Brighton (and Imperial war museum)

"The big ship's guns were the biggest guns I ever saw." - Lara
Above, the big (15 inch) naval guns outside the Imperial War Museum in Lambeth. One for the gun envyers among you. PS The Ireland blog's got a whole lot more photos since April 26.

The Tommies, left, versus the fiercesome Kraut, right. Those salutes need work.

"I liked squashing teh rats in the trenches" - Rosa.

The Game of Rat Splat part of the Terrible Trenches special exhibition (only so-so - £10 for the 5 of us to get in, though the whole museum itself is free). "I learnt whats it like in the trenches. what mustard gas smells like an how to escape a sinking submarine" - Sam.

A recreated trench, right, and below a multipurpose 1940s bomb shelter used in your dining room as a table during the day and for sleeping in at night.

"I learnt that when soldiers got frost bite that they rubbed snow onto their feet but it diden't work because rubbing frost bite makes it worse. Their were different kinds of soldier. one tyep was called a Sniper. both teams had them. They were veary good shooters so the teams used them for hard times." - Ellie

The antidote to all that war-war, a spot of wombling in Coldfall Wood with the local litter-picking-up cubs we're umming and ahhing over joining.

Brighton.

Brilliant.

No mushy peas or "Not for the Feint-hearted 12oz Fillet of Cod!! (£5 with chips on the pier, about the same as from any fish and chip shop here)

But we did go for a spin on the rides, and a swim in the Channel (20 degrees we reckon on Saturday april 24)

Guess who's pinching who.

We just loved the pier trash. 20 quid for 30 ride tokens got them all 2-3 rides each though heaps off limits cos of height restrictions. Next stop Butlins and Blackpool.

Dodgems were the top pick.

"I won, I smacked into you three times and you only got me once" Sam to Ellie.

... and finish it off with a jaunt out front of the bizarre Royal Pavilion - it looked a bit closed up but then signs said open 7 days, whole thing a bit odd, fitting right in with the pier thing - and a horrible traffic jam on the A23 with all the other beachgoers trying to get out at 6pm. We want to live in Brighton. Franks on buns when we got home at 9pm.

Norfolk, April 15-18

Two days after we got back from Ireland we borrowed a friend's caravan and went to Norfolk.

Dodgy electrics, traffic jams and fitting 6 people into a 14 foot long van aside it was all good.

At right, an historic shot: mini pennies clamouring to do the dishes. Will this ever be seen again?
Below, sleeping and dining arrangements; all it took was a glass of wine and it got quiet real quickly.

And the reason for going to Norfolk - self-drive boating on the Broads.
"I liked the boat because it was fun. We went up the Horsey windmill an ddid a puzzle and got a prize." - Lara

"We went on a standed boat. We got to drive it by ourselvs. When we stoppted for lunch we went to a windmill. We went on a broad calling Hickling." - Ellie
There were only a couple of incidents involving the bank and a 10 year old driver who shall remain nameless. Since the boats are speed limited to 4mph not much can get damaged apart from pride.

Disembarking after crossing Hickling Broad.

Jac and Linda in the very spot outside the church at Sandringham where the Queen makes her Christmas Day appearance.

Below, outside the gates at Sandringham. The Queen failed to come out to us. And Uncle Martin with the girls. Below right, at Brancaster Bay wildlife reserve. The North Sea temp defeated the boldest expectations of a dip. And Sam keeps in his Uncle's good books.

We stopped at Ely given it's on the way back from King's Lynn to London. The kids have a contemplative moment in the chapel at amazing Ely Cathedral, where we found the inscription below re "Penington".

And some old bit of rock from the 8th century.

Love....

... and war outside Ely.

Ireland trip, April 2010I

(Disclaimer: Cos Phil mucked up downloading half the pix and lost them, the following blog is without pix of the eagles, owls, cave or bunratty castle. If you want your money back, tough (works for Ryanair).)

PS the much more entertaining stuff from the kids starts halfway down - I still can't lay this thing out worth a damn.

Gidday Gaels: Below, Lough Corrib, Ireland's first or 2nd largest lake - 365 islands they say, one for every day of the year - outside Oughterard where we house-swapped in County Galway. Note: It's NOT raining.
Not a bad wee mansion - underfloor heating, 5 bathrooms (we think), a gazillion toys, and lots of hastily cleaned up mess (5 kids after all) just like the home we'd left in London. Note: Still not raining.

Above, a class of 10 year olds at Roscahill School get to poke us and in return we get to see some down-home line dancing.

Swimming, directly above, off Tracht Beach near Kinvara (temp, just-standable) and glass-clear water; and, above that, Ellie in front of the coolio diving tower at Salthill (temp, not-standable at all). Petone needs one of these. PS: The wee B&B sign at Kinvara says "Ellie's".

Yeh, we'll have a go. Galwegians appreciate a bit of ritual, so why not join in?; this in the city centre square. That's Lara under the hat.

Playing at pirates and statues. The grey guy was rather good, didn't move a muscle till euros required it.

Kylemore Abbey's walled Victorian garden, oddly placed beside Ireland's only fjord and among the 12 Ben mountains (one of which you can see behind). 14 euro to get in + it has a cool chapel called (a bit optimistically) "Ireland's Taj Mahal" (the abbey was a castle and the castle owner built the chapel as a memorial to his wife who died of a disease contracted in Egypt).

Speaking of odd, at right, a native of the Bens.

Jac and Patches. The bond between rider and horse is a mysterious and wonderful thing.

PS I've attached some video of the horse riding to this blog. Has anyone found it yet?

Leaning Castle of Aughnanure, redoubt of the ferocious O'Flaherty clan who terrorised Anglo-Norman settlers (invaders) in downstream Galway for years. The real estate's not what it was - blame the neighbours.

8 euro for a family to get in.

"I smell the blood of an Englishman".

The fireplace at Aughnanure and, below, the staircase. For pictures of the latrine follow the link to our website.

From Rosa:
I liked bunratty castle. i went in the cottaggea. we went horse riding.

We went inside the prison in Dublin.

We went to lots of places. We swam in the Atlantic. we had lots of icecreams.




From Lara:

I liked the horse riding because we went a long way. My horse was called harry .
We stayed in a house with lots of toys.
I held jess the barn owl on my hand. It was fun.
The prison in Dublin was very sad because lots of people died.
Swimming in the Atlantic Ocean was fun, I put my head under two times.
We went on the bus for 5 hours. It was boring.


FROM SAM

MY FAV THINGS IN IRLAND WERE THE BIRD OF PREY PARK ,BUNRATTY CASTLE AND THE HOUSE . I LIKED THE BIRD OF PREY PARK BECAUSE THE BIRDS wERE MAGNIFICENT MY FAV BIRD WAS THE HUGE SEA EAGLE . I LIKED BUNRATTY CASTLE BECAUSE IT HAD ITS OWN VILLAGE AND DUNGON . I LIKED THE HOUSE BECAUSE IT WAS HUGE AND HADLOTS OF TOYS EVEN A GAMES ROOM .

FROM ELLIE,

WE WENT TO IRELAND FOR TWO WEEKS.FIRST WE WENT ON A LONG BUS RIDE WAS FIVE HOURS FROM DUBLIN TO SHANNON.THEN WE PICKED UP THE CAR AND DROVE TO THE HOUSE WE WERE STAYING IN.IT WAS A VEARY BIG HOUSEWITH LOTS OF TOYS.THE NEXT DAY WE WENT TO THE BIRDS OF PREY PARK.IT WAS REALLY COOL.THERE WAS LOTS OF BIRDS.SOME OF THEM WERE MY FAVROUITE ONES LIKE JESSIE THE BARN OWL. AFTER WE WENT UP TO A CAVE. THE NEXT DAY WE WENT HORSE RIDING. MY HORSE WAS CALLED BROWNIE. WE WENT TO THE CLIFFS OF MOHER. THERE WAS A LITTLE ISLAND CALLED GOAT ISLAND. IT HAD PUFFINS.

Kilmanhaim Gaol in Dublin, disused since the 1920s except as a film location for likes of "The Name of the Father". Below, the names of 14 leaders of the 1916 Easter uprising the British executed in the yard at Kalmainham -a few years later the leaders of the new Republic were executing some of their own at the jail after civil war broke out. Some grim old stories on a very good tour (14 euro a family) and certainly what's made the most historical impression on the kids (apart from It's a Small World at Disney).

For our final evening in Ireland, all 5 hours we got in Dublin, we check out the Easter Uprising bullet holes left at the Main Post Office in O'Connell Street (getting to put your finger in: cost, zero euros. Only free thing in the whole 2 weeks. Nah. Almost, but nah).