San Diego jaunt - the other parts

It wasn't all food and cocktails in San Diego, weirdly enough.  I know, I know - travel based around what we can eat and drink is a common thing for us, but in this instance I built in one other activity (which was sort of food related, but not a real culinary experience).  Not to mention the train trips!

The train to and from San Diego is a lovely experience through a nice swath of the southern half of the route.  Rolling through the LA

and its suburbs and into Orange County is not especially scenic as you head to San Diego, but then you hit San Juan Capistrano,

and the coast after that, and it's lovely.  There was a thick haziness to the day along the coast, and that gave the sun a dreamy, ghostly quality over the ocean. 

It's a three-hour trip, and I dozed and read next to Conrad.

The Santa Fe Depot,

San Diego's train station, is located very conveniently downtown, and our hotel was a short few blocks away.  We got to our room, unpacked, then headed to the second floor terrace bar for an afternoon drink. 

The hotel was nice enough, but I don't think I'd stay again.  What they called a suite was a large corner room with seating,

and that meant when Conrad was snoring up a storm each night, I couldn't escape to a sofa bed or other room.  Other than the spacious bathroom, where I set up a bed on the floor with couch cushions.  It actually wasn't too bad a night of sleep in there.  But I shouldn't have had to sleep in there.  Shame on me for not looking at the photos of the room more closely when I booked it.  Ah well.  The views from the room were not much,

and the club room was really only available for breakfast.  It wasn't an inexpensive stay, and I didn't feel it was entirely worth it beyond a very convenient location.  Lesson learned for the next trip down there!

On Thursday we did a morning walk,

had breakfast, then got ourselves ready to take the trolley a few stops away to the Old Town San Diego stop.  I had booked us spots on a walking tour of the historic area.  Tacos, tombstones, and tequila made up the tagline for the tour promo, and I thought it would be fun.  It was!  The weather was warmer and sunnier than we had expected, and I wish I had brought along a tshirt or very light layers.  But we had caps and sunglasses and sunscreen, so that was fine.  We ended up being with 8 other people who were all together as part of a corporate retreat.  They were nice enough, though.  And we did like Benedict, our tour guide.

The tour focused on some of the buildings

in the state historical park

as well as nearby structures,

like the beautiful 100-year old church. 

Benedict had great details to share, like stories about the old cemetery

and why there are grave markers in the street (they paved over the cemetery rather than relocate bodies). 

There were also stops for tacos at two places (both of them fine enough, but neither taco was a fish one, which is something San Diego is known for) with accompanying margaritas (the tacos were far far better), street corn at another place (also fine), and a churro (also fine).  I liked the tour and the information, I thought the food part was alright but unexceptional.  We had a great time of it, though, well worth it.

We poked in a shop or two after that, and then it was back to the hotel to relax and get ready for dinner.  The next morning we had a walk,

got breakfast, packed, and then it was the reverse train trip home. 

A short getaway, but a really lovely one.  I'm glad I got to give Conrad that gift. 

Ireland: final thoughts

A list of final thoughts for you all to finish off the Ireland blogging:

• The trip was excellent.  Very much worthwhile.  Loved it.  So glad I went.  A lot of what I encountered will stay with me.  I've captured that in previous blog entries.  But...

• Although we were able to engage with colleagues at multiple libraries, I still wanted more.  Greedy of me, I know, but I think it would have been especially good to sit down with colleagues at Trinity, for one.

• And maybe a little less time admiring old books and buildings as cool as they are to see.  Oh, don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVED seeing those things, but I found the tour of the library and conversation with colleagues at University College Dublin, where we didn't focus on the older things, to be so pertinent to my daily work.

• I would also rather have visited the National Library and maybe another academic library rather than see EPIC (sorry, EPIC).  Yes, I went to the National Library with others, but we saw a small part of the building and an exhibit free to the public.  I would have loved hearing from the librarians there about how they fulfill their mandate.
  

• And I would have liked to have met with Library Association of Ireland and CILIP leaders.

• I've commented on the tourism of conflict and strife.  Not my thing.  I understand why it was folded in, and I knew it would come up.  It didn't sit entirely comfortably with me for all that it was probably important to know and see.  Again, sorry.  But...

• There were so many awesome things!  The soda bread making was a real highlight of the non-library activities.  I also loved the Seamus Heaney HomePlace and Giant's Causeway.  I genuinely liked all of our non-library activities that followed our time visiting libraries.
  

• Dublin was by far the nicest city.  Really impressive.  I couldn't put my finger on it what it reminded me of, perhaps a sign that it really has its own identity.
  

• So awesome that I got to see Leigh again!  I posted to my doctoral cohort's dormant Facebook page, and folks were delighted and a little envious.

• The people I traveled with were wonderful.  I knew (and liked and respected) Camila beforehand (and, assuredly, it was a delight to get time with her in the group and one-on-one over breakfast a couple of mornings),
  
  
  but it was a real pleasure to travel with the others.  I so appreciated their different perspectives on the things we saw - the conversations in the bus and at the meals was very welcome.  I loved finding where our networks and experiences overlapped.  I hope I see them all again in various conferences or other opportunities.  So then, thank you to Anne, who was the one who ventured to dine and enjoy beverage with me a couple of times (Jean also came to the one cocktail bar!) and who kindly provided a lot of her own insights into Ireland from her background and travels. 
  
  
  Thank you to Kathleen, a fellow Canadian, who understood my own cultural viewpoint and who also shared my love for Starbucks. 
  
  
  Thank you Jean, not just for sliding your glass of wine at dinner to me so that I didn't need to buy my second glass, but also because you were so often delightful conversation quietly to the side of things. 
  
  
  Thank you to Mary Ann, the other Canadian with us, who also had such very good insights from a terrific career in academia to share on our various visits. 
  
  
  Thank you to Rachelle, one of the other two currently practicing academic librarians on the trip and someone I came to turn to more and more to hear her thoughts because I thought she was so very on point and so very witty. 
  
  
  Thank you to Denelle, our other academic colleague, who was so very thoughtful both in the sense of her contributions to the group being well-considered and in the sense that she was very aware of others and considerate of how they were doing. 
  
  
  Thank you to Dana, who was always so enthusiastic about the things that we were seeing and doing, lending such great energy to our group, especially welcome at the end of longer days when I know I was flagging. 
  
  
  Thank you to Prudence, a calm and warm presence, so easy to talk with, a happy and appreciative person who had to listen to my comments from the seat on the bus behind her and took the time to listen. 
  
  
  Thank you to Peter, my twin of sorts, a man who reminded me of my stepfather in good ways (no, I know, Peter - if you ever read this - you are not that much older than I!), and the one who constantly found the humour at the heart of things. 
  
  
  I cannot forget our guide, Des, who probably still doesn't quite know what to make of our almost-dozen and may never look at libraries and librarians again the same way. 
  
  
  He did well by us.  I did not get a shot of Bernard, our first driver, who was a very nice man, but I did get a shot of John, our second driver.  Picture an Irishman of a certain age (not too old, I'm NOT saying that), and you probably would think of John, a delight of a man, and quickly a welcome part of our troupe.
  
  
  

That was Ireland.  I would do another professional exchange trip with Camila or with Nanda, who worked with Camila to organize the travel around a suitable itinerary, again some time, depending on the location.  I'd want Conrad and Van to come along if they could.

Final verdict:  so glad I went.

Now then, on with the post-Ireland blogging.  No out-of-country trips planned until summer of next year, sorry!

Ireland trip day eight: Cliffs of Moher, Doolin, and Galway

Our last full day in Ireland.  Alas.

After several of these lengthier posts, I hardly know what to write any more.  How do real bloggers do it?  Ah well.  Let's look at a grey Sunday in Ireland that featured a drive to the Cliffs of Moher in the morning.

I don't have much to say about the Cliffs in terms of their geology or whether they have cultural significance.  They are impressive. 

A pity the weather wasn't all clear, blue skies for us.  In fact, it was a chilly day at the Cliffs, a wind cutting through us all and sending me scurrying to the comfort of the gift shop after getting some photos of the site.  A jaunty new hat for me! 

How that busker was managing up there in the cold was beyond me. 

He deserved all the coins he got.

From the Cliffs it was on to the home of a musician and his wife, an artist.  No art lessons, alas, but a performance of traditional Irish music by Christy Barry and his friend, James Devitt. 

A fiddle,

a flute,

a whistle,

spoons. 

Our tour guide, Des, and Peter (not me!) got up to dance at one point. 

A peat

fire burned, and we were served a light lunch while enjoying the tunes.  Our last cultural activity of the trip, and again I was gratified that this was in someone's home

and not in an impersonal center of some sort.  Yes, I know that they, like the sheepdogs demo and the soda bread making, are thriving tourist businesses and cater to folks like us.  It was just nice, though that it was in home and felt homey.

The afternoon ended in Galway with a chance to do some souvenir shopping in the city as well as a casual walking tour with Des pointing out sites of interest. 

It wasn't too far to walk to our dinner destination (and I loved the octopus across the street). 

A last group meal in Ireland for us.  McSwiggan's

was a nice choice - a comfortable setting, a good glass of cider for me for a change, and decent food.  Chicken liver pate, Irish stew, and banoffee pie for me.

I'm not sure what else I can say about the Sunday.  The scenery was excellent, to be sure, and the music was fun.  But the trip was ending, and I had to devote time after dinner to packing up all the souvenirs I had bought as well as dashing off some last postcards.  I think it was midnight by the time I got to bed.

Monday came, we ate breakfast at the hotel, and then most of us were in the bus to head to Shannon where we would depart from the airport. 

Already the group was splintered, and with only five of us aboard the same flight, it became all the more so.  A loooooong day ahead of airports and airplanes, and then it was over, and I was getting picked up by my two guys and Olive, ready to stare down a week of jet lag.