The Land of Strange Names

The Cotswolds, so quaint, so peaceful, so mysterious? The Cotswolds are home to villages like Blockley where the Father Brown TV series is shot which is about a local priest who has a knack for solving mysteries. It is a show my mother watches and one that I sometimes watch as well. We were in the small town of Lower Slaughter (don't you just love some of the English town names?) where they were having a fair with lots of booths selling just about anything and events for the children like toy boat races. I was looking through the books in the book stand when I heard some people comment that it would be like a Father Brown mystery if a man was found floating face down in the river with a bullet in his head during the boat races! There were several other small towns in the area with funny names that we visited and then we went to one of the local pubs for supper. The people sitting next to us had brought their two massive razorback dogs into the pub so it was a little loud and squished but it was a nice experience to spend time in this quiet little corner of England.

What a Whale of a Time in Wales!

Guess what? After 15 years I finally got to meet Rhys, the man who my parents named me after! You're probably going, 'What? I though his name was Matthew?' Well, it is but my full name is Matthew Rhys Rempel Janzen. Anyways, we met Rhys and his two dogs Archie and George. Rhys took us on an amazing hike up the Great Orme where we had a great lunch that we had gotten from a sandwich bar where the owner was a friend of Rhys's. He also took us to a walled town where they were having a festival. There were people crab fishing all over the waterfront. We got some ice cream and then walked on the city walls which were quite high up. Luckily there was a railing because the walls were falling apart. There were big holes so they had to put in extra floors and supports. That evening we went to a local restaurant called the Toad where I had excellent bangers and mash with a big glass of R Whites premium lemonade (I always look for lemonade everywhere I go). It was very sad when we had to say good-bye to Rhys. I will miss him but maybe some day I will return to Wales to visit him again!

Ireland, What Great Craic!

Ireland has great craic. Craic in Ireland means fun so if I asked somebody how was the craic, it would mean, 'How is life?' or 'Are you having fun?' I would then reply by saying, "Mighty Craic" or "Great Craic". Ireland also has great bands like the Wolfe Tones named after the leader of one of Ireland's many (failed) rebellions. They began playing as a band during the time of the IRA. A few other Irish bands that I enjoy are the Saw Doctors and Celtic Thunder. Ireland is also the setting for many of the Star Wars movies. Skellig on the Ring of Kerry was the site of Star Wars Episode 7 and 8 while the Dingle will be the setting another Star Wars movie. I met Charlie Chaplin in Waterville and had lots of wonderful food like bacon and eggs from my favourite deli and lots more fish and chips.
Dublin was lots of fun. My favourite part was the Natural History Museum which is also called the 'Dead Zoo'. I found lots of birds for my friend Paul (sorry they're all dead, but don't worry, the cats didn't get them) and a sign that said a zebra was a reindeer.
There were many very nice and welcoming people like the ones we stayed with during our time in Ireland. I made some new friends, Holly and Rauri near Tralee, and Archer, Era, and Tad in Kilcullen. The roads we drove in Ireland (like in Scotland) were very windy but Oliver (our car) and Fiona (our Satnav) got us around okay. I would definitely like to come back to Ireland some day!