There comes a time when you switch from forging ahead and packing it in, to winding down and thinking about the return. I think this day marks that transition for us. It's as if we had done all that we were so keen on doing and now are happy just to do a little less and move at a wee bit slower pace.
As always, Sparrow is the first to wake up. Come visit Gogs, little one!
Snowdrop is more predictable: she is up when her clock tells her it's time. At 8:15 each morning, she makes it to my room as well. There's a mommy hiding under the quilt as well! See her?
How's the weather today? Let's check it the old fashioned way -- by stepping outside...
Not bad! Snowdrop, want to come along for the morning breakfast walk?
Yes!
Well, maybe not. Indoor play beckons!
I'm off along my usual route, through the church yard...
... out onto the street.
This is the block that contains Conwy's principle bakery.
Oh! Open later on Sunday! Well, okay, let me detour toward the water's edge...
... and stop by the coffee shop for my daily cappuccino from there. This time I do a timed release by a painting that sort of brings home the joys of travel as a senior!
When the bakery finally does open, a line forms. People want their morning pick me up.
We've sampled all of these: scones, welsh cakes, doughnuts, eccles cakes. I still feel they're all a tad too sweet, but when you're on vacation, you can relax your nutritional guard somewhat.
Walking back through the church yard cemetery, I notice planters full of herbs and edibles. The signs say Pick Me, Eat Me, but they appear untouched. Is it because it seems somehow wrong to eat stuff grown among ancient tombstones?
Breakfast...
And then one child naps and the other play with grandma while the parents visit the church which stands so close to our little house. And this brings us right up to the lunch hour. The vote is in: we go back to Johnny Dough for pizza. The kids love it too much to pass by. So, one more set of photos from the pizza place!
Our post lunch ambition is to walk the old walls of Conwy. I pick up some info on this at the Visitor's Center and Snowdrop talks me into getting her a "calming stone." Rumor has it that wearing it puts you into a peaceful state. I tell her that she's a pretty peace loving calm child already, but she convinces me that this extra help is a good idea.
Sparrow gets a Cymru t-shirt. That's Welsh for Wales.
And now my daughter, the two kids and I set out for the walls. The views are lovely of course. You'd expect as much. Oh! A storm is brewing somewhere!
The castle once again...
The intrepid travelers!
The turffy gulls!
And a wee bird whose feathers I do not recognize.
Back on the streets of Conway, tourists dominate. It's Sunday and I believe the next week starts the holidays for younger kids here. The shops cater to them of course. I hear many parents saying "no, we're not getting that!" And some saying just the opposite.
We say "yes" to a small lollipop. Snowdrop is a girl who has completely abdicated pink and gone blue in her color choices. Ah, kids!
In the late afternoon we pack. We have to be on the 8:18 train out of here. The AirBnB must be neatened up, the suitcases standing, ready to go.
And in the evening, we go out to one last dinner in Wales. We eat at Watson's Bistro, a very tasty place that is barely a two minute walk from our Conwy home.
How the kids have grown in the last two weeks! Things that put them off, things that seemed uncomfortable and strange are now well within their comfort zone. New discoveries, letting go of steadfast rules -- all that happened, to both of them.
If travel does that to kids, it surely accomplishes similar miracles in adults. You're never the same person coming back as you were heading out.
(Back home, packing up scraps of souvenirs: a puffin bird picked up in support of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds at the "Whole Foods" store in Galsgow, sea shells and stones gathered on the beaches of the Irish Sea, and a ribbon from a box of chocolates I purchased for a wee gift...)
One last evening look outside my window...
Tomorrow we return to Dublin.
As always, Sparrow is the first to wake up. Come visit Gogs, little one!
Snowdrop is more predictable: she is up when her clock tells her it's time. At 8:15 each morning, she makes it to my room as well. There's a mommy hiding under the quilt as well! See her?
How's the weather today? Let's check it the old fashioned way -- by stepping outside...
Not bad! Snowdrop, want to come along for the morning breakfast walk?
Yes!
Well, maybe not. Indoor play beckons!
I'm off along my usual route, through the church yard...
... out onto the street.
This is the block that contains Conwy's principle bakery.
Oh! Open later on Sunday! Well, okay, let me detour toward the water's edge...
... and stop by the coffee shop for my daily cappuccino from there. This time I do a timed release by a painting that sort of brings home the joys of travel as a senior!
When the bakery finally does open, a line forms. People want their morning pick me up.
We've sampled all of these: scones, welsh cakes, doughnuts, eccles cakes. I still feel they're all a tad too sweet, but when you're on vacation, you can relax your nutritional guard somewhat.
Walking back through the church yard cemetery, I notice planters full of herbs and edibles. The signs say Pick Me, Eat Me, but they appear untouched. Is it because it seems somehow wrong to eat stuff grown among ancient tombstones?
Breakfast...
And then one child naps and the other play with grandma while the parents visit the church which stands so close to our little house. And this brings us right up to the lunch hour. The vote is in: we go back to Johnny Dough for pizza. The kids love it too much to pass by. So, one more set of photos from the pizza place!
Our post lunch ambition is to walk the old walls of Conwy. I pick up some info on this at the Visitor's Center and Snowdrop talks me into getting her a "calming stone." Rumor has it that wearing it puts you into a peaceful state. I tell her that she's a pretty peace loving calm child already, but she convinces me that this extra help is a good idea.
Sparrow gets a Cymru t-shirt. That's Welsh for Wales.
And now my daughter, the two kids and I set out for the walls. The views are lovely of course. You'd expect as much. Oh! A storm is brewing somewhere!
The castle once again...
The intrepid travelers!
The turffy gulls!
And a wee bird whose feathers I do not recognize.
Back on the streets of Conway, tourists dominate. It's Sunday and I believe the next week starts the holidays for younger kids here. The shops cater to them of course. I hear many parents saying "no, we're not getting that!" And some saying just the opposite.
We say "yes" to a small lollipop. Snowdrop is a girl who has completely abdicated pink and gone blue in her color choices. Ah, kids!
In the late afternoon we pack. We have to be on the 8:18 train out of here. The AirBnB must be neatened up, the suitcases standing, ready to go.
And in the evening, we go out to one last dinner in Wales. We eat at Watson's Bistro, a very tasty place that is barely a two minute walk from our Conwy home.
How the kids have grown in the last two weeks! Things that put them off, things that seemed uncomfortable and strange are now well within their comfort zone. New discoveries, letting go of steadfast rules -- all that happened, to both of them.
If travel does that to kids, it surely accomplishes similar miracles in adults. You're never the same person coming back as you were heading out.
(Back home, packing up scraps of souvenirs: a puffin bird picked up in support of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds at the "Whole Foods" store in Galsgow, sea shells and stones gathered on the beaches of the Irish Sea, and a ribbon from a box of chocolates I purchased for a wee gift...)
One last evening look outside my window...
Tomorrow we return to Dublin.
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