MFE Spring 08 trip

WARNING: THIS POSTING MAY BE HAZARDOUS TO YOUR EXPECTATIONS, AS ALL PICTURES WERE TAKEN BY MFE, AND SOME FROM A MOVING BUS! SO, QUALITY MAY NOT BE UP TO STANDARD,BUT THE SUBJECTS WERE SO GOOD, IT SHOULDN'T MATTER TOO MUCH!


On May 7 I ran away from home for 10 days - and had a great trip.

The first stop was Dun Laoghaire, south of Dublin, for a 2-day oral motor workshop. The workshop was great, and on my first evening I made a quick tour of Dalkey, just south. This is the "home of the stars" (just like Hendersonville, TN), where many celebrities live. These include Bono, who was the only one of the ones mentioned that I recognized - ah, age!! Here is a picture of the castle on the Irish Sea.


After moving to a B&B near the airport, I left Saturday morning for Brussels. I had a good time touring the city on the Hop On/Hop Off bus (we have found this to be a great way to see a city quickly, or to get an overview on the first day). Here are a few shots of Brussels - beautiful buildings, Belgian waffles, EU buildings, EU flags including Irealnd. That afternoon I met the coordinator of the PEO International Yahoo Group, Janice Thompson. she is from Iowa, is a dedicated PEO, dedicated Democratic, and altogether a wonderful and compatible person. We had a good time touring - we saw many architectural treats and explained a lot about the EU (while we looked at the many EU buildings. We had Belgian beer and cheese. She had also directed me to a great little hotel (more like a B&B) - Hotel Les Bluets - very quaint and a great location. (I forgot to take a picture of us together!)

On Sunday Hal and Nancy (who were on a river boat tour of Amsterdam and Belgium) came to the hotel - what fun to meet up in Belgium! We had an outdoor cafe lunch, sampled public transportation, toured the Museum of Musical Instruments, and then rested in their hotel. We met the friends who were with them on the tour and had a wonderful dinner at an outdoor table in Grand Place, surrounded by beautiful architechture and perfect weather.





















I left early the next morning, flew to Dublin, and took a bus to Mullingar in Co. Westmeath. I then spent 5 wonderful days at LARCC - the only residential retreat center in Ireland for people with cancer. They pampered us outrageously - and I enjoyed every minute. It was wonderful to have time to talk to my 3 new friends who also have cancer, and to benefit from the great LARCC staff. We experienced many complementary therapies, including acupuncture. I volunteered to be the "guinea pig" and the experience really hellped my numb toes, so I'm going to look into more!! We had a tour of Belvedere Mansion and Gardens. The 4 of us are pictured here in front of the "Jealousy Wall", built to keep the wife from looking across the fields to a supposed lover! We also visited (and had a mini art class) a Franciscan Friary - very beautiful.













On Friday, 3 of us were driven to Portlaoise where we dropped one off at home; the other 2 of us proceeded by train to Thurles, where Carina and Abbey (pictured with Margaret) met us with a picnic! At Mallow, my friend stayed on for Cork and I changed trains for Kerry - arrived home tired but happy. Dana's comment was that he missed me for a little while, but I was gone so long, he soon forgot about - ha!!