Category Archives: Travel

Kinvarra


Today we drove from Ennis to Kinvarra. Our plan today changed several times. First we thought we would drive and stay in Doolin, but when we got there the town was so quiet we continued onward. Then we decided we would go to Galway or perhaps even as far Clifden. We stopped in Kinvara, a coastal town just south of Galway for something to eat. We found a nice little pub called Keough’s where a delightful bartender named Kate took great care of us. As we sat there, Niko informed us that he did not want to go any further. He had had his fill of driving for the day. Instead, he went out and explored our options for lodging and came back with keys to a room in a new hotel just across the street.

Our choice to stay in Kinvarra across the street from Keoughs was inspired. As the night fell, Niko and Sam were able to snuggle in and rest, and I was able to go over to the bar at 10 pm, to listen to traditional Irish music. The evening at Keoughs will long be cherished in my memory. Keoghs is a small pub. There is room for maybe 25 people to sit. There was a gentleman playing the flute, and penny whistle, a woman on the guitar and a woman singing. As the evening progressed, the band members would invite a favored guest in the pub to sing a song. By the end of the evening almost everyone in the pub, except me, had sang an Irish ballad. It was a perfect moment. I kept wanting to get up and run over and force Niko and Sam out of bed to join in the experience, but I was afraid I’d lose my stool in this crowded pub. So I sat where I was, and drank it in and gave thanks for this pure and perfect moment in Ireland

Cliffs of Moher



The great thing about travelling around Ireland, when the country is at a virtual standstill because of snow, is that we get to see the sights without the crowds. Today we went to the cliffs of Moher. There were only about 10 other cars in a parking lot built for hundreds. The sun was shining, the air was brisk, and the walkways were slippery. We carefully walked up the steps to take in the views of the Cliffs. The views were astounding. We kept going back to areas we had already been for just one more look. Niko and I were overwhelmed by the beauty of it all. Sam? He told us Cliffs were just not his thing. I cannot get my head around that comment. Could it be a tween thing?

Rock of Cashel and a Change of Plans





We left Kilkenny this morning and headed to the Rock of Cashel. Tradition has it that this is the site where the Kings of Munster were converted to Christianity by St. Patrick. Niko accidentally got off the highway too soon and we ended up just where I dreamed we would be…on the back country roads of Ireland. At the foot of the rock we stopped in at a sweater shop. There behind the counter stood Inga, a vivacious young woman who had not seen another person all day. She was full of information and stories for us.
Inga had a bit of bad news for us, though. The roads to Cork were very bad and the roads to the Dingle Peninsula were completely closed. There went our plans. We quickly reorganized and started to quiz Inga on our other hoped for destinations…Donegal, need 4 wheel drive, Belfast, roads not safe, the whole southwest coast, not derivable. So we decided to head to Ennis and then up along the coast of county Clare tot he Cliffs of Moher.
We arrived in Ennis and went to a holiday fair where Sam got a snake painted on his face that was unbelievable. Niko and I started to look for a place to stay. We checked out a nearby hotel, but it stunk and felt dirty, so we decided to keep looking. Niko sat down to make some calls and I went on a quick tour of the shops before they closed in 20 minutes. I got lost and for the life of me could not find my way back to the hotel where Niko and Sam were waiting for me. It was nerve wracking. I knew I was close, but I could not figure out how to get there, nor could I figure out the name to ask anyone coherently, where it was I was trying to go. After 3 at temps, someone finally understood which hotel I was looking for and set me in the right direction. Niko was none too happy to see me, having waited an hour for my return. He told me about a B&B he had found, but when we called back to say we would take it, it had been booked while he was waiting for me to return. Needless to say the tension increased. We had tried alot of B&Bs and even a hostel or 2 and many were closed because of the season. We had one more option, before we checking in to the smelly, dirty hotel. We called and a wonderful woman answered and told us she had a room and offered us a price 20 Euro cheaper than anywhere else we had tried. We arrived at the Railway View House and were greeted by Kathleen, a lovely middle aged woman in a beautiful country style home. Our room had fir floors and furniture, a fresh mug of milk for tea, and it smelled great! Kathleen greeted us warmly and then told us she was headed into town to hear a Christmas concert at the Cathedral, organized by the Franciscans. We hopped in our car and headed there ourselves. It was lovely.
After the concert, we headed to a local pub for some Irish music. The music was good, but we were all tired and didn’t last long. OK the hot whiskeys probably didn’t help increase our energy, but we hoped they would help with our oncoming colds.
In the morning, we took some time to visit with Kathleen. She is obviously a woman of deep faith and has a good heart. She told us about her daughter working in Calcutta with the poor. My experience in Calcutta forged a bond between us. As I said that she must be very proud of her daughter, her eyes filled with tears.
We left Ennis filled by Kathleen’s hearty breakfast and her gentle, kind spirit. We were off on another day of adventure, ever watchful for the next angel put in our path.

Ireland: Kilkenny

We arrived in Kilkenny and stopped by the first pub we saw for some dinner. Ends up it is a pub called Kyteler’s Inn, which resides in a house that was built in 1224. A woman lived there who had 4 husbands who all died in suspicious ways. She was charged with witchcraft is 1323 and her ghost is said to still hang around the place. I did not see her ghost, but I had a bowl of Irish stew and a Guinness and thought I’d died and gone to heaven.
At 10 pm we left Kytler’s in search of a place to stay. We went looking for a Butler Court which was highly rated as a medium range accommodation in Kilkenny. We accidentally ended up at Butler House, a high end accommodation that was the house for the women who visited the castle in Medieval Times. The .manager of the hotel, offered us the same price as Butler’s Court off season rate. Still not knowing we were in the wrong place, our mouths dropped as we entered our room. It is a suite with high, high ceilings, floor to ceiling windows, a queen sized and twin sized bed, a sitting area, an entry room and a bathroom with towel warmers! It was so beautiful and luxurious. We felt like we were in the castle.

To get to breakfast we walked through beautifully manicured gardens to the building that had been the old servants quarters and stables. From breakfast we walked into the castle garden and then took a tour of this incredible landmark. It was later in the day as we were strolling down the street that we realized that we were not in the best value accomodation that Rick Steve’s had suggested, but rather the high end Butler House. We could not believe our good fortune.

I love everything about Kilkenny. It is quaint, yet it has a lot to see and explore. Our accommodations are perfectly situated. We re enjoying it so much that we have decided to stay a second day to fully enjoy the beauty of it all.

Dublin: The zoo

Yesterday afternoon, we arrived at the zoo at 4:15, only to discover it had closed at 4. Sam was one sad boy. So we promised him we would come back today. My friend, Anne O’Sullivan joined us. This was a total act of love on her part as the weather is bitterly cold and animals are just not her thing. The great thing was that we had the zoo to ourselves, no one else was crazy enough to tromp around the zoo in this weather. Many of the animals were not visible either, they too knew it was way to cold to be out tromping around.
Ann and I eventually went inside and had tea and let Niko and Sam continue on. It was wonderful to sit with this powerful and beautiful woman who drinks in her life with gratitude and grace. Anne was a member of the Tacoma L’Arche community from 1989 to 1992. She then left our community to go back home to Ireland and start the L’Arche communities in Ireland. She has just retired after successfully establishing 4 communities.
The highlight of the zoo for all of us was the baby rhino. It was less than a week old and so, so precious.
From the zoo, we headed to the airport to pick up a car and begin our adventure. I am so excited. Dublin is a great city, but everything in me yearns to get out in the countryside and to experience the intimacy of Ireland. We are headed to Kilkenny, down through Cork and then on to the Dingle Peninsula.

Dublin, Ireland

We arrived iun Dublin on Wed. afternoon and were greeted at the airport by Rhona, the aunt of my friend, Jacqui. Rhona is a nun of the order of the Sisters of Charity of the Immaculate Conception. She is here studying at All Hallows Universtiy getting a Mastgers in Supervisory practice. All this sounds very serious, but Rhona is not. She is a spitfire, who kept us going…taking Sam out for a walk so Niko and I could get ourselves settled, then taking us into Dublin to the tourist information, to buy bus tickets and shopping on Henry Street. Then back to her apartment for homemade porkchops and whiskey.
We start our meals with Rhona with a whiskey. Throughout the meal she has us laughing. Sam actually fell on the floor he was laughing so hard as she told us story after story of foods she cannot stand. Like the time she was invited to a special meal by some African friends. They presented her her plate with much enthusiasm and when she looked down, there was the head of a fish, eyes and all. To her friends it was a delicacy, but she thought she was going to die. Instead she drank her whiskey and downed the fish head.
It is not the story themselves, but the way this elderly nun tells thenm that keeps our sides splitting with laughter. She has this twinkle in her eye and an earthiness, mixed with a deep spirituality,that catch us off gaurd and make everything so much funnier.
Rhona embodies hospitality. She has welcomed us into her world, having never met us before and treated us like cherished family members. She is amazing with Sam, and perhaps a bit of a kindred spirit. She definitely keeps up with his 12 year old boy energy.
Sam has determined that his favorite time in Ireland is dinner time, when Rhona sits down with her glass of whiskey and tells us her stories and has us crying from laughing so hard.

Day 8: Our Last Day in Oslo

We spent most of our morning packing and repacking our bags, trying to meet all wieght requirements for Ryan Air. Thank God, I had picked up a little tool I discovered at Triple A the day before we left. It is a small electronic scale that you hook onto the handle of your suitcase and then lift up and it gives you the weight. It is the best $15.00 I have ever spent. After much packing and repacking, we got out into the sunshine for a lst adventure in Oslo. We went back to my favorite spot, Vigeland Park. We strolled through the park taking our time. Niko and Sam gave me so much time and space to take in the park and to photograph every statue I loved. The light was beautiful and the statues took on new life in the sunshine.

We went back to the Nobel Peace Insitute to leave a gift of a bottle of Washington wine for the head librarian, Anne. She came out and visited with us, one more time, and was so hospitable and gracious. As we left she told Sam to contact her if she could help him with any information with school projects, etc. I left shaking my head and asking “Sam, do you have any idea how amazing that is? How many young people have the head librarian of the Nobel Peace Institute inviting them to contact her if they need any help or have any questions?”

I cannot help but wonder how this experience will shape Sam’s life…how it will change all of us. It has been such an amazing 8 days. It will take a long time to process it all. For now, I leave Oslo with a heart overflowing with gratitude, awe and wonder, ready to make a change.

Day 7: Concert at the Cathedral




We were invited to lunch today at the home of Kari, the niece to Janet Rudd. It was a wonderful day and in the sparkling eyes of Kari, I recognized a woman who I could form a deep friendship with enough time. Our time was short, however, since both Kari and her husband had a work deadline hanging over their heads. So we had a wonderful lunch and shared stories and then it as time to leave. As we left, Sam and their 12 year old son, Knut were wanting to spend more time together, so Knut we invited Knut to join us for the day. We headed to the National Museum so that Sam could see Edvard Munch’s original painting of “The Scream”. Then, Knut gave us a tour of the opera house, where he had been in a production. We ended our time at a Christmas Concert at the Cathedral in which Kari had so generously gotten us tickets.

We were surprised when we arrived 30 minutes early for the concert and the main section of the cathedral was already full. The seating is in the shape of a cross and we ended up in the right hand side of the t. I positioned us as far to the left of our pew as possible in hopes that we would be able to see part of the choir. As the music started the choir came down the main aisle. A group broke off and came and sat behind us, another group was directly across from us, a group was on the alter and then a group we could not see at all were in the back of the Church. The sound was amazing. I felt the music enter and fill every cell of my being. My eyes closed, not because of exhaustion, but rather to more fully take in the beauty of it all. I have never felt so overcome by music as I was at this Christmas concert. I felt bathed, filled, blessed and renewed, ready to welcome the light of Christmas.

Day 6: Nobel Concert

Our plan today had been to go to out with Turid and arrive home in time for a good nap before the concert. We just could not resist a last meal with this woman who is so dear to us, so we arrived back to our room with barely enough time to change clothes and rush back to the T to go to the concert. As we were running, and slipping down the road to catch the T, Marta was being dropped off by their friend, Melissa, who graciously offered us a ride. We arrived at the Oslo Spectrum with plenty of time to spare.

The concert started at 8pm. All day, I had been reminding, Niko and Sam about how important it was that we rest before the concert. Each night we have been in bed by 8, unable to keep our eyes open. I was most worried about Sam sleeping through the concert. When we got there, however, it was me who could not, as much as I tried, keep my eyes open. I would force myself to listen and then the music would take me away and my eyes would close.

After a number of cat naps during the first half of the concert, I was able to stay awake for the 2nd half. The performances were amazing. But, none more so than the final performer of the evening, Berry Mainilow. He took command of the stage in a way no other performer was able. He owned the whole space, making it his own and drawing us in to his world.

And then the final song of the evening….All the performers joined together on stage to sing Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror”. Tears streamed down my face at the beauty and wonder of it all. This was the final moment of my Nobel Peace Prize experience. I was surrounded by several thousand people singing, “I’m looking at the man in the mirror. I’m asking him to make a change. If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make a change.” God, I am ready to change. Show me.

Day 6: Museums and Fairs

Turid, in her graciousness, met up with us again this morning and took us to the Folk Museum where they were having a holiday fair. There were hundreds of booths of Norwegian Artisans and their crafts. I could have spent the whole day there…Beautiful clothing made out of felted wool, the scent of Norwegian cakes filling the air , Horse drawn carriages clomping down the lane, white lights illuminating our path, children performing Norwegian Dance, Sam frolicking in the snow.

Sam was amazing. It is bitterly cold and yet he seemed insulated from it, lying in the snow, making snow angels, digging in the snow to make a tunnel, chipping away at the ice, making Frisbees out of the frozen, icy, top layer of snow. Not once did he complain, or ask to go inside. He was a child in his element.

Niko, patiently lived through the folk museum holiday fair, going inside to the museums as often as possible to warm his body and feed his mind. Looking at crafts is not one of his top 10things to do. So after many hours of indulging my interests, we moved on down the lane to indulge his at the Maritime and the Kon-Tiki Museums. Here he was in his element, reading every panel, digesting every bit of information, drinking it all in.

When the museums closed, we hopped on the bus and headed back into the city. Turid took us out to dinner to her favorite Japanese Restaurant. It was beautiful and warm. We drank Saki and enjoyed a delightful meal together. And then we parted, hugging this wonderful woman, who adopted us as her own and introduced us to Oslo.