Forgetting what I say and know, that Shane was not capable of hurting himself or anyone else, If the only Irish expert Professor Healy is right (don’t forget he did a report for Shane’s Inquest and stated that in his opinion Shane was a classic case of an adverse reaction to ssri’s) and these drugs can cause some people to commit suicide and in extreme cases homicide, it’s the wrong people who are in jail. The Irish Medicines Board do nothing to warn consumers of these side effects despite having plenty of knowledge. The IMB Patient Information Leaflet is criminal. Psychiatry Ireland continuously deny the side-effects in the media and send their “respected members” to attend Inquests to deny the same. Here is the IMB Patient Information Leaflet for Citalopram and the FDA version… The discrepancies are Criminal.

Anyway, by the wonders of technology, most companies, universities, Public bodies ect, have their own personalised server which, thanks to Truthman and Bobby Fiddaman for helping a novice, can be seen on my blog….

Recent Stats map and latest viewer details below.

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Ireland…

Oireachtas, Dublin, Ireland

Law Library Of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland

Irish Government, Dublin, Ireland

Department Of Justice Harcourt St, Dublin, Ireland

Irish Courts Service, Dublin, Ireland

Irish Medicines Board, Dublin, Ireland

Brophy Solicitors, Dublin, Ireland

St John of God, Dublin, Ireland

MNCH, Adelaide and Meath hospitals, incorporating the National Childrens hospital, Dublin

Health Research Board, Dublin

State Lab, Meath, Ireland

Kilkenny County Council, Ireland

Department Of Social Welfare, Dublin, Ireland

Public Facing Services For Hse West, Sligo, Ireland

Deloitte & Touche Irl, Ireland

Department Of Health, Dublin, Ireland

Health Service Executive, Waterford, Ireland

Trinity College Dublin, Ireland

Institute Of Technology, Tallaght, Dublin, Ireland

Ucd Campus, Dublin, Ireland

Dublin Institute Of Technology, Ireland

Bank Of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland

Maynooth Campus, Kildare, Ireland                                                                                                                              

Queens University Belfast, N.Ireland

Campus Network, Cork, Ireland

William Fry Solicitors, Dublin

Rte, Dublin, Ireland

Government…

Oireachtas, Dublin, Ireland

Irish Government, Dublin, Ireland

Commission Europeenne, Belgium

European Parliament, Belgium

Dept. Of Veterans Affairs, Washington, U.S

Legal…

Ulmer & Berne, U.S

Stibbe, Belgium

Kromann Reumert, Copenhagen, Denmark

The Beasley Firm, Pennsylvania, United States

Hogan Lovells, London, United Kingdom

Medical Protection Society Ltd, London, U.K

Baker & Mckenzie, London, U.K

Rodolf & Todd, Oklahoma, United States

Matheson Ormsby Prentice, Dublin, Ireland

William Fry Solicitors, Dublin

Brophy Solicitors, Dublin, Ireland

Pharmaceutical companies…

H. Lundbeck, Valby, Denmark

Forest Labs, Brooklyn, New York, U.S

Wyeth-ayerst Research, Europe

Glaxosmithkline, US

Hoffmann Laroche, Switzerland

Johnson & Johnson, India

Johnson & Johnson, Switzerland

Otsuka Pharmaceuticals, germany

Abbott Laboratories, Illinois, US

Pfizer, New York

Pfizer, Australia

Pfizer, Kent, U.K

Pfizer, Europe

Merck And Co, Pennsylvania, U.S

Merck And Co, New Jersey, U.S

Novartis Ag, Europe

Bayer Corporation, Pennsylvania, U.S

Bayer Ag, Germany

Astrazeneca Pharmaceuticals, Delaware, US

Ferring Pharmaceuticals A/s, Denmark

Actavis Switzerland, Switzerland

The Procter And Gamble Company, Europe

Astellas Pharma Europe Ltd, Europe

Ferring Ab, Hovedstaden, Denmark

Napp Pharmaceutical Holdings Limited, Cambridge, U.K

Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc, Massachusetts, U.S

Dainippon Pharmaceutical Co, Japan

Prasco, Ohio, US

Allergan, Europe

Green Medicine Ab, Sweden

Hospitals, Health… 

World Health Organization, Switzerland

 European Medicines Agency, London,

National Institute For Clinical Excellence, UK

  The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) Canada                                                                                                                                                              

Saudi Food & Drug Authority (sfda), Saudi Arabia

Danish Network For Research And Education, Denmark

Alfred Group Of Hospitals, Victoria, Australia

The-government-mental-hospital, Israel

National Institutes Of Health, Maryland, U.S

Methodist Hospital Of Memphis, Tennessee, US

Hamot Health Foundation, Pennsylvania, U.S

Childrens Hospital Of Philadelphia, U.S

Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts, U.S

Tucson Medical Center, Arizona, U.S

United Healthcare Corporation, Europe

New-directions-treatment-center, North Carolina, U.S

Oakwood Healthcare, Michigan, US

Brainsgate-ltd, Tel Aviv, Israel

Universities, Colleges, Schools Ect;

Oxford University, U.K

Emory University, Georgia, U.S

King’s College London, U.K

University Of Oslo, Norway

Colaiste Na Hollscoille, Gaillimh, Ireland

Imperial College London, London, U.K

Le Moyne College, Syracuse, New York

University Of Wisconsin Madison, United States

Georgetown University, Washington, US

Prince Of Songkla University, Thailand

Educational Institution Connected To Sektornet, Denmark

University Of Massachusetts, Amherst, United States

Columbia University, New York, U.S

American University Of Beirut, Lebanon

Florida Atlantic University, U.S

Arkansas State University, U.S

Columbia University, New York, US

University Of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

Morehead State University, U.S

University Of The Western Cape, South Africa

The George Washington University, Washington, US

Atlanta Metropolitan College, U.S

Samford University, Alabama, U.S

University Of Northern Iowa, U.S

Georgia Department Of Education, U.S

Universita’ Degli Studi Di Parma, Italy

Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea

Hong Kong University Of Science And Technology, Hong Kong

University Of Saskatchewan, Canada

Los Angeles Unified School District, U.S

Eotvos Lorand University Of Sciences, Hungary                                                                                                               

North Carolina State University, U.S

Aarhus Kobmandsskole, Denmark

University Of Zurich, Switzerland

University Of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia

Indiana University, Indiana, US

College Of Wooster, Ohio, US

Mitchell Technical Institute, South Dakota, US

Medizinische-universitaet-graz, Austria

Universita’ Di Modena E Reggio Emilia, Italy

Random…

Danmarks Radio, Copenhagen, Denmark

Associated Newspapers Ltd, London, U.K

Microsoft Corporation, Pennsylvania, U.S

Fox Entertainment Group, Los Angeles, United States

Disney Worldwide Services, Los Angeles, United States

Amazon.com, Washington, U.S

Steris Corporation, Ohio, United States

The Rand Corporation, Washington, United States

Bank Of America, U.K

Southern Center For Human Rights, Georgia, U.S

Ministry Of The Interior – Police, Slovenia

Trinity Mirror Group, London, U.K

Wonderful Copenhagen, Denmark

Navy Network Information Center, Armed Forces Pacific, U.S

Mccann-erickson, London, U.K

Schneider Electric, Sweden

Icon clinical research, Europe

Coca Cola Bottling Company Of New York, Georgia, U.S

Jesuits Of The Missouri Province, U.S

Prescription Pricing Authority, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

Reprieve, London, U.K

Clearview Healthcare Partners, Massachusetts, U.S

Tommy Hilfiger, US

This is more like a catch up edition of the places we have already blogged about…

28 Jun 11 Dublin, Rep of Ireland

(Taken in Windmill Lane where U2 had their first Studio)

29 Jun 11 London, UK

1 Jul 11 Dubrovnik, Croatia

More Photos to come!~

H

With the knowledge that the Ferry terminal is a relatively short, yet surprisingly expensive taxi fare away, the previous night we’d spoken to the receptionist at the Hostel about the best way of getting to the Ferry terminal.

He didn’t waste a second in saying catch a train.  He proceeded to tell us that all we had to do was walk to the train station, which was just a few minutes from which we were staying, then catch a specific train and get off at a specific station.  It was easy!

We even got on the internet and worked out exactly what he was saying was true.  Though I did mention to Helena at the time, that it seemed a bit different to what I had understood to be the case, but it didn’t matter, the receptionist had filled me with confidence.  Just to be sure however, we would get up extra early and try and catch an earlier train.

Getting to the train station a few minutes late, we missed the train we’d intended on getting, however we still had time to catch the next one.  As it arrived we got on the train with all our bags, I had a quick look at the list of stations and worked out how many stops we had before we arrived at the dock, eight.

I do recall having a very brief thought, which said… Eight, that seems like a lot, but I dismissed it.  The receptionist knew what he was talking about.

As we got off the train I saw a sign pointing to the Ferry, so we raced out of the station where I again had another thought, this looks different, but I dismissed that.

Immediately in front of us was the ferry terminal for Stena Lines, our tickets were for Irish Ferries, not Stena Lines.  No worry I thought, I’ll just ask someone, we obviously just need to walk a bit further.  I found a woman who worked for Stena Lines, when I asked where the Irish Ferries terminal was, the look of surprise on her face was enough for me to immediately realize that my worst fears were true.  All the feelings of, this can’t be right, were for a good reason.

Irish Ferries it turns out is right near our Hostel, it is not a 30 minute train trip away!  If you can imagine a harbor shaped like a C, we had started off at it’s highest point, travelled right around, so we were now at the bottom right, when we should have been at the top right.  I looked at my watch, it was 7:35 and on the tickets it mentioned you had to be boarded 30 minutes prior to sailing.  That meant we had to get there in 25 minutes.

We quickly raced to what appeared to be a main road.  I asked some one, any one, where the taxis could be caught from, he explained that we had to walk some distance down the road.  Realizing that our chances of catching the ferry were very nearly all, but gone, which would mean we’d fail to catch the two connecting trains to London, it was looking very bleak.  As I turned, I spotted a taxi coming towards me.  Fortunately the driver stopped.  In a panic we explained where we needed to go and the urgency, to the lady driver.

She was fantastic, and so was her car, a Mercedes S Class, who drives those in Australia as Taxis?  Between us, I managed to rustle up 40 Euro and worried that it wouldn’t be enough.  If that was the case, I was going to just hope she would be kind enough to take us to the ferry knowing our situation.

We arrived at 8:10, the fare close enough to 30 Euro that I just gave her the cash and told her not to worry about change.  We didn’t have time for that.  As we entered the terminal I couldn’t be sure if we considered to late or not, but fortunately there was no queue of people checking in and so we were able to go straight through.  What a relief.

After the panic of the morning the Ferry crossing was without drama, the Irish Sea I suspect rarely so calm.   Catching two trains we made our way back through Wales and into England and eventually London.
Catching two more metropolitan trains we made our way near Croydon where we would be spending the next two nights.

Having booked the accommodation the night prior, there were very few places available in London, especially in our price range.  That combined with the knowledge that we would be leaving for Croatia in three days time from Gatwick airport, it made it easier to be in the South of London.

Minutes after we arrived we dropped our bags off and headed back into London for dinner.

Having a walk around the Thames we made our way by the Tower of London and the famous Tower Bridge, the Tate Modern and The Globe Theatre, before making our way back to our room for the night.

The wobbly jelly building

R

Setting some kind of record we were able to leave Belfast without the need of a U-Turn.

We travelled south to Dublin where we would spend one night before returning to England the next morning.

Helena had been on the internet and found a few U2 places of interest that she wanted to visit.  One was Slane Castle and another was the school where the four band members met.

Unfortunately it wasn’t until we were nearly in Dublin that we remembered to visit these places.  By this time, we’d already travelled about 30km’s past the turn off for Slane Castle, not to mention having travelled through tollways.

However, with time available and the thought that we have no idea when we’d be in Ireland again, it made sense to turn around.  So pulling off the freeway and re-entering it heading north we once again entered another tollway.

Pulling off at the point on the map where it appeared there was a road to Slane, we quickly discovered we’d simply entered a business park and there was no road.  So once again we entered the freeway and once more paid another toll.  We repeated this once more, before we finally found the road we were looking for.

Entering the town of Slane, we kept our eyes out for the castle.  Funnily enough I later realized for reasons I don’t understand we both kept looking on the right, and never actually saw the enormous sign announcing Slane Castle on the left,.  So once more another U-Turn was required, until we stumbled upon it.

Arriving as a tour of the Castle had already commenced, we were rushed through and joined a group already touring the castle.

Slane Castle, looks far more like a very large stately home, rather than the stereotypical castle image you might have in your mind.

I’m aware of the Castle because U2 recorded the Unforgettable Fire album there in the mid 80’s.  Little did they know however that several years later Slane Castle would experience a fire that resulted in the Castle being closed to visitors for ten years while restoration work took place.

As a result of the work that took place, the rooms do have a crispness that while furnished to look old, suggests that the building is newer that it may appear.  It is none the less a very lovely castle.

Once every year, the town of Slane gives permission for a concert to take place in the grounds of the Castle.  Every year they have some of the biggest names in music play there, from Bruce Springstein to U2, to Red Hot Chilli Peppers.  In fact I was told that one year the town agreed to two concerts in consecutive week ends.  U2 was the headline act and that all 160,000 tickets were sold out within two minutes of going on sale.

As we were taken up stairs we were shown various rooms and paintings and the stories behind each.  I stumbled upon a photo that was in one corner of a hallway, hardly pride of place.  The woman taking the tour mentioned that the photo was taken by the guitarist of U2, The Edge and given to the owner of the Castle as a present.  I was also shown a stair way that takes you out to the roof, where Bono sat and wrote some of their songs for the Unforgettable Fire.  Apparently very few people have gone up there since, and the chair that Bono used is still sitting on the roof.

As we made our way around the castle we came across one room where we learnt that Bono always stays whenever he is at the Castle.  I had a quick peep in the bathroom and I can now say, I’ve seen the toilet that Bono used.

I cold have spent more time looking around the town of Slane, there is far more than just Slane to visit in the region, so it was with some disappointment that we set off for Dublin.

Before entering Dublin we took a turn off and went in search of the school where U2 met.  It took a few U-Turns, but after travelling around Ireland I’ve become an expert at this now.

When we finally saw the school it was incredibly disappointing.  They had a wall that separated the school from the road and the very long drive way had a rise in it, so you couldn’t see past it.  Oh well, by this time we were now in a race to drop off our luggage at our hostel and drop the car off before 16:30.

Where U2 had their first studio

This is where Bono got his name Bono .. its from a hearing aid brand name

Hotel owned by Bono and the Edge

Edge’s Guitar

Racing into Dublin with it’s crazy network of one way streets we relatively, and surprisingly quickly, came across our Hostel.  I parked in a clear way zone while Helena quickly carried the luggage into the Hostel and I emptied the car of rubbish.

Jumping back into the car we dropped the car off at the rental place with minutes to spare.

It was somewhat a relief to be on foot again.  Driving in Dublin is a nightmare!

R

Extra! Extra!

Temple Bar

Road Trip to South of Ireland

Northern Ireland (LondonDerry, Belfast)

Peace Bride (LondonDerry)

Belfast Street Life

Street Fashion

This morning Helena stayed in the room to look for accommodation in Cork for that night, while I went back into Dublin to pick up a rental car.  While there are trains you catch in Ireland, they don’t make it easy to travel from one location to the next, as you often have to go back into Dublin.

Having collected the car, I then set out on what should have been a five minute drive.  However, I very quickly discovered that Dublin is a collection of one way roads.

I started off well, I was following the same direction that I knew I had to go.  Then I came to an intersection where I needed to turn right.  Not possible, I could only go left.  So I went left, then I appeared to be going the wrong way down a wrong way street.  It’s so hard to tell in Ireland, because people park on either side of the road, so sometimes cars are facing you on both sides of the road.

Some times I’d be stopped at traffic lights and have a chance to reach for the map, but before I could make any sense of where I was, it was time to go again.  When I did find spots to stop the car, I’d have no land marks around me so I couldn’t be sure where I was at all.  At one point, I did see the road I needed to be on, however I was in the wrong lane and couldn’t get across quickly enough.  That’s ok I thought, I’ll drive in the road parallel to it.  Well that worked for a brief moment, until I was forced to turn left at an intersection and then I really was lost.

Through luck as much as anything I eventually found our hotel, but I felt like I’d run a marathon and it had taken 45 minutes.

We quickly loaded the car up and set off for Cork, which I was told was about 2.5 hours away.  It wasn’t long, well actually it was at the end of the street that we were staying in, when my issues with one way roads, and no left and right turns suddenly came back with a vengeance.  We drove for about an hour before we had any idea if we were heading in the right direction or not.  Some how we avoided all the freeway and drove only along B-Roads, which was actually a good thing.

We came across some really lovely little towns where we stopped for lunch.  Later when we got to Killarney, which was one of the most beautiful towns I’ve seen anywhere, we stopped and had a look around a castle, which sits in the heart of the town.

Then nine hours after we left, we finally entered Cork, where we once again got completely caught up in a maze of one way roads and no left and right turns.  We finally found our hostel.

Interesting drink you can get from a bar in Ireland ( second one from the top)

Kilkenny Castle

Helena: “This is where I can sell Ross if he misbehaves”

Ross kissed the Blarney Stone, Blarney.

Road Block

R

Waking up with light streaming in the window around 5:00, I discovered the approximate time of sunrise in Dublin.

Being our first day in Dublin, there was one place we had to start out visit.  The Guiness Museum.  It was surprisingly good.  As you entered this enormous old warehouse you quickly discovered it had been all renovated and the centre of the building contained a giant pint glass, that was seven stories tall.  In fact it’s apparently the largest in the world.

As you walk around the seven floors of the museum you learn all about how Guiness is made and it’s history.  You then get the chance to do a taste testing, learn how to pour the perfect Guiness, it takes 119.5 seconds apparently and at the end of the museum you get to sit at a bar with 360 views of the city on the 7^th floor.  That is where you’re given your free pint of Guiness.

(Helena poured her first perfect pint )

(360 degrees bar)

Following on from that we continued to walk around the city, going to all the well known areas of the city.

As we’re travelling for such a long time, we’re trying to be very mindful of the money we’re spending.  It was with this in mind that we went to Tesco to buy some fruit.  While doing this we not only were surprised by the price of food, we discovered that you can get two lots of sandwiches, two packets of crisps and two drinks all for five euros.  So cheap!  Incidentally how much are bananas in Australia?  Still $12 a kilo?  In Tesco’s we saw them for 68 euro cents a kilo.

So after a long day of walking we went back to our room and watched TV while eating our dinner of sandwiches and cheese and onion crisps.

R

Once again we packed up our bags and caught the train into London.  We had booked two trains that were to take us from Euston station in London, to Chester, then from Chester to Holyhead in Wales.

At Holyhead we had a wait of an hour before catching the ferry to Dublin.

While at Euston station we met up with Helena’s cousin Adelina.  Adelina lives in London, so was able to pop in to meet us while waiting for our train.

Once the train arrived, it was a very funky Virgin Railways train.  It was so comfortable, that the two hour trip to Chester seemed to be all over in no time at all.  Though having said that the scenery throughout the entire trip was stunning.  It didn’t take long to be out of London and for it to be all green fields and cottages.

When we changed trains at Chester on our way to Holyhead, the scenery just became even more beautiful, with water on one side for large parts, and craggy mountains and round hills on the other.  This would be a great country to ride a bike through.

In boarding the ferry at Holyhead, there was an announcement explaining that there were strong winds in the Irish sea and that it would be a rough crossing.  Helena immediately took some seasick tablets and found a seat inside the ferry to sit at.  I on the other hand stood outside on the stern of the ship.

As we left the harbor and went out into the Irish the wind was so incredibly strong, it became nearly impossible to walk.  With it came the swell, which was causing the ship to roll in all directions.  I ended up spending nearly all of the two hour crossing at the back of the ship, despite the cold.  It wasn’t because I was having a great time, it was that I was to scared to try and walk the ten meters to the door to get inside.  I could sit people attempting the walk, but flying off in all directions as the ship bucked and swayed.

Eventually during a brief lull in the waves, I ran inside only to discover the ship had become a triage centre.  There was a group of what I believe Mexican School Kids, all of which looked like they were having a great time at the start of the crossing, but now were lying around with damp clothes on their heads or in the case of those that had fainted, their feet held up.

I eventually found Helena, who had gone such an extreme shade of green that her head could have passed as being the world’s largest granny smith.

Arriving in Dublin port we caught a taxi to our Guest House, then wasted little time in going for a walk to explore and find some dinner.

Being Dublin it made perfect sense to visit a pub, so it was with this in mind that we found ourselves having two huge, though cheap meals in a near empty pub in Dublin.

The only four other people in the pub, was the bar tender, the chef and two guys who it seemed quickly became our best friends.  While one of the two we had no idea what he was saying, the other started to give us all sorts of travel tips, places to stay, things to do.  It was very kind of them.

(Irish Stew .. yum)

(our new best friend)

It was about 10:30 by the time we made it to bed, however it still wasn’t fully dark outside. This was something I’d noticed in London, where the daylight hours seemed to last forever.  Well in Dublin, this was even more extreme.

R

Spectacular New Photo’s Of Nibiru (Planet X) Near The Sun Taken Today March 6, 2011

A professional photographer in Christchurch, New Zealand, captured these photographs of Planet X today. Sandi Nicole, a member http://poleshift.ning.com submitted these to the ning at the above blog link.

Full Article and Photo’s at UFODigest.com * More photo’s at PoleShiftNing.com

Update March 08, 2011

One more picture, taken March 07, 2011 in Ireland , Dublin at 2:26 PM (GMT)

Photo taken with HTC Dream (Google Phone, Android)

Photo submitted by sonic.boom

]]> http://ttbtsdisclose.wordpress.com/2011/03/07/spectacular-new-photos-planet-x-near-the-sun-taken-today-march-6-2011/ Mon, 07 Mar 2011 08:45:07 +0000 thetruthbehindthescenesdisclosure http://ttbtsdisclose.wordpress.com/2011/03/07/spectacular-new-photos-planet-x-near-the-sun-taken-today-march-6-2011/

Spectacular New Photo’s Of Nibiru (Planet X) Near The Sun Taken Today March 6, 2011

A professional photographer in Christchurch, New Zealand, captured these photographs of Planet X today. Sandi Nicole, a member http://poleshift.ning.com submitted these to the ning at the above blog link.

Full Article and Photo’s at UFODigest.com * More photo’s at PoleShiftNing.com

Update March 08, 2011

One more picture, taken March 07, 2011 in Ireland , Dublin at 2:26 PM (GMT)

Photo taken with HTC Dream (Google Phone, Android)

Photo submitted by sonic.boom

]]> http://flahertystravels.wordpress.com/2009/08/30/london-to-dublin-ireland-helene-at-st-helen%e2%80%99s-hotel/ Sun, 30 Aug 2009 08:16:47 +0000 Dannie Flaherty http://flahertystravels.wordpress.com/2009/08/30/london-to-dublin-ireland-helene-at-st-helen%e2%80%99s-hotel/

St. Helen Hotel, Dublin, Ireland

Wednesday, August 5th… We woke up around 5:00am so that we could take showers, pack up and straighten up the apartment. Our driver showed up on time at 6:30am to take us to the airport. As we were standing in line, waiting to check in, I noticed that a pair of tweezers was sitting on the handrail. I looked at Helene and pointed to them – we both couldn’t believe it. She lost her tweezers on the way to London and we’ve been stopping in grocery stores trying to find a pair to buy – and there were some perfectly good tweezers sitting on a random hand rail? Helene picked them up and told me that she took it as a sign from God that all things are truly possible!! As Dan picked up the luggage to check in for the flight, the zipper on the bottom of Tori’s suitcase broke. Dan saw a roll of packing tape on the desk and quickly wrapped Tori’s suitcase to check it in. This, officially, is the first thing to go wrong on our trip (I pray that it’s the only mishap although I know that truly would be a miracle!). We boarded our Air Lingus flight to Dublin which took off on time and was very pleasant. We fell asleep and awoke in Dublin, Ireland! We gathered our luggage and walked to the car rental parking lot. Dan started loading the luggage into a small SUV. I looked at it and quickly surmised that it was too small to accommodate everything. I spotted a Range Rover and asked Dan if we could change cars. Needless to say, luck (or the Lord above as I choose to think of it) smiled upon us because the desk clerk told Dan that the gentleman who had reserved it had just contacted him to let them know he missed his flight and wouldn’t be renting the Range Rover afterall. (it happened to be the ONLY larger vehicle available to rent to us that day! And, after seeing how difficult it was for Dan to pack all of our luggage in this larger vehicle, I can’t imagine what a dilemma we would have been in had this vehicle not been available. Thank you dear Lord, once again!) Dan had purchased a Tom Tom GPS for the trip and hadn’t had time to familiarize himself with how to use it. Helene said that she owned a Tom Tom and knew exactly how to use it so she quickly programmed it and we were on the road to our hotel in Dublin. We drove up to the Radisson St. Helen (Helene commented that it had to be wonderful because it was named after her!) It was a 5 star hotel that used to be a mansion-home owned by Lord Victor, built in the 1700’s. It had gorgeous rose gardens in front of the hotel and the landscaped gardens in the back yard were breathtaking! We freshened up and met on the back patio for a gourmet lunch. And, as planned, Helene’s friend’s mother-in-law, Irene Furlong, met us for lunch right at 12:30. As luck would have it, she had just finished writing a book for her Doctorate thesis called “Irish Tourism” . She offered to spend the day with us to show us around Dublin. She planned ahead and purchased tickets for us to ride on an American made land/water vehicle called a “DUKW” (“D” was the 4th yr of our involvement WWII” “U” for utility vehicle, “K” for the front axle, and “W” for the back 2 axles” 70,000 were made entirely by women in Pontiac, Michigan) . The driver gave everyone Viking caps and explained that we were reverting back to the Viking era (who originally inhabited Ireland). Right before we boarded our DUKW, someone called out to Helene – it was a friend of hers from her poker club at St Thomas church in Dallas (Cathy Ranspot) who happened to be in Dublin visiting her family. And, to Helene’s surprise, Cathy recognized Helene and her beautiful red hair from a distance. Helene turned to us and said, “Can you believe that I’m in Dublin and I bumped into someone I know from Dallas??” Her friend told us how fortunate we were because she had been there for a week and this was the first sunny, non-rainy day (the only day we would be in Dublin – thank you Lord, once again!). On a side note…having Helene with us has been such a joy!! Everywhere she goes, something fun, comical and, at the very least, interesting occurs. Her sunny disposition and adorable imitations constantly keep us entertained! I especially love her Irish brogue when she says “they’re always after me Lucky Charms!” and “Lord love ya child!” After the fun/informative DUKW tour, we talked around the city with Irene which included stopping in a book store to buy a copy of the book she wrote (and, of course, we asked her to sign it for us). Then we walked thru the Trinity University built in the 16th century where Irene said that the movie “Educating Rita” was filmed. She suggested we eat dinner at the Trecadero restaurant which is where all the famous people who visit Dublin come to eat. There were signed pictures of hundreds of famous stage and movie stars all over the restaurant. Helene and I told Irene that it reminded us of a famous restaurant in LA called the Brown Derby (and we both laughed when remembered the hilarious “I Love Lucy” episode where Lucy kept bothering William Holden.) We sat under Hugh Grant’s picture and to the right of Johnny Dep. Helene left at 8:00 to meet Irene’s son, Conner, for a drink at a local pub. We finished dinner and headed back to the beautiful St. Helen’s hotel – driving by the light of a full silvery moon.