More Sailing and Family Visits

After sailing our boat in Scotland, we've since joined the Cam Sailing Club on the River Cam about five miles from our house. It's a small friendly club that is very low key. We store our boat there and have sailed a few times during the "leisure sails" where the more experienced members offer help and advice to newbies like us. Eventually we hope to get good enough to take part in the races that they hold weekly during spring and summer.

Uncle Dave, Aunt Patti and cousin Mark visited us in Cambridge during their UK/Holland/Germany tour. We celebrated Richard's birthday while they were here on a morning punting cruise complete with birthday mimosas.

Birthday cake at Patisserie Valerie

Birthday mimosas

A few weeks later, Richard's sister Sophie visited from Frankfurt.

Lindsay's Visit to the Cotswolds

While Lindsay was visiting we also took an extended weekend trip to the Cotswolds, popular for good hiking and quaint little villages. The Cotswolds are about 2.5 hours southwest of Cambridge. We stayed at the Old Stocks Hotel in Stow-on-the-Wold, built in the 16th century.

Walking in the Cotswolds

We walked through many wheat fields

Everything in out hotel was extremely crooked

cute Cotswolds houses

View of the valley

Cotswold houses are famous for being made from yellow limestone

Lindsay's Visit and London Olympics

Lindsay visited us in Cambridge for two and a half weeks in August. Her first weekend we stayed in London and saw three Olympics events: men's fast walk, women's triathlon and men's marathon! Since we weren't able to get any tickets, we chose these events because they were outdoors and free.

Hyde Park

Men's fastwalk event with Buckingham Palace in the background. Front row seats! 

USA!

The fastwalkers have very bendy legs

Tickets to Mama Mia

Men's marathon - again really good vantage point

Tower Bridge with the Olympic rings

Linds at Tower Bridge

Michelle and Jesse visit Cambridge

Recently, Michelle and Jesse were touring this part of the world, and they were able to squeeze us in between Iceland and Tanzania. Not impressed by volcanic hot springs and not expecting much better from Kilimanjaro, how lucky were they to get to punt on the Cam.

Michelle showing off her skills. Richard showing off his skills.

Jesse just making it under the Mathematical Bridge.

Such performance deserves a refreshment.

Hopeless amateurs, the collision was unavoidable and very satisfying.

That's how it's done.

Mom and Dad's Cambridge Visit

My parents visited us in Cambridge at the end of April. Their trip also coincided with my birthday!

Richard made me a nice birthday surprise in the morning.
Yes, cake for breakfast! Specifically, Victoria Sponge Cake.

Tea room in Ely

Walking along the River Cam in Ely

Ely Cathedral

During a bike ride along the Cam, there happened to be a rowing race going on. 

In front of the rapeseed flower fields near Horningsea

Our new and improved back garden-- after a lot of work by Mom and Dad. Thank you!

Marius' visit

[Richard]

The other weekend, Marius paid us a short visit. It was his first time back to Dublin since 2005, but in all honesty, not much has changed since then:

The weather is...

... still fabulous.

The food still delicious (already eaten).

And the craic 90.

Road Trip with Jenn and Matt

Friends Jenn and Matt (they used to live above us in Nashville) visited from Brooklyn for 10 days.  We went on a mini road trip for four nights around the southern half of Ireland's coast making stops in Galway, Cliffs of Moher, crossed the River Shannon, Dingle, Inch, the lakes of Killarney, Kenmare, Bantry, the Glengarriff forest and Kinsale.  We stayed at B&Bs along the way and ate lots of good seafood, sometimes for every meal of the day.  We spent the night in Galway (Ardawn B&B), Dingle (Alpine House), Kenmare (Hawthorne House) and Kinsale (the Old Bakery B&B).

First night in Galway at a pub in town.

Cliffs of Moher

Hard to tell from the photo, but Matt was REALLY brave to stand here.

View of the north side of Dingle Peninsula

Dingle Harbor
(Mom and Dad- does this picture look just like the one I gave
you a long time ago?  I think the same boats are still there!)

Foxy John's Pub.  Half hardware store, half pub.

Irish music in Flaherty's

Bee-hive huts from 2000 BC.  Stone structures made without mortar,
called bee-hive huts because of their shape.

Slea Head

Slea Head and view of the Blasket Islands 

Walking the beach on Inch Peninsula in Dingle Bay

It was so warm we ate outside. We actually used the word "hot" while
sitting there.  I think it was probably the warmest day ever recorded in Ireland.

Lakes of Killarney

Kenmare

Glengarriff forest

Bulman pub in Kinsale

During the last night in Kinsale we did a stout tasting of Guinness, Murphy's and Beamish.
They all look identical, right?  But they taste very different!