Galway to Omagh to Amsterdam

Well, we have been a bit busy with traveling so the blog has lagged a bit but here goes...we are in Amsterdam but that is getting ahead of the story...after the Owen Wilson siting we walked back to our small town against 50mph winds...needless to say the bad hair day took on new meaning but we found our way back and to our new favorite pub which this time Hoyt really got to make friends with some locals including one that everyone called Johnny the Leg due to his bummed leg...we sat with a group of Irish men and listened to them tell stories and jokes for a couple of hours until our stomachs were sore from laughing so hard...

We woke up early the next morning and headed for the bus to Northern Ireland and to discover from where the great Fergus Sloan started his adventure to the new world...Northern Ireland definetly feels a bit cooler and more reserved than the republic...the folk are not as jolly although still quite nice but not in that 'I don't know ya but I want to know ya' kinda way...the land is quite different - rolling hills, lots of green, lots of small farms and all the people we met spoke much more about the land and how things are changing temperature wise...we stayed at a hostel that was also a sustainable farm. The Irish couple who owned the farm were heavily into the movement and into education about sustainable farming which turns out is very universal and not just something done in Northern California. The house was out in the country and the lovely part was the walking along the windy roads trying to pretend the smell of cow dung was actually honeysuckle...

The next day we woke up early and headed for the American Folk Park which upon our arrival we were hesitant due to the fact that we took the average age of people there down by 10 years...but once we got going we were pleasantly suprised..the historical land is a full recreation of the story of the irish and scott-irish immigration and life experience. Houses from the early 18th century peasant home to the tenant house to the boat that immigrants came over to America on (3 months on the bottom of a boat to get over)...there were people in the homes and shops along the way that were like history teachers and will tell you about how ads were printed or what herbs were used for different medicinal purposes...it was really informative. We found out that Hoyt's family most likely left due to religious persecution rather than say the potato famine because they left before 1760 and most likely they were scot-irish...

Anyway, that night we got some groceries, made some irish stew and ended up visiting with a family from Northern Michigan who you wou wouldn't beleive - were Sloan's and also looking for Sloan history - serendipity I tell ya.

We hopped on a 6am bus to Dublin, caught our flight to Amsterdam and made it to our hotel at around 5pm...we picked correctly because we are staying in what seems like a quiet, family area of Amsterdam...not many tourists and lots of people on bikes.

Everyone bikes everywhere here. We have seen 3 people on one bike going to and fro. Interestingly enough none of the bikes look new all are rusty and very well used. We figure that if a bike is something you use everday all year then you must just use it until you need a new one...instead of our way of thinking of a bike which is riding on a nice day around town for excerise...so, Amsterdam is a suprise in the fact that it is not all pot smoking, hipsters but is actually probably the most beautiful, clean city we have visited and everyone seems to be content (they did get the happiest people award this past year). We enjoyed one of their main sites yesterday, the Van Gogh Museum, which was both inspiring and heart wrenching...amazing to see how someone could create something so bright and full of movement and life and then be so depressed and broken...We ended the day with the final game of the Euro cup - congrats Spain for winning after 44 years of no win.