We are pretty exhausted after a 16 day trip, but with the beauty of Ireland, we could easily stay longer.  What a lovely bunch of people we have met here.  We already left a part of our hearts in Paris;  now we will leave part of our hearts in Ireland.  We began the day with  a visit ti St. Patricks Cathedral which is the largest in Ireland.  It is a gorgeous stone structure over 800 years old with any stained glass windows.

We walked in the Cathedral park and stopped by this marker of a well where St Patrick baptized many of the locals.

When we returned to the car, this car covered with grass was sitting behind us.  Don’t know any more than that.

We then visited Trinity College which houses so many bookshelves of manuscripts & books.  We were able to view the Book of Keel which is manuscripts over 1000 years old which scribes copied of the 4 Gospels onto vellum.

On our way back to the hotel,  we accidentally stopped at a park across from the zoo, and were able to feed several of the hundreds of deer.  That was a wonderful experience.

It was difficult to leave the beautiful resort today, but the day was spent traveling the beautiful countryside to  the Cliffs of Moher.  Once there we were in awe at the beauty of these beautiful cliffs.  We enjoyed watching a whale play near the third cliff & didn’t really mind the rain.

We are now back in Dublin with tomorrow being our last day of site seeing.

Today we drove from Dublin to cork, and enjoyed the most beautiful countryside.  There is so much greenery  and the ocean views are breathtaking.

We we stopped along the way to view the Waterford crystal.  Steven was thrilled to hold the National championship trophy for next year.  We all hope it again goes to FSU.

Due to us all oversleeping, we  did not do the Stonehedge tous, but opted to visit the London zoo instead.  A new addition to the zoo was this aardvark which had arrive this morning and was being introduced to  the facility.  He is trying to climb the wall in this pic.

Tonight we ate at York &Albany,  one of the Gordon Ramsey restaurants.  I enjoyed roasted lamb while Michael enjoyed sea trout.

We are back at the hotel packing for our flight to Dublin tomorrow.  So excited.

We had a lucious breakfast, complete with  mocha latte.  There was some ridiculous issues with Euro Star but finally made it to London.  After one of the best hamburgers we’ve ever had, we went out to Buckingham Palace.  Alas, I didn’t ‘ get to meet Kate & little George, but we did get to chat with a very nice Bobbi.

We have several activities planned for tomorrow and the we head to Ireland on Friday. Hurrah

Today is our last full day in Paris and it has been so delightful that we aren’t sure we are  ready to leave this beautiful city.  We have lots of fun and exciting things ahead, but Paris has been wonderful.

Today is Michaels 75th birthday, and we will celebrate by having dinner and a show at the Moulon Rouge.  We can’t wait.  Michael was pleasantly surprised this morning with birthday cards  from his two oldest children and enjoyed them very much.  Way to go Carrie & Brian.

In the meantime we are busy packing  for tomorrows flight to Amsterdam. (scary)   But we do look forward to finding a Starbucks at the airport, (that is if we find the airport).  Just two more little stops before we get to Ireland.  I am so excited about that.

Our youngest son, who brought us on this trip, has called twice now, since they left yesterday, as well as called home to have our middle son check up on us.   What does this say about how things turn around when we get older.  We raise & take care of our children when the are small, and when we are seniors, they worry and take care of us.  But we are having such fun, we’ll go ahead and let them continue to think we are feeble.

Back to packing, laundry, and sitting on the balcony watching people, cruise boats on the Sein, and the tower from the balcony.

The guys have left to go visit some other countries, so Michael & I are alone in this  5 bedroom apartment with a bit of a quieter schedule.  We slept in, and then went out searching for a Starbucks.  When we finally got there it was closed due to a holiday festivals.  awe found a beatiful pastry shop and picked  up some goodies for tomorrow morning.  aacoffee is out of the question as they only serve expresso except for Starbucks.  We founf this  cute little crepe shop and this  was the perfect place for breakfast.  French crepes and plump, juicy, raspberries.   Yummy.

The weather is pleasant but a little overcast, so here’s hoping the sun comes out so we can continue the day with a Sein river cruise.

We made it on a river cruise and it was wonderful.  The French architecture is so beautiful  and the decorative bridges we passed under had various uniqueness and beauty.

So many Paris locals come down to the Sein to sit along it and picnic, or visit.  Some areas we passed had various  entertainments such as dancing, roller blading, magic acts.

All in all it’s been a very good day.  But then,  everyday in Paris is a good day.