Buying a mop

When I was talking about traveling in my last post, I forgot to mention that one reason I went to Switzerland last month was to support my brother who did the 600 km (373 miles) Swiss cycling marathon. It took him a little over 30 hours to accomplish this feat and, in doing so, he toured a major portion of Switzerland (and a sliver of Germany). He also proudly represented the New Mexico colors!

The route my brother rode

Not only the distance was exhausting, but the weather didn't help either. Although it was end of June, during the night and Saturday morning it was raining and cold; below 50. I think he was close to giving up near the end. I followed him around, providing moral support, draining his car battery by charging GPS devices, and doing some sightseeing while he was sweating.

One of the cool sights along the way

Still in relation to my last post, the day after ranting about the weather and people who keep talking about the weather, I came across this comic. I felt it was very appropriate.

So, now to the title story. Saturday morning, Lee Ann asked me whether I wanted to come along to the shopping center, a three-minute drive, to buy a mop. Good husband that I am, I said yes. Just before lunch when we got ready to leave, she says, "Oh, and there is a house in Lusk I'd like to look at". Lusk is a little town North of Dublin, about twenty miles from where we live.
By the time we looked around Lusk for a little bit, it was lunch time. We drove the ten minutes to Skerries on the coast, had some seafood, white wine, and a short walk along the Irish Sea. Then it was time to head back and buy that mop. Of course now it was evening again. All those of you who thought I was not flexible and easy going, think again!

The Lusk round tower and St Mac Cullin's Church

Lusk is mostly a new settlement that serves as a bedroom community for Dublin. However, the tiny village center is interesting because the St Mac Cullin built a monastery here in the 5th century. What remains from back then is the largely intact round tower in my cell phone picture above. The square belfry attached to it dates back to the 15th and 16th century. There was a church attached to these towers before, but it must have been destroyed during one of the many raids at this site. The one that is there today was built in the 19th century.

A plaque attached to the round tower

Trying to find out when all of these things happened and how to spell Mac Cullin is actually not trivial. The plaque above has one version, while the Wikipedia entry and the church site differ slightly. Maybe the round tower is actually from the 9th century. It seems possible to get into the round tower and maybe the belfry which are now part of the Lusk Heritage Centre. According to the church site, there is an exhibition about medieval churches of North County Dublin in the Belfry. Next time we need a mop and swing by Lusk, I'll go ask Mr. Kelly for the key.

Traveling

The moon from my airplane seat

I have done a lot of traveling in the first half of this year. With Anika in Leeds, we visited England twice, toured the West and North of Ireland, I have been to Switzerland several times, a quick trip to Spain, a conference in Germany, and a day trip to Glendalough last weekend before Anika went back to the USA. She is doing a stop-over in Kansas before meeting up with us again in Albuquerque later in August. Then it's off with her to California for her last year at Mills.

Anika in Heidelberg

On one of my trips back to Dublin I took the picture at the top of this post. There were some storm clouds gathering and I thought I might have an opportunity for a cool picture. I never take pictures from out of airplanes. It is hard to get a good shot and the window distorts the view and is usually dirty. I cleaned the window as good as I could and started snapping pictures and then I noticed the moon rising. Worthwhile.

Heidelberg castle

Anika came with me to my conference in Leipzig. While I was working she explored the city and took a day trip to Berlin. It so happened that President Obama and his family were there too which meant that ordinary tourists like Anika didn't really get to move around Berlin, or see much of it. She was very disappointed.

The round tower at Glendalough

I know that there is a heatwave in the States. We have been having our own here in Ireland. Granted, it's only in the mid-70s and will probably be over before it reaches the end of the third week, but is has been amazing. Especially after the miserable Winter we have had.

At the top of Glenmacnass waterfall on the way to Glendalough

I don't watch the weather report on TV and usually don't talk about it. It's a waste of time; the weather will happen anyway and we cannot change it. Other (more normal? More sociable?) people do talk about the weather occasionally for small talk. Here it is almost mandatory and usually the same: miserable. For the last few weeks people have not been able to express themselves. They don't have words for more than two weeks of uninterrupted sunshine. What's worse: I start talking about the weather! I better stop before this post becomes weather centric.

The characteristic brown color of water flowing out of a bog

Because the unmentionable from the above paragraph has been particularly nice lately Lee Ann, Anika, and I went on a day trip down to Glendalough last weekend. It's a major attraction in Ireland and so there were bus loads of tourists there. But the site is large and spread out so it was still possible to take pictures without too many strangers in them.

 

 

Reefert Church from about 1100.

The site and its surroundings are suffused with religion, myths, and stories dating back at least a thousand years. Good catholics in the middle ages were supposed to do at least one pilgrimage to Rome in their lifetime. Of course, most people during those times could not afford such a journey, in particular from Ireland. Because Glendalough has such a rich religious history and importance, a pope declared seven visits to Glendalough would count the same as one visit to Rome. I've been to Glendalough three times and Rome once. Will I reach four more trips to Glendalough before I see Rome again?

The ruins of a church along St. Kevin's way, a trail crossing the Wicklows West to East

You can see all my pictures from that trip on my picasa album. All four of us we'll be in Albuquerque for the last two weeks in August. So far, after that, we have no more travel plans, but I'm sure something interesting will come up!