hoxworth files

Tardiness, England, and Walter de Hawksworth

2010-05-24T20:17:00.003+02:00

As some of you may have realized, I do not post much anymore on the blog. I've been thinking about why and concluded it is facebook's fault. I am lazy and it is much easier to post our stuff on facebook. Unfortunately what this means is that for those who aren't our friends on facebook you don't get to see this. Sorry. I will endeavor to attempt to post more here.

We just got back from visiting London and just loved it. We definitely want to go back and it also inspired me to go back and look at my ancestry. When I go back I want to do more research.

With that said, I went back to an earlier post I made and it seems that I missed something before. This link indicates that:

The history of the Hawksworth family dates back to the eleventh century when Walter de Hawksworth resided here. His father, John, came over with William the Conqueror from Normandy and was subsequently killed at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

This link indicates that:

John, the father of Walter de Hawksworth, the first possessor of this place [i.e., Hawksworth Hall], came over with the Conqueror, and was killed at the battle of Hastings, where he commanded under Richard Fitzpoint, a Norman Baron, surnamed Clifford, Lord Clifford, of Clifford Castle.

This link also says that William the Conqueror was Lord of the Manor of Hawksworth for eight months and that King James I stayed there. What amazed me about this is that my ancestors are originally from Normandy which is where I live now. Also it is amazing to me because we are hearing about and learning so much about William the Conqueror and to now hear that my ancestor commanded for William the Conqueror and died in the Battle of Hastings makes it all that more interesting and real to me.

Christmas Cruise - Rome

2010-03-05T19:53:00.015+01:00

This is miscellaneous pictures in Rome on our cruise. You will find food gladiators, various statues and ancient ruins as well as the kids in the train and at an ancient church.

Christmas Cruise - Vatican

2010-03-03T19:46:00.019+01:00

These are the pictures of the Vatican. This is St. Peter's Square and St. Peter's Basilica. There are also pictures of a dead pope, the Swiss Guard, and Michelangelo's Pieta.

Christmas Cruise - San Pietro in Vincoli

2010-02-26T23:48:00.005+01:00

Within the San Pietro in Vincoli (Church of St. Peter in Chains) there is little hidden gem of Michelangelo's very well known sculpture of Moses which is part of the tomb of Pope Julius II.

This is a couple of other photos of some interesting things in that church.

Christmas Cruise - Roman Colosseum

2010-02-26T23:27:00.013+01:00

Here are the pictures of the outside of the colosseum and the kids with one of the dudes dressed up in Roman duds.

Christmas Cruise - Ancient Rome

2010-02-26T23:10:00.006+01:00

On our all day tour of Rome we first went to ancient Rome to the colosseum and surroundings. Unfortuantely we did not get to go inside but we knew we were going back in February so that was not a huge deal. The first pictures of the rocks are of the original road in ancient Rome. There were a bunch of people surrounding the colosseum dressed in ancient Roman centurian costumes. It made for a rather cool effect if it weren't for all the other people there ruining it! ;-) The weather that day was perfect though it was a tiny bit cold. Anyway, here are the pictures...

Christmas Cruise - Corfou

2010-02-11T19:32:00.013+01:00

The second day in Greece was spent in Corfou. For this tour we went to Achilleion which was:

a palace built in Corfu by the Empress of Austria Elisabeth of Bavaria, also known as Sissi, after a suggestion by Austrian Consul Alexander von Watzberg...designed with the mythical hero Achilles as its central theme.

After spending a couple of hours there we then went to downtown Corfou to look at a church and do some shopping. The downtown was not all that impressive and was quite dirty. Plus the weather was not the best. Nevertheless we had a great excursion number three with our new friends.

Christmas Cruise - Katakolon Greek Dinner

2010-02-10T21:19:00.007+01:00

This was the Greek dinner in Katakolon. It really wasn't much in the way of food but was just finger foods that we have frequently in the US. And the dancing was sort of lame. The highlight was the Ouzo.

After the spending the whole day with our new friends the Sohos we shared a bottle of Ouzo with them. Many that was crazy. Rebekkah and Jennifer had fun dancing Greek-style.

Christmas Cruise - Olympia Race Track

2010-02-10T21:10:00.009+01:00

These pictures are of the race track at Olympia. Everything has pretty much deteriorated away after several earthquakes and several thousand years but the original starting/finish line is still there. Rather than racing in a circle like they do today, they ran back and forth between two lines. All of the mondern 40 meter, 100 meter, 200 meter, etc. races originated with this.

Christmas Cruise - Olympia

2010-02-08T20:34:00.018+01:00

Our next stop was Katakolon, Greece which is the port for the ancient site of Olympia. If you didn't already know, this site:

is known for having been the site of the Olympic Games in classical times, comparable in importance to the Pythian Games held in Delphi. Both games were held every Olympiad (i.e. every four years), the Olympic Games dating back possibly further than 776 BC. In 394 AD ( after exactly 1170 years ) emperor Theodosius I abolished them as they were then considered reminiscent of paganism. The first olympic games were in Olympia in honor of Zeus.

The link has a pretty cool artists rendering of what it might have looked like back then. We hung out all day here with our new friends the Sohos. It was a really good time.

Christmas Cruise - Malta

2010-02-06T23:17:00.023+01:00

Malta, while not my favorite stop on the cruise, was the one place that we will try to go back to. The weather is always great there, it is charming, everything is cheap, English is spoken there, and there was a lot of thing we didn't get to see/visit (the tour we had booked was cancelled for some stupid reason...like rocks were falling on tourists or something silly like that). So we'll probably go back.

One interesting factoid about Malta is that a lot of movies are filmed there. These two sites have some good listings...some noteable ones are Gladiator, Troy, Count of Monte Cristo, Da Vinci Code, Alexander, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and several James Bond films.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_shot_in_Malta
http://www.lovetripper.com/movies/malta.html

They also had these cool yellow buses that were everywhere almost running over eachother and pedestrians. It was seriously crazy. This was where we met our now good friends, the Sohos, who live in Germany about 8 hours from us. We will probably be visiting them in April. We ended up hanging out with them on the ship for the rest of the time. Our daughters became fast friends and now talk all of the time on facebook.

Christmas Cruise - Colosseum

2010-02-06T20:04:00.007+01:00

After dinner and before going back to the boat they took us to an ancient Roman colosseum outside of town. It was like a city park in the US and you could just climb around on everything. This was a good wind-down for the end of the day. It whet our appetites for the big on in Rome which was a few days later. Unfortunately we did not have time on our tour of Rome to go inside the Colosseum and so just saw the outside. However, we go there next week and will get to go inside!

Christmas Cruise - Aqueducts

2010-02-06T19:46:00.003+01:00

After Sidi Bou Said we went to a traditional Tunisian dinner near some aqueducts. We had some galettes for an entrée (which in Tunisia as well as France is the equivalent of an appetizer in the US) and couscous (which is not just the grain product that we call couscous in the US which is actually semolina wheat, but is a dish with this in addition to meat and vegetables). Since no one liked the galettes because they had fried eggs in them, I pretty much ate everyone's galettes.

This was where we met some very nice Americans who live in England (he works for Becthel there on the railroads). We spent all dinner getting to know them and they have invited us to come to the London area to stay with them. We are very sure that we will take them up on that offer and very soon!

Christmas Cruise - Sidi Bou Said

2010-02-04T20:01:00.014+01:00

After we we left Bardo Museum we headed for the tourist town of Sidi Bou Said. The town, as you can guess from the pictures, is known for the blue and white colors of its buildings and structures. The tour guide told us that the white is keep the houses cool and the blue is to protect from mosquitoes because they think it's water. One can cruise the steep streets of the downtown and buy all sorts of local crafts and such. We bought a plate from one of the vendors and stopped at another because he took our picture. The other place we went was to go to the bathroom and have a quick soda before going to back to the tour bus.

Christmas Cruise - Bardo Museum

2010-02-04T19:35:00.010+01:00

After leaving the Souk we went to the Bardo Museum. This museum contains the world's largest collection of Roman mosaics as well as other antiquities of interest from Ancient Greece, Tunisia, and from the Arab period. One of the coolest things about it was the building it was in though the mosaics were quite impressive.

Christmas Cruise - Berber Rugs

2010-02-03T20:20:00.007+01:00

While in the Souk we stopped at a perfum shop and this rug shop. Up on the roof of this rug shop you could see out over Tunisia. This is what really reminded me of the movies. What was also funny was that the rooftops were covered with satellite dishes and cats.

We ended up buying on of the larger rugs made by hand out of camel hair and sheeps wool. Before getting there Nicole had Rebekkah sit down with the lady who made te rugs in order to get a picture. Unfortunately the lady wouldn't let Nicole and Rebekkah go until we gave her some change.

Then after a presentation of all the rugs, when we showed interest in the one we bought they tried to seal the deal by putting a cigarette on it (because they claimed that you could not burn or mark it up because of what it is made of...they also said that the Berbers use the rugs and sleep and walk on them and you never need to clean them). That didn't really help the sale for us anyway.

Then as they were wrapping up the rug the guys doing it flashed a small rug similar to the rug we were buying at me and said that it was the birthday of the guy who was doing the wrapping and that he needed a tip. For some I was at a loss for words and couldn't figure out what they were doing until after it was wrapped. Then they wouldn't let me leave until I gave them a tip.

Christmas Cruise - Souk

2010-02-02T19:52:00.018+01:00

After going to the site of Carthage the tour in Tunisia took us to a Souk which:

is a commercial quarter in an Arab or Berber city...often used to
designate the market in any Arabized or Muslim city.

We really have no idea how tourists who don't have a guide ever make it out of the Souks. Being inside the Souk felt like we were in an action movie like Bourne Supremecy (which you will see in a following post). Needless to say we did not like it and did not go into any of the shops (except the perfume and rug shops with the tour). We were harrassed several times by the shopkeepers and none of the shops didn't really look worth going into and so we didn't.

Christmas Cruise - Itinerary

2010-01-23T17:35:00.011+01:00

Day 1: 20/12/2009, Bus leaves Nice at 11:30, Cruise departs at 17:00
Nice (France) to Savona (Italy)

Day 2: 21/12/2009
...cruising...

Day 3: 22/12/2009, 8:00 - 17:00
Tunis (Tunisia)

Day 4: 23/12/2009, 8:00 - 14:00
La Valletta (Malta)

Day 5: 24/12/209, 12:00 - 19:00
Katakolon/Olympia (Greece)

Day 6: 25/12/2009, 8:00 - 18:00
Corfu (Greece)

Day 7: 26/12/2009
...cruising...

Day 8: 27/12/2009, 8:00 - 19:00
Civitavecchia/Rome (Italy)

Day 9: 28/12/2009, Arrives at 8:00

Detailed

Savona (Italy) to Nice (France)

Day 1: 20/12/2009
Nice (France) to Savon (Italy)
17:00

Day 2: 21/12/2009
...cruising...

Day 3: 22/12/2009
Tunis (Tunisia)
8:00 - 17:00

Tunis, with 700,000 inhabitants is the capital of the Tunisian Republic and the political and economic centre of the country. The port and shipyard centre are among the most active in Africa. The city centre is curiously situated in the internal part of the coast, approximately 10 kilometres from the sea at the east end side of a lagoon one- to two-metre deep.

The lagoon, hardly navigable and prohibited to large coasters, represented a logistic difficulty resolved last century when in 1890 a canal was opened connecting the city and La Goulette. The canal is 10-kilometres long and ships with draught lower than 6,5 metres can reach the docks of Tunis port. Two dykes along the canal make the canal safer.

Tunis's origins are very ancient. Historians consider that it is more ancient than the legendary Carthage. Almost certainly it was one of the first inhabited centres in the Mediterranean. It took an active part in the three Punic wars on Carthage side in its unfortunate war against Rome. By the end of the 7th century AD, after the final destruction of Carthage by the Arabs, it gathered the survivors chased by the invaders. In 894 it became the capital for the first time and remained as such for a short period.

In 1270 the king of France Louis IX tried to conquer it in vain. The city reached its height between the 13th and 14th centuries under the Hafsidy rule. The creation of the majority of souks dates from this period. At that time, approximately 100,000 people inhabited Tunis and since then it has remained the country's capital. French influence in Tunis is strong and it appears a city with two personalities, Arab and European. Islam culture is evident at every corner but the percentage of Catholics in the internal part of the country is relevant.

The double characteristic is evident everywhere in the city with contrasting elements which have become a unique style. The most important religious centre is the Olive Mosque, the largest and most venerated Islamic sanctuary in Tunis. It was first erected in 732 and the present building was certainly reconstructed by the Hafsidi between the 13th and 14th centuries. In the prayers' room it is possible to admire the ancient Byzantine columns and the mihrab, decorated with stucco. Outside, the 44-metre high minaret built in 1894 is the reference point at prayer time for all Muslims. Tunis history is full of personalities which have become authentic legends. Among them, Princess Aziza, whose true name was Fatima, daughter of Othman Dey, was renown for her generosity and at the end of her life she freed all her slaves and gave all her money to the poor. Aziza tomb, together with her father's and her servants' are finely carved in marble and the central part is decorated with ceramics.

The Belvedere park is very nice, even though the true core of the city is the Kasbah with market stalls, alleys and small shops where negotiation is obligatory and a sort of performance. The Bard Museum, after Cairo Egyptian Museum, is the most important in North Africa. There is the most important collection of Roman mosaics in the world. The museum is divided into six sections on three floors: prehistory, Punic, Roman, Pagan, Paleochristian and Arab-Muslim. Carthage ruins, the city that competed with Rome for hegemony in the Mediterranean, are not far from Tunis.

Unfortunately there are few remains of Punic Carthage: the necropolis, the foundations of a quarter, evidence of ancient ports. The legend tells that Queen Dido founded the city and sacrificed herself at the stake. The second Carthage revived by Roman emperors left important evidence: the Odeon, the Theatre, basements of villas and baths. The archaeological relevance of these places can only be compared with the temples of ancient Greece.

The village of Sidi Bou Said is very typical, with chalk-white houses, blue doors, balconies and terraces full of flowers, one of the most oriental corners in North Africa. Its alleys are narrow and steep, the houses hide bright gardens with domes stretching in the green vegetation and on the changing blue of the sea.

Day 4: 23/12/2009
La Valletta (Malta)
8:00 - 14:00

The Mediterranean island of Malta, situated between the North African coast and Sicily, is a land of history and mystique. The ancient Greeks claimed the island had divine origins and was the province of the Calypso nymph who lived on nearby Gozo. In Homer's Odyssey, Ulysses landed on the island during his epic journey to Ithaca. In the Middle Ages, the Crusaders partially fortified the island during their expeditions to the Holy Land, giving rise to the powerful Maltese Knights of St John. Following the Crusades, Malta enjoyed a period of commercial prosperity generated by the maritime transport of profitable cargoes such as grain, oil, wine and spices. In the 16th Century, Malta's peaceful existence was violently interrupted when the Turks invaded and laid siege to the island, eventually fought off by the heroic knights. The battle prompted the Maltese substantially to improve the island's fortifications and it was now that the fortress of Valletta was built, named after the knight who led the battle. There are also several architectural remains from the period of the Maltese Knights. During the Napoleonic era the island suffered invasion again, this time at the hands of the French, and it was only with the help of the British that they were repelled. This led to an extended period of British colonial domination that lasted until 1964 when the island gained autonomy. Under the British the island became a major naval base and during World War II was subjected to months of blockade and bombing. Today, Malta is a centre of fishing, craftsmanship and tourism, and the busy, walled city of Valletta is its administrative, commercial and political capital.

Day 5: 24/12/209
Katakolon/Olympia (Greece)
12:00 - 19:00

Katakolon is a small port founded in the first half of the 19th century and linked to the legendary and nearby Olympia. According to the annals, which describe in detail and with some legend, the birth and history of Olympia, the city is a pastoral site chosen by the king of the gods Zeus to promote his culture among the Greeks.

Olympia, together with Delphi, the city dedicated to Apollo, and Athens represents the most important mythological places in traditional Greece. The Olympic Games originated here and, according to the Hellenic tradition described by the Greek poet Pindar, their origin is in honour of Pelope, a legendary character, after whom the Peloponnese was named. In the beginning the Games were composed of few disciplines, deriving from military arts characterised by loyalty and courage and lasted just one day often interrupted by religious ceremonies.

Subsequently the celebration of the Olympic Games, every four years at the summer solstice, lasted for a few weeks and at this time all conflicts had to be suspended to enable the performance of the games. The ceremony was strict. Women, except for Hera priestesses were not allowed, upon punishment of death. All competitors had to be Greek. The winners (at the time there were no sponsors or money compensation) were awarded by public triumph, they were included in a golden register engraved in stone and a life size statue was erected.

After over 1200 years of continued history, the Olympic Games were stopped in 393 AD by Theodosius I and started again in Athens in 1896 upon initiative of the French Baron Pierre de Coubertin. Life in Olympia takes place around the sacred walls of the Sanctuary where all the temples and religious buildings are situated. Olympia was discovered in 1776, but the most important excavations are recent. Zeus' temple for instance was entirely brought to light by German archaeologists who succeeded in reconstructing part of the front and side columns collecting the statues of Greek winners, votive offerings and small temples damaged by a series of earthquakes unfortunately frequent in the past.

The most ancient part of the Sanctuary is dedicated to Hera and it was destroyed and sacked after the prohibition of the pagan cult ordered by Theodosius. The stadium is very impressive, with an audience capacity of up to 45,000. Several votive offerings were found here, and among them Miltiades helmets after Athens victory in Marathon. It is still possible to see the starting and finishing lines of the races in the stadium. All archaeological finds are preserved in the Museum.

Day 6: 25/12/2009
Corfu (Greece)
8:00 - 18:00

Corfu is the northernmost of the Ionian Islands, located in the heart of the Mediterranean. The Greek place name Kerkira was renamed Corfu by the Venetians, who paraphrased the word "Korifi" which was used to indicate the towers of St. Mark's fortress.

Corfu is covered in lush vegetation, thriving in a climate that is tempered by the wind without being too dry. Its coastline is very long, seemingly never-ending: over 200 kilometres. The terrain is quite varied, at times sandy and at others rocky and broken up by Mediterranean bush, olive, cypress and citrus trees.

Corfu has suffered a long and bloody history. Corfu embarked on a long period of being colonised by others from 700 B.C. onwards, first by the Corinthians, then the Illyrians and the Athenians. Corfu suffered attacks from pirates while under Byzantine rule forcing the relocation of the city northward. This did little to halt the invasions of the Vandals and Visigoths, who repeatedly massacred the populations and razed their villages to the ground. The Venetians gave Corfu back its status as an important centre of trade and with it a very wealthy market. Venetian rule lasted for more than 400 years, during which time the island was governed by a system of aristocratic rule. The Venetians began the cultivation of olives and to this day, Corfu is one of the main olive oil producing centres in the region. Once the Venetian reign had come to an end, it was the Turks' turn, then the French and the English, and on 21st May 1864 it was annexed to the Kingdom of Greece.

During the Second World War, Corfu was again bombarded and suffered heavy damage. Most of its buildings were destroyed, such as the public theatre and the Ionian Academy. Just a few outstanding buildings remain, scattered along the coastline and in the main town and jealously guarded by the local population.

Kerkira is the capital, and accommodates around 60,000 of the 110,000 people who live on the island. The city has a splendid city centre with numerous Venetian fortresses and the English Royal Palace. The rest of the island is made up of small settlements, roads that stretch out high abovethe sea and splendid views of small bays and magnificent cliffs.

Day 7: 26/12/2009
...cruising...

Day 8: 27/12/2009
Civitavecchia/Rome (Italy)
8:00 - 19:00

The first evidence of settlement in the area of Civitavecchia relates to the ancient town of Centocelle, once the port for Ethruria and a rich market centre. Pliny the Younger refers in his writings to Centocelle as the venue of a peace council held by the emperor Trajan.

Centocelle takes its name from the style of village houses, which resembled hives with small cells, and the tiny bays along the coast that enabled ships to come and go. Due to its sheltered surroundings and easy access to the sea, Trajan built his most extravagant villa in the vicinity, mentioned by Pliny. The basic structure of the port first developed by Trajan still remains.

When the port of Ostia at the mouth of the River Tiber became insufficient to handle the maritime traffic to Rome, Civitavecchia took its place. The distinctive shape of the port is attributed to the architect Apollodoro who decorated the original structure with engravings and statues. After the fall of the Roman Empire, Civitavecchia maintained its maritime importance and in a few centuries had become the most important port in the Thyrrenian, competing for supremacy with Pisa and attracting the attention of Turkish pirates.

The port today manages light commercial and passenger traffic to the Thyerrenian islands, while the mediaeval centre of Civitavecchia is still well preserved.

Day 9: 28/12/2009
Savona (Italy)
8:00

One of the most celebrated former inhabitants of Savona was the navigator Christopher Columbus, who farmed land in the area while chronicling his journeys. 'Columbus's house', a cottage situated in the Savona hills, lay between vegetable crops and fruit trees. It is just one of many residences in Liguria associated with Columbus.

Several cities as well as Savona claim his birth and residency, such as Genoa and Terrarossa di Moconesi. Savona is the most important city on the west coast of Italy, within reach of the seaside resorts of Alassio, Loano and Varazze.

Savona is a city rich in history and enterprise, largely centering on its port. The most important monument in the city in this regard is the Priamar, a castle stronghold near the port and recently restored. This is the site of the city's first developed community, in 205BC, described by Roman historian Titus Livius as 'Savo Oppidum Alpinum' and evidently an ally of Carthage against Rome. The city fell under Roman rule in 200BC and, following the establishment of Vada Sabatia, presently called Vado, its importance rapidly declined. After the fall of the Roman Empire and the invasions of the Barbarians, Savona became an important Byzantine settlement. In 643AD, Savona was destroyed by the Rotarians and the Longobards, while during the 9th and 10th centuries it was the capital of Marca Aleramica. Eventually it became an independent municipality, developing considerable trade with France, Spain and North Africa. After a long period resisting Genoa, it finally relinquished power in 1528 and following the Napoleonic era was annexed by Savoy. Formerly a province of the kingdom of Sardinia, the province of Savona was recognised in 1927.

There are two versions surrounding the origin of the name of Savona's symbolic monument, the Priamar. According to the first, Priamar derives from 'Pietra Sul Mare' (rock on the sea), as the fortress is constructed on a promontory rock facing the Ligurian sea. According to the second version the name derives from 'Petra Mala', a reference to the rock underneath the castle being crumbly. Inside the fortress walls stood a school, two of whose pupils became the popes Julius II and Sixtus IV. It also hosted a ceremony to mark the independence of the municipality, in 1191, after the victory of Ghibelline. In the 19th Century the fortress was used as a prison, where in 1830-1831 Giuseppe Mazzini was jailed. During World War II, the fortress was used as an air-raid shelter and to control Savona's port.

Christmas Cruise - Carthage

2010-01-22T22:08:00.020+01:00

These are pictures of the UNESCO ruins of Carthage. This is in near the city of Tunis, Tunisia. Tunisia is a country in northern Africa. According to Roman legend Carthage was founded in 814 BC by Phoenician colonists from Tyre.

These ruins are of ancient baths there. The balls shown in the second photo are canonballs from the Punic Wars (The term Punic comes from the Latin word Punicus (or Poenicus), meaning "Carthaginian"). The Battle of Carthage (assume that this is the last one when Rome won) is mentioned in the movie "Gladiator." Below is a description of the ruins from the UNESCO website:

Carthage was founded in the 9th century B.C. on the Gulf of Tunis. From the 6th century onwards, it developed into a great trading empire covering much of the Mediterranean and was home to a brilliant civilization. In the course of the long Punic wars, Carthage occupied territories belonging to Rome, which finally destroyed its rival in 146 B.C. A second – Roman – Carthage was then established on the ruins of the first.

Christmas Cruise - Tunisia

2010-01-22T21:44:00.006+01:00

Sunrise on Tunisia...

Waiting for the excursion...

Getting off the boat in Tunisia...

In the tour bus in Tunisia

Christmas Cruise - Videos

2010-01-22T19:16:00.021+01:00

Christmas Cruise - On the Boat

2010-01-21T20:32:00.023+01:00

Here are some pictures on the boat. Unfortunately we really didn't that many pictures or videos of the boat. While we took a lot on our excursions we didn't carry our cameras around the boat all that much. Anyway, here they are...

Here is the kids getting on the boat finally after almost 3 hours wait.

These are a couple of pictures of sunrises somewhere along our journey.

This was the bizarre chapel in the boat.

This was where we had dinner every night. Here the servers are going to start a little show and everyone is waving their napkins. Man was the food good!

This is Rebekkah and Nicole waiting for the fashion show.

This is the kids at one of the four pools. Surprisingly they only swam one time. I went on the slides on the top of the ship on the second to the last day. It was freezing.

This is the kids waiting for one of the shows to begin in the theatre.

These are pictures of the boat.

This is a picture of the hallway outside our room.

A picture of the casino...

Rebekkah with her new friend she met who is an American living in Paris.

Picture of our room

Picture of the elevators from the central area of the boat

This is Nicole and I going through the Strait of Messina between Sicily and mainland Italy.

These are pictures of the top of the boat.

This is pictures of the kids at the disco place. In the first pictures Rebekkah is doing her final Macarena with her new friend who is an American living in Germany.

Christmas Cruise - On the Way

2010-01-18T20:23:00.025+01:00

This Christmas Nicole had the fantastic idea of going on a mediterranean cruise. We are all glad she proposed it because it was the best vacation any of us Hoxworths have ever had!

The day before we left it snowed like crazy all over France and since many parts of France are ill-equipped for this, all forms of transportation were affected. I had no idea the roads would be as backed up as they were. In order to get to the port of embarkment we had quite a journey ahead of us. The first leg was to drive from Cherbourg to Vénéjan to leave our car at our friend's house (the Faldowskis) and this would prove to be the most challenging portion. We wanted to drive to here because we planned to stay a few days with the Faldowskis before driving back home.

We left at around 4:45 expecting about a 10-11 hr drive (normally its just over 9 hrs but I planned for a few more). Things flowed pretty well until after Paris where we were in stop-and-go traffic for about two hours (and I mean literally 130 to 0 kph in an instant). Needless to say I was stressed because we had to catch a train in Avignon at a bit after 18:00 which was creeping closer and closer. I kept searching for some logical cause for this complete stop-and-go traffic and I never found any. I suppose it was just because of the 5 cm of snow on the road. All of the sudden a bit before Lyon the traffic completely opened up and stayed at 130 kph.

The second leg was to catch a taxi from Vénéjan to Avignon which was about an hour drive. Things worked out and we made it to the train station in Avignon with time to spare for dinner (thank you God). The taxi ride was fun because although I speak a tiny bit of French (and Nicole and the kids much less) the lady talked our ears off. Of course I kept asking her questions probably giving her the impression that we could understand more than we can even though I told her I didn't speak very good French. Nevertheless it was fun because she had a relatively strong southern France accent and we learned a bit about her and the area.

The third leg of our journey was by train from Avignon to Nice to stay the night in a fabulous 1 star hotel. We somehow got on a train that left about an hour before ours because when looking for the trains for Nice the attendant told us it was leaving in 10 minutes or so and we made our way to it. I tried to ask why it was leaving early and they just looked at my ticket and told us to get on...and so we did. This was nice because then we got into Nice around 21:00 rather than 22:00.

So when we got to Nice we checked into our 1 star hotel (which was quite inexpensive but the reviews I read said it was clean and conveniently located near the train station). For some reason none of the other hotels near the station that I called had rooms for more than 2 people. Needless to say the hotel worked out just fine even though there was no bells and whistles. The guy working that night spoke to me in French (imagine that in France!) but had a very obvious and strong American accent. I asked him in French if he was American and he said that he was (still talking in French) and that he came 30 years ago and was still there. I said I was American as well and we both continued to speak in French. For some reason it was quite humorous to me.

After getting there we saw some chinese restaurants and everyone was still hungry. So Micah and I found a chinese take-out restaurant and got stuff for everyone. I didn't feel like chinese so I stopped at a kebab shop and got myself my favorite French food (i.e., a kebab sandwich) ;-)

The next leg of our journey was a bus from the Nice train station to Savona, Italy. So we got up and went to a café near the train station and hung out for around an hour. Then we caught the bus and that's where the following pictures are taken from with the iPhone. The bus ride was around 2 hours and was pretty fun. These first pictures are of the kids on the bus.

This next picture is our first good view of the Mediterranean.

This is the last picture in France right before we go through the tunnel (of which there were about 500 that we went through) to Italy.

This is a picture of massive amount of greenhouses which we assumed perhaps housed olive groves though we're not entirely sure. According to this link they grow all sorts of stuff in them. What was bizarre about it was that there were hundreds of them in every town.

This is Nicole in the kids waiting for about 3 hours to get on the ship after getting to Savona. Thankfully we had a DVD player and they provided some entertainment (i.e., some dancers).

Thanksgiving 2009 in France

2009-12-13T15:43:00.031+01:00

This past Thanksgiving we got together with several other American expat families in the area as well as some French, Irish, and Jamacians. France does not celebrate so we tought we'd import it for the day. There were 6 families of which were 11 adults and 6 children and 2 babies. There was one French man, one Irish woman, and one Jamacian woman who celebrated their first Thanksgiving ever with us. I think everyone had a good time. As you can see from the pictures we had the normal Thanksgiving fare complete with a 21 lb turkey.

Christmas Decorations

2009-12-13T15:12:00.006+01:00

Since we are going on a cruise for Christmas and won't be home we figured we would not get a tree this year. Instead we decided to decorate the palm tree in our house with Christmas lights and bulbs. We've been watching all of our Christmas movies every weekend since then.

Bayeux Tapestry

2009-12-12T14:26:00.005+01:00

After we went to Omaha Beach we hopped over to Bayeux to finally see the famous Bayeux Tapestry. According to Wikipedia, the tapestry, which was completed sometime in the 1070s:

...is a 0.5 by 70 metres (1.6 by 230 ft) long embroidered cloth—not an actual tapestry—which depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England as well as the events of the invasion itself. The Bayeux Tapestry is annotated in the Latin language.

This website explains each scene of this medieval comic strip.

Armistice Day and Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial

2009-12-12T12:50:00.009+01:00

France celebrated Armistice Day on Wednesday November 11 . That meant that the kids didn't have to go to school and I didn't have to work. Armistice day:

commemorates the armistice signed between the Allies of World War I and Germany at Compiègne, France, for the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front, which took effect at eleven o'clock in the morning—the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month" of 1918.

So to remember those who sacrificed for our freedoms, we decided to drive to Omaha Beach to visit the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial there. Here are the pictures.

Miss France 2010

2009-12-06T11:30:00.006+01:00

Last night we went over to have dinner at our French friends' house (the Launeys). We had a traditional French "winter" dinner called Raclette. They have peeled potatoes which are steamed/cooked with which you serve various meets and pour over it Raclette cheese which is a type of cheese from cows in the mountains. The cheese is melted right at your table in an electric table-top grill with small pans in which you can heat the cheese. The potatoes can be kept warm in the top.

Here is the description of the modern way to do it from Wikipedia:

A modern way of serving raclette involves an electric table-top grill with small pans, known as coupelles, to heat slices of raclette cheese in. Generally the grill is surmounted by a hot plate or griddle. The cheese is brought to the table sliced, accompanied by platters of boiled or steamed potatoes, other vegetables, charcuterie, and perhaps seafood. Diners create their own small packages of food by cooking small amounts of meat, vegetables and seafood on the griddle. These are then mixed with potatoes and topped with cheese in the small, wedge-shaped coupelles that are placed under the grill to melt and brown the cheese. Alternatively, slices of cheese may be melted and simply poured over food on the plate. The accent in raclette dining is on relaxed and sociable eating and drinking, the meal often running to several hours. French and other European supermarkets generally stock both the grill apparatus and ready-sliced cheese and charcuterie selections for use with it. Restaurants also provide raclette evenings for parties of diners.

Then after dinner we sat down and watched the Miss France beauty pageant for about 3.5 hours. It was a blast. We actually got to vote through SMS on our phones which was the first time this happened since 1987 and the first time via SMS.

What is the coolest about it is that Miss Normandie won! After she won we were all jumping up and down and cheering while hugging and kissing eachother. It was hilariously fun. Below is the video from Youtube.

Ireland - Ferry Ride

2009-11-28T22:33:00.012+01:00

Here is the picture of us getting onto the ferry from Cherbourg to Rosslaire. We wanted to get a picture of the outside of the ferry before entering but we were too slow and thought of it too late.

Here is a view of our cabin in the trip to Ireland. For whatever reason, we did not get any pictures of the cabin for the ride back which was a little nicer (we went over Celtic Links and came back on Irish Ferries, but we booked with a now defunct company called LD Lines). My nice hair cut below is compliments of Nicole. She used too small of an attachment and this is what happens. This actually wasn't fixed until we got back.

These are pictures of us hanging out in the ferry.

This is a picure of the La Hague plant from the ferry ride back from Ireland

Ireland - Miscellaneous

2009-11-28T22:19:00.019+01:00

These are just miscellaneous photos in Ireland that didn't fit well into any other category...

This was a cattle drive on one of the small Irish country roads...they were actually driving the cattle with an SUV.

This is a picture of our drive along the Ring of Kerry.

This is on our way down to the Cliffs of Moher.

These are some pictures of the Kilkenny Castle. According to the website:

The original Anglo-Norman stone castle was built for William Marshal, 4th Earl of Pembroke (c.1146-1219) during the first decade of the thirteenth century. Kilkenny Castle later became the principal Irish residence of the powerful Butler family for almost 600 years.

This is a picture of the Rock of Cashel. It was the same day we went to Blarney Castle so it was raining really bad and so only I went here since it was outside. This was advertised as one of the must visit places and to me it was a huge disappointment. Plus the weather was bad and they were doing renovations so that made it all the more of a waste of 6 euros.

These are pictures of Rebekkah's birthday presents before we went to Ireland.

Ireland - Blarney Castle

2009-11-28T22:02:00.032+01:00

We found a fantastic B&B above a restaurant and bar right down the street from the Blarney Castle which was almost as good as the place we found next to Bunratty Castle. We had a nice dinner in the restaurant downstairs and woke up to a very excellent Irish breakfast.

Unfortunately it was raining like cats and dogs that day. Thankfully, it was the only day it rained like that the whole time we were there. So I think we were taking our good weather a little bit for granted and this day made us realize that.

Needless to say that made it much more difficult to enjoy and explore Blarney Castle and it made climbing to the famous Blarney Stone that much more difficult. I seriously never expected the experience to be as scary as it was.

First of all, they don't seem to require safety rails and such in Europe like they do in the US. So as you climb this very precarious castle with no rails it gets scarier and scarier the closer you get to the stone. Then when you get to the top, to the outside you have holes in the floor that are about 13 floors down to the ground below (which you can see) and to the inside is the inside of the castle with very small rails (probably about 6-8 floors).

The following pictures sort of give you an idea of what I'm talking about but they do not do it justice. You really need to be there to experience the complete scariness of it. Needless to say, I barely got out there and Micah could barely get to the top in order to get down. Rebekkah and Nicole did it with no problem at all because they are not scared of heights. They made the men seem like whimps. Oh well.

According to Wikipedia:

The castle originally dates from before AD 1200, when a wooden structure was built on the site. Around 1210 A.D. this was replaced by a stone fortification. It was destroyed in 1446, but subsequently rebuilt by Cormac MacCarthy - then King of Munster...At the top of the castle lies the Stone of Eloquence, better known as the Blarney Stone. Tourists visiting Blarney Castle may hang upside-down over a sheer drop to kiss the stone, which is said to give the gift of eloquence. There are many legends as to the origin of the stone, but some say that it was the Lia Fáil—a magical stone upon which Irish kings were crowned.

As you can see from the pictures below the proof that we kissed the stone. We bought the pictures from the castle because we figured that our pictures weren't all that good because it was raining so bad. We were hoping that by kissing the stone we would all go back to France speaking French fluently. Unfortunately, it didn't work...

Ireland - Killarney National Park

2009-11-28T21:50:00.010+01:00

This day we drove from Bunratty and drove south along the Ring of Kerry and through the Killarney National Park. We were excited about the Ring of Kerry but it turned out to be somewhat of a disappointment so I won't waste any time talking about it.

Killarney National Park, however, was fantastic. It felt like we were driving around in Lord of the Rings or something. The park was the first national park established in Ireland and is one of the very few places in Ireland that has been continuously covered by woodland.

We stopped to explore a few times one of which was to hike up the mountain to see a waterfall. See the pictures below:

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Ireland - Bunratty

2009-11-28T21:27:00.016+01:00

Bunratty Castle (Irish: Caisleán Bhun Raithe, meaning 'bottom' or end of the 'Ratty' river, or "Castle at the Mouth of the Ratty") is the most complete and authentic medieval fortress in Ireland. Built in 1425 and restored in 1954, it now contains mainly 15th and 16th century furnishings, tapestries, and works of art.

The folk park around the castle is a recreation of a 19th century Irish village with over 30 buildings. Every house in the village smelled like nasty smoke. The village was decent but the castle was awesome. The castle was completely finished and painted white to look like it would have originally looked like (with the exception of the outside). You could explore the entire castle however you want and that's exactly what we did.

Later that night we went back to the castle to have a medieval dinner and that was tons of fun. We had mead as an aperitif (the kids had orange soda) and for dinner we had spiced parsnip soup, spare ribs, chicken breast, potatoes, vegetables and for dessert we had rastin. And the music was "deadly" as they say in Ireland.

The real highlight (though I'm not sure why) was the B&B we found. They had a huge family room and it was the cheapest we found all week with the best food of all the week. I don't know, but this was almost my (perhaps our) favorite part of the day.

Ireland - Cliffs of Moher

2009-11-28T21:15:00.008+01:00

After driving through the Burren we finally reached the famous Cliffs of Moher. The Cliffs of Moher are seen in the following films: The Princess Bride and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

According to Wikipedia:

The cliffs rise 120 meters (394 ft) above the Atlantic Ocean at Hag's Head (Irish: Ceann na Cailleach), and reach their maximum height of 214 meters (702 ft) just north of O'Brien's Tower, eight kilometres away. The cliffs boast one of Ireland's most spectacular views...The cliffs consist mainly of beds of Namurian shale and sandstone, with the oldest rocks being found at the bottom of the cliffs. It is possible to see 300 million year old river channels cutting through the base of the cliffs.

Ireland - The Burren

2009-11-28T20:25:00.011+01:00

After going from Dublin to Newgrange and Trim Castle we stayed in Galway which is on the west coast of Ireland. The intent after Dublin, where we reserved rooms, was to just find B&Bs where ever we ended up that night. The plan this night was to stay in Galway at The Spanish Arch which was recommended by the Michelin Green Guide, but unfortunately it was booked.

So we asked them if they recommended any place for a family of 4 near there and they directed us to the hostel two doors down. So we headed there and they were booked and so we asked them the same question. Then they got on the phone and called someone they knew near there who had a B&B and that she would come and pick us up and we could follow here to her place.

It ended up being a little old lady who had a B&B in her home with two bedrooms. So we took her up on the offer and stayed there. We had dinner at a little Irish pub near her house which was fantastic. It was here that we first tried the Black Pudding which "is a type of sausage made by cooking blood with a filler until it is thick enough to congeal when cooled." It wasn't horrible but I will tell you I would not order again. I asked several people what one is obligated to eat while in Ireland and they all said "Black Pudding" without skipping a beat. I truly don't know why they like it.

We got up that morning and the plan was to head south toward Bunratty where we'd go to the castle and stay the night around there. The problem was that we had a tough time getting out of the B&B because the very, very nice lady would not stop talking. After talking with the people at the hotel in Dublin and after listening to this lady talk about her cat named Elvis and her pilgrimages to Catholic sites for 30 minutes straight without taking a breath it became clear that the Irish speak English faster than any other English speaking culture that I've ever experienced. I think we had whiplash after that visit.

So after successfully escaping we got in the car and drove south through the Burren on the way to the Cliffs of Moher. The rock in this area was amazing. Not only was the ground covered with it, according to Nicole, it is purple (I couldn't tell because I am colorblind). According to the website:

The word "Burren" comes from an Irish word "Boíreann" meaning a rocky place. This is an extremely appropriate name when you consider the lack of soil cover and the extent of exposed Limestone Pavement.

The Burren is underlain by limestones of the Lower Carboniferous (Visean) period. The limestone formed as sediments in a tropical sea which covered most of Ireland approximately 350 million years ago. These sediments were compressed into horizontal strata and contain fossil corals, sea urchins, sea-lilies (crinnoids) and ammonites.

Ireland - Trim Castle

2009-11-28T20:00:00.016+01:00

Trim Castle is the largest Anglo-Norman castle in Europe, and Ireland's largest castle. It is noted for its appearance in Braveheart. We learned on our tour that castles were actually white on the inside and out because they put lime to smooth it out and keep it clean. We also learned that they used a lot of wood as well in the construction of the castles.

We also learned that they would hang their clothes over the toilets to kill the bugs and lice in them by means of the gases that eminated from the urine. Nice huh?! So they smelled like urine all the time but they didn't have bugs and lice on them. Sounds nice eh!

Ireland - Newgrange

2009-11-28T17:48:00.008+01:00

Newgrange is a passage tomb, possibly even a temple, constructed over 5,000 years ago (about 3,200 B.C.), making it older than Stonehenge in England and the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. It was built by an ancient celtic farming community.

Wikipedia describes Newgrange as

One of the most famous prehistoric sites in the world, and indeed the most famous of all Irish prehistoric sites. Newgrange was built in such a way that at dawn on the shortest day of the year, the winter solstice, a narrow beam of sunlight for a very short time illuminates the floor of the chamber at the end of the long passageway.

Ireland - Temple Bar

2009-11-28T17:09:00.005+01:00

Temple Bar, which takes its name from Sir William Temple, Provost of Trinity (1928-99), who owned land which included a sand bar on the south bank of the river, is a medieval network of narrow cobbled streets and courts " promoted as 'Dublin's cultural quarter.'"

Ireland - Kilmainham Gaol

2009-11-28T16:32:00.008+01:00

Kilmainham Gaol was "built in 1796" and is a "witness to Ireland's turbulent passage from the late eighteenth to early twentieth century. Prisoners from the United Irish Rebellion of 1796, the Emmet Rebellion of 1803, the Great Famine of 1845 to 1851, the Young Ireland Rebellion of 1848, the Fenian Rebellion of 1867, the Land War of the 1880s, the Easter Rising of 1916, the War of Independence and the Irish Civil War were held and often executed here."

They actually imprisoned children here as well as adults. It was quite interesting, especially in light of the fact that we had just recently visited Alcatraz. Wikipedia discusses this and provides a list of the former prisoners.

Ireland - St. Patrick's Cathedral

2009-11-28T15:57:00.006+01:00

St. Patrick's Cathedral is the other and less old but larger mediæval cathedral in Dublin, and is the largest church in Ireland.

This cathedral was built in honor of Ireland’s patron saint, Saint Patrick. It is adjacent to the famous well where tradition has it Saint Patrick baptized converts on his visit to Dublin.

Ireland - Christ Church Cathedral

2009-11-28T15:13:00.008+01:00

Christ Church Cathedral is the oldest of two mediæval cathedrals in Dublin (the other is St. Patrick's Cathedral just a couple blocks away).

The picture of the cat and mouse is mummified remains that were found in or behind the organ.

Ireland - Dublinia

2009-11-25T18:50:00.010+01:00

The website describes Dublinia as a:

heritage centre, located in central Dublin, at the heart of the medieval city. These exciting exhibitions contain life-sized reconstructions which will take you back to Viking and Medieval Dublin with a variety of sights, sounds, and smells!

Here are some pictures...

Ireland - Dublin

2009-11-23T21:40:00.058+01:00

According to the much revered (by the French at least) Michelin Green Guide:

"The name Dublin (Baile Átha Cliath) is derived from Dubh Linn, the Dark Pool at the confluence of the Poddle and the Liffey; the Irish name, Baile Átha Cliath, means the city by the hurdle ford."

According to Wikipedia:

Originally founded as a Viking settlement, it evolved into the Kingdom of Dublin and became the island's primary city following the Norman invasion...The city's original pronunciation is preserved in Old Norse as Dyflin, Old English as Difelin, and modern Manx as Divlyn. Historically, in the traditional Gaelic script used for the Irish language, bh was written with a dot over the b, rendering 'Duḃ Linn' or 'Duḃlinn'. Those without a knowledge of Irish omitted the dot and spelled the name as Dublin.

We spent our first three nights in Dublin at a B&B called "The Townhouse." This was a spectular and extremely friendly hotel with good food and a great location. It came recommended by an Irish friend here in France and I recommend it now as well.

The first day we took the Dublin siteseeing bus tour which stops at all of the sites with a live commentary. We forgot it was daylight savings time and so were an hour early. That turned out to be good because then we were at the buses just a tiny bit before their first departure.

We rode the bus almost around the entire loop before getting off at Kilmainham Gaol. After that we visited Dubinia and then the Guinness Brewery. Unfortunately all the churches were closed when we started getting off the bus and visiting the sites because it was Sunday.

So we visited Christ Church, Saint Patrick's Cathedral, and Trinity College on Day 2 in Dublin. Then we also visited St. Stephen's Green and Temple Bar to do a little shopping.

On the first night there we went to the movie theaters to see a movie which we hadn't had the opportunity to do since being the US. Unfortunately the movie we saw was completely worthless and a waste of time. It was called, "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus."

Guinness Brewery

Wikipedia says of the property that it was,

Leased for 9,000 years in 1759 by Arthur Guinness at £45 per year, St. James's Gate has been the home of Guinness ever since. It became the largest brewery in Ireland in 1838, and was the largest in the world in 1914, covering 64 acres. Although no longer the largest brewery in the world, it is still the largest brewer of stout in the world.

What's missing is a picture of the Gravity Bar which has lots of Guinness and provides the best 360 degree view of all of Dublin.

This is a picture of the outside of Dublinia which is a Viking museum/exhibit.

"Molly Malone" (also known as "Cockles and Mussels" or "In Dublin's Fair City") is a popular song, set in Dublin, Ireland, which has become the unofficial anthem of Dublin City...The song tells the tale of a beautiful fishmonger who plied her trade on the streets of Dublin, but who died young, of a fever.

Take a listen...

I can't remember what this was but it was a cool little castle looking thing that I saw on the bus ride.

These are pictures just outside of St. Stephen's Green at the end of Grafton Street. The monument shown is called Fusiliers' Arch and it "commemorates the Royal Dublin Fusiliers who died in the Second Boer War." This is seen in the movie Once at the beginning. This website discusses Dublin and references this movie.

The very handy Michelin Green Guide says this about Grafton Street,

Dublin's finest shopping street is now a bustling pedestrian precinct and a favourite haunt of street musicians.

We were fortunate to get to see a really good Irish band called, "Mutefish." We ended up buying their CD and, much to Nicole's chagrin, I listened to it the entire trip.

Saint Stephen's Green

Notice the difference in one letter which is T.K. Maxx instead of T.J. Maxx in Europe (UK and Ireland). We had to do a double take on this one. At the end is a little leprechaun who somewhat resembles my son.

This was a sign we saw in Dublin that looked quite bizarre. We are still not sure what "The Sick Indigent Roomkeepers Society" is but it was founded in 1790. According to this site:

It's the charity with the very odd name, the Sick & Indigent Roomkeepers' Society, but in fact it's the oldest charity in Dublin, still helping the sick and the destitute in the inner city. It was founded in 1790 by a group of eleven concerned citizens, all of whom came from what might be politely called the middle class of society.

Dublin Castle

Miscellaneous Pictures

This next picture is of O'Connell Street and the spire. The second picture is of Rebekkah's leprechaun socks.

The Spire of Dublin, officially called the Monument of Light, "was commissioned as part of a redesigned street layout in 1999...to improve the streetscape." Locals also call it such names as:

The Spire in the Mire (a reflection on O'Connell Street's unsavoury reputation)
The Stiletto in the Ghetto (O'Connell St is a very short distance from some of Dublin's poorest and most drug-ruined communities)
The Nail in the Pale
The Stiffy by the Liffey (a reference to Dublin's principal waterway, the River Liffey)
The Pin in the Bin (a reference to the perceived amount of litter in O'Connell Street)
The Stick
The Eyeful Tower
The Rod to God
The Erection at the Intersection

According to the tour guide Dubliner's on the whole think it was a complete waste of €4,000,000 which they believe could have been much better spent elsewhere to improve things on the street.

Ireland - Glendalough

2009-11-22T20:59:00.014+01:00

In France they have a week and a half of vacation part of which is called La Toussaint (All Saints). So we took that opportunity to take a ferry to Ireland. We left from Cherbourg and took an 18 hour ferry ride to Rosslare, Ireland.

The idea was to drive north on the west coast toward Dublin, then to the west and down the west coast, then east along the south coast. This basically was a complete circle along the coasts (except the north coast which is the UK), starting and ending at Rosslare.

After waiting for about 30 minutes at the border patrol and listening to the agent talk to his friend's cousin about what she did for the weekend (not sure if that was really who he was talking to, but it sounded funny anyway) and watching a little Dukes of Hazzard we finally left to drive north.

The first stop was a little place called Glendalough (Gleann dá locha, literally meaning ‘Glen of the two lakes’) which is an early medieval monastic settlement founded in the 6th century by St Kevin, a hermit priest. The site had a nice welcome center which showed a 15 minute movie about the site. To summarize the site was basically ruins from the buildings along with a fully intact tower and a cemetary.

Then we hiked up past the first lake up to the second lake. In retrospect I wished we could have spent more time up at the lake because it was simply amazing. The wind comes down through the mountains to the lake at a crazy speed much like the winds that come down through the Columbia River gorge in the Northwest United States. You could literally lean into the wind and it would hold you up. This created huge waves the lake. I can imagine that this may have been what the Sea of Galilee is like (which is also a lake, though obviously much larger that this one).

Anyway, enough rambling. Here are the pictures...

Rebekkah's Birthday Party

2009-11-22T16:59:00.028+01:00

For Rebekkah's 13th birthday (yes...she is officially no longer a pre-teen) she invited over around 15 kids from her school and we had a good ole' American birthday party. They played all sorts of games like "Chubby-Bunny," Musical Chairs, Hide and Seek, and several others that I do not know the name to. I grilled hot dogs with chips and soda. There were all sorts of snacks like rice-crispie treats and cookies. And the kids went to the Cocci-Market to get some fireworks. The kids showed up around 6pm and left around 10:30pm. I think everyone had a great time. Here are the edited pictures and some videos.

Place Saint-Michel

2009-11-22T16:47:00.008+01:00

We had lunch at a charming little restaurant right next to the Fontaine Saint-Michel (St. Michael Fountain) at Place Saint-Michel.

The fountain was created by French sculptor Gabriel Davioud from 1855-1860 and represents Saint Michel, protector of France, slaying a dragon. According to Wikipedia, "Originally, the fountain's central statue was supposed to depict Napoleon Bonaparte, but the original conception came under criticism from opponents of Napoleon III; it was finally decided that the statue would be an image of Saint Michael, the Archangel (Saint Michel in French), with two dragons that spout water into the fountain and figures of the four classical Cardinal virtues."

Paris Weekend - Jardin du Luxembourg

2009-11-22T14:28:00.018+01:00

We also visited Le Jardin du Luxembourg towards the end of the day. The weather was just perfect. Relaxing in the gardens seems to be a very popular past-time for the French. I think we could definitely learn something from the French in this area.

Afterwards we got Pizza Hut take-out and had a picnic in the park. It was a blast!

Paris Weekend - Sainte Chapelle

2009-11-21T23:10:00.009+01:00

The second day we went to the Sainte Chapelle which is a little known church located very near Notre Dame. This church "was built to house precious relics: Christ's crown of thorns, the Image of Edessa and thirty other relics of Christ that had been in the possession of Louis IX since August 1239, when it arrived from Venice in the hands of two Dominican friars." It was beautiful the morning we went since it was a little bit sunny but I can imagine it's much prettier on a really sunny afternoon. Also unfortunately, they were doing rennovations so you could not see some of the chapel. Nevertheless, here are the pictures...

Paris Weekend - Pantheon

2009-11-21T22:34:00.010+01:00

The next place we visited while we were in Paris was the Pantheon. Many famous French people are buried here like Voltaire, Victor Hugo, Émile Zola, Alexander Dumas, and Pierre and Marie Curie. Also inside was a cool pendulum that was built as an experiment to demonstrate the rotation of the earth (my geeky engineering friends will find the link interesting).

Paris Weekend - Versailles

2009-11-21T17:04:00.032+01:00

At the end of September I had a meeting/conference in Paris and so I decided to take the family and make a long weekend out of it. The first day we went to Versailles. It was amazing. Again the pictures don't do it justice. We rented a rowboat and went out on the canal. It was a blast. The weather was amazing. Unfortunately, the fountain wasn't on. I bet it's stunning it the spring. Here are the pictures....

Rebekkah and Apolline Photoshoot

2009-11-20T22:16:00.013+01:00

One day Nicole got an itch to do a photoshoot and so she took these (it happens like that for Nicole...it comes in spurts). Apolline is a neighbor, good friend, and classmate of Rebekkah. She also happens to be the daughter of a colleague of mine. She has really taken very good care of Rebekkah since we've been here. Here are the pictures...

And Finally, Our House in Urville-Nacqueville

2009-11-20T21:07:00.000+01:00

Here is our place in Urville-Nacqueville as well as our cars. The room with the TV is Micah's room, the room with the white dresser is Rebekkah's room, the room with all of the videos is the guest room, and the room with the green bedding is our room. I think the rest is self explanatory.

Le Musée de la Libération

2009-11-19T21:58:00.000+01:00

The last place we visited was a museum at the top of Mount Roule at Fort Roule called Le Musée de la Liberation or Liberation Museum. I was glad that it was free because it wasn't really that great. The view was really good though. Here are the pictures:

L'Abbaye Notre-Dame du Vœu

2009-11-19T19:27:00.000+01:00

This Abbey was founded in 1145 by Queen Matilda, daughter of Henry I, King of England, second wife of Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, and consecrated in 1181. The abbey was pillaged and burned several times in the late 13th century and during the Hundred Years War and was badly damaged during the wars of religion. The Abbey were used as barracks for the Marine Corps from Cherbourg. Spared by the bombing of the Second World War, the abbey was burnt down in June 1944 by the Germans before their surrender. In 1961, the city of Cherbourg acquired the site and began restoration work. [http://www.patrimoine-de-france.org/oeuvres/richesses-13-4221-34835-M186103-80943.html, http://www.ville-cherbourg.fr/fr/tourisme_decouverte/architecture_parc_et_jard/patrimoine_architectural/labbaye_du_voeu/default.asp, http://www.unicaen.fr/ufr/histoire/craham/spip.php?article239, http://www.wikimanche.fr/Abbaye_du_V%C5%93u]

While we were visiting the abbey there was a guy inside singing and it sounded amazing. He said that they sometimes have concerts there and that he loved the acoustics. We did as well. Here are the pictures.

Le Chateau de Nacqueville

2009-11-18T21:45:00.001+01:00

This castle (actually more like a mansion) was constructed in 1510 that is just down the street from our house (probably only 1 or 2 miles away). The outer wall was rebuilt in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The gate with a drawbridge remains and can still be visited.

Visitors can pay 5 euros to see this, the park, and one room in the house. It was not really worth the money though it was extremely beautiful. It really felt like you were stepping right into a fairy tail. The pictures don't really do it justice but here they are nonetheless...

"... One of the prettiest places in the world"
- Alexis de Tocqueville, the famous philosopher of the 19th century (author of "Democracy in America")

PS Nicole told me that I have to explain the picture with the key-shaped hole. Those holes in the building were there so that the archers could shoot any enemies who were trying to get in.

Le Manoir de Dur Écu

2009-11-17T21:00:00.000+01:00

Le Manoir de Dur-Ecu is a 16th century manor that was converted from a 13th century castle. It is located in our town about a mile or two from our place. Unfortunately we were not allowed inside except in one room and the cave. The tour took us around the grounds and explained various features of the architecture and such as well as the history. There is a legend that the tour guide told us about that is apparently also circulated in England.

Dur Écu means strong shield which is a name that originates from the following legend. The story goes that William the Conqueror's enemy threatened to cut off his head with an axe. A Norman knight named Richard le Fort, who was allegedly also William's cupbearer, protected William with his shield and the axe went deep into the wood of the shield without breaking it. William’s life was saved and the Strong Shield (also Fortescue) became a legend which reminds us that the castle was meant to defend Normandy against attackers.

Théâtre à l'Italienne de Cherbourg

2009-11-17T20:19:00.000+01:00

The second day we went to the Italian Theater in Cherbourg. The Cherbourg Theatre was built in 1882 in an Italian design and was decorated by the same artists who did the Paris Opera House. It was a guided tour but unfortunately for us it was all in French and we can't understand French enough to understand much of what was going on. Anyway, here are some pictures...

Chateau de Martinvast

2009-11-17T19:46:00.000+01:00

Every September countries within the European Union have the European Heritage Days (which in French is Journées du Patrimoine) which "offers opportunities to visit buildings, monuments and sites, many of which are not normally accessible to the public. It aims to widen access and foster care for architectural and environmental heritage. "

We chose to stay in the area and visit sites that are normally not accessible around our place. The first place we visited was a castle in the town where Rebekkah has horse-riding lessons, Martinvast.

Goury Hike

2009-11-16T22:09:00.000+01:00

Some good friends of our over here took us on a really neat hike around the La Hague peninsula (called presqu'île, literally "almost an island" in French) to a town called Goury. The Michelin Green Guide, the French person's travel bible, says "the small harbour is an important coast-guard and lifeboat station. In its octagonal station, the lifeboat swivels around a turntable so it can be launched from two slipways: towards the port at high tide or towards the open sea at low tide."

The walk was beautiful and at the end of it was the Goury lighthouse and you could go into the station where the boat was. Inside was several placards with all of the names of the boats and year that they were rescued. It was very impressional.

Sainte-Mère Eglise

2009-11-15T14:01:00.000+01:00

After going to Utah Beach we stopped by Sainte-Mère Eglise to see the church and the WWII museum there. The church has an effigy of John Steele constantly hanging outside the church as a memorial to the paratrooper "whose parachute caught on the spire of the town church, and could only observe the fighting going on below. He hung there limply for two hours, pretending to be dead, before the Germans took him prisoner."

Utah Beach

2009-11-15T13:17:00.000+01:00

At the end of August we visited Utah Beach and some surrouning sites and museums. These pictures are at the Utah Beach Museum and the surrounding monuments and beach.

Port Racine

2009-11-15T12:57:00.000+01:00

Back in the summer we went to the smallest port in France, Port Racine. Here we are jumping off of the port wall into the very cold water. Then the kids explored for a little bit in the rocky waters.

La Cité de la Mer

2009-11-14T17:05:00.000+01:00

We went to La Cité de la Mer which is a sort of museum/aquarium/not-sure-what in the town of Cherbourg. It looked cool at first but then at the beginning we went on this sort of family movie/ride/not-sure-what which was a total waste of about 1 hour of our lives. The aquarium was more like a big fish tank in someone's house. The only real cool thing was the Redoutable, which was the first SNLE [Sous-marin Nucléaire Lanceur d'Engin (lit. "nuclear-powered device-launching submarines")] submarine of the French Navy, and the largest submarine in the world open to the public.

Le Mont Saint Michel - Night Views

2009-11-14T16:51:00.000+01:00

These are some pictures of the city at night with the lighting. Man was it beautiful!

Le Mont Saint Michel - Abbey

2009-11-14T16:08:00.000+01:00

These pictures are of the inside of the abbey in the evening. Like I said before, the pictures are good but just do not do it justice.

Le Mont Saint Michel - Views

2009-11-14T16:04:00.000+01:00

These pictures are of some views from the top of the abbey.

Le Mont Saint Michel - City

2009-11-14T15:19:00.001+01:00

These are pictures of the little medieval city inside the outer walls and outside of the abbey.