[Lingo] らっしゃる

[steve smith <sjs@example.com>]

Hi All

This started out as a search for a way to ask a friend on the net "Are 
you still in Europe?" in Japanese, which led to
    I'm sorry to hear that you are still in the hospital.
   《レ》まだ入院してらっしゃるとのこと。大変ですね。
which somehow led to
    ここへはよくいらっしゃるんです？
    Do you come here very often?
First, how would I ask my friend "are you still in Europe?" and second, 
what is going on here?
WWWJDict has an entry for らっしゃる and one for いらっしゃる.  It 
describes 「らっしゃる」 as "v5aru" which is described as "Godan verb - 
-aru special class".
Is 「いらっしゃる」 a conjugation of いる・ある?

In the first example 「まだ入院してらっしゃるとのこと。」 what are 「と 
の」and are 「してらっしゃる」？
As usual, I'm confused.  Can someone help enlighten me?

Thanks
Steve S.