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Snow covered Sandias as seen from our balcony

I am back in Albuquerque for the holidays. Although the weather for the first two days here was not any better than Dublin's, it is beginning to improve. Today (actually last week when I wrote it) was sunny (and cold).

One thing Dublin doesn't have is New Mexican food; i.e. red and green chili. The other day I had lunch with Lee Ann at Garcia's: green chili burrito; smothered! (I'll start exercising again soon ;-)

Last Night in Doblin

Tonight is the last night for me in Doblin; for this year. (It's Doblin with a big open O as in "door".) I have to go pack for my trip to Albuquerque where I will spend the next four weeks. Before I do that, I thought I'd send you a quick greeting.
I went out with Kostas the Greek ;-) for dinner at the Winding Stair. It used to be a used-book store next to the Liffey occupying several floors of a building not far from Trinity and the theater schools. Now the bookstore part is only on the ground floor but still has a unique charm; this is not a Barnes'n Noble!
Above it is now a nice restaurant that serves "modern Irish food". We climbed the stairs and walked into a room packed full of people with a great view of the Ha'penny bridge. After we admited that we had no reservations, we were told that they were full.
Disappointed, we started the descend down the narrow (and winding ;-) stairs when a waiter came running after us. He said he had a table and took us back up, and then up again. On the floor above was a room full of empty tables all set and we got to have one right next to the window from where I took the picture above. Some of the lights are reflections of lights inside.
The food, wild Irish game venison for me, and Smoked Silverhill duck breast
for Kostas, was excellent. Probably the best restaurant meal I've had in Dublin so far. The knowledgable waitress recommended a bottle of Hecula Castano from Spain. It is made from Monastrell grapes which I have never even heard of. Nice earthy and heavy. It was great!
While waiting (briefly! ;-) for the 38A, I took this picture on O'Connel street.

Shoe Laces

A while back I came across this video on How to Tie your Shoes



The speaker demonstrates two ways of tying your shoes: One were they stay tied, and the way most people use, where they don't.
Trying it out, I realized I already was tying my laces in the improved fashion he suggests. Since I learned how to tie my shoes in Europe, I'm beginning to wonder whether this is a cultural thing. Maybe American children are taught the "wrong" way to tie their shoes, and Europeans know better.
So here is a request to put this on a more scientific foundation: Watch the video, determine which knot you are using and report back with the result and on which continent you learned to tie your shoes.
Maybe it is a plot to trip Americans, or it just depends on whom your parents learned from.