Saltimbanco

For my birthday a few weeks ago, Jon got me tickets to see Cirque du Soleil in Dublin this weekend. They are a Quebec-based group whose shows have become famous world-wide, and we were very excited about this weekend escapade. The performance we saw was called Saltimbanco. It is one of their earliest shows, and it is still amazing. The whole experience is really wonderful. The costumes are outstanding and full of colour, the music enhances every act, and the skills of the performers are simply outrageous! There are acrobats, drummers, dancers, singers, trapeze artists, clowns, mimes.... it's a fantastic and unique sensory experience.

I Heart the Weekend

Lately both Jon and I have been very busy and overtired during the week, making our weekends precious and much-anticipated. As an added bonus, it has been outrageously sunny and warm in southern Ireland - no rain! This past Saturday we went on a day trip with some friends to Youghal, a pretty coastal town about 40 minutes east of Cork City.

We sat on the beach and soaked up some sun for a few hours. Then we walked around the town, taking in the views of the ocean and the ruins of the old city wall. We finished our day at a typical Irish pub, watching the Cameroon-Denmark World Cup game over some dinner.

These are the days that I feel grateful to be alive.

Cork Midsummer Festival of the Senses

Today was sunny and beautiful again in Cork, a wonderful and much-appreciated Irish rarity. We spent the afternoon outdoors with friends, appreciating the weather. With summer come all the festivals, and this weekend there are two going on (that I'm aware of). We managed to see a bit of both. First went to see the Ocean To City festival from Lapp's Quay. We stayed long enough to wander through the crowds, eat some delicious hummus, barely see a few boats, and then head off to our next destination.

We spent the rest of the afternoon at Fitzgerald's Park, where the Cork Midsummer Festival was underway. The were huge crowds of people there, mainly to see the Street Performance World Championship. We caught a few acts around the park, but the one that impressed me most was an acrobatic duo. As we approached, they were blasting opera music and making the crowd laugh while performing amazing feats of athleticism. Those guys did things with their bodies that made me cringe in pain/fear/incredulity. The only way I can describe them is to say that they would fit in at Cirque du Soleil.

As we watched, Jon noted that their accents sounded French Canadian, and I agreed. The longer we stood there, the more convinced we became that they were Quebecois. And guess what? We were right.

Here is their website, and a few photos I stole, which I hope they don't mind because I'm trying to spread their name far and wide:

So Behind in My Blogging, I've Given Up Apologizing.

So much to tell.

Jon & I made the final lap in our wedding extravaganza. This one, organized by my mother and held in Tel Aviv on April 30th 2010, was a luncheon affair. Despite the fact that it rained a bit, a rather shocking weather event for Tel Aviv at the end of April, the party was wonderful and we all enjoyed ourselves. The photographer, Nicole de Castro, took some fantastic pictures:












After breaking the glass.










After the wedding grand finale, we took some time to hang out and enjoy Israel. We spent time with family, lay on the beach, went to Jerusalem, and checked out some fun stuff around Tel Aviv.


The cousins at a tapas bar in downtown Tel Aviv


Quiet Tel Aviv beach


View over Jerusalem's Old City


The new Design Museum in Holon




Ottoman ruins in Tel Afek




Orchid garden at Utopia Botanical Park




Carnivorous plant at Utopia



Now that you have had some measure of an update on my month abroad, at least via photos, I feel I can begin to tell you about life in the present. We are back in Cork, and Jon is working while I am doing volunteer work for the Cork Simon community. We are busy and the weather is a bit more summery, so generally things are good here. Still, I must admit that I am happy to know that after this summer it will be time to go home to Toronto. It's a sort of a countdown in my mind now. But until then, I hope to suck up every moment of our European adventure!

Karma

Recently the sun has made an appearance in Cork, and with it came a flood of happy pedestrians in skirts and shorts, eating ice cream and popsicles. Those first few days of warm weather are always like a drug, it seems.

Even before the really warm days arrived, we took advantage of the slight upward swing in temperature and went on a little weekend escapade. Jon's ex-coworker invited us to a party at his father's pub in Shanagolden, a small village in County Limerick. It was to be a proper Irish party, with a pig roast, some local musicians, and all the proceeds going to charity. How could we say no??

We rented a car and set off towards Connemara. See this beautiful map I made for you? Ah, how skilled I am, yes, yes.... Now what was I saying? Oh yes, Point A on the map (that may or may not have taken me over 30 minutes to create and paste in here, omigod) ahem, Point A is our departure point, the fair city of Cork. And originally we planned to spend our first night in Galway. It's supposed to be a fun place.


View Larger Map

You may notice, however, that the line crosses Galway and keeps going. Yes, a very astute observation. We sort of got on a whim... a whim to get into nature as opposed to staying in the city. So we cancelled our B&B reservation in Galway and made a last-minute reservation just outside a place called Clifden (Point B). We used our handy-dandy Lonely Planet guide, so we figured the place would be decent. We also knew that Clifden was in an area called Connemara that has a reputation for being very beautiful.

When we arrived at Mallmore B&B, here is what we found:


Uh, is this really our humble B&B...?


The sink in our room


Our room's wallpaper


More of our room


The hallway

AND the breakfast was good. So let's see, amazingly beautiful B&B bursting at the seams with character, plus good food... Yes, I recommend this place! Yes, yes, yes, I give it 5 stars, or 6, or whatever the maximum is of starrability. It's all starry, trust me.

So on to the rest of our trip. Here are some more of my favourite images:














Kylemore Abbey (Point C on the map)



And, of course, the grand finale - the party in Shanagolden:





Unfortunately the nice weather forgot to stay nice until we got home, so it started to rain while we were driving home on Monday morning. While the rain was coming down and things were turning muddy, Jon suddenly pulled over to the side of the road and informed me that we had a flat tire. I'd been napping (my favourite post-party on-the-road past-time) so I was oblivious, but apparently it was fairly severe. We very unhappily hauled ourselves out of the car and into the mud & rain, only to discover that we are both pathetically inept tire-changers. Soon enough we were reading the manual out loud to each other as the pages became soaked and destroyed. I finally tried to flag down some help. I swear, nothing will make you feel more rejected than when NOBODY STOPS TO HELP YOU and you are jumping around and waving your arms like a moron at the side of the road. Thankfully, a man (my hero!) eventually stopped and helped us with the entire process. He was so nice, I just hope all that karma stuff is true. He really deserves a big bunch of goodness for stopping to help us. Thank you, anonymous guy!!