Old McDonald, Transport Museum, Dublin and Paris, here we come!

July 1, 2009

Woo hoo! It’s already 19 degrees here at 7:00 so it’s going to be a gorgeous day. We’ve been so lucky with the weather this spring; London has been cheery and easy to enjoy in the warmth.

Last Sunday Ava and I maneuvered our way via tube, train and taxi to Old McDonalds Farm, near Brentwood, south of London, where one of her classmates had a birthday celebration.

The place is right off the road, set on a few rolling acres and packed with all kinds of animals, animal related entertainment, non animal related entertainment, snack shack, party rooms, gift shop…was there anything missing? (Though our cab driver warned us that it wasn’t Disneyland.)

We wandered through the animal kingdom (using that term loosely) to find sheared alpacas (they look even sillier without their fur, as their heads look huge, bodies skinny), pigs wallowing in mud, dozens of rabbits (along with a sign that said rabbits for sale 15 pounds), meerkats, ferrets, guinea pigs, birds, llamas, donkeys, goats, sheep…

There was a frog show and a chicken show (puppetry/music), and of course all the kids jumped into the indoor playground, which was filled with small balls.

After champagne for the parents (nice touch), chicken nuggets for the kids, we hit the slides, trampoline, roller coaster, miniature train portion of the farm.

Eventually we peeled our children away and retraced our path to London. Ava and I parted w/ our friends at Liverpool station and went on to Primrose Hill to meet Joe, Claire and friends in town from North Carolina for dinner.

We had great fun catching up at an Italian restaurant with deplorable (but friendly) service. After a few days in London they headed to Paris and hopefully had a ball there.

On Monday Claire and I, along w/ her friend Julia, explored the London Transport Museum, which is very cool. The kids each got a guide with spots to stamp as they canvassed the place. (Thus the kids flew through the museum in search of these stamping spots.)

The museum uses multi-media exhibits to illustrate the development of London’s transportation systems as the city has grown and evolved: Victorian transportation (carriages, buses pulled by horses, etc.), first underground system, pioneer tube, suburban development, impact of war on the system, transportation today, etc.

On display are buses (from Victorian years to today’s GPS models), tube simulators, London’s iconic cheery red double deckers, a wide array of passenger trains, maps of the city evolving, information on tunneling for tube development, etc.

Numerous posters on the walls illustrate messages and advertisements used over the years to educate/entice people to use public transportation. (The former include information on how to use the systems – ticket purchase, taking elevators down rather than up, use of escalators, etc.)

After the kids had their fill, we had lunch in the museum café, hunted down some cotton candy, checked out some street entertainment and stopped at Marks & Spencer for some dinner vittles on the way home. (I haven’t developed much of a loyalty to any one store in this urban lifestyle of ours; wherever I can pick up a few ingredients for the next meal or two I do – makes for more interesting shopping experiences and greater variety for my foodie fix.)

Ava was sick on and off Tuesday so we laid low at home for part of the day, hit the library, park and Carluccio’s (our favorite laid back Italian café in St. Johns Wood – one section in particular is very family friendly, and there’s usually a newspaper and some cookbooks lying around for perusing).

On Wednesday Claire and I hit the zoo with Lydia, another first grader, and her mom and little sister. Great day for it – perfect weather – and the kids had great fun on the merry go round, checking out the butterflies and a wide array of other animals.

I must say we are getting the most out of this zoo membership – great buy so far!

And Thursday Claire and I whisked her friend Hope off to Lady Diana’s memorial playground. Alas, the place was closed because of a broken glass incident, so I was talked into returning to the Transport Museum (no great hardship on my part). We wandered through again, this time at a less frantic pace, the girls stamping their guides and spending more time at the interactive exhibits.

We enjoyed lunch outside afterward, near the performers, so the kids could watch them while we awaited our pasta and pizza. After dessert (warm, soft cookies from Ben’s) we made our way back to the tube – the “silver” lady (mime dressed in silver w/ silver makeup all over her hands, face and neck), rubbed their noses, leaving them sparkly.

On Friday morning we left EARLY for London City Airport, headed to Dublin for the weekend. A short one-hour flight later (one of those where you’re just getting into a nap when you touch down), we were in green, sunny Ireland!

The kids and I parted company w/ Joe at the airport. He headed to Bank of America’s Dublin office, we went to the Portmarnock Hotel, checked in and headed off to Malahide, a village just up the road, to explore.

Our first stop was Tara’s Palace Dolls House. “One of the world’s most significant Dolls Houses,” Tara’s Palace is designed and built to 1/12 scale in the style of Ireland’s great 18th century mansions.

Creation of Tara’s Palace (which takes up an entire room!) was inspired by Sir Neville Wilkinson's celebrated Titania's Palace of 1907. Creation of Tara’s Palace began in 1980 and has taken over a decade to complete. Paintings by leading Irish Artists and miniature furnishing masterpieces adorn the State Rooms and private apartments.

In addition to the Palace, the museum features a collection of dolls, antique toys and other dolls houses, including "Portobello", circa 1700, one of the earliest surviving dolls houses from the Collection of Vivien Green. There’s also a Dolls House from the family of Lady Wilde (Oscar's Mother).

After perusing the dolls and houses, we went next door to the Fry Model Railway collection, a working railway of unique handmade train models. It features one of the world’s largest miniature railways (covering 2,500 square feet).

The reception area features a variety of model trains and historical information about transportation development in Ireland. Inside is the railway display, with an audio tour that took us through Ireland’s train/transportation development over the last two centuries. Most of it focused on train development with mentions of shipping and tram use and the Titanic, which was built in Ireland.

Very cool exhibit with sound effects, excellent narration, trains coming and going as we were led in a circle around the big display.

From the Railway collection we went to Malahide Castle, just around the bend.

Malahide Castle sits on a 109 hectare park with paths, playground, sports facilities, gardens etc. It’s gorgeous – grassy and green, with tons of trees. Many people were out and about with dogs, kids, bikes, you name it.

And speaking of dogs, that was the key attraction on this particular day – Claire and Ava met just about every dog we saw on our way around the castle grounds. Thankfully all were friendly, as were their owners, who stopped to chat and share information about their pets.

Kids and pets: great avenues to meeting people.

The castle rocked – it is one of the oldest and most historic castles in Ireland. From 1185 until 1975, it was the home of the Talbot family. (Long time for one family in same home!)

The estate began in 1185, when Richard Talbot, a knight who accompanied England’s King Henry II to Ireland in 1174, was granted the "lands and harbour of Malahide". Strongbow was granted the remainder of Leinster.

The oldest parts of the castle date back to the 12th century and it was home to the Talbot family for 791 years, the only exception being the period from 1649-1660, when Oliver Cromwell granted it to Miles Corbet after the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland; Corbet was hanged following the demise of Cromwell, and the castle was restored to the Talbots.

The building was enlarged in the reign of England’s King, Edward IV, and the towers were added in 1765.

The estate survived such losses as the Battle of the Boyne, when fourteen members of the owner's family sat down to breakfast in the Great Hall, and all were dead by evening, and the Penal Laws, even though the family remained Roman Catholic until 1774.

In the 1920s the private papers of James Boswell were discovered in the castle, and sold to American collector Ralph H. Isham by Boswell's great-great-grandson Lord Talbot of Malahide.

Malahide Castle and Demesne was eventually inherited by the seventh Baron, Lord Milo Talbot and on his death in 1973, passed to his sister, Rose. In 1975, Rose sold the castle to the Irish State, partly to fund inheritance taxes.

Many of the contents of the castle had been sold in advance, leading to considerable public controversy, but private and governmental parties were able to retrieve some.

So that’s the castle story, or part of it…oh, and it's supposed to be haunted -- one article said by 9 ghosts, the guided tour said by a single ghost. We didn't see hide nor hair of anything ghastly during our walk through, though.

We then departed for downtown, where we’d been told the pedestrian area was full of good cafes. En route we came upon the playground of all playgrounds so spent some time there, then met Mary, dog owner/dog walker. She walked w/ us into town and pointed us toward Café Provence.

Someone else pointed us in the wrong direction from said café, so I asked a gentleman in whites – on a smoke break -- where it was. He said he cooks there and to wait two minutes; he’d show us the way. Two minutes later he came back with a bag of big yellow onions and we headed to the restaurant.

The chef is from Poland, his wife from Bellarusse, son (15 mos) named Sean. He’s been in Ireland for four years and said he loves living there, worked in a factory in Poland, prefers his cooking job at CP.

As for food, it was very good, the environment warm and cheery, filled with locals. Superb seafood pasta, Claire had some fabulous looking fish and chips and Ava’s face fell to her knees when her plain pasta came out with a red sauce.

Once rectified, she dove into her parmesan/butter coated noodle-age (more like high end mac n cheese than plain pasta). It did look decadent, and in fact I heard a woman behind us ask if she could have the dish that little girls was having…

As we wandered Malahide we were asked for directions twice (must have looked like we knew where we were going, or we looked like tourists who’d just come from the castle…probably the latter). And as we perched in front of a jewelry store eating ice cream, I was asked where the “nearest pisser” was. I came up short on that one.

From Malahide we meandered back to the hotel, which was only a short walk according to all the people we met. Their definition of a short walk and Ava and Claire’s might be a bit different. But we took plenty of breaks on our lovely walk by the sea, canvassing for cool rocks and shells.

Eventually we made it to the Portmarnock Hotel, connected w/ Joe and had a casual dinner at the hotel overlooking the sea. Lovely day.

Saturday found us sleeping in a bit, I wandered the path along the coast again -- the beach is best early and late in the day, in my opionion. After breakfast outdoors by the golf course, where food and goods were being sold in stands, I parted company for a massage at the hotel spa.

That was fabulous – first massage I’ve had since leaving India. My masseuse was Romanian, lived in London 3 years, Dublin for 11. She said she prefers Dublin’s closer knit community.

While I got pampered, then basked in the sauna, Joe and company watched a couple hours of golf: the AIB Ladies Irish Open, which was hosted at the hotel.

We reconnected for lunch and more golf spectatorship. Claire and I followed one group through nine holes; the course is laid out next to the water on a rolling landscape. Holes aren’t far apart, zig sagging here and there.

While Claire and I watched women from all over the world – South Africa, France, Dubai, Spain, Australia, Japan, the US, you name it – play golf, Ava and Joe hit the beach. She of course got in the water, despite the chill (the weather was fabulous – high 70’s and sunny, but the water is frigid). That doesn’t seem to stop children, though; they could be blue and have the time of their lives splashing around.

Later in the day we ended up at a table outside the hotel with a group of amateur women golfers, mostly Irish, who attend tournaments regularly. One was a caddy, another a leader in an Irish golf union.

They were a cheery happy hour group, so we had a nice chat.

For dinner we hit a very casual Italian restaurant near the sea. A popular local place, it had great pizza and a warm ambience. We ended the evening with a walk by the sea.

On Sunday we rolled out slowly, watched more golf until play was suspended due to fog. The air wasn’t moving much and visibility was nil on the course. It was fun to walk along the beach, as figures suddenly appeared and disappeared into the fog. So many families were out and about taking advantage of the weather; over and over people remarked how amazing the weather has been this spring/summer in Dublin. No doubt the Irish spend a lot of money on rain gear.

Eventually we pried ourselves away from the Portmarnock Hotel and went to the airport for our quick flight back to London. I think it took nearly as long to be driven back to the hotel as to fly from one country to the other!

On Monday the kids and I went to the hygienist and dentist, wherein Dr. Iona was less than thrilled to hear the kids enjoy chocolate brioches for breakfast, Claire drinks chocolate milk, juice is a regular part of our diet… Glad the kids managed not to tell her how much they enjoy Sprite.

No doubt I’ll win the parent of the year award for healthy dental diets.

High on Iona's list of acceptable breakfast foods are bacon, porridge, cheesy toast, etc.

Now I do wish our doctor and this dentist would get together, because the former advises chocolate milk for Claire, given she’s a non-milk person (as am I...along with the dentist, my doctor, the kids’ pediatrician, half the women I know…I feel vindicated that I'm not the only one who can’t stomach milk given so many people preach about drinking the stuff. Old advice, according to the dentist; she’s a proponent of cheese, broccoli, other ways of getting calcium into the diet).

I digress – anyway, I’ve got the doctor telling me fruit juice is good given Claire’s a little thin in the fruit and veg dept., I’ve got the dentist saying avoid it or at the very least keep it to a minimum, dilute it and buy big straws.

Then of course I’m having a hard time imagining the doc telling me bacon is incredibly healthful. (Though up against the chocolate brioche I’m sure it offers more nutritional value.)

Suffice it to say plenty of mixed messages; someone needs to develop a practice wherein doctors, dentists, etc. work together to advise patients.

I am happy to say we got a clean bill of health, Ava allowed the hygienist to polish her teeth, kids made off with a bag of goodies and no one was traumatized by the experience. And Dr. Iona seems to know her stuff so we’ll be return patients.
Afterward we had a lovely sugar free lunch at a sidewalk café because it was too nice to be inside, then hit a lovely park before wandering home to collapse.

Yesterday Claire and I met up w/ her friend Charlie and his mom for playtime at Lady Di’s Memorial Playground. The place is huge and fabulous; apparently on weekends there's often a a waiting line to get in. I’d pass on that.

No lines yesterday and the kids had a ball playing in the water feature while we chatted for a couple of hours.

Ava’s last day of school was a good one; she came home with all kinds of projects and an art portfolio larger than she is.

And last night I caught up w/ a friend and a couple of her friends at the Clifton Pub, a neighborhood favorite in St. Johns Wood. It’s tucked between homes on a nearby street and frequently occasionally by celebs, supposedly, though I’ve yet to see anyone of renown.

(Maybe if I went there more than once in a blue moon I’d stand a chance of spotting someone, but then I’d probably have to recognize them and given I’m a bit oblivious when it comes to People magazine it’s unlikely I’ll have any kind of interesting celebrity encounter.)

We had a delightful chat over dinner – such interesting multi-cultural families I’ve encountered here. One woman is from Iran – a Muslim who lived in NYC for 11 years, married an American Jew. Her parents are in Iran, where she doesn’t feel safe taking her husband and kids to visit this summer, unfortunately. She said she spends much time passing on information to her family via internet because they their news is so censored. She also said Iran is absolutely gorgeous – mountains, valleys, the desert.

Today is Sports Day for Abercorn, Ava’s school, so we’ll hustle over to Paddington recreation area for races, playground time and a picnic later this morning. Claire is less than enthused about watching four year olds run around. This would be where taking one for the team comes into play…

And tomorrow we’re off to France. Seems so un-American to be celebrating the 4th of July in Paris, doesn’t it? We’re taking the Eurostar there, Joe will return early next week, we’ll linger in France, checking out some spots up north via train.

Happy and safe 4th of July to all! And I hope to update this blog sometime mid month.