Back from London and to Normal?

We had lots of fun in London. Here's Big Ben, a still slightly puffy me in front of a bit of the old Roman Wall which is within the walls of the Tower of London. The history at the Tower of London is so interesting, a bit morbid given all the folks who spent their last nights there before losing their heads. That's us and my folks outside the Tower of London. Then, the Tower Bridge as seen from our sunset cruise on the Thames. That was one of the best parts of the trip (Blayne's favorite part)...the commentary was hilarious. You have to love the self-deprecating dry Brit sense of humor. And, finally that's Wesminster Abbey. A church, but more notably a crypt for the Kings & nobles of England. In spite of not feeling that well, and it being bitter cold weather, we managed to have a good time in London. After getting back to Ireland we popped over to Dublin for 2 days. Blayne met with Eamon DeBarra, the subject of his ethnography. That's his big project on a player who he'd like to emulate. He had a great time at Eamon's while we did some shopping on Grafton Street and saw the sights-the book of Kells & Christchurch Cathedral. My parents are on their way home right now and we are getting ready to go to a Thanksgiving dinner with our friend Patrick. We're also celebrating tomorrow evening with some other friends and (if I can find frozen hashbrowns-I've tried 2 stores already) I'm making hashbrown casserole for that. mmmmmmmm. Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Watch some American Football for me since I can't get any here. Lots of Love!

"Out of the Woods" and off to London

Well, after I was released from the hospital today (after four of the most surreal days of my life) I napped while my parents filled the prescription for my epipen...which hopefully will never have to be used for the rest of my life. (On return to Ireland I have strict instructions to see an allergist and make sure we know what the heck caused that.) We walked, albeit very slowly, to the Wall of the Reformation here in town, walked to the lake front and watched the sun set & the swans fight over the bread people were feeding them. So, our final taste of Geneva was at least pleasant. Sitting here in the hotel tonight getting ready to fly out to London in the morning, it feels like the past days were just a dream. It's good to be feeling human again. So, hopefully NO more of these sorts of adventures. London should be lots of fun and Blayne will be joining us on Thursday evening there which is great because i miss my sweetie. Sorry if that's too mushy or corny for you, but it's true and I've been sick so you have to humor me, or not, whatev. Lots of love to you all! Thanks for your prayers.

My Fabulous Overnight Stay in Geneva Hospital

Yep, that's right, I just got back to the hotel after a 22 hour stay. Let me e'splain, no, it's too long, let me sum up...
Yesterday morning I woke up itching all over and discovered all along my waist and shoulders & neck & scalp bumps that looked like they might have been bites. Momma & Daddy are saying bedbugs since they just saw this show about a resurgence of them in the states. I'm used to odd physical problems, so i get ready for the day and we head off to Chamonix, a town about 40 miles from here at the foot of Mont Blanc. We took a cable car from Chamonix at 3,400 to an observatory at 12,000 feet looking out over 15,780 foot Mt. Blanc. C'est incroyable! I wanted to follow some of the folks that rode up the tram with their crampons and ice axes or the ones with the para-gliders, jumping off there and going all the way down to Chamonix. So, it was a beautiful morning.

But, as the day progressed I became more uncomfortable and we found a pharmacist who sold us generic zyrtec over the counter. he said i should go see someone about it. The bus ride back was miserable for me and on our return to town we walked right to the hospital where they put me on an iv. at this point all the little bumps had become large masses of welts. They were itching and burning like CRAZY! (this is where I'll start the sum up part). After a drip of anti-histimines the reaction was still spreading so they said they needed to observe me over night and gave me a prednazone. Still not better (though at least able to sleep a little) at 1am so get more anti-histimines in IV, finally get about 4 hours of sleep. Wake up and feel better then over next two hours much worse with trouble breathing. Get new injections in IV finally start feeling better after another pill of something to help with itching this afternoon. Still itching now but not stuck in hospital ward where everyone (nice as they were) is speaking french and no magazines in english. I bet I have some pretty funny misinterpretations about Hollywood Gossip right now :0) What started it? Theories are that its a med I took right after I got here and then took another course of because the symptoms had come back. I was taking the final pill the day I woke up with the reaction. I haven't eaten anything unrecognizable, but really, who knows what caused it. Hopefully, I'll just get all better from here and we can continue enjoying our trip. Leave it to me-the phisiological wreck-to get hospitalized on vacation. Hopefully word will soon be about what a wonderful time we're having with this long behind us. For now, lots of love to you all and pray for me that I'll wake up with no more reaction. Nite Nite.

I love Paris in the Fall

Ok, I know it's stupid to blog about Paris with no pictures, but I felt the need to let you know that we just got to Geneva from Paris today and we are fine and had an amazing time. Apparently the news there was showing footage of the riots and was made to sound like it was IN Paris. We heard nothing about the riots while there. It was very far out of the heart of Paris. So, we are safe. And now, with all that said, about our time in Paris. What a city. Our top floor room had two balcony windows. My bed looked right out of one. If I sat on the end of the bed I looked out along our Latin Quarter Street at wrought iron balconies covered in flowers. If I sat at the head of the bed I saw the towers, spire & flying buttresses of Notre Dame a few blocks over across the Seine. It was stunning. I've never felt so at peace in a city. It has a beauty, mystery & energy I've never experienced before with history and stunning beauty crammed into every nook and cranny. I wished we'd stayed longer. We're in Geneva now and are off to Mont Blanc tomorrow. This hotel has wireless. Yipee! So, if we're not too crazy busy the next few days I might get a chance to write more. For now, good night dear friends. Or, good afternoon where you are. Love, Deb.

Halloween Scottish style?

I'm sorry there's no pictures, but I promise I will put them up as soon as Becky sends them to me. It's been a good and full week. We went to Sligo this past weekend for a music festival. We heard less music than we'd hoped. The pubs were so packed that there wasn't even any standing room near the musicians. But we were with Irish people all weekend, which was a hoot. The pubs close around 1:30 am on the weekends, and we thought we were heading home, but no! There are local clubs which somehow get a "late" license. But you will never know about these if you're not a local. You walk up to a door and hit the bell, they look through a camera & if they recognize you, you get buzzed in. So, here we are with 4 locals walking into a surreal world of local gossip, lots of late night drinking and chatting and we were there til 4am. The Irish love to laugh and love to stay up late with friends. On Sunday we drove around the area. Sligo is between the sea & a beautiful lake surrounded by mountains. It's not a shabby view.

On Monday I went with three friends out to the Burren & the Cliffs of Moher then we stopped off a the sea town of Lahinch for a cup of tea. Then for Halloween night we got together with a few friends, carved pumpkins and then Ailey, our Scottish friend led us in three games. We bobbed for apples, pretty normal, that was right after we ate syrup covered donuts hanging from a string and then (without wiping our faces) stuck our faces into flour to fish out 5 peices of candy. It was highly entertaining.

I know this is brief, but my parents are coming tomorrow (YEAH!) so I knew it might be a bit before I will blog again. We'll tour around Ireland a bit over the next couple of days, have a low-key weekend here in Limerick and then head off on our European adventure on Monday. First Paris then on to Geneva, then to Rome and finally to London. I'm looking forward to the time with my parents & the chance to explore such incredible places. Well, for once I have to make an early start. My parents get in at 7:30 am. Ouch! So, I'm calling it a night. Lots of love to you all!