The Carnivore in Nairobi!

Nine hours off the plane from the U.S., we are sitting in the world-famous Carnivore Restaurant in Nairobi. As the name implies, it is a meat-eating destination when you come here. They serve a variety of meat and were famous for their ranch-raised game meat, including giraffe, wildebeest, ostrich and crocodile, until Kenya imposed a ban on the sale of game meat in 2004. In 2003 it was ranked one of the “World’s Best 50 Restaurants” by Restaurant magazine. However, it remains a popular tourist destination, particularly for safari arrivals heading into the bush the next day, as we are.

In 1999, the restaurant seated 350 people and the restaurant’s 330 employees served over 1,000 people per day. Today the restaurant serves meat of domestic animals such as beef, pork, lamb and chicken, as well as farmed ostrich and crocodile meat. It’s skewered on Maasai swords, cooked on coals and served on cast-iron plates. I opted for pork, turkey and ostrich. Anthony, a non-meat-eater, chose vegetarian options. Bon appetite!

The meat is skewered on Maasai swords and roasted over hot coals

My serving of ostrich, pork and turkey on a cast-iron plate, fresh off the sword

The TWA Hotel at JFK!

The TWA Hotel at JFK is awesome. I graduated high school in 1962, and TWA’s Terminal 5 at JFK opened that year, showcasing the modern architecture of Eero Saarinen (credit him with the tulip chair). TWA is long gone, but in 2019 the terminal opened as a hotel. Five hundred-some rooms. All the photos here are of the lobby! What? And the music is all early ‘60s, think Mamas and Papas, Pink Panther, you get the idea. Anyway, it’s a real trip back in time. Many movies have scenes shot here in the original terminal, including Catch Me if You Can starring Matt Damon. There is a particular scene of hum walking through the long red passageway. We stayed one night, transiting SRQ-JFK-NBO. 

Belfast City Hall

Check out Belfast’s gorgeous City Hall. A blast of Italian marble hits you the moment you enter the building, which has a permanent visitor exhibition filling 16 rooms and featuring Belfast’s past to present. The City Hall opened in 1906. A collection of stained glass windows is located throughout the building, marking historic events or celebrating the contribution to the city by various individuals and organizations. The elephants displayed at City Hall are part of a herd of uniquely decorated sculptures positioned around Belfast this summer. At the end of the city-wide exhibit the elephants will be auctioned to raise funds for Northern Ireland Hospice.

Belfast City Hall is designed in the Baroque Revival style

·         Queen Victoria has the position of honor outside City Hall

The interior is clad in Italian marble

Sections of the many stained glass windows mark historic events or celebrate the contribution to the city by various individuals and organizations

The 26-year-old Earl of Belfast died of consumption in 1870. He is lamented by his mother in this Patrick MacDowell sculpture, considered one of the finest pieces of Victorian sculpture in Ireland. It’s regarded as MacDowelll’s masterpiece, and is just inside the City Hall entrance

“Rise” by Wolfgang Buttress is Northern Ireland’s largest public artwork. Here in small form, the sculpture’s two globes symbolize the rising of the sun and new hope for Belfast’s future. We glimpsed the original as we drove into the city, where it graces a roundabout. The original, cast in white steel, measures 121’x98’

A herd of uniquely decorated sculptures were placed around the city in preparation for an auction to benefit the Northern Ireland Hospice. These baby elephants were on display in the lobby of City Hall

Belfast coat of arms

Titanic Museum, Belfast!

“This is one of the most well-thought-out Titanic museums in the world. It’s really quite phenomenal. It’s a magnificent, dramatic building; it’s the biggest Titanic exhibit in the world.” —James Cameron

Located at the very place where Titanic was designed, built and launched, Titanic Belfast tells the story of Titanic from her conception, through her construction and launch, to her maiden voyage and subsequent place in history. She sank in the early morning hours of April 15, 1912 in the North Atlantic Ocean four days into her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York. The largest ocean liner in service at the time, Titanic had an estimated 2,224 people on board when she struck an iceberg at around 11:43 p.m. on Sunday, April 14,1912. Her sinking two hours and 40 minutes later at 2:20 a.m. on Monday, April 5, resulted in the deaths of more than 1,500 people, making it one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history.

Titanic Museum in Belfast opened in 2012 on the site of the abandoned shipyard where the RMS Titanic was built. A luxury steamship, she sank in the early hours of April 15, 1912, off the coast of Newfoundland in the North Atlantic after sideswiping an iceberg during its maiden voyage. Of the 2,240 passengers and crew on board, more than 1,500 lost their lives in the disaster.

The museum’s atrium is build to the height and angle of the Titanic’s prow

“Titanica” is a life-size figure in the form of a diving female. The sculpture takes its inspiration from the traditional female ship figureheads mounted on the prows of sailing ships. The figure represents hope and positivity. Cast in bronze, she weighs three-quarters of a ton.

Corner window of the atrium looks directly onto the dry dock where the Titanic was built

Museum atrium

Posted messages from the Titanic

Lifeboat

John Jacob Astor IV, the richest man in the world, was one of 1,500 passengers who died at sea when the Titanic sunk

Dublin!

If you go to Dublin, carve out a couple of hours to visit the EPIC, the Irish Emigration Museum and the world’s first fully-digital museum. It opened in 2016 to showcase the history of the Irish disapora and emigration to other countries. EPIC is a privately-owned museum, founded by Neville Isdell, former chairman and chief executive of Coca Cola who was born in County Down. The museum is housed in an 1820 customs warehouse on the River Liffey, and takes you on the journey about how a small island made a big impact on the world. Across the street and up a block is the haunting Famine Memorial in remembrance of the Great Famine (1845-1849), which saw the population of the country halved through death and emigration. The sculpture features six lifesize figures dressed in rags, clutching onto their belongings and children, leaving famished Ireland for a new life.

The Riffy Liffey runs through Dublin, Ireland

·         The Jeanie Johnston tall ship tied to a quay on the River Liffey. The ship is s replica of a ship that transported emigrants to Canada during the Great Famine, taking a total of 2,500 people over the Atlantic between the years 1848 to 1855, a period when a million people left Ireland and another million died of starvation. They packed 500 desperate people in steerage, many of whom died en route.

The haunting Famine Memorial is on the riverfront in remembrance of the Great Famine (1845-1849), which saw the population of the country halved through death and emigration. The sculpture features six lifesize figures dressed in rags, clutching onto their belongings and children, leaving famished Ireland for a new life.

EPIC, the Irish Emigration Museum and the world’s first fully-digital museum, opened in 2016

·         Visitors use touch screens throughout the museum learn about Irish emigration and the Irish people who made an impact on the world.

Installation depicting the modes of transportation that took the emigres to North America

Reuse and Recycle. Dublin cleverly recycled the historic building where hangings took place over the front door, and wrapped a shopping mall around it

Muckross House in Killarney!

Muckross is a Tudor 65-room mansion built in 1843 for Henry and Mary Balfour Herbert. Extensive improvements were undertaken in the 1850s in preparation for the visit of Queen Victoria in 1861. It is said that these improvements for the Queen’s visit contributed to the financial difficulties suffered by the Herbert family, resulting in the sale of the estate. In 1899 it was bought Arthur Guinness to preserve the natural landscape. He never lived here, but rented it out as a hunting lodge to wealthy hunters. In 1911, Muckross House was sold to William Bowers Bourn, a wealthy California mining magnate. In 1932, the family presented Muckross House and its 11,000-acre estate to the Republic of Ireland, and it became Ireland’s first national park, Killarney National Park.

Muckross House is a Tudor 65-room mansion built in 1843 in what is now the Killarney National Park

So THIS is the dining room!

Queen Victoria slept here during her visit in 1861

The gardens at Muckross House

Killarney National Park!

We rode through Ireland’s oldest national park in horse carts. The July day was sunny, 70s and serene in Killarney National Park near the town of Killarney in County Kerry. Created in 1932, the park comprises 25,425 acres of diverse ecology, including lakes and mountains. It has the only red deer herd on mainland Ireland and the most extensive covering of native forest remaining in the republic. The park is of high ecological value because of the quality, diversity, and extensiveness of many of its habitats and the wide variety of species. In 1981, it was designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.

Touring the Killarney National Park in horse carts

Liz with Liz, the horse who pulled our cart

Lake Killarney

Ross Castle sits on the shores of Lake Killarney in the park

Red Deer are in the park. This one, barely visible left center, is grazing on the lush grass

Boat ride to the Muckross House, a manor across the lake

Approaching the dock on the other side of the lake

Off the boat and on the grounds of Muckross House

The park is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve

The Aran Islands!

The Aran Islands are three barrier islands 30 miles out of Galway on Galway Bay. They are the last lands to the west before you reach America. We took the 45-minute ferry to Inishmore, the largest island. The wild landscape is criss-crossed with with miles of stone walls that mark land ownership. Traditional Irish life is intact here, where water and electricity came to the islands only in the 1970s. Countless writers, poets and artists have, over the centuries, come to the Aran Islands on retreats to connect with authentic and rural Ireland.

Sweater shops are the main local textile, selling the famous Aran sweaters, knitted of wool in classic cable patterns. The history of the diverse cable designs is a sad one. In this fishing community, men went to sea and some never returned. If their bodies washed up or were caught in fishing nets, they were able to be identified by the distinctive design of their cable-knit (AKA fisherman knit) sweaters. Each family had its own pattern knitted by the mother for this purpose. If she had more than one son at sea, she knit in a subtle variation so she knew what son had died at sea if the remains were unrecognizable. An active graveyard is among the ruins of two 8th-13th century churches. But my favorite thing in Inishmore was the window boxes. Right out of a storybook.

Aran Islands Ferry

Basket weaver works along a walking path making and selling his wares

The Aran Islands are known for their cable-knit sweaters and family designs that can identify lost fishermen if the need arises

This is an active cemetery on the island