Returning to London after 35 years was incredible! My friend Tpong from Thailand, now living in the UK, and I had a grand time touring around the famous sights and taking lots of selfies!
Everywhere I've traveled this spring - from Thailand, Laos and Cambodia to Amsterdam and London - the tourist crowds have been incredibly large. And what's funny about Europe is that it isn't even warm, but people are out and about.
T -n- me stopping for coffee and tea at a street-side cafe.
I remember being able to walk by 10 Downing Street "back in the day," but it looks much different now with all the security.
We went to Burger and Lobster for lunch. There are only 3 items on the menu: a gigantic beef burger, a steamed whole lobster, or a lobster roll. We wasted no time tearing through our lobsters.
People, please. This street was only a couple of blocks from where I lived in the 1980s and today it is chock full of acoustic guitar shops!
I spent quite a bit of time wandering through these stores. Remarkably I left empty-handed. When you travel with only a carry on bag you have to choose your purchases carefully.
Guitar store, after guitar store, after guitar store. And there was 1 drum shop.
I haven't posted any pictures from my visit to London Metropolitan University because they were all just big city buildings and basically unremarkable. My meetings were good, but I don't think establishing an exchange with them is realistic.
I stayed at Abby's college roommate Lucy's flat in north London near Hampstead Heath, a sprawling park overlooking the city to the south. I didn't have her wifi hookup at first but the family downstairs let me tap into theirs. The only way to get a signal was to leave the door ajar and sit on a wooden chair trying to shuffle around my iPhone, SurfacePro, and a glass of wine... I was the hardest working woman in London.
In Amsterdam, at the university, etc. I'd ask if students, faculty, etc, if they go to church.
Everyone said no. When I asked why not, they replied, "why?" So I decided to visit this big ole crumbling down church across the street from Lucy's to see for myself. There were about 50 people (including 10 kids), and it was a very nice service. I actually bumped into someone I knew during the passing of the peace! It was Ellie, Lucy's neighbor who graciously offered up their wifi signal to me.
I jumped on a plane from London and flew to Ireland to visit the University of Limerick - this is the view from my hotel room. Just some old Irish building from ancient times!
The University of Limerick is situated along the river Shannon and is connected to a student housing village via this foot bridge. A beautiful, peaceful setting for a campus!
Lunching with Sinead and Bridget at Plassy House. They pulled out all the stops with 3 nights hotel stay, a very fancy lunch (I had to pretend to eat vanilla ice cream for dessert), and a very successful meeting for a meaningful exchange program for our students! Success! Now we just have to implement and market the program!
University of Limerick has a thriving student body of 12,000.
Oh, the Luck of the Irish, I tell ya!
Spring has sprung in Ireland
The United Kingdom doesn't recognize "southern" Ireland in its weather report because it doesn't belong to the UK. Notice there are no city names in the southern part of Ireland.
The Locke Restaurant in Limerick served me up a tasty smoked salmon salad and Guinness. These 2 lads whiled the evening away playing traditional Irish folk music.
St. Anne's Church (just 500 years old) is in the background of the St. Patrick's Day parade route.
It was a great visit to Ireland. My St. Patrick's Day dinner was spuds and roast lamb. Do you know that I looked at every menu I could find and there wasn't one corned beef and cabbage entree listed. It's all lamb and beef which works for me!
Ok, off to Paris! Stay tuned.
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