Our morning activity on Tuesday was a visit to the GAA Museum and football stadium in Dublin. We learned all about the history of gaelic football and hurley. We watched a video, toured around the museum and got a chance to try out our skills. Sundays in September are the time for excitment at this impressive stadium that seats 82,000 fans.

Our 3 hour ferry ride was a little bumpy and a few of us found ourselves quesy, but we made it to Wales and we were happy to be back in the bus as we rode along the shore. Our only stop was at a working train station that has the longest name--

off to breakfast i will finish this later--the full on day was amazing!!!

Sunday and Monday in Ireland

Sorry I cannot make the captions go with the pictures--but here is a sample of our wonderful day at the farm. We started with learning more Irish dancing, baking soda bread, milking a cow and seeing a pig with her piglets, learned how to play hurling, play an Irish drum, enjoyed watching some talented Irish dancing and the best part of the day was jumping in the bog and getting all "mucky!" Everyone loved it and the rain only made it wetter and better. Today was the first day of rain in 6 weeks at the farm-just our luck!

On Sunday, we left southwestern Ireland and rode to Dublin. We had a bus tour and learned about St. Patrick's church , Trinity college, Phoenix park where Pope John Paul ll visited in 1979 and everyone was very interested in the Guinness factory which started in 1759.

After our bus tour we were able to get off the bus and shop for about an hour in downtown Dublin.

We heard laughs coming out of the pubs when Germany scored over England in the "football match." No supporters of England football in Ireland.

Our Home stay has been absolutely wonderful and we are sorry to leave our home stay families.

Tomorrow we will be off on the ferry to Wales.

Saturday in Ireland

Happy Birthday to Jonathan and Shannon!

Very busy and windy day! Some sun and rain--

We started the day at the community center in
Carahsiveen and we listened to Sarah, Jemma and Emma play and sing Irish songs. then they taught us ceili dancing.then we took a walk around town and learned all the history of the area. We saw a stone fort built in the year 500 or 600. Then we learned gaelic football with some local football players and finished the day learning all about bogs and we had a chance to cut some bog for the senior citizens of Carahseiveen.

Off to Dublin and our home stay tomorrow.

Thursday and Friday

On Thursday we spent a long day on the bus and then we visited the Bunratty castle. Sorry I did not have any pictures--my camera was dead!

Ask your children to make sure you see the pictures of the 15th century castle located at the bottom of the river Shannon with a folk park
with historical houses and shops.






Moving on to Friday--FABULOUS, FABULOUS DAY at the Gap of Dunlow in Killarney.
We boarded row boats in groups of 10 and we headed out into one of the most beautiful parts of Ireland. We saw an old monastery that was actually built 500 years before Christopher Columbus discovered America. We had to get out of the boat at one of the areas where we passed from one section of the lakes to another because of low water--no rain for the last 5 weeks! The boat ride felt like we were entering the Lord of the Rings--a very magical area. `

After the boat ride we walked up the road for a picnic lunch and then we enjoyed an hour and a half jaunty ride for 7 miles into the
mountains. We learned that only 30 families live in the area and 14 students attend the one school in the area. The area around the water is protected by the National trust-but the rest of the acreage is privately owned

Back to our hotel for dinner and then trivia games. We don't have to change hotels tonight-so we are thankful to stay for 2 nights in Killarney.

Wednesday, 6/23/10

We started Wednesday at Victoria College in Belfast. This is actually a school which is pre -K through year 14--a college prep all girls school.

We met the head mistress and several girls who took us around for a tour and told us all about schooling in Ireland. Some of the girls were taking their A exams (college entrance) so we had to be extra quiet in some areas. The high school years are very different-so please ask your son/daughter to explain this to you! Erica A and John L spoke about how our education system works in the USA and Francoise sang the National Anthem for the Irish students.

This afternoon we rode up to the coast of nor then Ireland and saw two amazing places--

(on the way our bus was slowed down to wait for the sheep to get out of the way)

Giants Causeway--which has been named the 4th most amazing wonder in the UK.

Carrick-a-rede bridge was really fun--it is a small bridge with a drop of 23 meters. It started raining just when we got there, so it was an authentic Irish summer day. On the other side of the bridge was a view of a beautiful cave and gorgeous shoreline. We got back on the bus soaking wet and headed back to our hotel. We will be up early for a 6 hour ride to Killarney.

Tuesday, 6/22/2010

On our tour we saw Queens university in downtown Belfast. Pictures below represent our first day in Belfast. There was a big difference in the different areas of the city. Most of the troubles were in East Belfast and there have been many people involved in moving the peace process forward.
Off to the northern coast tomorrow!

The murals represent 3o years of troubles and violence in Belfast. The peace treaty was finally signed in 1998 and it has taken over 10 years to encourage tourists back to Belfast. Corporations have pledged 7 billion dollars to restoration in Belfast and tourism is rising.

Sorry this picture is facing the wrong way-I cannot figure out how turn it around.

Anyway, here we are in front of the Irish Parliment in Belfast. We had a guided bus tour around the city of Belfast.

Happy 15th birthday to Nick as we start our day in Northern Ireland.

Monday

Monday-- 2 hour ride to Edinburgh. After lunch (picture shows grape juice in glasses as we toast (no worries!) we split into groups and participated in a murder/mystery as we explored and shopped on the Royal Mile. Lots of Scottish plaid scarves and blankets, socks and kilts were available to purchase. We all met at the drawbridge to the castle and then explored the castle for a couple of hours. The castle was like a mini-city with buildings as old as St. Margaret's castle from the 1oth century. We learned all about Scotland's casualties during the Great War in the early 1900s. Back on the bus and off to dinner at our new hotel--off to bed early and up at 5am for the ferry ride to Ireland.

Sunday in Scotland

Hello and happy Father's day to all the Fathers of our students! Our 2 hour plus ride took us into the Scottish highlands and past the highest peak in Great Britain- Ben Nevis. We started at a place that was formed thousands of years ago when two volcanic plates collided thousands of years ago and is now preserved and used for many things including the setting of Hagrid's hut in the Harry Potter movies. On to hunt the Loch ness monster in Loch ness- a strip of water that is 800 ft deep in places. We never saw Nessie, but we did see and learn about the remains of William the conqueror's castle that was used until the 1600's. The last stop was a working sheep farm where we saw a demonstration on sheep sheering and border collies doing their job and how they are trained on a beautiful farm in the Scottish highlands. Back to the hotel for more Scottish fare and dancing. On to Ediburgh tomorrow.

Saturday in Scotland

Hi again,
Today was a fabulous day with white water rafting in the morning and touring a country castle this afternoon. We started out with our bags down in the lobby at our hotel at 7:15 am, then breakfast and off to the Tay River for our rafting. We put on cold wet suits and hopped on the raft for a 2 hour good time. Quick change into warm clothes and on to Blair castle-750 years old! We took a tractor ride around the grounds and then we had a scavenger hunt as we learned more about the history of the castle.
Then we were off to the Duke of Gordon hotel and we had a delicious dinner.
Right now the delegates are dancing in the ballroom to Scottish and ballroom music--
can you believe it? They are having a ball!!!!