Trip across North America and back
We started the day getting haircuts and doing various errands, including taking Lila to her vet appointment. Once everything was safely in the car, we got ready to leave. We told Linda that we would be gone before 5:30 and she would come at that time. Susan misunderstood that we should leave at 5:30 to get to the bus Continue Reading
We went to the airport and after going through several layers of security (since the Dublin airport includes US Customs and Immigration) we jetted back to the US. We then took the good old C&J bus to Portsmouth and then drove back to Lyman to pick up Lila. She had a grand time at the Continue Reading
We had breakfast in the morning and were driven back into Dublin. We went to the National Gallery and saw an interesting exhibit of Dutch Masters, concentrating on Vermeer and his contemporaries. After that we went to the National Museum of Archaeology, where they had an interesting exhibit of “Bog People” who were sacrificed or Continue Reading
On Friday, we had a morning rehearsal at DCU. Susan rode in with us and took a taxi to the Dublin Zoo, where they have a baby white rhino, among other interesting fauna. After the rehearsal, the bus took us out into the country to Glendalough, which was a ruin of an ancient monastery. The Continue Reading
We left after breakfast and were taken to the St. Patrick’s campus of Dublin City University for practice. This was the first time the 235 voices were together in one place. Susan went with the non-singers to O’Connell Street and went to the National Museum among other places. We singers had three hour rehearsal and Continue Reading
We got up and had breakfast and then drove to the Dublin Airport, where we met our Music Celebrations International guide, Anne, and the other chorale members who had just flown over. After loading into the bus, we went on a tour of Dublin. The first stop was at the Remembrance Garden, which remembers those Continue Reading
On Monday, we walked around Clifden and mostly just relaxed. Tuesday morning, we packed up and cleaned and then proceeded toward Dublin. As we approached Galway, we stopped at Aughnaure castle and walked around. After that we stopped for lunch at Glenlo Abbey hotel. We then drove the rest of the way to Dubli and Continue Reading
On Saturday morning we walked down to the end of Beach Rd, observing the temperate rain forest aspects of western Ireland. It is very much like New Zealand, here. Not only with all of the ferns, but the fact that there are more sheep than people. After the beach walk, we walked up to Clifden Continue Reading
In the morning we walked up to Clifden to the farmer’s market and then to the Station House Museum, where they have displays relating to the Connemara pony. They are 13-14 hand ponies, similar to our Rind Aske, the Norwegian fjord many years ago, we had to head back to the house at this point Continue Reading
We had a relaxing morning. There is a piano in the house, so I could actually practice for the concert next week. We headed up to Connemara, had lunch in the tea house, and then went on a long hike. We returned home, walked to Clifden for dinner and Irish music at EJ King’s. Connemara Continue Reading