Irlandia (polski)

Czy deszczowa Irlandia pod koniec pazdziernika ma urok? Odpowiedz jest tak, szczegolnie jesli jest to prezent urodzinowy. To byly nasze pierwsze odwiedzilismy w Irlandii.

W Dublinie wyladowalismy wczesnym rakiem, wzielismy samochod i ruszylismy w droge do Limerick. Drogi jak w Polsce - dziurawe, waskie i mnostwo robot drogawych - 170km w 4 godz. Droga zajela nam znacznie dluzej niz planowalismy, nasz pierwszy postoj byl w Adare - urocza wioska z domami krytymi sloma i duzym polem golfowym. W centrum pola golfowego jest XVIII wieczny polacyk - obecnie luksusowy hotel z super restauracja i barem z zadziwiajaco normalnymi cenami.
Limerick byl rozczarowujacy - promowany jako weekendowa stolica Irlandii, nie mial nic do zaoferowania co by pozostalo nam na dlugo w pamieci (poza hotelem, ktory byl super).

Irlandia okazala sie zielona i bardzo polska - zielone laki, zabudowa podobna. Przy drogach mnostwo ruin i malych kamiennych kosciolow.

Ze wszystkich miast Kilkenny mialo najwiecej uroku - szkoda ze nie mielismy czasu by odwiedzic zamiek i katedre.

W nasz ostatni dzien wypogodzilo sie wiec pojechalismy okrezna droga do Dublina - przez gory Wicklow i zatrzymalismy sie w Glendalough - dolina z 2 jeziorami i ruinami klasztoru z XII wieku.
Dublin - nie rozczarowal, niska zabudowa, duzo zieleni, fajna atmosfera z mnostwem malych restauracyjek. Do Dublina przyjechalismy dzien przed dublinskim maratonem - wiec jak latwo zgadnac, zwiedzanie zaczelismy maratonskiej wystawy. Na wiecej juz nam czasu nie starczylo wiec bedziemy musieli jeszcze tam wrocic.

3 dni mienely szybko i przyjemnie. Pogoda jesienna ale bylismy pod koniec pazdziernika wiec nie ma co sie dziwic. Irlandia jest zielona, bardzo Polska i wcale nie az tak tania wiecna wakacje polecalibysmy miejsce bardziej rozniace sie od domu.

London

Why do we prefer to go on holiday far away and don't seem to appreciate what is under our nose? I don’t know the answers but it's not uncommon. We’ve been to Australia but never been to Ireland. We very rarely (never) visit London attractions unless we are showing around visiting friends/family. And after leaving in London for 13 years we are still discovering new interesting places and that was also the case during Mike’s dad visit.

Parliament (Westminster) – we’ve passed it so many times and took lots of photos in front of the Big Ben but this time went inside for the first time. And it was worth it – gothic style, the decorations are very tasteful, gold mixed with the wooden walls has pleasant and soft feel. The great fire in 1834 destroyed everything except the Westminster Hall (dated end of XI century) and currently used for lyings-in-state (The Queen Mather in 2002)
We visited House of Lords (red sits) and House of Commons (green sits) and learned that:
· three is 1,100 rooms, 100 staircases and 3 miles of corridors.
· speeches may not be read out during debate, although notes may be referred to
· the reading of newspapers is not allowed
· the food inside the parliament is not taxed – shot of whisky only £1.50

Greenwich - mainly known because of the observatory and the zero longitude but how many of you heard the fascinating story of John Harrison who spent his entire life trying to solve the biggest navigation problem of the 17th & 18th centuries: marine navigation, or the longitude problem for which government offered the £20,000 reward (after working for 50 years on the solution Harrison received the reward couple of years before his death at the age of almost 80). Harrison's answer to the problem was chronometer (accurate clock on ships at sea, keeping 'home time' to compare with 'local time' to give one's position east or west of the home port), on display in the museum.
Another ‘discovery’ for us were The Tulip Stairs in Queens Ann house (part of Marine National Museum), is were the picture of a ghost has been taken in 1966. For centuries this house was used as royal marine school were boys of age of 6 trained from early ages to become marines.

Warrick Castle – built by William the Conqueror in 1068, 2 hrs drive from London; The exhibitions have wax figures which make it easier to imagine the life there in previous century. You can spend time climbing the castle towers, walking through the gardens and watching special outdoor events (archery or falconry).

The Car Heritage Museum - home to the world's largest collection of historic British cars

Change of guards in front of the Buckingham palace draws huge crowds and seeing the change is almost impossible. The Clarence House is open to public in summer – this was the home of late The Queen Mother and the current residence of Prince Charles, William and Harry. This was disappointing –only 5 rooms opened, the house is small and doesn’t have a royal splendor, deco was not exceptional, garden tiny and traffic noise from the nearby The Mall. The tour guides will tell you a lot about the paintings on the wall but nothing about the day-to-day life – apparently everything because of security.

Transport Museum in Covent Garden – is just like moving back in time – it’s so easy to imagine London decades ago with the hop on red busses, old trains, horse pulled carriages

Charwell country house of Sir Winston Churchill – just off M25. Magnificent residence with very homely warm deco surrounded by massive garden (trees, lakes, hills)
The rooms and gardens remain much as they were when he lived here, with pictures, books, maps and personal mementoes strongly evoking the career and wide-ranging interests of Churchill.


Old Operating Theater Museum – near St Guy’s hospital – visiting it is like being in the horror movie, wooden operating tables, no anesthetic – how the patients survived is hard to imagine

Tower of London – the place were lots of executions have been performed – 2 wives of Henry VIII were executed here (Ann Boyden and Katherine Howard). The Queen's crown is kept here – apparently there was only 1 attempt to steal it made in XVIII century. The weirdest thing we were told, was that king's tantrum and red hair were associated with the excess of blood – after the king got over exited the physician would drain some blood from him – how weird it sounds now? The most badly botched execution was that of Duke of Monmouth, after missing 5 blows with the axe the executioner had to use his knife, butchering the Duke like a pig.

Tower Bridge - completed in 1894, Tower Bridge was instantly hailed as a London icon and one of the great engineering marvels of its age.


The original raising mechanism was powered by pressurised water stored in six hydraulic accumulators.


London is a great city with rich history - I wish we had more time to take advantage of it more often but with work and Mike's training it is not easy.

Londyn (Polski)

Dlaczego wolimy jezdzic po swiecie i nie doceniamy co mamy pod nosem? Nie znam odpowiedzi ale wiem ze to tyczy sie nie tylko nas. My odwiedzilismy Australie juz pare razy ale nigdy nie bylismy w Irlandii. Rzadko odwiedzamy londynskie atrakcje chyba ze oprowadzamy gosci. Po 13 latach mieszkania tutaj ciagle odkrywamy nowe interesujace miejsca, i tak bylo tez podczas pobytu Michala taty

Westminster (parlament) - przechodzilismy kolo niego wiele razy i zrobilismy mnostwo zdjec pod Big Benem ale tym razem po raz pierwszy bylismy w srodku. I bylo warto - gotycki styl, gustowny wystroj - zloto z drewnianymi scianami. Pozar w 1834 roku zniszczyl wszystko oprocz westminsterskiego holu z XI wieku; w parlamencie jest
* 1,100 pokoi, 100 schod i 5km korytarzy
* przemowien nie mozna czytac ale mozna uzywac notatki
* jest zakaz czytania gazet
* parlament jest strefa zwolniona z podatku - setka whisky kosztuje tylko £1.50

Greenwich wszyscy slyszeli o obserwatorium i poludniku zerowym ale malo kto slyszal o Johnie Harrisonie, ktory poswiecil zycie starajac sie rozwiazac problem nawigacyjny nurtujacy zeglazy w 17 i 18 wieku, rzad wyznaczyl nagrode £20,000 za znalezienie rozwiazania. Po prawie 50 latach eksperymentow Harrison zbudowal chronometer, ktory wskazywal dokladny czas miejsca wyplyniecia i po porownaniu go z czasem lokalnym mozna bylo obliczyc pozycje na wsch albo zach od miejsca wyplyniecia.
Inna ciekawostka jaka sie dowiedzielismy byly tulipanowe schody w domu krolowej Anny - tu zostal sfotografowany duch w 1966 roku. Dom jest obecnie czescia morskiego museum - przez lata byla tu szkola dla chlopcow, ktorzy juz od 6 roku zycia byli szkoleni na marynarzy.

Warwick zamek zbudowany przez Wiliama Zdobywce w 1068; w komnatach jest mnowstwo figur woskowych, dzieki ktorym znacznie latwiej wyobrazic sobie jak toczylo sie tu zycie w poprzednich stuleciach. Mozna tu wspinac sie na wieze, chodzic po ogrodach i ogladac strzelanie z lukow i pokaz jastrzebi.

Zmiana wart pod Buckingham zamkiem przyciaga tak duze tlumy, ze nie mozna nic zobaczyc. The Clarence House byl domem krolowej matki, obecnie rezydencja ksiecia Karola, Wiliama i Harrego. Byla troche rozczarowujaca - nie bylo tam krolewskiej aury i bogactwa, ogrod byl maly i szum samochodow dochodzacy z pobliskiej ruchliwej ulicy. Przewodnicy opowiadali o kazdym obrazie na scianie ale zadnych ciekawostek z codziennego rytualu ksiecia - zekomo z powodu bezpieczenstwa.

Muzeum transportu - jakze latwo przeniesc sie tam w czasie i wyorazic sobie jak Londyn wygladal kiedys z dorozkami i parowymi pociagami

Charwell - rezydencja Winstona Churchila, bardzo przytulna otoczona hektarami lak, lasow i jeziorami. Pokoje z pootwieranumi ksiazkami i mapami sprawiaja wrazenie jakby Churchill ciagle tam mieszkal.


Tower of London nad Tamiza bylo wiezieniem i miejscem egzekucji wielu slawnych ludzi wlacznie z dwoma zonami Henryka VIII. Krolowej korona przechowywana jest tutaj a nie w Buckingham palacu - tylko raz byla proba jej kradziezy w XVIII wieku. W dawnych czasach wierzono, ze temperament krola i rude wlosy spowodowane sa nadmiarem krwi wiec po kazdym ataku gniewu krola przychodzil nadworny lekarz i spuszczal krew. Najbardziej krwawa byla egzekucja Duka of Monmouth, kat nie trafil 5 razy siekiera wiec wyjal noz rzezniczy i zarznal duka.

Tower Most zbudowany zostal w 1894 roku i stal sie ikona londynska, najbardziej rozpoznawalna atrakcja.
London jest miastem z wielka historia. Szkoda, ze nie starcza nam czasu na czestsze odwiedzanie centrum ale ciezko pogodzic prace, Michala treningi i jeszcze miec czas na zwiedzanie.

Seattle & West Canada

This is typical for us attempt to combine holiday and the race – not always easy to find balance between sightseeing and getting a rest needed to recover after a long flight.

Full of enthusiam we've arrived to Vancouver on Fri afternoon, picked up the car and headed to Seattle (even 3.5 hrs queue on the USA boarder didn't upset us). With no detailed plans, no maps covering USA we relayed on Mike memory to show us around as he was there before.

2 days passed quickly on driving around Microsoft in Redmond (city within the city, looks like a very pleasant place to work, surrounded by lots of greenery and sport fields), visiting Boeing factory in Everett (found out that a plane has 180miles of cables, 6mln parts and now know can recognize 777 from 747) and of course stopped at few bike shops but resisted temptation of buying a new cervelo bike (they're so much cheaper than in Europe).


The food servings in America are huge – Mike has an appetite but we never managed to finish 1 starter and 2 mains between us. Our favourite place was called Crab Pot in Seattle harbour –big pot of seafood that is thrown the middle of the table.

On Monday we headed back to Vancouver and left the sunny weather in the USA. Vancouver is known as a place where you can ski in the morning and sail in the afternoon – unfortunately it was cold, rainy and the clouds were sitting low so we couldn’t see the surrounding mountains but on the postcard it looked spectacular. We decided to take it easy and spend day in Stanley Park (equivalent of Hyde Park in London but more wild), walking through the centre and having lots of coffee breaks. Vancouver seems to be a nice place to live, peaceful with lots of great restaurants.


After day in Vancouver we drove 280 miles to Penticton in Okanagan Valley, where the race was taking place. Okanagan Valley is known for good weather (except the time we were there) lots of lakes, wineries and fruit farms. We stayed in the place recommended by Nick, who was racing here last year. It was called God’s Mountain, quite spectacular house on the top of the hill surrounded by winery, furnished with the antics, fireplaces, lots of books, no tv, 2 fully equipment kitchens and a view over the lake.
This was great a place to relax but we were there a 'bit' restless as we're not used to sitting and doing nothing. The days passed on visiting nearby wineries (me trying, Mike driving), stopping for coffees in Penticton and reading books. So when we run out of the things to do Mike always came up with an "great" idea - why not to visit bike shop, try new helmets, check what wheels they have ....

Sunday was the race day – 2.4 mile swim, 112 miles bike and 26 miles run - Mike finished in 9:41 – great time for windy conditions and a hilly course.


On Tue after long thinking we decided to head to Rockies (some would called us crazy - driving another 8hrs just to spend couple of days in the mountains knowing that weather forecast is dreadful but we had too check if the view is as breathtaking as written in all the travel guides). Rockies span 3,000 miles from Canada to New Mexico


The drive to Rockies was taking us much longer than expected 8hrs as we were stopping frequently and around 7pm we had enough and went for a walk around Emerald Lake and decided to camp in the tiny village Field, where all the houses were older than 100 years.

The next 2 days we spent in Banff – tiny town very popular with tourists in the National Park within the close proximity to the most picturesque spots in The Rockies. During the rain we were taking shelter in the coffee shops, when it stopped we tried to do as many walks as possible. One of the best known spots is Lake Louise – lake surrounded by mountains with a huge expensive hotel at the shore.


From there we went for 5 mile walk to Lake Agnes – beautiful place above Lake Louise, there is super coffee shop run by students in the summer with no electricity. All the cakes and bread is homemade and all the supplies are delivered by helicopter at the beginning of the summer. After spending so long in the car it was really good to be able to stretch the legs.


Weather remained unchanged – 40F at night, 50F at day and frequent showers. We continued camping - since we bough woolen hats and started going to hot springs in the evening we were actually quite warm. On Thu we had an unwanted ‘excitement’ – ZOOM airline went into liquidation and were forced to find alternative way home. As we were not sure whether we get the refund we decided to play safe and look for a cheaper way home, which ended up to be from Calgary and day later than planned (the only positive was that Calgary is closer to Rockies than Vancouver, it saved us driving 450 miles)

On Friday we drove 150 miles to Jasper – the road is called The Icefield Parkway and was voted one of the most spectacular drives in America. It feels like driving through the tunnel with high mountains on the left and right. The weather was particularly bad so we only managed to do 2 walks: Johnston Canyon and Bow Glacier/Pyeto Lake

We arrived at Jasper at 7pm – it was raining so heavily that the windscreen wipers where on the highest. Even we were not crazy enough to put the tent up and were determined to find some roof over our heads. It turned out to be a really hard task as it was a long weekend and everything was fully booked – after 2 hrs we found something.

On Saturday the weather improved and we drove back to Calgary – we enjoyed the Rockies enormously and had to agree that Icefield Parkway is really very spectacular.

Columbia Glacier (below) with big tourist centre is the main attraction on the highway. It's possible to drive to middle of the glacier in the bus with giant tires but we found it a bit too touristy for our liking – we recently returned from South America where we did proper ice walking (ops - that come out a bit snobbish).

Calgary – we arrived in the evening and bad weather caught up with us – it was raining so we spent the evening in the hotel. Next day the weather didn’t improve so we ended up driving around centre and then having long lunch before heading to the airport. Calgary hosted 1988 Winter Olympic.

While in Rockies we saw one black bear

lots of stuffed bears
and moose
We managed to stay positive and didn’t let the weather to get to us. Rockies turned out to be one of the few places that as spectacular as on the pictures. Despite the short stay and inconvenient weather we managed to visit most known touristy places. Rockies would be high on the list of the places we would love to return to (if only we had more holiday and money). Hopefully next time we could do proper mountain trekking and have better weather.