Ondine

The 2009 feature, starring Colin Farrell and Alicja Bachleda, written and directed by Neil Jordan, mixes themes from irish mythology into contemporary settings.

Syracuse, played by Farrell, is a fisherman living alone but tends to his ten year old daughter, Annie who has failing kidneys. One day, a nearly-drowned woman gets caught in Syracuse's net whilst on a fishing expedition; she speaks oddly sand calls herself Ondine. An Ondine, according to theory, is a water spirit who has a beautiful voice and according to some legends, cannot get a soul unless they marry a man and bear him a child. This led Ondines to be a motif in romantic and tragic literature.

In the film, Annie believes his father's story about the 'Selkie', is true and discovers this when she finds Ondine in his isolated cottage. This fairy-tale story makes the audience question whether there is a happily ever after, or do the realities of alcohol, illness and bad luck say otherwise.

....As the priest reiterates in the film, misery's easy, it's happiness you have to work at.

Methodical; performed, disposed, or acting in a systematic way; systematic; orderly: a methodical person.

Mediterranean Cruising

This cruising business is a weird one to get your ahead around. There are obviously a number of those which vary in activities, cleanliness and just in style, the msc poesia which we boarded in Barcelona and sailed the mediterranean was outstandingly beautiful, possibly due to the fact that it was only two years old. It was a weird holiday in that it wasn't relaxing at all, instead full of outings, early starts and regimented meal times. I came to the conclusion that I do like cruises, apart from the occasional night disturbance via a rocky motion and not being able to fit in some swimming time. However the bonus of a cruising holiday is that you get to visit many cities in a short period of time, plus fantastic views just off your balcony.

Everyone always raves about the food on cruises, and I didn't really take it on until I experienced it myself. Juliana, our regular waiter particularly made the cruise a special one. Each meal consisted of 5 or 6 small courses which were fit for the queen....And I'm not even joking.

You also have to have the mind set to take in as much culture in one city as much as you can, as we often only got a couple of hours. A few of my favourite places were Lisbon in Portugal, Genoa in Italy, Alicante in Spain and ending up in Barcelona where we stayed in the heart of the city for 2 nights. 

Hotel Espana was situated in La Rambla, one of the busiest tourist and local streets, full of shops, restaurants and markets. I loved Barcelona's diversity of shops, historic areas, beaches and local tapas bars, where we found that La Tasca's 'Patatas Bravas' are pretty close to the real thing.

Our last meal of the holiday was in the very un-spanish Hard Rock Cafe. (We always keep an eye out for them in every city we visit, especially having visited a few in America). This made a nice change, as we knew exactly what we were getting and the atmosphere was fun and lively. The end to a perfect family getaway.....minus the attempted pick-pocket of my personal belongings. (Luckily I left my phone and my purse back at the hotel)

Oh and I never realised just how many animals could be created by towels....we often discovered these cute little things on our bed by the staff of the cruise.

content: mentally or emotionally satisfied with things as they are.