Road tripping around England

September 25: Jonah and I just got back from a three day road trip to Oxford, Bath, Stonehenge, and Salisbury. At first, the trip seemed like a great idea. Then the morning we were leaving, as Jonah was refusing to take his antibiotics (having detected and completely rejected it in every possible food I could find), it seemed like a horribly conceived idea. I decided to give it a go anyway. We took a bobby car to the car rental place, came back to the flat to pick up our stuff, and were off. Once we got on the road and I managed to find my way out of London (which took up 25 of the 30 Mapquest direction lines), it became and remained a brilliant idea—brilliant in the British sense. I just love their use of that word.

We arrived in Oxford around lunchtime so found a cute Italian café with a high chair for Jonah. On this trip he learned to say “high chair”, and now every chair is a high chair, one in which he must sit. The authors of our guide book weren’t kidding when they wrote that parking in Oxford is near impossible. We managed to find a spot with a 30 minute time limit. That meant I spent most of the meal thinking through how I might go about finding our car in a towed car lot when I didn’t know the license plate number and wasn’t quite sure of the make and model. I figured we might be spending the night in Oxford, and at least I wouldn’t have to worry about parking. Then I happily enjoyed my latte.

Forty-five minutes later, our car was still there. We found a small side street where I could park to empty the boot of our car (that’s trunk, for us Americans) to change Jonah’s diaper. It’s actually a great place to do it when there’s no changing station available. We had parked next to a lovely old church, St. Thomas the Martyr Church, with an old cemetery. I have a church and cemetery fascination, and Jonah needed some freedom of movement before heading to Bath, so we spent some time on the grounds of the church.

We arrived in Bath around 4 pm, unpacked a bit at our B&B, and strolled into town. Our B&B was just across the River Avon and only a 10 minute stroll to the main part of town. On our way over the North Parade Bridge, we heard a loud boom and saw dark, black smoke just over the first set of buildings in front of us. We spent the next 45 minutes or so in the lovely Parade Gardens as the black smoke billowed just off yonder. Seemed a bit surreal, but we were a safe distance and couldn’t be of any help anyway. Apparently, a gas canister exploded at a construction site, which caused the blaze, thankfully resulting in no injuries. That night, I read in the bathroom as Jonah slept in our room. I felt a little ridiculous, sitting on the closed toilet reading a book. So it goes. I imagine I won’t do this with the next child.

The next day we had a fabulous time exploring Bath. Bath is one of the loveliest towns I’ve visited. It’s just darling. We visited the Bath Abbey (where Jonah loved the organ music and seemed content to stay for hours to listen to it) and museum in the morning before walking to the main tourist attractions—The Circus (30 Georgian-style homes in a circle) and the Royal Crescent (a semicircular terrace of houses designed in the mid-18th century). Jonah discovered how to climb through bushes and amused himself with this until I was tired of dragging the stroller back and forth through them as well. We found a playground, of course…another amusement-park-scale playground…they seem to be a dime a dozen in England. (Our friend, David, told me the British government actually has a policy on playgrounds aimed at ensuring free access to public, outdoor play spaces for everyone to help cultivate good health and prevent a sedentary lifestyle.) In the afternoon we toured the Roman Baths Museum, where we saw the remains of baths and a Roman temple dating back thousands of years. The museum provides steel-framed backpacks to carry children around. Along with an audio device to tour the museum, this bought us 30 minutes of Jonah’s patience.

At dinner we had our second experience in a week of a stranger wanting to take a picture with Jonah. Jonah was quite charming at dinner, flirting with two women at a nearby table. These two women, in their 20s, didn’t speak much English, but I could see that they were pretending to take a picture of one of them to get Jonah in the corner shot. So I offered up my child for a photo shoot. They came over and individually posed for a picture with him. Jonah actually smiled for the pictures. The first time this happened was last week at Windsor Castle, where a couple asked Jeremy, while I was in the gift shop buying a postcard, if they could take a picture with Jonah. The wife held Jonah, and her husband took a picture of the two of them. Right about now, my small but dedicated readership of my mom, Rhona, and Harvey will be thinking we’re not cautious enough, but, trust me, we had the Queens’ guards all around at the castle, and Jonah was strapped into his high chair at our dinner. Semi-bizarre thing number two at that dinner: apparently, lemonade is not lemonade here. It’s 7-Up or Sprite, not the lemons, sugar, water concoction with which we’re familiar. Two nights in a row I really wanted a lemonade and got a 7-Up instead. Big bummer. After dinner, we caught a breathtaking sunset with the Abbey as the backdrop, while exploring the locks and canals in the neighborhood by our B&B.

This morning we headed to Stonehenge. I expected to be underwhelmed, based on the guide book’s description of the tourist mayhem and distance one must keep from the rocks. Instead, I was awestruck by the site. Again, Jonah had an audio device to keep him occupied. When I asked the guy handing the devices out for two, he said to me that Jonah was probably too young to understand it. I told him Jonah wanted it anyway. Much to my own surprise, Jonah managed to get the thing to play and was, in fact, listening to the tour. This required him to punch in a number and then press the green play button. (About now my readership is saying out loud, “Yes! I knew he was brilliant!”) How he managed to do that, I have no idea. I thought the guy might like to know that Jonah did indeed enjoy his device, but I decided we should get to Salisbury for lunch instead.

Salisbury boasts the most beautiful cathedral in England. It is spectacular indeed. It also houses one of the four originals of the Magna Carta, which we got about 5 seconds with given Jonah’s displeasure at being in the stroller and in a church that wasn’t playing organ music. We enjoyed the cathedral, including the oldest working clock in existence (from the mid-14th century) and a beautiful stained glass window honoring prisoners of conscience. We had a nice lunch before letting Jonah stroll along the River Avon to watch the ducks and swans and finding a playground, where Jonah decided he liked running down the slide. I took my eyes off him for less than a second, and he was three steps down the slide before I caught him from falling off the side. All the while, he had a huge smile on his face.

In Salisbury, we had another experience of someone going out of their way to help give us directions. A delightful woman about five to eight years younger than me saw that I was trying to figure out how to get to the cathedral and ended up walking us to the city square. (In Ireland, an older woman actually got in my car to guide me to the old Jewish cemetery.)

Driving in England…I gave my bit about driving in Ireland, so here’s my bit on driving in England. First, it’s, of course, on the left hand side of the road. I still think that’s pretty cool. Second, there are no SUVs on the road. There weren’t in Ireland either. At $100 a tank for a little, tiny car, I can understand why. Third, where are the highway patrol officers? I never saw a police officer on the roads in Ireland, and I only saw one on this trip. There are signs everywhere that indicate there are police cameras, but I honestly could not find a single device that looked like it could be a camera. Fourth, they don’t post speed limits. They post speed limits for areas in which you’re supposed to slow down, letting you know what your new speed should be. But they never indicate what the speed is otherwise. Maybe I’ll be getting a speeding ticket or twelve charged to my credit card via the car rental agency, thanks to the microscopic police cameras. Fifth, there are a ton of traffic signs that make absolutely no sense to me, including a yellow diamond sign (nothing to do with carpools) and three straight, diagonal lines. Not helpful. Finally, don’t ever rent a car at the Alamo/National in Kennington, where they charged me 100 pounds (that’s $200) for a tiny scratch on the tire rim and a tiny scratch on the driver-side door. My 75 pound rental turned into a 175 pound rental (that’s $350!!). I think it’s their way of punishing me for not buying the supplemental insurance. I’ve moved beyond how unbelievably livid I was, so I’ll not rant about it here. Let’s just say I ended this evening with a glass of red wine.

Picture descriptions: Our stop at St. Thomas the Martyr Church; Jonah loved getting in and out of (with help) and crawling under this chair (note the Bath Abbey in the background); A blurry one of us with the backdrop of a lovely bridge with shops (like the one in Florence...I was told there are only two such bridges in the world with shops built into them); Roman Baths Museum; A cute street in Salisbury

Our visit to the health clinic and more

September 22: Jeremy took Friday off, and we went to Windsor Castle, which involved a 50-minute train ride on the national rail. We managed to keep Jonah sufficiently occupied in his stroller both ways so didn’t have to contend with a toddler running up and down the aisles or in and out of the bathroom (referred to simply as “the toilet” here, and they’d wonder why you were asking to take a bath or shower in a restaurant if you asked for the "bathroom"). The Queen spends two months a year at Windsor Castle; she wasn’t in residence during our visit. Needless to say, the castle is stunning.

Much like his reactions to museums though, Jonah isn’t that interested in proper castle etiquette. We took a quick tour through the state rooms with Jonah in the Ergo carrier, trying to keep him entertained with Jeremy’s keys and other items we found rummaging in our backpack. We broke into somewhat of a sprint near the finish because Jonah started using his non-castle voice. Jonah, however, loved walking around the exterior of the castle and must have walked and/or pushed his stroller for almost ¼ of a mile (maybe a little less). Jeremy and I separately took a look into St. George’s Chapel, which is a spectacular example of Gothic architecture dating to the 15th century. The town of Windsor is also quite lovely. We enjoyed a somewhat leisurely lunch at an outdoor Italian café before taking the train home. That evening, Jonah started coming down with a cold.

On Saturday we had a lovely brunch with our cousin Putzi and her partner Frank. They brought Jonah a fabulous new toy with animals that pop up when you push, pull, or turn various levers. That kept him occupied for a while, until he went for the utensils as per the norm. We had to put the kibosh on that when he started wielding his fork, which Jeremy and I are used to but brought out the concerned grandmother in Putzi. In the afternoon we met up with Jason and his boyfriend, Jamie, at Regent’s Park, yet another park with an absolutely amazing playground. After Jonah got his fill of the playground (or, rather, we were able to coax him away with a ride on Jason’s shoulders, giving Jonah an Eiffel-Tower-type view), we walked around the Queen’s Garden, which has various postcard-perfect, small garden areas. We walked to Primrose Hill to catch a fabulous view of London on what was a glorious day along with a stunning sunset. So far, we’ve been unbelievably lucky with the weather.

On Sunday we went to Archbishop’s Park in the morning and in the afternoon to visit family friends of Jeremy’s parents who lived in the same house (then converted into separate flats) as Rhona, Harvey, Jeremy, and Josh during their sabbatical here back in 1983. The Protheroes have a fabulous home in St. John’s Wood just around the corner from Abbey Road Studio and the famous Beatles crosswalk. I expected something more spectacular, but the crosswalk looks like any other crosswalk in the city. Bummer. We, of course, took pictures in it anyway (mostly because I though my brother, Sam, would want to see what it looked like). In the evening, we had our good friend and KSG crew member, Brian Sage, who happened to be in town for work, over for dinner. It was a great visit and quite nice to see a friendly, familiar face.

Last night was a tough night for Jonah with his cold. Reminding us of his earliest days, he was up on and off all night and finally fell asleep in our bed for a few hours. We decided we needed to take him to a doctor today because we suspected he had an ear infection given his sleep (or lack thereof) pattern. At 8:30 am, Jeremy looked online and found the number of the local clinic. The clinic was able to schedule an appointment for Jonah at 9:10 am. Talk about customer service. Jeremy asked the person on the phone how much we would need to pay considering that we were foreigners. The receptionist laughed and said, “You pay nothing,” which we both assumed couldn’t be quite right. We arrived and filled out about five lines on a temporary resident form, and Jonah’s name was called on a loud speaker about 10 minutes later with instructions to go to room 8. There’s a map of the clinic, and you go find your own room, which in this case was a pediatrician’s office/examination room. The doctor was waiting for Jonah (yes, she was waiting for us!) and got right to business, asking us to describe Jonah’s symptoms and such. While there’s no ear infection, Jonah may have the beginning of some bacterial infection in his chest. She prescribed antibiotics and an inhaler with some respiratory drug to help Jonah breath more easily. We were in and out of there in 10 minutes, feeling like the doctor was warm and welcoming of questions but also incredibly efficient. She asked Jonah for the wood animal pieces back that she had given to him at the beginning of the exam. He willingly complied (always does when it’s a stranger). And off we went across the street to the chemist (i.e., pharmacy), which had a wide range of both conventional and homeopathic medicines. We turned in the prescription, were called up 5 minutes later and handed a bag, said, “Thank you,” and left. There was never any exchange of money. And people complain about socialized medicine… Our experience was amazing. I understand that the problem is with trying to see specialists and such, but I can at least attest to the fact that general care here is amazing and efficient.

This afternoon Jeremy left for Uganda, and Jonah and I strolled down to an adorable street of shops called Lower Marsh to get Jonah’s haircut. A salon—called Guys and Dolls—cuts kids’ hair on Mondays for only five pounds (that’s about 10 dollars). Jonah sat in the chair for close to 15 minutes while a nice woman cut his hair. Although I’d said I wanted to keep it long with a healthy trim, Jonah now looks like a completely different child with less hair than he’s had since he turned five months old. Still adorable, of course, but someone else’s child.

Our first days in London

September 10: Today was our first non-vacation day of sabbatical, if that makes any sense. We arrived in London yesterday, got settled in our flat (thanks to our friend, Jason, who graciously vacated the premises for the next three weeks), baby-proofed Jason’s living room/dining room/kitchen area, which entailed rearranging furniture (Jason, we’ll put it all back…promise), and spent $120 at the local supermarket for three bananas, a loaf of bread, raspberry jam, milk for Jonah, and laundry detergent. It wasn’t quite that bad, but $120 and only two grocery bags later, you realize that the American dollar is in serious trouble.

Jeremy returned to work today, remotely, of course. And Jonah and I began our adventure of “full-time mom and adorable baby explore [city]”, the first entry being London, the Vauxhall/Kennington area south of the river. Today’s episode included the discovery of a city farm, the local Starbuck’s, and a great park populated with dads and their toddlers. Seems that Jeremy should be the one at the park and I should be the one figuring out whether the influx of international aid in Liberia has any impact on how people perceive the effectiveness of their local government. But as interesting as Jeremy’s project sounds, I think I prefer my role in this adventure.

Stepping outside of our flat this morning, I felt excited and anxious. I love an adventure. Finding our way about our neighborhood and where we are in relation to a park, a hardware store (yes, I already need one), a kids’ store to buy a rain cover for Jonah’s stroller (it is London, after all), and a good coffee house for my morning latte (preferably at less than the $5 I spent on my caramel macchiato at Starbuck’s today) is wonderful. But I also feel a bit uncomfortable not to have any sense of what is beyond that building over there or around that corner in the other direction. Soon enough though I won’t need to wonder or to pull out my map with every turn.

September 12: Day three and still loving sabbatical. Who came up with the idea of giving academics a year to live anywhere they want while still getting paid? I was already certain marrying Jeremy was the right choice. That Jeremy is an academic makes this even better than I imagined. He, of course, is working, but yesterday afternoon he met Jonah and me at a local park in the afternoon to join our fun and to take a stroll. Only on sabbatical…

The last couple of days have been action-packed. The other day I found the most amazing playground at Archbishop’s Park. I had trouble finding it, so one of the Archbishop’s private gardeners who happened to be walking by kindly walked me to the public part of the garden, which now boasts a fabulous children’s playground. The playground is not to be believed. It’s only a neighborhood park, but it could have charged an entrance fee with its phenomenal climbing structures, slides, tunnels, play boats and cars, swings, and so on. Even better than the park was meeting a lovely woman (Elke) and her daughter (Ella) who live in the neighborhood. Elke used to facilitate a moms group in the area, so I now have a listing of activities for parents/caretakers to do with kids every day of the week.

Yesterday was typical London gray in the morning. Jonah and I headed out to explore the southern part of our extended neighborhood and to find the local hardware store (the bathtub needed a drain plug for Jonah’s baths). I saw a woman (Claire) with a baby (Alexandra) in a café so decided to go in and ask her where I could find a rain cover for Jonah’s stroller (the answer: nowhere convenient). We got to chatting since neither of us wanted to go out into what became a torrential downpour. Once it let up, we headed over to the Imperial War Museum, which is only about a 15 minute walk from our flat. It turns out it’s a great place for kids to run around…once you get passed the fact that the kids are playing on, around, and in instruments of war. As he does with airplanes he sees in the sky, Jonah kept yelling, “Hairpan! Hairpan!” with great joy in the main hall of the museum, where old war planes hang from the ceiling.

Going to a museum with Jonah is not an educational experience for me, I quickly discovered. It’s about making sure Jonah doesn’t smack his head, as he is prone to do being the daredevil he is. I did learn how a person on a submarine escapes a…sinking, I would say, except that submarines have technically already sunk…let’s just call it a submarine in distress. I now know how to escape a submarine in distress if ever the situation should arise.

In the afternoon, Jonah and I discovered the wonders of the One O’clock Clubs/Centers in England. These are spots for parents to take their children to interact and play with other kids while providing an opportunity for parents to chat with other parents. There are tons of indoor and outdoor activities and play things, including arts and crafts, climbing structures, cars, a trampoline, and a sandbox with toys. These clubs were started 40 years ago by the British government, originally to provide lunchtime meeting places for moms and their kids. The clubs are financially supported by the city boroughs and are open from 1 to 4 pm during the week. It’s an amazing concept. It’s too bad we don’t have something like this in the states.

This morning Jonah and I took a five minute stroll to the city farm around the corner from our flat. This little city farm beats any large zoo for a kid Jonah’s age because of how close kids can get to the animals. The farm has cows, goats, pigs, sheep, chickens, bunnies, ducks, turkeys, and a horse. Jonah was in heaven! He ran around, yelling, “Aml!! Aml!!” (that’s, “animal”). He wanted the sheep to continue baaing, since that’s his favorite animal noise ever since we left Ireland. He was quite troubled by the pig – first that it was black and white rather than pink and, second, that it made all of the snorting noises. We joined the Friday morning music class at the farm. Despite the fact that we only knew one of the nursery rhymes, the Royal Duke of York (thank you, Lina), we had a fabulous time. The teacher offered Jonah a “biscuit”. Jonah gave her a blank stare. I told him it was a cracker, and he smiled big and happily took it.

This afternoon we’ll take our first bus adventure to Brixton, the distant location of the soon-to-be-much-needed-it-would-seem-by-the-gray-sky rain cover for Jonah’s stroller. More importantly, we’ll hit the Braxton Market (outdoor and indoor stalls), which is supposed to be the most interesting and diverse of the markets in the city.

September 14: What a glorious weekend in London! The weather was superb with blue skies and warm temperatures. Our weekend was filled with family and friends, starting with a Friday night dinner with our friends David and Sara (who are basically running the British government), a Saturday afternoon family gathering with Jeremy’s London-based cousins to memorialize a wonderful cousin who recently passed away, and a Sunday afternoon walking along the Thames River and Westminster with Jason (who Jonah has come to adore). We also made it to a few parks, including Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens (where we caught a glimpse of Princess Diana’s former palace). The highlight from the family gathering was seeing Jonah with our cousin Putzi, the way he let her take his hand to show him around and how he warmly gave her hugs and kisses despite having only met her a few hours before.

On the way to see our family, we had one of those moments parents have when their child’s ability to call them as they see them can be quite embarrassing. There we were sitting on the tube, not far from our stop. A punk rocker guy in his 20s with long hair got on the train and sat a few seats across and down from Jonah. Jonah looked at him for a minute, and then, apparently thinking he was seeing a sheep or something clearly resembling one, said to him, “Baaaaaaaa.” About 30 seconds later, thinking maybe the guy was a cow, he called out, “Mooooooooo.” Jeremy and I looked at each other and smiled, thinking, first, “Oh, that’s embarrassing…I hope the guy doesn’t realize what Jonah is doing,” and, second, “Yeah, the guy does kind of look like a sheep.”

I forgot to mention the public urinals. I’m attaching a picture of one because I just find them so bizarre. I assumed they were for the homeless. Then Jason told us that, no, they were not built with the homeless in mind. Apparently, there’s a big problem with public urination, which is why they try to provide convenient outdoor urinals (by the tube stop) for people to relieve themselves. When you think about the British stereotype, this just doesn’t seem to fit.

September 17: More parks, more music classes, more exploring. Jonah and I went to St. James Park and walked around outside Buckingham Palace on Monday morning. I think the Palace is stunning. He was more impressed with the pigeons and squirrels.

In the afternoon I went shopping by myself on Oxford Street, while Jeremy took Jonah back to the Imperial War Museum. After our first day here, I soon realized that I am not one of the stylish moms in the park. Not that I ever fancied myself particularly stylish. I just never gave it much thought or cared really. But these moms are super trendy, so you notice it more. I look like the Californian I am with my jeans, v-neck t-shirt, fleece, and either Sketchers or Keens (with no socks, oh, horror). So I decided a trip to H&M (trend central) to spruce up my wardrobe was warranted. There are three H&M stores within four blocks of each other on Oxford Street. I hit them all and realized, in fact, I actually don’t like the trendy 80s garb everyone is wearing. I never liked the skinny pants back in the day (although I wore them, of course), and I really think belts look better on pants than they do on the outside of shirts. I did manage, however, to buy one 80s-era sweatshirt (with the zip going diagonal to the top) after putting it on and taking it off about 47 times, asking myself, “Am I really going to buy this?” Yes, I bought it. It’s actually sort of cute.

While on the tube on Monday, I realized that I had never seen anyone eating or drinking on any of the tube rides I’d taken. Not one person. Where are the Starbuck’s take away cups?? Yes, take away. They don’t say “to go” here; they say they’ll buy something for “take away”. And you pay a lower price if you take something away rather than eat it in. That’s true at Starbuck’s even. A cookie: 1.5 pounds if you’re getting it for take away, 1.75 pounds if you’re eating in. The other thing I realized while making my way to the train, through the maze of tunnels, is that people not only drive on the left hand side of the road but they walk on the left. So if there’s a set of stairs to get down to the train, everyone is walking on what would be their left. It seems obvious, but it doesn’t actually hit you until you actually get hit from the mob that’s coming at you because you’re on the right. Add to that your Starbuck’s take away cup (yes, Paul, I used a disposable cup), and consider yourself a definite foreigner.

That I’m not a local is quite obvious at Jonah’s music classes. You can hear the lovely British voices singing with their fabulous accents, and then you hear this twangy, squeaky voice (me) fumbling through songs I’ve never heard of before. And I can’t sing on key to save my life. Sometimes I fall into a fake British accent without even realizing it. So there I am, singing in a fake British accent, off-key. Speaking of songs I’ve never heard of before, they changed the words to the song “Ring Around the Rosie”. Instead of singing, “Ashes, ashes, we all fall down,” they sing, “A-tissue, a-tissue, we all fall down.” Wikipedia has some background on this. You know you’re in trouble when you can’t even get “Ring Around the Rosie” right… Jonah isn’t that into the classes it seems anyway, and he doesn’t care for the rigid rules. He keeps trying to play with all of the toys and seems most interested in the class when it’s time for a “biscuit”. And they don’t let him sit in the middle of the circle to play the instruments. They want every kid to go back and sit with their mom. Yeah, okay.

Speaking of the wonderful Jonah, he’s talking more and more every day. His latest verbal expression is “Happin?” He’ll hear a noise, see something move, or do something himself and say, “Happin? Happin?” He’s asking, “What happened?” He asks this constantly and within two seconds of the last time he asked. How is it that we’re already effectively into the “why?” stage, and he’s only 17 months? He also loves to say in his little, high-pitched voice, “Hi! Hi!” to the other kids at the park. This morning he was on a big, play bus in the park, driving, of course, and another kid got on the bus. He craned his neck around the side of the bus, and said to the kid, “Hi! Hi!” Sadly, most kids don’t reply, like this kid. But, our friendly Jonah continues to try to engage with them anyway. This morning he also went down a 10 foot slide on his own. I was proud, and he was thrilled. He’s also started pretend play. The coffee table in our flat has a step up, and he likes to pretend the table is his boat as he sits on the lowered portion of the table. Today he had his giraffe sit with him. He also pretends to make soup and eats it and feeds Jeremy and me. Perhaps we can get him to learn how to do the real thing so he can do the cooking when Jeremy goes to Uganda next week…

Picture descriptions: Our (Jason's) flat; Archbishop's Park playground; Along with Jason by the Thames River with Parliament and Big Ben in the background; Public urinal outside Vauxhall tube station; Archbishop's Park playground; Princess Diana Memorial Playground; Kennington Park

Good times in Ireland

On Saturday, August 23, we left California and headed to Dublin.


About two weeks prior, we had moved out of our townhouse after a near all-nighter (with memories of law and grad school dancing in my head). The next day we left for Canada to visit friends in Vancouver and Jeremy’s parents on Pender Island, just off the coast of Vancouver. We spent a lovely week relaxing, letting Nana and Papa chase Jonah all around the house, while we tried to recuperate from the exhausting process of preparing our house for tenants. We spent the next week in southern California, visiting with family and friends prior to our departure and giving my mom and Jonah’s cousins their share of chasing after Jonah.

We arrived in Dublin on the 24th to the warm welcome of our friends, Macartan, Jacobia, and their beautiful new baby, Aoife. We spent the night in Dublin at the home of Macartan’s parents, Niall and Eileen, before heading west in a two-car caravan to Connemara on the western coast of Ireland. A few things about driving in Ireland… First, we had to drive on the left side of the road. That was actually fun, especially with a manual transmission and gear shift on the left. Second, our rental car, a Volkswagen Passat sedan, was one of the larger vehicles on the road, with the other cars closer in size to a Mini. The Passat literally took up the entire width of the country roads and close to it in Dublin. This seriously increased the odds of sideswiping another car’s mirror. The sentence Jeremy most used on this trip: “Do you know how close you were to that car?” Third, either the Irish have bionic vision or Irish drivers know every street in Dublin like the back of their hand. The incomprehensible street signs suggest that they solely serve some aesthetic purpose, appearing on the sides of buildings in tiny font. Fourth, people really only drive in the freeway fast lane to pass people, moving quickly back to the slow lane after having done so. It’s incredibly civil. Fifth, sheep and cows clearly have the right of way on the country roads, and you should expect them at every fourth turn or so.

We spent most of our two plus weeks in Ireland enjoying the beauty of Connemara, based at Niall and Eileen’s country home called Emlough House (previously a B&B). We enjoyed lazy mornings (until Jonah returned to his usual 6:30 am wake up time) and leisurely outings. We took many scenic drives, walked along beautiful beaches, hiked a mountain, and dined on tea and scones at many old-houses-turned-hotels. One of the many highlights of the area is an island accessible by car only at low tide. To reach Omey Island, one must drive onto the beach, following the traffic signs sticking out of the sand. You, of course, need to time your departure from the island right to make sure you’re not stuck on the island until the next low tide. We also took our first strenuous hike since Jonah was born up the Diamond. Jeremy carried Jonah in a pack on his back, which added 25 pounds to his load and was an impressive feat. Jonah was a trooper, lasting two hours in the carrier (including a 30 minute snooze).

We had five wonderful days and nights with Macartan, Jacobia, and Aoife before they returned to New York. Jeremy, Jonah, and I did more of the same after they left – the drives, beaches, and scones – adding visits to castles and abbeys to our list of outings. While in Connemara, Jonah took to baaing like a sheep as we drove along the country roads and pointing out animals as we passed them, yelling, “Aml! Aml!” Later in our trip, when we were at a restaurant having lunch, Jonah looked at a woman at a nearby table and yelled, “Aml!” to which I had to reply, “No, Jonah, that’s just the fake fur on a woman’s jacket.” Jonah, apparently not believing me, yelled, “Aml! Aml!”

After a week and a half in Connemara, we headed south and then east back toward Dublin, visiting the Cliffs of Moher, the Rock of Cashel, and Kilkenny Castle along the way. Outside of Cashel, we spent the night at a lovely B&B owned by a couple who raised five kids in their large house before turning it into a B&B and passing on the family farm to their son. We made it to Dublin in time to walk across the canal from where our hotel was located in south Dublin to the central part of the city. We really loved Dublin. The city is so alive, and there are so many spectacular buildings. The people were as friendly as they were in the countryside. In fact, on my journey in search of the oldest Jewish cemetery in Dublin, an older woman got in my car to help show me where it was. Unfortunately, the cemetery was behind a 20-foot-tall, locked gate, but the journey was more than worth two-hours of my time.

We spent the next two days walking around the city, visiting the Irish Jewish Museum, Trinity College, St. Stephens Green, and Kilmainham Gaol (the prison that housed many Irish political prisoners). After our trip to the prison, we realized going to museums with Jonah would be a non-starter. At the prison he could play with the rocks in the exercise yard or go in and out of cells without being a nuisance, but he certainly wasn’t going to sit quietly in the backpack or enjoy the exhibits at the national history museum. Next time…

We left Ireland on September 9th to head to London, where we’ll stay through the end of the month.

Picture descriptions: Jonah being chased by Daddy at Omey Island; A road stop in Athlone on our way to Connemara; Our drive to Omey Island; Enjoying the beach with Jonah's friend, Happy; The beauty of Kylemore Abbey; Our descent from the Diamond