Hi all my Favorite Friends and Fellow Travelers
Over the recent Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays Agent Greene and family made a few trips to Europe visiting both Ireland and the UK. November in Ireland was wonderfully rainy but nice weather with a jacket and green everywhere. We did a tour from Dublin to Shannon visiting such notable places at the Guinness Brewery, the Book of Kells at Trinity College and lots of Pubs at the Temple in Dublin. A must if you visit Dublin is to make sure you prebook hotels, we did not and found it fun looking for a place to bed down the first night, although we found our hosts helpful and stayed in a lovely B&B just outside Dublin. If one visits Dublin be sure to drive up to New Grange. The archeological site is older than the Pyramids in Egypt and quite an education.

We also stopped in several places on the road to Westport and Cong. IF you make it to Roscommon visit the castle which was built in the 1200s. It is in ruins and you have to look for it, but you can walk around it and it is quite interesting.

We made it to Westport and enjoyed another wonderful B&B and enjoyed the town and especially the pubs, drinking great pints of Guinness of course. Then we drove around Connemara which was spectacular beautiful and a wonderful drive. We made it to Cong and the Ashford Castle...Which was like driving to a fairy castle. This hotel is one of the finest in Ireland and we felt quite like royalty by the way we were treated as guests. If you like to fish , there is great salmon fishing and a wonderful lake to fish in as well as golf, falconry and you can visit the town of Cong and see where the movie Quiet Man was filmed, many of the sites are still there. After a fairy like visit we also made it to Galway City which is a must if you fly into Shannon and of course one must visit the Cliffs of Mohr as well as the beautiful ride along the rugged coastline. When flying into or out of Shannon ! make sure to visit Bunratty Castle and of course have a pint of Guinness at Durty Nellies Pub after shopping at Blarney woolen shops.

Over the Christmas holidays my family and I made another quick trip to London shopping and enjoying the holiday atmosphere of London. Of course a trip to London is not complete without tea and shopping at Harrods which was wonderful as always....Regent Street and Oxford Street was fun to walk along and duck into shops to buy outrageous gifts for family and friends. We managed to see a Play "The Woman in Black" a long running London play. Of course we did the "London EYE" which is a huge wheel 450 high that offers a great view of London from Buckingham Palace to Big Ben. We took a ride to Greenwich down the Thames to see the Median line as well as visiting the famous Tower of London. Did we miss anything - no much - we managed a day trip to Stonehenge and Bath which was educational as well as fun and came home sore but happy. By the way, using the tube system in London is fast and convenient but one walks a lot so always take comfortable shoes with you. Also note that Christmas day, everything is closed including the tubes so that transportation is difficult at best...just a note for savvy travelers.

Great Travels to All.