So this month I ended my two year celebration of my 60th birthday which was in April of last year.

The two year 60th birthday celebration kicked off the week of my 59th  birthday.  Myself and my friend Anita, who celebrated her birthday the same week, toured Ireland together for the week.  It was great, and more it was the sunniest April anyone could ever remember in Ireland.

Along with sun shine we had  goose pimples, lots of them.  Chiefly because visiting Ireland was a childhood dream of Anita´s, especially visiting Ardmore in Co. Waterford and paddling in the sea there; as a young teenager Anita had read Nora Roberts' trilogy set in Ardmore.  Indian born Anita had never imagined living life outside the close protection of her extended family in India, dreaming of going to Ardmore may as well have been dreaming of going to the moon.   But life brought Anita to the U.S. where she train as an electrical engineer and had her own consulting agency New York.

And there she was fulfilling her childhood dream of visiting Ardmore.   - With the sun shining down on us IN APRIL.  ...(We won't talk about the pub at the centre of all the books.  Suffice to say it was not 'as one had imagined'!!!)  

The pub not withstanding; having one´s dream´s come true is a joy, but watching someone else experience their dream coming true -  in the sun shine,  in Ireland - in April , that has a special joy all its own.  Truly special.
(A nod here to Marie who made the journey to Ardmore, and Anita´s dream come true, possible.)  In addition to Ardmore....)

 In the course of the two years I visited....

Paris






Berlin

And  Vienna -  where we attended

the Symphony
                
                                  .....the Viennese Boys Choir

   

the Ballet















And we attended in Vienna the Sound of Music.  A first for Romeo H.


We also visited Regensberg where we met up with friends from the U.S.

London....
Somerset House known to fans of Agatha Christie´s Miss Marpel. 



      
St. Paul´s  Cathedral. 
I am very impressed with myself  because of this view of St. Paul´s;   I went up to the top of a nearby shopping center to take the photo.
On the left:  The nature walk that goes right through the city of London.  Not known to many, even to Londoners.  The path follows the route of the Themes to where the river enters the sea.
This  is a section of a wonderful mosaic I saw on the walk.  The mosaic depicts events that occured in London along the river from pre-history to now.



And I visited Strasbourg.
That day was a grand day to have a warm cup of tea.  Which I did.  In an Irish pub. Not an accident as I wanted to see the Ireland/English rugby match that was on. (For U.S. readers who may not know about rugby; it is like American Football, with out all the armour.)
What was an accident was, the pub I choose happened to be full of English people in to watch the match.  ... And it was  a brilliant game - for  Ireland! They beat England 19 to 9. -  And it was the 10th consecutive international victory for the Irish rugby team.

I enjoyed that cup of tea I did!

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Things that had been put on the long finger were taken off...

You know the way, you think `oh I would like to ´do XX´some day`. But you never get around to it.  Well I did.

On top of that list was:

Hotel Sonne, Silvaplana, San Moritz, Switzerland.

I worked there for a summer more than 40 years earlier when I was 18.

Hotel Sonne is still there but is now being converted into apartments.

It was an interesting experience as you can imagine going back to a place I had not been to in over four decades.







Especially seeing this little house across the street from the hotel.
We hotel workers slept there.

My bedroom was the room with the window, top floor on the right.

More on Silvaplana under the ´you just could not plan it` caption below.

Another 'long finger project' was  a visit Rosarie in her dream home.  I met  Rosarie in N.Y. in the late 1980´s.  Back then Rosarie always talked of building her dream home back in Ireland. And you know what - she did!  Step by step over decades the home was built in her home town on Carlingford Lough.  And it is truly  a lovely home.
An added bonus is, the house sits right at the bottom of the Cooley Mountain famous in Irish folklore for the The Cattle-Raid of Cooley (Táin Bó Cúalnge, with Cú Chulainn's Queen Medb of Connaught et al.
http://adminstaff.vassar.edu/sttaylor/Cooley/

Another `on the long finger project' was a rendezvous with Mary on Omey Island.  I had not seen Mary in decades, and Omey Island is tidal.

Mary and I had shared a flat in Dublin with two others in the early 1980´s, indeed we slept in the same room for a while.
Anyway, Romeo H and I went paddling with Mary on Omey Island.  The island  off the West Coast of Ireland is world famous for many, but I had never heard of it.
T´would be fair to say a great day was had by all, even if the weather was a ´tad brisk´ for paddling. 

And then there was a cuppa with `Mary from Gweedore`. Which could be a song title from Daniel O`Donnell.  The self same Daniel  happens to come from Gweedore.  But it is not a D. O.`D song.  Mary from Gweedore is a real live person, who I met in New York.  When she came back to Ireland about 12 yearlier, I told her I would pop by her home in Gweedore for a cuppa.  And so I did.
P.S.  If any of ´Daniel´s people´read this blog posting, tell him he should write a song titled Mary from Gweedore.  I mean with a title like that, it would surely be a chart topper for him.

Visiting a Cupola in the middle of the boon-docks.

This was more a middle finger project, and no, it is not a witty heading; often when driving north, about 90 minutes away from Allensbach we past a beautiful building, a Cupola  - in the middle of no where.  What? Why?  And always a lot of cars and buses there.

I had very much wanted to stop one day and have a peak in.  So I did.  It was certainly a WOW moment.  As you can see below.  It really was I mean, 'what is this beautiful building doing out there in middle of the Schwarzwald!`  

The church was build in the 1800's; it is dedicated to  St. Blaze the patron of all matters pertaining to  injuries and illnesses of the throat.

My thanks to Renate, who went with me to visit the St. Blaze Cupola.  Followed by a nice walk in the woods.

Go on a Blind Date
And not only with Romeo H, but 12 other in-laws came along too! 

To clarify; Allensbach although a small village, has  a wonderful cultural offering.  One of which is 'The Blind Date`.

How it works is, one pays  €10.00 in advance.
You have no idea what will happen. On the day in question at about 6.00 p.m. you can check on the internet where to go.  It could be a opera singer performing  in a castle, a reading in a monastery, or a cabaret  artist in the local hall.  That is part of the fun, you have no idea was it is going to be.  This stuck me as a fun thing I would like to 'do some day`.   And so I did this year.

Our blind date turned out to be a ' 60th birthday celebration honouring Granny' .  This fictitious granny was a fellow guest, who did not know before hand.  She was brought on the stage and the local mayor and other local characters and dignitaries came and told about their experiences with Granny, which were not always complimentary.  The BodenXtett known locally as the 'boy band for grannies' came to serenade her.  It was fun and a perfect choice of blind date for my 60th birthday. 

So I think that is enough for now.

I will follow with with the two year 60th birthday  part Deux another time that.   The next posting will start with 'You  just couldn't have planned it` And as is often the case, those were some of the best experiences and memories.

 Bis dann!