Matt and Kat Brown

Last weekend was a bank holiday here in Dublin, so we took an extra day off and had a 4 day weekend in Norway. Scandinavia has been on our todo list for a while and given that we haven’t managed to visit any new countries yet this year it seemed like a good time to see a new place.

We had an enjoyable weekend in Oslo, although when they say that Norway is one of the more expensive euro countries to travel to they’re not joking! The city was a bit smaller and quieter than I was expecting for a national capital but very tidy and it seems very well equipped with public transport and all the other amenities that make life as a tourist pleasant. One quirk was an over abundance of street mimes, you couldn’t walk 100m in the central city without one of them standing there… weird.

We went to the art gallery and saw some Munch paintings, walked right past The Scream the first time and had to go back and find it just before leaving. Lots of other interesting paintings though. The highlight of the city for both of us however was Vigeland Sculpture Park, a public park – including a public swimming pool – off to one side of the city that is full of hundreds of statues and sculptures all by one Gustav Vigeland who donated the park to the city. Most of the statues are of human figures and are absolutely fantastic in their realism and the sense of animation and life that they portray. Definitely well worth a visit.

Monday dawned bright and clear so we hopped on the ferry for the day and spent some time exploring the islands just out from the Oslo waterfront. The first island we visited seemed to be mostly holiday homes and maybe a few permanent dwellings, very very small houses but very quiet and relaxed only 15mins from the city center by ferry. The second island was pretty much unpopulated, but had the ruins of an old monastery and a fairly popular beach with lots of mothers and families enjoying the sun and the water. We finished off the day with a trip up the hill to see the city from above at the site of a big ski jump they’re rebuilding for the Nordic Ski Championships. The jump is mammoth in size and close to vertical. You would have to be mad to launch yourself off that thing. Definitely an awesome view over Oslo just before you die however.

We took Tuesday pretty slowly, strolling round the city center while Kat did a bit of shopping before heading back to Dublin where we’re continuing to have a surprisingly good summer by Dublin standards!

We’ve got a friends wedding to attend on Wednesday this week and then we’re looking forward to having the Mackenzie’s drop in for a quick visit next week in between the phases of their epic European jaunt, so we’re keeping busy!

PS. We’ve booked flights home to NZ (via Singapore/Malaysia) for the end of the year, so we’re looking forward to seeing everyone again before too long.

We’ve been in Mountain View for 2 weeks now and I’m enjoying many things about life here, especially the warm sunny days and the wealth of fresh food available at the weekend market and the local Whole Foods store. I’d forgotten what fresh veges should be like after so long shopping from Dublin supermarkets. Everything seems to grow bigger and brighter and tastier here as well as lasting much longer (coz its local and fresh!).

Over the 3 weekends we’ve had here so far we’ve done quite a bit of sightseeing:

1) Our first weekend we took a drive along part of the Pacific Highway. I enjoyed walking through the amusement park on the boardwalk at Santa Cruz, it was bright and noisy like a flashback from the 80’s – haha. Of particular note, one of the rides is a wooden roller coaster built in 1924!!! In contrast, Carmel-by-the-sea was a quiet little town with some nice art galleries and lots of refined, old-style buildings. We stayed awhile there enjoying the sun and white sand and watching the many people out walking their dogs on the beach. Our nice day exploring the coast was only marred by some bad traffic getting back to Mountain View in the evening.

2) Our second weekend we spent a day in San Francisco. This was my favourite trip so far!
We started our day in Chinatown, sampling some dim sum and buying some fortune cookies (these snacks were invented in San Francisco). Chinatown here was bigger than I’d been expecting and quite fun to explore.
Next we went on the cable cars. The old cable cars that run up and down the steep streets of the city are a very popular tourist attraction but I think the experience was only improved by having to squish onto the standing platforms and hang off the side for the ride. Good fun and some great views of the sea and Alcatraz as we zoomed down the hill towards Fisherman’s Wharf.
We strolled Fisherman’s Wharf and watched the dozens and dozens of sealions sunbathing on the pontoons at pier 39 – they looked so lazy and relaxed! Using our day pass we took a bus out to the edge of Golden Gate park next. Unfortunately the beautiful beach was very blustery and a bit cold so we walked in the park a bit and then headed over and up to see the ‘painted ladies’, a row of beautiful old wooden villas lined up gracefully with the city skyline behind them. San Francisco seems to be full of steep streets and charming painted wooden villas. I really loved the styles of architecture. After a quick coffee in Duboce we went back into the city center for another round on the cable cars and then dinner at a great place just under the Bay Bridge called Gordon Biersch.

3) This weekend we took another drive out of Mountain View to see Big Basin which is a State Park containing lots of Redwood trees. It was great to walk along the trails and marvel at the big old Redwood trees. We drove home via the Pacific Highway again this time driving up towards Half Moon Bay. Some nice views along the coast there and pit stops for fresh cherries then cookies and donuts along the way! Tomorrow I think we’ll be taking it easy, visiting the farmers market again in the morning and then relaxing poolside for the afternoon. Ahhh such a tough life huh! ;P

Some photos of our weekend adventures:

Happy Easter everyone. I hope your long weekend was well-stocked with chocolate goodies, plenty of relax time and some quiet moments to reflect on the reason behind the holiday.

Matt and I spent this Easter visiting Donegal, in the north-west of Ireland. It was great to get out of the city, see some beautiful natural landscapes and breath in the fresh country air. We stayed at Coxtown Manor near Donegal town, a charming place nestled in the country amid spring daffodils and frolicking lambs. It felt very much like spring in Donegal except for the bone-chilling wind and the tell-tale frosting that remains on the tops of the hills. Like the rest of Ireland, the warmer weather has yet to hit Donegal. Nevertheless, we had a great time driving around the area and were impressed with the landscapes – white sand beaches, mountains and valleys, lakes and cliffs.

On the way to Donegal we stopped at Bundoran beach which was stunning. If it had only been warmer it would have been very inviting to linger awhile, walk along the stretches of white sand and dip my toes in the surf. Instead we took some pictures from above the beach, marveled at the dedicated surfers down below and then headed on our way.

On Sunday we drove along the coast from Donegal. The first stop was Killybegs, a small town with a big fishing port. I was amused to note that the tourist brochure boasts that Killybegs is a “gourmet capital of the northwest” now with a staggering total of 9 restaurants catering to all tastes including Irish, Chinese and Italian! We didn’t eat there so I can’t say for sure if the claims are justified. I can however say the food in Donegal town was decidedly average so it’s quite possible Killybegs does indeed stand out as a gourmet capital by comparison

From Killybegs we continued along the coast taking some very rural winding roads to get to the Slieve League cliffs. These are Europe’s 6th largest cliffs. The walk to the cliffs offered some beautiful views over the ocean and across the rocky hills and outcrops. From here we drove onwards to Glencolmcille, up to Adara and then back to Donegal over the Bluestack Mountains.

On Monday after a quiet morning enjoying the rural aspect and our cozy country room at Coxtown Manor we headed homewards. Coming home after a trip away is always sad but at least we have a short week ahead now! For myself, this means only 4 days left at my web design job with iQuate. With mixed sadness and excitement I’ll be moving on very soon to something new. Exactly what I’ll be moving on to once we get back from Mountain View in June is as yet undecided but I’m looking forward to new opportunities and challenges…

Photos of our weekend in Donegal:

We finally had time to sit down and sort through the 600 or so photos we generated over the past week. For your viewing pleasure we’ve cut them down to the following highlights:

• Zurich and surrounds (Winterthur, Rapperswil) – ignore the first 10 winter photos, they’re from an earlier Zurich trip!
• The Rhine Falls – one of our day trips out of Zurich, it deserved a gallery all of its own.
• U2 360degree tour in Dublin – We saw U2 in Croke Park, Dublin on Monday night, Awesome concert.
• Car on Fire – A Mercedes parked behind our house "burst" into flames at 4:30am on Wed morning, providing some uneeded excitement!

We’re off to the UK this (long) weekend, so expect to see some photos of Stonehenge and the Banksy exhibit from Bristol Museum next week.

Last week in Zurich was nice and relaxing. I enjoyed sleeping in and spending afternoons visiting different places in the city. I visited a Museum of Design one day and the Zurich zoo on another. I wandered around the old city and browsed the shops a lot.

Zurich seemed very orderly and very expensive. The people there were generally quite reserved. Nobody smiled on the tram and most people are quite unwilling to speak English. Despite this the city is nice to explore because everything is so clean and organised with great tram, train and boat services. The city really runs like clockwork.

I was able to meet Matt at the Google offices for dinner a couple of nights and I enjoyed getting the grand tour. Pictures of the Zurich offices have been much discussed and puzzled over online ever since the makeover last year. It was cool to see each of the zany ideas in reality. My favorite part was lying in a bathtub filled with foam and watching the fishes in the fish tank. A bit surreal really.

I wasn’t allowed to take any photos Mum, but I can tell you I did try out the twisty metal slide that goes down to the cafeteria and it was somewhat embarrassing

On the Saturday before we left we took a boat down the lake to a town called Rapperswil. The slow cruise gave us good views of the houses and vine yards along the lakeside, very pretty. We walked around Rapperswil a bit and then met some of Matt’s colleagues in the afternoon for a UK beer and cheese tasting event! It was a little ironic to be ordering a stout and a wedge of wensleydale while in Switzerland but it was an enjoyable afternoon and evening with good company and tasty food.

Early on Sunday we headed off to the airport. We shed all our remaining swiss francs at the airport plus a wee bit more when we stocked up on toblerone, lindt and some luxemburgerli yum yum!!!

The only thing I didn’t do while in Switzerland which I still want to try is a  fondue dinner. Warm summer evenings are not well suited to meals of melted cheese so I think we’ll have to plan a return visit to Zurich in winter when the city is cold and snowy.

We’re in Zurich this week, I’m here for work and Kat managed to get a week off work to relax and join me which certainly makes my traveling for work much more enjoyable.

We arrived yesterday (Saturday) in the late afternoon and found our hotel/apartment with no problems. After settling in I took Kat on a quick tour of the central city / lake area which I’d sort of explored on a previous visit last year. Our first impression, at around 6pm on a Saturday was how quiet and sparsely populated many of the streets in the center of town were, all the shops were closed and there weren’t really that many people around even at the lake front. We had dinner at a nice “Gratin” restaurant near the central train station, delicious food.

Today (Sunday) we took the train northwest out of Zurich to the town of Winterthur, Switzerland’s 6th largest city apparently. The town itself was absolutely deserted and quiet by normal standards, Sunday in Switzerland is definitely not a day for shopping or anything that requires interaction with a store of any kind. Luckily for us, the object of our visit was the Swiss Photomuseum which is open on a Sunday and we spent an enjoyable hour or two browsing an exhibition of Walker Evans’ work along with a couple of other exhibitions.

After a quick lunch at an Italian restaurant (delicious pizza baked in front of us) we hopped on another train, (Switzerland’s public transport is awesome, if a little pricey), and journeyed a bit further north to the Rhine Falls which are apparently the largest in Europe. They were impressive, but if that’s the best Europe has to offer it’s doing pretty badly. Huka Falls are at least competitive with the Rhine Falls in my opinion. We took a bunch of photos, and a boat ride to a rock right in the middle of the falls where we could see the water cascading down on either side and feel the spray making us and my camera somewhat wet…

We eventually headed back to the train via a nice riverside walk and returned to Zurich via a round-about route via some small rural train stations that a friendly ticket seller in Winterthur had arranged for us to minimise the cost of our overall trip!

I’m off to work tomorrow and Kat has a week of shopping (window only I hope) and relaxing planned for herself.

Ever since we booked our cruise holiday in January I’ve been eagerly awaiting May 29th, excited to flee the grey cold weather of Dublin and cruise the Caribbean in style with our fabulous friends Kieron, Lucy, Joey and Robbie.

There was so much packed into our holiday last week that I don’t know where to begin in describing it. Lets just say it was 9 days of fabulousness! Memories of our tropical sunny holiday will keep me warm through the Irish ’summer’

We arrived in Miami on the afternoon of Friday 29th. We spent that evening soaking in the ambiance of South Beach, people-watching and sipping cocktails. On Saturday we boarded the ‘Liberty of the Seas’ and settled into our home for the week. Sunday we cruised towards Haiti and Monday we relaxed on the private beach of Labadee. Tuesday we rafted down a jungle river in Jamaica. Wednesday we snorkeled and swum with stingrays in Grand Cayman. Thursday we snorkeled in Mexico and Friday we cruised back towards Miami and bid a grudging farewell to the Caribbean.  On Saturday we left the ship early and managed to squeeze in some speed-shopping at Aventura in Miami before our flight home.

That is our holiday in brief. I can’t really do justice to all that we saw and did or to the fun times we had but here are a few memories in no particular order :

• The Liberty of the Seas – The cruise ship itself was truly impressive. Like a small city floating around the Caribbean. Liberty of the Seas is complete with mini-golf, movie theatre, ice skating rink, climbing wall, shops and restaurants, water desalination plant, tv production studio, you name it!
• Swimming in the sea – The water was so clear and calm. I’ve never swum in such warm ocean before! I’m quite a wimp when it comes to even slightly cold water but the sea in the Caribbean is perfect, like swimming in bathwater! The blue sky and the brilliant blues and greens of the water are beautiful. Sigh. Perfection.
• Stingrays – in Grand Cayman we took a tour out to Stingray bay, a sand bar where huge stingrays will swim around you and let you hold them! It was scary stepping into the clear blue water and seeing the black shapes gliding around under the surface. It freaked me out completely to feel the stingrays brushing past my legs as they swam between us. But it was fun haha
• Formal Dress – I loved dressing up for the 2 formal nights on the boat. We girls got to glam it up in our cocktail dresses and the boys held up their side too looking very dashing in their tuxedos.
• Shopping – Well, this is more of a highlight for me than for Matt but I had a great time shopping with Lucy and Robbie in Miami. Forever 21 is my new favourite store. If only they would open a store a little closer to here…
• Sunsets – We saw some gorgeous sunsets while on holiday. The first one in Miami and then a few nights onbaord the ship. I love how a sunset never looks exactly the same as the night before.
• The little things – It was the small things that made the cruise feel luxurious, like the origami towel animals left on our bed each night by the room attendant and the attentive waiters at dinner each night who placed your napkin on your lap and brushed the crumbs off the table before dessert with their little table combs hehe.
• Food – The food, oh my, the food. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten so much in one week. A cruise holiday is all inclusive meaning you can eat all you want and it doesn’t cost you anything more… Expansive breakfast buffets, all day snacks and 3 course dinners. We took full advantage of all of it mmmm yum! The calories don’t count when you’re on holiday don’t ya know
• Lightning storm – On our last night on board the weather turned dark and stormy. We looked out to sea and watched the storm.  It was awesome to see the bolts of lightning flash across the night sky.
• Fabulous Friends – Holidays are infinitely better when you have good company to enjoy them with!!! Thanks for the amazing holiday guys

Check out all the holiday photos in our gallery here.

Thursday morning saw us make an early start from Avignon as we tried to fit in a quick trip to Carcassonne to see the walled city that one of our favourite board games is named after before catching our train to Barcelona from Montpellier in the early afternoon, a total of roughly 400km of driving. Thanks to the French motorway system and the generous 130km/h speed limit we managed this in just under 4 hours which gave us just enough time for a quick visit and a few photos in Carcassonne itself!

The old city of Carcassone sits high on a hill looking out over the surrounding valleys and the walls and fortifications have been immaculately preserved. The scale is impressive and you have to wonder how any attacking army would have thought they had a chance of breaching the multiple layers of walls and moat/cliffs surrounding them. These days the inside of the fortified city is full of little tourist shops and stalls, the modern day city of Carcassonne is spread around the base of the hill. Our visit was brief but we enjoyed the views, especially as we could see some snow covered alps to the south which made a nice contrast the the warm environment and surroundings of Carcassonne.

The train from Montpellier to Barcelona was fairly old and rickety, but it went slow enough that we had plenty of time to admire the coast line and scenery that we passed through. We arrived into Barcelona early in the evening and checked into the hostel. Before we arrived in Barcelona we’d been told many times to watch for pick pockets and the staff at the hostel repeated this warning in a fairly dire tone, almost like it was inevitable that we would fall victim. Despite that we never saw any sign of trouble, even in the crowded subways or walking Las Ramblas after midnight, but we were definitely watching over our shoulders constantly. While I’m sure the problem exists, I have to wonder if it is over-hyped, it would have been nice to wander through the city without having pickpocketing constantly on the mind!

We spent most of Friday exploring the Gaudi parts of the city, starting at the Sagrada Familia and continuing on to the Park Guell in the afternoon. The Sagrada Familia was definitely a highlight, possibly of the entire holiday. The building is amazing, both in design and construction but also for the fact that it has been under construction since 1882 and is nowhere near finished yet! The style and shape is like nothing you’ve seen before. We took a tour through the inside of the church which is currently a builders workshop where you watch the workers crafting the custom mouldings and pieces of the church. It is scheduled to open as an actual church sometime in 2010. Park Guell continued the Gaudi theme with lots of spiral styled pillars and mosaics. For a single artist/architect Gaudi has left a very distinct mark on Barcelona.

On Friday evening we tried to visit the Font Monjuic on Monjuic mountain, an impressive fountain lit by a multitude of lights that performs in time with music every evening. Unfortunately the fountain turns out to also be in the middle of the Barcelona convention centre area where there was some sort of auto show on. Toyota had taken the opportunity to exclude the public from the area and put up giant inflatable tents that obscured most views of the fountain. A sad end to the day, but we tried to make the best of it by climbing to the top of the mountain to watch the sun set over the city. We dined Spanish style around 10pm at a delicious Tapas restaurant near to our hostel. Needless to say that every meal we had in Barcelona was delightful and ridiculously cheap (compared to Dublin standards) too!

By Saturday, the last day of the holiday, our feet were getting pretty tired of walking and exploring so we spent most of the day exploring Barcelona’s beautiful leafy parks and testing the park benches. Barcelona really is a beautiful city with lots of green spaces and plenty of families and friends out enjoying the sunshine and fresh air.

Barcelona was definitely my favourite city of all the places we visited, followed closely by Aix-en-Provence. As lucky as we are to have been able to spend 8 days in such a wonderful part of the world, I can’t help but think that we need to spend much more time there to really get a feel for the place and pick up some more of the language and culture. If only Google had an engineering office in Barcelona…

Photos from the last portion of the trip are in the gallery as per usual:

• Carcassonne
• Barcelona

We came home with over 600 photos between our two cameras and spent a good few hours today sifting through them and writing some captions.

The first installment can be found via the link below:

• Photos from Nice, Monaco and the Cote d’Azur

More to come in the following days as we find some more time to edit and caption the rest.

Happy Easter everyone! We had a fabulous easter weekend, enjoying the company of Susanna and Daniel and showing them around some of Irelands sights. It was great to see old friends again and fun to get out of Dublin and enjoy the sunny weather.

Susanna and Daniel arrived early on Good Friday after a long train + ferry trip from London. Matt whipped up another batch of hot cross buns for breakfast (very impressive) and then mid morning we went out to walk around the city center stopping at all the main sights around the place. I was very grateful for the sunny afternoon, Dublin is always more charming on a sunny day!

On Saturday we hired a car and drove west through Limerick and on further to the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher (otherwise known as the ‘Cliffs of Insanity’ to Princess Bride fans). Views from the cliffs were great and we enjoyed chilling out on the grass, eating icecreams and taking some fun photos. We also visited the Burren, stopping to look at an ancient dolmen tomb and to take in the great grey expanses of rock.  A second sunny day which was fantastic!!!

We spent Saturday night in Lisdoonvarna which is the self proclaimed home to Europe’s Largest Matchmaking festival every September. In April it was eerily quiet but we did find a little pub to sit in after dinner for a pint or two and some traditional Irish music. Charming apart from the rowdy group of lads in the back who decided to start a singing competition – I don’t think anyone won

On Sunday I was delighted to wake up to yet another sunny day. We took a ferry out to Inis Oirr, the smallest of the Aran Islands. The island is crisscrossed with a maze of dry stone fences that divide up every area into small green plots. We followed a path across the island and took a turn that eventually tapered out and led us into a little off road excursion through fields and over fences. It was perfect sunny weather for exploring the island and by the end of the day we were all a little surnburnt. That’s a first for us in Ireland! When we left Inis Oirr the boat took us on a short cruise past the Cliffs of Moher before returning to port at Doolin. From there we drove back to Dublin, arriving just in time for dinner and a good nights sleep.

A fun weekend and possibly the best run of weather we’ve had for a weekend in Ireland so far. Thanks to Susanna and Daniel for the good company, the opportunity for a road trip, and the whitlocks and squiggle tops