We had a great day in London yesterday. It was really super. Because of the London Marathon, it was almost impossible to move about via cab or bus so, cheered on by the entire staff of the Churchill Hyatt, we braved the underground and had it figured out in no time flat! What a great convenience. We never would have done that otherwise so we were happy to have been enlightened as to the convenience of the subway. We made our way over to the London Eye where we had a really marvelous experience seeing from horizon to horizon (it was a glitteringly beautiful day). The marathon was happening just on the other side of the river (they took a right at Parliament) and the mood in the city was festive. We hit one of the museums after that, did a lot of walking, and then flew to Dublin.

It's a rainy, cool, damp, drizzly, gray, overcast, foggy, wet day here. Welcome to Ireland! Feels just like Oregon to us, so no worries there. George is hard at work doing whatever it is he does and I'm going to hit the bricks as soon as I read up on the rogue wave that hit the Norwegian Dawn. Contrary to what I thought, the dollar is doing better against the Euro than it is against the pound (my little brain is soggy as the weather and I constantly confuse myself with respect to currency exchange (and time zones, for that matter)) so I might not feel too guilty about buying some linen. The last time we were here we had to purchase another suitcase to carry home my loot and George reminded me at breakfast this morning not to forget to stop by a luggage store for the appropriate bag for this time around too. We need to learn to bring two half-packed suitcases instead of one crammed one.

I'm so ready to go to Ireland. You sound like you are having a wonderful time! I'm jealous!

Trish

How fun to tag along with George to such cool places! Plus, you get to sleep in or take a nap whenever you want :)

Marsha,

You've probably seen the Book of Kells; have you been to the National Museum to see the gold from the B.C. period? Most impressive!

Watch your step Marna Lou!

have fun.. have never been to Ireland so am very interseted in what you find to put in that new suitcase!
Have fun....

Two half packed suitcases would have been way too much hindsight! Have fun in Ireland! And I take back what I said before...spend all of George's money! :)

I never thought about how Dublin and Oregon might resemble each other ... :)

Masaki

The reason we are in Dublin is for the meetings of an industry consortium for which George is serving on the board. Some months ago, another board member, who is now registered here on LCT as jimh, mentioned to George that he was thinking of cruising this year. George mentioned the PG and Ngaire to him and now Jim and his wife, Pat, are booked on PIP. We caught up with them last night in the hotel bar prior to dinner and heard about all their plans for this trip. They are extremely excited (aren't we all?) and it was fun to touch base. I had worn some of the pearls we bought in Moorea and I think Pat might be thinking of getting some for herself. You PIPsters are going to enjoy getting to know this lovely couple.

I really enjoy it when work and cruising intersect!

Hi Marsha

I have been off the board for a few weeks but have read about your trip. It sounds like a good time to me.
Hope your shopping has gone well. You will have to lets us know if you really found any deals or not. I certainly hope so.
You can also use a new sweater or 2 in Portland, so don't feel too guilty about shopping.
Hope the rest of the trip goes well.

Marna Lou (Marsha?) -- Sounds like a wonderful trip. You're making me pine for London and Dublin. It has been a long time since we've had any time in either city. Can't wait to hear more!

Well, we have tomorrow and then we fly home on Saturday.

I have really enjoyed our visit here. George worked virtually every minute (until this evening) but I did well on my own. I used the hop on-hop off tour bus day before yesterday and scouted out the shopping we'll do tomorrow. Pat (Mrs. jimh) and I discovered that we are both Episcopalians and she found a midday Eucharist at the Anglican Cathedral here and we attended that together today. It was really lovely. Then we had lunch at an absolutely adorable sandwich shop called Queen of Tarts. It was the cutest little place I've ever seen.

Tomorrow we'll go by the Jameson factory to get a bottle of hooch with which to ransom George's new laptop. It arrived while we were gone and our neighbors took delivery and I'm sure it will require at least a bottle of something high proof to get them to give it up.

There are no real bargains to be had here. Everything is very expensive, and on top of that the dollar is relatively weak. I was saying, though, that it is very easy to spend foreign currency since it looks like play money.