Our First Visit to Ireland - part 1

We flew from Stanstead London airport to Shannon Airport Ireland on Saturday morning, arriving in Ireland at about 10:00 AM.

Patty and I had to quickly find a money machine to get Euros and find the bus stop, since our bus to Dingle left about 20 minutes after landing.

At Shannon, if I didn't know where I was, I would have guessed somewhere in Florida. The houses and palm trees around Shannon looked too tropical for Ireland.

As we approached Limerick this began to change and things began to look more "old world".

Arriving in Dingle, we began looking for our Bed & Breakfast, walking down colorful streets.

Dingle Harbor was lined with fishing boats of various sizes.

We took a private taxi tour of the Dingle Peninsula on Sunday morning. The roads were narrow and hugged the steep cliffs.

This is a point known as "Slea Head".

Looking out to the Blasket Islands from Slea Head point.

On the beach near Slea Head .

Andy reflecting how Great Grandfather Gault must have felt as he glimped this last point of Ireland as he was coming to the USA in the 1800's.

Baa Baa black sheep - have you any wool?

A sheep pasture with a view

Our First Visit to Ireland - part 2

This is a view of "the sleeping giant" - which is one of the Blasket Islands off the western coast of the Dingle Peninsula. This is the farthest west you can go in Ireland. The locals say - the next stop is Boston!

The three peaks is referred to as the "three sisters". The white specks in the middle distance are holiday homes, which are used in the summer for vacationers.

Patty on a cliff overlooking a beach.

We are at an inlet where history says, Saint Brendan sailed to North America in a small boat - 1000 years before Christopher Columbus!

This is the front of our Bed & Breakfast in Dingle - The Captain's House - built in the 1800s.

Crossing the stream in from of The Captain's House.

A part of the Old City Wall that circled Dingle during the middle ages to keep out the Vikings.

A street in Dingle.

A view of Dingle and Dingle harbor from a street high on the hill above the town.

The sign gives the "Irish" name for Dingle .

The back entrance to our apartment at The Captain's House. Notice the center "doornob" - when we were at our other house in Cleveland, we were Irish and didn't know it! Almost all the old doors in Dingle had the middle door nobs!

Main street in Dingle.

Mailing your post cards from Dingle.

A midieval Bee Hive house and storage tower. This was the type homes the ancient Celtic peoples of Ireland lived in and the towers were for their defense against the Viking raids.

Andy on the beach at Dingle harbor looking for shells and sea glass.

An Irish lady told me - this be the "yellow fars". We found out they are "yellow firs".

After Leaving the Dingle Peninsula - we made our way to Dublin, since our flight out of Ireland would be this city. My only real interest in Dublin was Trinity Colleges museum with the "Book of Kells" - the only mideval document surviving with hand scribed sections of the Bible".

Patty at a flower market on Grafton Street in Dublin.

Our hotel in Dublin - Jury's Inn. It was just across the street from Dublin Castle.

The Lieffy River flows through the middle of Dublin. This view of the bridges was just a block from our hotel.

Temple Bar (a famous old pub in Dublin) This area is very much like Canal Street in New Orleans (bars, pubs, restarants - just no nudey joints - Thank God!)

We ate lunch at this pub.

Patty at a pub where she ate potato & Leek soup with Irish brown bread.

A statue of "Sweet Molly Malone" - know affectionately as "The Tart with the Cart".

The gates at Dublin Castle.

The SIE group sitting at the Dublin Airport - waiting to fly back to England.

Reintroducing Patty to Cambridge

This week was reintroduction to Cambridge week for Patty.


In front of student housing.


To Snow Drops blooming around town...

To Bikes and small mideval steets ....

To College quads .....

To the Cambridge University Press Bookstore - where you can see Kings College Chapel in the windows reflection.

To Cambridge University Senate House .....

To fence bill boards - where you can know all the plays and choirs and speaches happening in Cambridge.

To being with her hubby in England....

To the Hamilton Hotel ....

To enjoying hanging out with the best students in the world ...

Welcome Back Patty!

Feb 06 - 14 : A Week Away from my Kids!

As most of you know by now, I returned to the USA on Feb. 06 to attend the funeral of my father in law - Clifton Knowles.

I missed the students (My kids) who I had spent the past 3 weeks with in Cambridge, Stratford-on-Avon, Oxford and Bath.

Tomorrow (Feb. 15 - Patty will be returning with me to England and the last 7 weeks of the SIE 09 experience. I am excited about Patty meeting some really "great students", who we will know from this point on as "our kids".

Listed below are some group pictures of SIE 09.


The monument in Oxford



The Guildhall in Bath



At Addison's Walk in Oxford.

Feb 02 - a Sad Day / a Happy Day

Feb. 02 . . .When I opened my curtains this morning I was greeted by a beautiful white scene. The weather station said we would have snow all day and the the airports in London were beginning to close one by one.
Then at 8 AM while at breakfast I received a call from Patty telling me that Papaw Knowles had passed during the early morning.

I decided to get out and take in the snow scenes and reflect. I headed toward the city center from the Hamilton Hotel.

Jesus Green walkway

The neighborhood behind our hotel.

Ducks along Jesus Green

Crossing the River Cam on the footbridge.

The Templer's Round Church in the city center.

Bikes at St. Johns College

More Bikes

Kings College Chapel

A church yard in the market square

Fresh squeezed orange juice at old city market

Walking back through Jesus Green