Trip of a lifetime Dublin, Ireland

The port at Dublin is just a port. There is no port town to explore one must go into the city by shuttle. All my life I've read novels in which the Irish pubs were often the center of socializing. I had always said that if I ever went to Ireland I would go in one of those pubs and have a Guinness. For those of you who know me this is a big deal because I am not a drinker. Featured above is the Manchester football team having a few in the bar we chose to go in.
Lee explained to the bar tender that this was a very unusual experience for me and the bartender insisted that I come behind the bar and have a picture taken with him. He also asked us to send a picture to him when we got home.

This is the little bar we walked in and the people inside were very warm and welcoming and having a lot of fun with this woman from the USA who had never had a Guinness.

From the USA it is overwhelming to come across a church with so much history. The catacombs in this church were fascinating.

Christ Church Cathedral

This is to Dublin, Ireland what Central Park is to New York City. A beautiful little park in the heart of the city. We were in the park at noon time and many of the cities business workers were in there for lunch. The following day they were anticipating their visit from Queen Elizabeth. Streets were being closed off and their were security officers everywhere.
We have found the Irish people to be very warm and very helpful as we toured the city. We must have walked at least about 4 hours that day. Returned to the ship that night to another nice dinner and show.

Fresh flowers on every street corner.

Some really unusual bridges.

You just don't see buildings like this in America!!!

You can see we would need to do a lot of walking to cover the city in 4 hours. We looked and looked for a place to buy decaf coffee. Even the McDonald's in Dublin did not have decaf coffee. We finally went in a specialty coffee shop and asked if they had decaf coffee and they said," You mean and American coffee?"

Just look at the brick walkways.

Every corner has another beautiful view and as much as you try, your camera cannot capture it.

TRIP OF A LIFEETIME: Port Cobh, Cork Ireland

Following Portugal we were at sea for another two days. The day before we had walked the town of Ponta Delagada and then hired a taxi to take up us on a drive through the mountains to the lakes. This worked out very well. Much cheaper than paying for an excursion through the cruise ship. Above are Bill and Carol a real delight from Clearwater area of Florida.
Featured above are Pam and Ed from Naples, Florida. We really had a lot of fun with these four every night.

This is the port town of Cobh, Ireland and this is referred to as the House of Cards.

This church in Cobh just stands out no matter where you stood in town.

Just as beautiful inside as out.

I took this picture in downtown Cobh and it makes it look like the cruise ship sits right in the town itself.

This little port town has just finished building this lovely little park to welcome the cruise ships. There were all kinds of vending booths along the street.

For my family I want them to know that my total knee replacement handled these steps so I am thrilled.
I must say the people here all came out to welcome the first big cruise ship of the season. It was Sunday so they made it a family affair. They brought picnic lunches and were out in the park and had various bands playing to welcome us to port.

We took a train from Cobh to Cork. This again worked out very well for us and so much less expense than a shore excursion with the cruise line. A beautiful city.

Welcome to the world of Guinness !!!!!

These old churches are quite something to the eyes of one who has never been to Europe.

Can you just imagine the history of a church this old?

Cork, Ireland

Every where you look the view is incredible.

Every where we went there are signs that God is at work throughout the world.

More Guinness!!!

Throughout the downtown shopping section of Cork was the most unusual street lighting.

As we left Cork that night to the sounds of the bands playing and the streets lined with people waving good-bye we thought what warm lovely people. We had had a very beautiful day.

THE TRIP OF A LIFETIME!!!!!!

On May 5th 2011 we embarked on the trip of a lifetime. We left Fort Lauderdale,
Florida on the Grand Princess for a 16 night Trans Atlantic crossing.

Our state room was lovely. For the first 6 1/2 days we were at sea and we spent this time exploring the ship and taking advantage of the many facilities on board. We kept a regular exercise program up in an effort to combat any weight gain due to the marvelous food. Whether or not that has been successful is as yet to be determined. We are not yet ready to deal with what the answer might be. The shows on board were excellent and we were lucky to dine each night with two very lovely couples, can you believe--from Florida.

Above is pictured one of the 4 pools aboard the Grand Princess

This is referred to as Theater Under the Stars. At night you curl up under prewarmed blankets and the staff comes around with popcorn and drinks while you watch the most recent released movies.

Our first port Ponta Delagada, Portugal.

We spent the morning walking around the town and then we spent the afternoon on a beautiful drives through the hills surrounding the town. Absolutely beautiful.

A pretty church in town.

One of the government buildings in town.

I don't know if it really show up in a picture but one of these lakes is blue and the other green.

It's because of the different mineral deposits in each.

The mountain sides here are gorgeous and all the flowers were just coming into bloom.

Cobblestone streets are the norm in Europe.

It's been so long since I have posted. I have continued to be busy with knee rehab and Lee has had projects on the farm to complete before our trip to England to see Jim and Jane. After 5 months the orthopedics surgeon and I have finally decided what has taken my knee so long to heal. I had injured it the end of July, had a knee scope on Sept. 23rd and then a total knee replacement on Nov. 4th. The surgeon believes he did the total knee too soon after the scope and that the knee had been inflamed since July with no down time to heal. We backed off on all physical therapy except gentle stretches since the end of first week of April and now the knee is finally healing and the pain is totally gone and flexibility great. I feel like I can finally move on with life. The surgeon told me I was the most aggressive patient he has even had and in this particular case it worked against me.

As you can see spring has finally arrived and the cherry trees Lee planted in the fall are in bloom.

Over Easter we visited our eldest son and family in Pittsburgh, PA. What a great time we had!! We played Mexican train, and spoons, and watched movies together. Unfortunately it was a mostly rainy week-end here.
Pictured above is Friday the families new puppy.

The leather sofa is one of David's great finds on Craig's list.

This guy is a long haired Wheaten terrier. He is 4 and 1/2 months old now and just too cute!!

I finally got a good picture of the entire family.

From left to right: Dave (our son) children Isabella and Garrett and Erica with Friday on her lap.

Isabella dying the eggs. What a beautiful color!!

Friday with his new bone.

Just before we left for Dave's house Lee had to uncover the well. On Wednesday of this week we are having a new pump put in the old one is 24 years old.

Earlier this month we had gone to East Petersburg to visit our eldest daughter Suzanne.

Our granddaughter Hollyn, Troy and Keenan our two soccer players are off somewhere.
We had green waffles for breakfast, NOW that's a first!!!

We are very busy trying to get all loose end tied up around here on the farm and things lined up for Nicky's care while we are gone. We've been busy spending time with the children before we go. We will have so much to tell them when we return.

We fly to Fort Lauderdale on May 5th and board the Grand Princess and set sail for England that night. We will arrrive in England on May 21st and be with Jim and Jane until June 17th when we fly home. The four of us will be doing some really amazing stuff. Jim has been able to line up some really nice trips for us. We are sooooooo excited. I have a feeling that I will not be doing much blogging on the trip and will do it upon our return to the states.