We spent the first weekend of November on a mini-vacation in Amsterdam with our close friends L & C. It was definitely too short, but it was also really cool to just skip over to Amsterdam for a weekend! Woah, Europe, I love you!
A few days after we got back from Amsterdam, we went on a 5-day trip to Malaga in southern Spain. We didn't know much about Malaga when we booked the flight a few months ago. We were just looking for a cheap vacation to a place that would be warmish in November, at least compared to Ireland. So, we chose southern Spain and then I did some research. First I decided that we should stay in Malaga as opposed to going to the many other (great) places in southern Spain because we were looking for a more restful vacation. Then I found out about a nice-looking hostal (a small guest-house) called The El Riad Andaluz in the heart of Malaga's historic city center. This place turned out to be a godsend. The family who owns it are amazing - really warm, outgoing, and helpful. The husband, Flo, spent ages when we checked in telling us about his favorite spots in the city for food, music, drinks, and other things. Every time we went to one of those places they turned out to be truly wonderful. The restaurants were delicious, the flamenco show was breathtaking, and he was absolutely right that Saturday afternoon should be spent on the beach eating paella or freshly grilled sardines. He also helped us to arrange a day-trip to the Alhambra, and got us out of a bind when we realized during our day-trip that we had forgotten our credit card at a restaurant the night before (ack!). Our entire vacation in Spain was....for lack of a less cheesy word... magical, and it was in large part due to our great hotel owners. I'm so glad we found that place!
These days I dream of returning to Malaga. In my mind, it represents sunny days, delicious tapas, peaceful beaches, dramatic flamenco, streets full of people, wild Picasso paintings, and gorgeous fashions.
After all our travels, we stayed in Cork for the rest of November. However, our adventures continued nonetheless! On Nov 13 we had lots of fun at The Good Wine Show at The Clarion Hotel, only to find it was absolutely pouring rain (lashing, as they would say here) when we left to go home. The rain didn't stop all night, and eventually it actually flooded a large portion of Ireland.
Floods are not completely unusual here since it rains so much and since many rivers cut through the towns, but the flooding in the last few weeks has been some of the worst southwest Ireland has had in decades. Luckily we were not affected much by it, but some of friends had no water at their homes and many of the businesses that we frequent in the city centre were badly flooded. In fact, the flooding was only a block away from our building - crazy! Also, one of the walls of the river simply collapsed (rather than overflowing) and it was just outside Jon's work. Here are some pictures we took in the morning when everyone was out on the streets looking at the water in shock:
Our friends Alex (from Quebec) and Fraser (from Scotland) got married on November 27th. It was the first wedding we've attended since our own in late September, and since it was a civil ceremony it was actually in the same place that we had ours. The woman who married us remembered us and we had a nice chat with her. Cork is just so friendly.
This week our good friends Lyne & Charles are leaving to go back home to Canada. They were in Ireland for a year and now they are ending their adventures abroad. It was very sad to say goodbye to them, and will be strange here without them. We had such nice Sunday wine & cheese days with them, and they were like our extended family here in our home away from home. It feels like the end of an era.
We are going home for a visit too, luckily - Yay! - on December 16th. I can't wait to see everyone. In fact, I'm secretly hoping that all the airplanes break down and we get stuck there. Just kidding. Well, kinda.
L
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