Dublin

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Hey all!

I’m way behind now on making blog posts about Ireland as I have almost been here a whole week.
I will say one thing, if you are looking for sunshine and hot weather, this may not be the best destination for you!  However, the friendly Irish people and the good beer make up for it!
Although I chose to stay in South Dublin, a trip into Temple Bar in city centre is always required.  This is a nice cloudy evening besides the river.  Some people say clouds make nice pictures, but I will let you be the judge.
From Dublin I travelled south to County Wiklow and then up to Northern Ireland.  Once I have a chance, I will post some more.  
I hired a car at the airport and driving on the left has not been quite as challenging as I imagined.  Getting the correct gear with my left hand has been somewhat of a challenge however.

Zermatt

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I decided this year to make a winter ski trip a bit further away than usual.  I flew into Zurich this morning with a friend a fellow self employed contractor, Rob.

The flight was fairly non eventful and got us into Zurich at the ungodly hour of 6:30am.  From there we needed to take a train.  I’ve been to Switzerland before, but the trains still amaze me.  Everything arrives right on time, they are clean and comfortable, and the connections are easy.  But what surprised me the most this time was the train from Visp to Zermatt.  This train actually ascends over a mountain, partly helped by a cog wheel.  The views are quite amazing and the steep grade that the train climbs is very neat to experience.
Zermatt resembles a traditional Swiss town, at least from the looks of the buildings.  The weather in the village was awesome, sitting at around 7 degrees this afternoon.  It’s a small village and most things are easily accessed by foot, at least when you are not walking in ski boots!

The views of the Matterhorn were nice too, both from the village site, and closer to the train station.

I’ve not actually got on the slopes yet, but I will tomorrow after a good nights sleep.  I will post more through the week.

Ramadan

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Right now in Turkey it is Ramadan.  It began while I was in Antalya and I was wondering how it would affect tourists in Turkey that are not Muslims.  The answer is that there is little effect at all.

People partaking in Ramadan do not eat between sunrise and sunset.  During this time they fast by not eating or drinking.  At least in the places I have visited, it does not seem to be heavily practiced.  Most restaurants are open and many Turkish people are eating lunch and dinner.
The more interesting part to me though was the nightly and early morning announcement that remind people they can now eat.  People go down the streets banging a drum and making lots of noise at sunset and, perhaps more importantly, just before sunrise at around 3:30am, to wake people up so they can eat before the sun comes up.
Depending on where you are staying during Ramadan, you may get woken up at 3:30am with the banging of a drum.  You may want to choose a higher floor or a more soundproof room!