn’t be complete without a stop at Rostrevor Cemetery, the final resting place of Patrick Murphy, who in 1862 was considered the world’s tallest man. He billed himself as being 8’10” and in some circles as much as 9’3″. His height is debated today, but regardless, he was big. Real big.

Celtic Cross

Celtic Cross

We’re slipping out the back door now. Thanks for tuning in.

The back door.

The back door.

Lovely Country Lanes or Death Defying Thoroughfares?

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We’ve been to Turkey and thought that the driving was totally insane. The completely chaotic behavior of the drivers, the narrowness of the roads and the blaring horns left us rattled to the core. Then we came to Ireland and you know what? The Turks aren’t so bad.

Everyone on the left is double parked.

Everyone on the left and right is double parked.

Part of the problem is expectations. Every travel book we’ve read depicts SW Ireland as a land filled with lovely idyllic country roads and romantic windy lanes that fill the heart with joy and a longing for a simpler time when life moved slower and the whole world felt at peace. And it is.

The Beara Peninsula

The Beara Peninsula

What they neglected to inform us was that these 12’ wide roads can have speed limits as high as 80 kmh and are clogged with all manner of motor vehicles including SUVs, utility vans, cars dragging travel trailers, RVs, 35’ tour buses and 18 wheel freight trucks. And they’re used to it so you damn well better get out of the way. At a B&B in Kilkenny it was explained to us that the width of roads in Ireland was dictated by royal decree to be at least the width of two cows!

We were asked to get an insurance rider when we got here. Oh yea, I get it now. And did I mention they drive on the wrong side of the road.

Office of Public Works

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We were so pleased with our English National Trust cards that we looked for an Irish equivalent and discovered the OPW, Office of Public Works. The OPW handles over 100 heritage properties in Ireland and the cards, at 16 euros each, is the bargain of the century. It’s true that we may very well be crass American self promoters, but we had to tell them that Office of Public Works is probably not the most promotion savvy name they could have chosen.

Springhill House

Col. George Lenox served  in the Irish Volunteers but, after being betrayed by Lord Castlereagh, resigned his commission in disgrace in 1816. As a result of this, combined with his depressive nature, he committed suicide later that year. His wife Olivia is said to haunt the house to this day and is Ireland’s most documented ghost.

Emo Court

Built in 1790 for John Dawson, the first Earl of Portarlington. The Earl died before it’s completion and it has passed through many hands until the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 when the family left for England. It remained unoccupied until 1930 when the house was acquired by the Jesuits. One of the first priests to live here was Father Francis Browne, best known as a brilliant photographer who left behind a definitive record of Irish life during the first half of the 20th century.

Emo Court

Emo Court

Barryscourt Castle

This site has been occupied for over a thousand years. The tower fortress was the home to the Anglo-Norman de Barry family from the 12th century. It may look lovely in the sunshine but to call it a  home is a real stretch. It’s primary function was safety not comfort. It was intentionally designed to be very difficult to get in and out of with only one small door, narrow, steep and uneven stone stairways, murder holes and a very nasty little dungeon. It was crowded, damp, smelly, dirty, smokey, drafty and very cold.

Trim Castle

A large Fortress Tower Castle that’s most recent claim to fame is as a location for Braveheart.

Castletown

William Conolly, Speaker of the Irish House of Commons and a Commissioner of the Revenue, was the wealthiest man in Ireland in 1694 when he married Katherine Conyngham. They built Castletown together and William specified that every part had to be made from Irish materials, a fact that would save the property from Nationalist firebombs during the war for independence. Unfortunately William died in 1729, the same the year the house was finished, and never got to enjoy it.  But Katherine sure did. She remained in Castletown until her death in 1754 and in order to retain her previous social status after William’s death, she began to spend money at a staggering pace. The parties and drinking were legendary. The combined brewing and vintner bills averaged approximately 600 pounds a year, about $60,000 in today’s money. Katherine, not willing to turn her fortune over to a new man, never remarried. Society ladies criticized her for riding her carriage through the countryside, “too fast and with numerous young men”.

Kilkenny

We really loved Kilkenny. One of the most vibrant and interesting cities we visited. The Kilkenny Castle and the Art & Design Center create a wonderful cultural hub.

Muchross House

One of Ireland’s premier Tudor style mansions, Muckross House was built in 1843 for Henry Arthur Herbert and his wife, the excellent watercolourist Mary Balfour Herbert.  Extensive and hugely expensive improvements were undertaken in the 1850s in preparation for the visit of Queen Victoria in 1861. The Herberts were gambling that the Queen would give him a peerage that would correct his failing fortunes. When the Queen returned to London, Prince Albert died, and she quickly forgot all about the Herberts. The cost of these improvements aggravated the Herbert’s financial difficulties and resulted in the sale of the estate.

Aughnanure Castle

This fine example of an Irish Tower Fortress was the family home of Donal O’Flaherty who in 1546 married Grace O’Malley. After Donal’s murder, Grace fled to the family island of St. Claire off the western coast of Ireland and began a lifelong career as the 16th century’s most notorious pirate.

Tintern Abbey

The present-day remains of Tintern are a mixture of building works covering a 400-year period between 1136 and 1536. In the reign of King Henry VIII, his Dissolution of the Monasteries ended monastic life in England and Wales. On 3 September 1536 Abbot Wyche surrendered Tintern Abbey and the valuables from the Abbey were sent to the royal Treasury. Lead from the roof was sold and the decay of the buildings began.

Drombeg Stone Circle

Also known as the Druid’s Altar, the site was excavated and restored in 1958. A pot was discovered containing the cremated remains of a young adolescent dating from 945 – 830 BC.

Hook Head Lighthouse

Hook Head, the oldest lighthouse in Ireland, is said to have found its way into common English usage in the expression “By Hook or by Crook.” It is claimed that Oliver Cromwell vowed to take Waterford by Hook (on the Wexford side of the estuary) or by Crook (a village on the Waterford side).

Castletownbere

Castletownbere Harbour was developed as the major fishing port on the Beara Peninsula. Although, like many small communities, Castletownbere has been hit hard by the economic downturn.

Besides the usually smattering of imigrants, there appear to be three major clans in Castletownbere, the O’Sheas, the O’Sullivans and the Murphys. The Murphys are by far the most prodigious. There is  Murphy’s Funeral Home, Murphy’s Boat Hauling, Murphy’s Fishing, Murphy’s Restaurant, Murphy’s Pub, Murphy’s Fish & Chips, Murphy’s Florist, Murphy’s Party Supplies, Murphy’s Gift Shop and, of course, Murphy’s Irish Stout.

Murphy's Gift Shop

Murphy’s Gift Shop

Donegal Castle

The elder Sir Hugh O’Donnell, wealthy chief of the O’Donnell clan, built the castle in 1474. In 1607, after the Nine Years war the leaders of the O’Donnell clan left Ireland in the Flight of the Earls. In 1611 the castle and its lands were granted to an English Captain, Basil Brooke. The keep had been severely damaged by the departing O’Donnells to prevent the castle being used against the Gaelic clans.

Donegal Castle

Donegal Castle

Slanglish

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Set Down = Drop Off

Set Down = Drop Off

People here don’t speak English. They speak Slanglish and have great fun with the language. Sometimes there are so many rhyming couplets, alliterations and just nonsense words that I have a hard time figuring out what anyone is talking about. I’m certain that my English friends could send me books full of this stuff, but I’ll just mention a few that I hear everyday.

Cheers

I’ve heard the expression “cheers” for many years, but I had no idea that is a completely all purpose word that can mean, among other things, thank you, congratulations, your welcome, hello, goodbye, good day, good morning or good afternoon. It can be used singularly or in combination with its root meaning, as in “Cheers, thanks” or “Cheers, goodbye”. Which, to my ear sounds a bit redundant, like “thanks, thanks” or “goodbye, goodbye”. But if you use cheers as a verb or in the past tense it reverts to its more traditional meaning. You might say that you had thanked someone, where as you could never say that you had cheers’d someone.

Wee

Everything is wee. We’re in a wee country, in a wee county, in a wee village, where we’re going for a wee walk to have a wee bit of lunch at a wee restaurant.  And the subject doesn’t necessarily have to be small or charming. The only thing I haven’t heard wee combined with is wee, as in wee wee.

Ha Ha

Although there is no wee wee there is a  Ha-Ha. This  16th or 17th century invention, is a reinforced trench that stretches across a field or pasture and works like a fence that keeps sheep and cattle from wandering near the manor. But unlike a fence, it does not disrupt the vista and is almost invisible when viewed from the house out. The name refers to what you might exclaim if you stumbled across it by accident, although you’d more likely say “call 911!”

Londonderry

In 1613 the British rulers selected Derry as the site for one of their infamous “plantation” projects. Under the control of London livery companies they renamed the town Londonderry. Locals have never really taken to the name as it was seen to symbolize foreign rule and regardless of what the road signs say, have continued to call it Derry for 400 years. Recently, in an attempt at political correctness, authorities have hyphenated the name to “Derry-Londonderry”. Over here the hyphen is referred to as a stroke so now it’s become “Stroke City”.

A  Miscellaneous  Few 

A room that had a window at eye level was referred to as a “tippy toe room”.

When searching through a junk shop we were encouraged to “have a wee nosey”.

When a tour guide was off talking to someone else, we were asked to wait as he was  “having a wee bit of a gnash at the minute”.

If you need time to think about something you might have “a wander and a ponder”.

Lunch would be a “rumble corrector”.

Giving something a try might be “taking a punt”.

And needing to hurry up would be to “Get A Tic Toc On”.

 

 

 

The Wendi Files – Part 2

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Drombeg Stone Circle

Drombeg Stone Circle

The Wacky Wendi Saga Continues.

Damn, I like that girl!

On The Edge

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Cliffs of Moher, County Clare, Ireland

Cliffs of Moher, County Clare, Ireland

“Like many before me, I’ve been called to the sea.” TW

Welcome to the Cliffs of Moher, Ireland’s premier disembarkation point for the netherworld. I don’t mean to demean the sheer awe-inspiring grandeur of the Cliffs. The place is indeed jaw droppingly beautiful. Sadly though, a few folks don’t just come to look, but view it as a more interactive activity. This is a hugely popular tourist attraction so it’s not really in anyone’s best interest to keep an accurate count. In 2008 there were four documented suicides, a relatively small numbers when compared to places like the London Underground which loses 150 – 200 people a year. Bear in mind, the actual number of deaths is not widely known and the vast majority are classified as accidents, but with 30 mph wind gusts and warning signs every few feet, I tend to think of it more as stupidity. We watched at least 50 people ignore the warnings in order to have their picture taken as close to the edge as possible. The last jumper was a young Estonian doctor who bought a one way ticket to Dublin, drove a rented car across the country, walked out of the parking lot directly to the cliff and, without hesitation, she leapt 750’ to the sea below. Oddly, neither the one way ticket nor the CCTV footage was enough to convince officials it was a suicide.

Cliffs of Moher, County Clare, Ireland

Cliffs of Moher, County Clare, Ireland

By all means don’t let my love of odd statistics scare you off.  Come to this amazingly beautiful place, but be extremely careful. I don’t know if there have been any definitive studies, but can anyone deny that a huge precipice, like a magnet, draws the mind to the edge?

Memorial - Cliffs of Moher, County Clare, Ireland

Memorial – Cliffs of Moher, County Clare, Ireland