Ireland!

In October, we went to Ireland. We flew into Belfast on October the 23rd, rented a small car and headed off feeling slightly apprehensive about driving on the left side of the road. We first visited Carrickfergus, a castle fortress first built in 1180 AD. The castle has been partially rebuilt and gives the visitor a pretty good idea of what life might have been like during times of peace and war.
Ireland is famous for its natural beauties and we intended to see them despite the rain and wind! We headed to the northern coast of Northern Ireland to Giant's Causeway. The natural formations in this area are extremely unique and breathtaking, particulary combined with the continual crashing of waves.
Our next stop was Dunluce Castle. Also situated on the coast, the castle represents less of a fortress and more of a comfortable home. Dunluce is now in a state of ruin, but a beautiful ruin none the less. We love castles and found this one particularly beautiful.
We intended to spend the night in a bed and breakfast in County Donegal, so once the light started fading we set off on a two hour drive across the countryside. We stayed in a very homey bed and breakfast in Killybegs, a small out of the way town. Our hostess was extremely kind and friendly. We has a lovely room and our hostess cooked us a full Irish breakfast in the morning.
Our first stop on the 24th was Slieve League. These cliffs are famous for their beauty and height, known to be the tallest sea cliffs in Europe. Our route took us along a scenic coastal road in Northwestern Ireland. The road was narrow, but the view was spectacular. Fortunately we ran into few other people, as it was the off-season for tourists. In fact, we saw far more sheep than people in the countryside! Slieve League was beautiful and worth the trip up the steep windy road.
David lived for a few month in Northern Ireland with his parents and sister when he was 17. He lived in a town called Enniskillen, and we decided to pay his old home a little visit while we were in the area.
While driving through the countryside we saw a sign for Drumskinny, an ancient stone circle site. We decided to visit Drumskinny since it was only a few miles out of our way. It was literally in the middle of nowhere, in someone's cow pasture actually. It was fenced off so that the cows couldn't get to it, but other than that only a single sign was present to indicate we were in the right location. This is part of Ireland's charm - there are hundreds of historic sites all over the country in out of the way places. We could have spent several more days just exploring the countryside and seeing what we could find. It was fun to see Enniskillen and to do a bit of exploring. We found David's old house, walked around the town center, and visited Enniskillen Castle.
That night we stayed in another bed and breakfast right across the street from Newgrange. It was also a nice place but not quite as homey as the last place. We got up early on the 25th, had our breakfast and headed over to Newgrange, a famous and very large tunnel burial mound. Newgrange was built five hundred years before the pyramids in Egypt. The day was particulary windy and rainy, but nothing could spoil our fun. We toured the Newgrange visitors center and then took a tour out to the tomb. It was beautiful and really an amazing achievement that people from that time period managed to build it. The tomb is made up of hundreds of extremely large rocks as well as thousands of smaller ones. The people who built Newgrange had to transport the large rocks from great distances without the use of wheels or animals.
The truly amazing thing about Newgrange is its perfect alignment with the movement of the sun. At the winter solstice, the light of the rising sun shoots through a special opening in Newgrange and entersthe main chamber, illuminating it for about 15 minutes. The event is supposed to be spectacular and only 100 people are allowed to see it each year. Over 30,000 people enter the drawing to see it each year.
Next we headed in to Dublin to see some of the city. We started at Trinity College, the location of the famous Book of Kells, along with many other ancient manuscripts. The campus was beautiful and we particularly enjoyed seeing the college's old library. The bookcases in this library were stacked from ceiling to floor with thousands of old books. Dublina was our next stop. This was a rather fun recreation of a medieval fair with a musuem and viking exhibit.
Right next door was Christ Church Cathedral, one of the most famous cathedrals in Ireland.
Our time in Ireland was coming to an end, but we decided we did not want to spend the money for a hotel that night as our flight home left early the following morning. We decided to kill a few hours by getting some Chinese food and going to see a movie. We spent several less than restful hours in the airport that night, but it was worth it for our incredibly fun trip to Ireland!
We took a ton of pictures, so we won't be offended if you don't look through them all.

Leiden

David and I are now living in Leiden in a cute old row house in the Netherlands. It is a beautiful city with many canals and old historic buildings. The pilgrims stopped here for a time, and there is a museum dedicated to them. David and I both have ancestors who crossed to America, so there is a good chance they were in Leiden for a while a long time ago. Leiden is a very old city with a lot of history. Rembrandt was born here, just around the corner from our house. Einstein taught at Leiden University, where David is attending school. Leiden University is the oldest in the country. The next picture shows one of the canals near our house.

And of course there is the food. We've had some very interesting things to eat, most of which I have no idea how to spell. Some of my favorites so far have been the "vla" a pudding type of stuff, and the fresh stropwaffles -a waffle sort of thin outer crust with caramel in the middle. And the baked goods, ok all the desserts!
There is a lot to see here and we still have a lot of exploring to do!

Slugs in the Kitchen

Yes it's true. When you think of all the little creatures you might find in your kitchen, slugs is usually not one of them. I expected to find some differences here in the Netherlands, but this has to be one of the odder things I've encountered. Twice, yes twice we have gone into our kitchen at night and found slugs on the floor. We don't know where they came from or how they got in, but they have been leaving their little slimy trails all over our kitchen mat. We threw them out both times. If they come back maybe we could try to make some escargot? They're related to snails, right?

Trip to London!

On our way from Salt Lake to the Netherlands we decided to take a detour through London. Since we were already paying for the travel anyway, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to see some of the sights! We spent about 3 days in London, and had fun seeing all the sights. There are so many great things to see there, but we didn't have any trouble deciding what was at the top of our list - Platform 9 3/4 of course! We both love Harry Potter, and Julia has most of the books memorized, so we couldn't miss this tourist spot. Our hotel was just a few minutes walk from King's Cross Station. We also found a telephone booth and tried to finagle our way into the Ministry of Magic, but no luck.

Our first big stop, and one of the best, was the Tower of London. The tickets were fairly expensive, but they offered discount tickets for "children, students, and the unemployed." David wasn't above confessing to the cashier that his wife was jobless in order to save $5! The Tower is most famous for being a prison and site of execution for England's notables, such as Anne Boleyn, Walter Raleigh, William Wallace, etc. But it also was used as a palace for the King and houses the Crown Jewels. We had an entertaining tour by one of the "beef-eaters" and saw the famous ravens. Legend says that the Tower and the Kingdom will fall if the ravens ever leave the tower, so they keep half a dozen there permanently. The Tower Bridge is right next door, and is also beautiful. That evening we attended Mass in St. Paul's Cathedral.
We saw most of the big sites while we where there. The British Museum is very impressive and had lots of great things. We really liked the Rosetta Stone and the marbles from the Greek Parthenon. Greece isn't particularly happy the Brits have their national treasures, but the fact that the museum has the marbles has probably saved them from destruction. We tried to see Buckingham Palace but it was partially gated off and could only get a side view. You'd think the Queen would be more hospitable.

Westminster Abbey was also a great place to visit. We took an audio tour around the Abbey and saw where all the Kings and Queens are crowned and buried. The Coronation Chair has been used for 700 years to crown the monarch. It's history is impressive, but it's not in great shape. Apparently some choir boys from the Abbey decided to carve their names and initials into the wood, so now it is pretty beat up and graffitied. The Abbey is next door to Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. This building is very Gothic and we really liked the architecture. We also saw the Tate Britain Museum to see the pre-Raphaelite art (some of Julia's favorite pictures, especially by Waterhouse).

To end our trip we took the train to Harwich and then the ferry over to the Netherlands (more on that next post).

Overall, we give our trip to London two thumbs up!

D.C. Fun

4th of July!! Yes we had our very first Independence Day in D.C. this year. David's old mission companion and his wife came to spend the weekend with us and we had a lot of fun in the city. It is hard to beat the fireworks with the Monuments in the background. We weren't sure it was going to happen because it kept raining off and on all day, but the four of us huddled in buildings or under our umbrella and it was worth the wait.


There was a parade before the fireworks. We brought our camera ready to take wonderful pictures, but the camera battery died right after I took the picture below. Unfortunately it wasn't a very good picture! But these were really cool bikes.

The next day we went to Great Falls National Park. This is the Potomac river to the north of D.C. The falls here are amazing. This river is so big, it really puts the rivers of the west to shame.


We also visited Arlington National Cemetery. Here is a picture of the tomb of the unknown soldier. The tomb's inscription reads, "Here Rests in Honored Glory an American Soldier Known but to God." I think that is beautiful.

All In a Day's Work

I (David) have now been hard at work for my summer job for a month! The time has flown by. So far, I have really been enjoying my experience at Bingham. All the people I have met and worked with are very friendly. I've been impressed with how committed they are to the training and development of their new attorneys. Although it's a large firm, I don't get the feeling like I'm just a number or some nameless peon intern. One of the perks of being at a big firm is the quality of work I get assigned to. Since the 'little guys' can't afford to pay for a big firm, the cases and issues that come to Bingham are usually more complex or noteworthy. I don't think I could deal with fender-bender cases all my life. So far I've worked on a lot of different projects, which has been great to get a variety of experience. I should have a much better idea by the end of the summer what kind of law I want to practice.

This week we just finished up our mock trial. The firm split up the summer associates into two groups to try an actual case the firm had a few years ago. I was on the plaintiff's side. It required a lot of work and preparation. On Thursday we went to a mock courthouse and had a judge, jury, witnesses, and everything. My job was to cross-examine the defense's main witness. It was kind of intimidating and nerve-wracking, but ended up being a really good experience. I had a fun time, and got some positive feedback. I don't know whether or not I want to be a litigator, but it was good to have a 'real' experience and see what it would really be like.

They're working us pretty hard, but we also have time for fun. The firm treats us well. I've only had 2 or 3 days this summer so far where I haven't had lunch provided, usually at a nice restaurant nearby. We'll be able to save up some money this summer to pay for our time in the Netherlands. The worst part is having to be apart from Julia much more than I'm used to. Even though law school is busy, I do lots of homework at home so we can be together. Another reason to look forward to the Netherlands. It's been a fun summer so far, though, and I definitely feel blessed to have the job experience that I do.

The Busy Month of May

May was a very busy month for us. David had a birthday! 26 years old and two years done with law school! David and Julia also celebrated their second wedding anniversary. How can it possibly be two years already! Time passes so quickly.
Julia finished her second year of graduate school and she graduated this month with a 4.0! She is really excited to be done with her program and to have a bit of free time. Julia's parents and sister came down for her graduation for a few days and they went to Mount Vernon and Harper's Ferry. They also went searching for some family history in Virginia. Julia's ancestors lived in the area at the time of the Civil War. They were able to see river where Julia's ancestor ran a ferry over a hundred years ago.Unfortunately the graveyard they searched contained many unmarked graves, and many of the tombstones were too worn down to read.
Graduation!!! Hurray! Finished! Be sure to note the turtle called "Testudo" the mascot. Also the University of Maryland is where Jim Henson (muppets) went to school. They have a statue of him with Kermit the frog on campus. It is Julia's favorite part of campus!
Mount Vernon is a beautiful place! The grounds there are amazing. It is so fascinating to see how people lived in the past. It is well worth a visit! Hint! Hint!

This is Harper's Ferry. The town here was very important during the time of the Civil War.