Ireland

As I boarded the plane to Dublin, I could barely contain my excitement. Not only was I seeing my parents for the first time in 6 months, but I was returning to my birthplace for only the second time since I left 22 years ago. It was also the first time I had been back in Ireland with my dad. When I exited out of customs and finally saw my parents, it was a surreal experience--I hadn’t seen them in so long, almost couldn’t believe I was with them. 

We took the new motorway from Dublin to Tramore, watching the scenery along the way. Sheep grazing in the fields, old stone walls, and thatched roof houses. I don’t even know how to describe how beautiful Ireland is, it’s just something that a person should experience for themselves.  

It was weird for me to visit Tramore, my mom’s hometown, and a place I used to live. I only remember living in Washington, so it’s strange to return to somewhere I could have called home. If things had been only a little different, I would have grown up in Ireland, speaking with an Irish accent, wearing a uniform to school, and leading a completely different life than the one I know now.

Drive to Tramore

Tramore

The Promenade 

The Beach

Beach View from my Window

Most of the trip was spent visiting family and friends. While my mom met up with her old friends, my dad and I walked along the beach, by our old house, my mom’s old houses, and many other places of family importance. My mom took me to the parking lot where she and her mom learned to drive a stick, and I became the 3rd generation to learn there, on the right side of the car. One night, an old neighbor took my dad and me out to a pub that was waaaay out of town. It was by far the smallest pub I’ve ever been in. I think it was converted from an old cottage, as there were only two small rooms. We were there to hear a traditional, or “trad” music session by both musicians from the area and Dublin, their goal was to raise money for a local charity. The entire night was full of remarkable music, and random poetry, stories, and songs by the pub goers. The musicians were so talented, they were able to join in and play any song that a patron started singing. The event was such a hit, that the owner kept the pub open way past closing time. We were told by locals we met there that this was a once in a lifetime experience, and I must agree with them.

My mom and me

Church I was christened in

Our Old House

Cottage Pub

Cottage Pub

We spent a few nights in Tramore before we drove to Limerick to do some family research with my mom. Her father’s side of the family used to be from the area. Limerick has many of the cemeteries that contain priceless information about our history. One in particular was 16 acres and had many plots listed under our family name. It was started in the 1840s, and is in some cases the only record of people who lived in the area at that time. Many of the Church papers were burned by the British during their occupation. The cemetery was set up in a grid format, with numbers and letters on the walls to find your location. However, it filled up very quickly due to mass illness, so many people were buried in the original walkways, making the initial system difficult to use. So, we spent a huge portion of a day trying to find our family’s plots, looking for birth and death dates, and any other relations we didn’t know about yet. I have never seen anything like it. Many of the plots were 150 years old and utterly falling apart. You had to watch where you stepped so you didn’t fall into a sunken grave or step on bones. Seriously. It was right out of a horror flick, but the archeologist in me kinda found it fascinating.

Celtic Crosses in Cemetery

King John's Castle

Limerick is known for King John’s Castle, and is the city that Frank McCourt, the author of Angela’s Ashes, lived in. The river Shannon also flows through it. I had visited the last time I was in Ireland, so we didn’t do much tourism there, but I saw a few houses my great-greats had lived in, and went to another traditional music session. The day we went back to Dublin, we crammed in a ton of sightseeing. We drove through the Burren, a very rocky area covered in limestone. The British didn’t take this land from the Irish because it wasn’t that desirable, and some of my family moved out there. My great-great grandmother lived in Newtown Castle which is in the Burren. The last relative to live in it left in the early 1900s, and the castle almost fell to ruin. In the 1980s an art college took it over and renovated it. I can’t imagine someone living in it. The place was very cold and damp, and had narrow windows, which didn’t let much light in. Also many arrow slits for fighting off attackers. Shows what it was like during that time though, you were more worried about your protection than anything else. The Poulnabrone Dolmen, a many thousand year old portal tomb is also located in the Burren. Excavators found between 16 and 22 adults, and 6 children buried there. They think the site may have been used for ceremonies, or as a territory marker. Either way, it’s an amazing sight.

Newtown Castle

Poulnabrone Dolmen

One of the most spectacular things to see in Ireland are the Cliffs of Moher. So spectacular, that they were named one of the 28 finalists on the new seven wonders of the world list. It was my second time seeing them, but you can’t go to Ireland without doing so.

Cliffs of Moher

O'Brien's Tower

Me and the Cliffs

Me and my Dad!!

After the Cliffs, we went back to Dublin to spend two nights before we left for the Swiss leg of my parent’s visit. As I mentioned before, not much of the trip was spent on tourism, especially when we covered a lot of it the last time I was there, but we were able to spend one day in the city. We walked through St. Stephen’s Green (think of it like the Central Park of Dublin), Trinity College (home of the largest illuminated epic in the world), and shopping on Grafton Street. The highlight though was a trip to St. Michan’s Cathedral, where we went on a tour of 900 year old crypts. I kinda feel like I was in a cemetery every day of that trip, but that’s what happens when you’re trying to find out about your family history…I guess. Anywho. The crypts were underneath the church, barely lit, and creeeeeepy. Instead of going the traditional burial route, wealthy families would pay to own an underground crypt to house relations for what has turned into almost a thousand years. Limestone was used to build the rooms, which caused the bodies to mummify because the rocks pulled the moisture out of the air. So basically if you go to the crypts, you can see thousand year old mummies. There is even a Crusader ‘buried’ in one of the rooms. It is said that if you shake his right hand, you will have a year of good luck. When the tour guide told us to “go for it,” I laughed, thinking he had to be joking…he wasn’t. So, not wanting to miss out on the luck, and touching a mummy, I poked his finger…wonder if I get a month’s luck for that?

Dublin

Stephen's Green

Stephen's Green

St. Michan's

Random Emer family fact: if you drink an Irish made Guinness, you are more than likely consuming barley that was grown on a family member’s farm. woot!

Well folks, that about sums up my 2011 trip to Ireland, but I’m going back next year to spend St. Patrick’s Day in Dublin with my friends from Geneva. Should be a blast :) 

~Emer

Zermatt

I wrote this post ages ago and didn’t get around to posting it because I am obviously horrible at keeping up with this blog. Here it is though!

One not so nice thing about Swiss weather is that it’s a lot like Irish weather, often changing and unpredictable. Though, in my two months since I’ve arrived in Switzerland, I have actually developed a nice tan…well, nice by my ginger standards. While I was packing for my trip to Zermatt, it was beautiful weather outside, and considering it was about the turn June 1^st, I packed warm weather clothes. I did check the weather report and it didn’t look that great, but I guess I was feeling optimistic that day….oh how mistaken I was. 

One really nice thing about Switzerland, is that they have a card that you can buy that will give you half off train fairs, or if you ride after 7:00 p.m. IT’S FREE! Since Shayna and I are on Au Pair budgets, we intend to take full advantage of this, so we took a late train to Visp, and then another one that slowly climbed into the mountains around Zermatt. We arrived around midnight and walked through the snow past hotels and chalets to The Matterhorn Hostel.

The Village

We decided to spend the first day exploring the town, and getting some souvenir shopping out of the way because there was still snow on the ground and it was FREEZING. Cars aren’t allowed in Zermatt, which cuts down on noise and air pollution, so the village felt peaceful even though it was a holiday weekend. I picked up a vintage poster of the Matterhorn, and Shayna and I both grabbed some 80’s-esk Zermatt sweatshirts. The village has an incredible ‘Old Town’ where you can find houses that are a couple hundred years old. They are constructed with wood and have slate slabs to support the weight between the two stories, as well as a slate roof. The first floor housed the animals and storage, the second floor was where the family lived. They were so weathered I couldn’t believe people still lived in them!

We LOVE our sweatshirts

Shayna

Old Town

We also visited the Matterhorn Museum, where we learned about the history of the mountain. It’s one of the most dangerous for climbers, about 12 people die a year and over 500 people since the first accent...I guess Teddy Roosevelt summated, in addition to a cat and dog, both of which were following their owners up the mountain!! For those of you chocolate lovers, you may have seen it on the front of a Toblerone wrapper :)

Outside Matterhorn Museum

The second day we took a small train up to the best viewing area of the mountain, seeing a Marmot and beautiful scenery along the way. The mountain wasn’t to be found so we grabbed a seat at the café and waited for a glimpse. Eventually it showed its face and I was able to get a few pics. I guess we were pretty lucky to see it during this time of year, and believe me it was incredible!

On the Train

View from the top

Me and the Matterhorn

The last day I spent in Zermatt wasn’t that exciting, Shayna and I spent most of the day fighting colds in the hostel lounge. Ahh brings back memories of the dorms. Too many people, too little space. But. It was a great trip anyways :) 

~Emer

Interlaken

I have been completely horrible about blogging in the last few months, but I’m going to try and catch up with my posts before I leave for my weeklong trip to Sweden, Norway, and Denmark (SO EXCITED)!!  Things have been going really well, and I’ll write a separate post to fill you guys in on my life in Geneva.

Ok, post number one…

At the end of May, I went to Interlaken, Switzerland with the local Au Pair group called LINK. It was formed by an ex-pat American couple, and provides a great resource for meeting other Au Pairs in the area, and information about events etc. The group meets bimonthly, and goes on about four trips a year. For most of the girls it was their last trip with LINK, but we were all really anxious to see what Interlaken and our ‘extreme sports’ would have in store for us.

LINK Before Hike

Since it was easier and cheaper than the train, we took a charter bus to Interlaken, and arrived at the Funny Farm Hostel in the morning. It used to be a grand hotel but now offers some pretty nice hostel rooms for its patients, er uh… guests. Ours even had a huge terrace that gave us a wonderful view of a snow covered peak. I met a girl on the bus named Katie, and we became quick friends and roommates. The three of us, Shayna included, explored the town before our afternoon paragliding adventure. Because it’s in the German speaking area of Swtiz, it has a completely different feel than Geneva. There were chalets everywhere, with dark wooden walls that boasted intricate woodcarvings, old sleds and cow bells, and German writing. The sky was covered with paragliders everywhere you looked. I found out on a recent trip that Interlaken is actually one of the best places in the world to jump, so I guess that explains why. We also went to the grocery store to pick up some food for dinner and lunch the next day. In Switz, because everything is so expensive (a Starbucks latte around 7 bucks to give you some perspective), our meals while traveling usually mean PB&J….yay.

Chalet

Shayna and Emer

When it came time to go paragliding, we met up at Balmer’s Hostel and took a van ride on a windy road to the top of a mountain side. It was the most amazing view of the town, lake, and surrounding mountains. There were eight of us going and they had us go in two groups of four. Shayna went in the first group, and I have a video of her take-off on my Facebook for those of you who want to see what it’s like. Basically you run off a hillside until the sail catches wind and suddenly you’re flying!! It really wasn’t scary at all, you’re strapped to a guide and the parasail (or whatever it’s called) is already open so you don’t have to worry about it failing. We had perfect weather that day, which meant that we were in the air for about 15 minutes and could ride the thermal air ‘tornados.’ My guide offered to have us do corkscrews and these side swinging things, the latter made me feel sick though. I have a video of my takeoff and some air time. I’m sorry for the awkward dialogue (my guide was so awkward when we first met, which made me feel awkward, and led to me feeling awkward hanging out midair with him in silence…so ya...awkward).

Yay Paragliding!

Before Take-off

(Video doesn't want to upload right now, so I'll try again later)

After a somewhat bumpy landing, we grabbed some dinner and went to Balmer’s Club Metro for the night. It was so much fun!!  In the morning the group met up and we took a gondola up to Lauterbrunner. The view was just out of the Sound of Music, exactly what I pictured Switzerland to look like. Weathered chalets, cow bells ringing, and wildflowers. From there we started on a 10 mile hike back down to the village, which took a few hours. We passed farms, streams, and waterfalls along the way, it was absolutely gorgeous. Thankful to rest our feet, we left in the evening on our bus back to Geneva. I really enjoyed staying in Interlaken, even ended up visiting again with my brother in July.

Emer, Shayna, and Katie

Wildflowers

Shayna, Katie, and Emer During Picnic Lunch

 ~ Emer

Easter and Annecy

The day before Easter was my 23^rd birthday. My host family took me to Annecy, which is about an hour away in France. Although the city is large, it has the feel of a small village. Annecy is known as the ‘Venice of France’ due to the river that flows through it. Houses and buildings boarder the river, with entrances only to be reached by boat. There is an old jail in the middle of the river, kind of like a medieval Alcatraz, although the peaceful river would be a lot easier to escape from than the water in the bay...

The Jail

The family and I walked around and explored the different streets and shops.  We had lunch at a café, and I saw my first plate of frog legs, which my host dad eagerly consumed. We walked to a large park that surrounds the crystal clear lake, both overlooked by a beautiful mountain.  I found a music shop with a relatively nice guitar on sale, which I bought (Happy Bday Me!!).  We had dinner at a pizzeria back in Geneva and tiramisu birthday cake!  

The River

Lac d'Annecy

Frog Legs

This year my birthday fell in the middle of the Easter holiday, which takes up more than just a Sunday here. Before the entire city shutdown for the weekend, the stores and shops were busy with Swiss loading up on chocolate bunnies, eggs, truffles, pastries, and lilies. When I asked my host mom what the plans were for Easter, she said to stuff ourselves with chocolate- unsurprising because the average Swiss person eats 2x more chocolate than the average American! Hard to believe I know...In preparation for Easter, the boys and I dyed hardboiled eggs, and decorated them with crayons and paint. A little tradition of the family is to hide the dyed eggs in the yard, and in the night the Easter bunny will trade the chicken eggs for chocolate ones. We had a big dinner at the house, and Shayna was able to come. I was very thankful to have a friend help me celebrate my first holiday away from home.

Walls of Chocolate Bunnies

Biscuit Shop in Annecy

So I realize that this post is a little delayed, but hey, better late than never. I’ll try and get better about posting regularly, which will come easier as I travel more.  My next trip is to Interlaken, Switzerland with the Au Pair group that meets near Geneva.  Shayna and I are going paragliding (EEeee!!), and on hikes with the group. I’m so excited to see more of the Swiss countryside! I’ve also started my French lessons, which are two times a week for two hours each class. It’s taught in Immersion format, which means all French, and very little English. I’m finding that there are a lot of cognates between French and English, but learning French is a lot harder than I had anticipated. I’m definitely liking understanding more though-gotta learn how to ask people to speak more slowly…

~Emer 

Paris

Notre Dame

For my first major trip, I took a train from Geneva to Paris, which is only about a three hour ride on a high speed train. My travel companion rode a later train, and we stayed with my best friend's brother and his girlfriend in their apartment. 

After taking the screechy metro to their home and dropping off my stuff, we started a quick tour of Paris. At the Louvre, we saw the Mona Lisa and explored the different wings. I could easily see myself spending days there, just the architecture of the building was amazing. We walked along a bridge that had railings covered with padlocks, said to ‘lock up the love’ of the couples who placed them there. It was a popular spot for the locals, who drank wine and snacked on cheese and bread. So French : )

Gardens at Versailles

Saturday started with pain chocolat, a chocolate filled croissant, and a train ride to Versailles. Building began in 1687 and continued on for many years, especially under the guidance of King Louis XIV and Marie-Antoinette (until their assassination that is). It’s a massive property, with an elaborate château, and acres of gardens, fountains, and ponds. We were lucky to have arrived on a day where the fountains were turned on. We sat on the grass and watched the fountain/ music shows, and later enjoyed a picnic by the lake. Dinner was found at an Italian Pizzeria, after a few hours of shopping and the purchase of my mini tower keepsake.

Light Show

Every night on the hour, the Eiffel Tower lights up like a Christmas tree and at the risk of sounding cheesy, it was magical. We sat in the park just next to the tower, sipping champagne, and gazing in awe until after the last show, at which point we wandered home.

Because Versailles took up the majority of that Saturday, we had a lot to see before our evening train back to Geneva. We grabbed breakfast at a bakery and headed to the tower, where we were met with tour buses, crowds, and men bombarding us with offers of Eiffel Tower trinkets. The lines to get to the top of the tower were long due construction on one leg, and the breakdown of the elevator in another. We also didn’t get to go to the very top because of problems with that elevator, but oh well, it was worth the wait. Reaching the top was an incredible feeling, and with it came a check mark on my bucket list.

View from the Tower

We also saw the Arch de Triumph, Champs-Élysées, Notre Dame, and the Luxor Obelisk, ending with a daytime visit to the Louvre. There I took my first shameless tacky tourist photo (see below haha).  

Louvre

Louvre

The trip home wasn’t as easy as the way to Paris. The station was in complete chaos, no platforms were posted for departure, and no trains seemed to be moving. As our departure time came around and no platform was listed I got pretty nervous. Not knowing the language/ what’s going on was so stressful. But, after a while, a few trains were listed and their passengers tried to move through the mob of people, including us. We were bottlenecked in a corridor when security yelled out something about Geneva, and people scattered throughout the crowd yelled and waved their tickets. This happened a few times until I realized that they were trying to get the crowd to let the passengers of our train through. Well, eventually I made it to my train and it departed over an hour late. I later found out that the delay at the Gare de Lyon was due to protesters on the tracks, taking advantage of a peak travel time, to draw to most attention. Ugh.

I hope to make it back to Paris for New Years, when my sister will hopefully get to visit. :)

~Emer