Henley Royal Regatta , Facebook and the Winklevoss Twins

The Henley Regatta is held in the village of Henley England on the 1st weekend in July.

We stumbled on it, totally unplanned  in July 2010.

The photo below looks very much like a clip from the wonderful new movie about Facebook - Social Network,  in that movie, the Winklevoss twins, Harvard students at the time, compete at Henley. These are the guys who sued Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook founder and I discovered later that both Cameron Winklevoss and Armie Hammer who played him in the movie were there at Henley this year

Its a lovely town with great restaurants along the main drag

A walk along the river is very calming and beautiful

You can seek out the beautiful English summer flora

Galway, Ireland, Travelling by Rail from Dublin

If you stay in Dublin you could plan a few days trip to Galway on the West Coast of Ireland. The rail journey is painless and though not exciting from a scenic point of view people watching can be fun - journey about 2 hours 30 mins.

I spent a scorching June weekend there summer 2010 with D.

 Eyre Square, Galway's city center was busting , a backdrop of music, drinking, suntanning and chat.

Strolling around will present you with stunning vistas

The beautiful and colourful quai is where you might encounter a Galway Hooker, otherwise known as  pucans in irish, its a traditional wooden sailing boat! 

The open top bus takes you past the beach area

And the Corrib River

Later wander the back streets, this is what you will see.

he Irish Times - Friday, November 5, 2010 Ireland fifth best place to live

Here are a few reasons why that might be.........

You can walk along the east coast, south of Dublin starting at Bray and you might arrive in Greystones an hour later where you will be sure of getting a scrumptious lunch

These are some of the sights so it may take longer if you linger!

However if you are a townie why not try St Stephens Green, the park in the centre of  Dublin , probably one of the most beautiful in the world!

Choose your colour

Bye Bye Singapore , Hello Ireland

This is the begining of a lovely time in Ireland, a day in Howth with M.

Howth is a delightful fishing village reached very easily by Dublin transport - the DART (Dublin Area Rapid transport)

You can spend a wonderful day mooching around the streets watching the boats which have off loaded their catch.

The cafes, shops and restarants are full of delicious treats

 New friends call for your attention- they are extremely curious and the bay has a large seal population

The views are stunning

Then its time to return home to beautiful Dalkey

Lisbon, Portugal

In Autumn 2007 I made a brief visit to Lisbon to attend a conference. Unfortunately that meant only a limited time to explore. I did manage to wander the cobbled streets and hills of this great place.

This was only my second time in Portugal so I felt somewhat deprived that I could not see more of this lovely country

I decided to book another trip for June 2009 and arranged to meet D in Porto, we would take ariver  trip along the Duero, then I would go by train alone to the Algarve, stopping along the way at various interesting points but this did not happen. Following a minor accident and medical set back I had to cancel

Now I am looking forward to Autumn 2010 in the Algarve, perhaps the setback was not so bad after all.

Brisbane, The Glass House Mountains and MT Tamborine

In August last year ( 2009) when G & M invited me on a return visit to stay with them in their home in Brisbane there was no good reason to decline. They had, as they always do allocated me  'the green' room' , which they say they now renamed 'trish's' room - Ty G & M its the only thing I have named after me. This is the lovely 'Trish view'  each morning



I would be happy to sit all day and watch the yachts glide by and listen to the silence, the odd 'shushing' of water and bird song while admiring the neighbourhood

G and M had other ideas, there were other treats in store and they took me to see the Glasshouse mountains

There are lots of lovely towns near the mountains and many great opportunities for lunch

In Mt Tamborine the next day I reacquainted myself with the birds last time I had taken stacks of photos of their antics

And the views

Then we all went home and had a delicious bbq

This was the setting while we sipped our local wine

Girona, Spain

Girona airport is where so many low cost airlines converge. I therefore had no idea what a lovely town it is but last year on my way to Collieure, in France  I landed at Girona airport  and thought I would give it a try. I stayed for 2 nights and was delighted, this is what I saw.

Inside the walled town you will find lovely old streets like this......

and churches

There are many opportunities for al fresco eating and the tasty tapas are a treat.

Everything is within easy reach by foot with a central railway station allowing an easy journey to France or the rest of Spain.