Tag Archives: Ireland

High School, International Trip

Day 9 & 10: Dublin: Trinity College and Farewell

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Day 9: Thursday, June 27, 2024

Day 9 our last fun day in Ireland. After breakfast at the hotel we gathered in the lobby at 9:00 am and started day with a walk to Trinity College. We met our Trinity guide at the Bell Tower in the Front Square for a Book of Kells Experience & Trinity Trails Campus Tour. The tour was broken down to three parts of the tour; the campus tour, Trinity Library, and the new Red Pavilion with the Digital Experience of the Book of Kells.

The first part of the our of the campus was lead by what the kids called a real life Sheldon from Big Bang, he was a Theoretical Physicist student. His tour also included a bit about campus life, studies and admissions.

Second part of the tour was self guided in the Old Trinity Library. Most of the books, including the Book of Kells, have been removed for a major conservation project. The library now features Gaia, the spectacular illuminated artwork. Gaia features 120dpi detailed NASA imagery of the Earth’s surface, showcasing the planet floating in three dimensions as it might be viewed from space.

Third part of the tour in the Red Pavilion was a self guided tour and a tour we were not really expecting. The Digital Experience brought artifacts and sculptures to life with stories motion technology. We were amazed with the technology and captivated by the stories. The Long Room from Old Library was recreated to see both the past and the future through breathtaking digital projections.

Brief look at the Digital Experience of the Book of Kells

Our tour of Trinity College ended at 11 am and we begun our walk into the Temple Bar area. Temple Bar is an area on the south bank of the River Liffey in central Dublin. The area is bounded by the Liffey to the north, Dame Street to the south, Westmoreland Street to the east and Fishamble Street to the west. The Temple Bar has a long history today its a cultural center, pubs, restaurants, night clubs, shops, art galleries, etc. We would spend the next couple of hours on own exploring the are and getting lunch.

At 2 pm we met in the Merrion Square for visit to the National Gallery of Ireland. The National Gallery of Ireland founded in 1854 houses the national collection of Irish and European art. The gallery has an extensive, representative collection of Irish paintings and is also notable for its Italian Baroque and Dutch masters painting.

At 3:30 pm we made our way Grafton Street for some high street shopping. The street is filled with best of Irish and international fashion to gifts to craft ware. Each winding street off of Grafton is filled with boutique shops, unique stores, restaurants and pubs. Not only is it a major tourist attraction it the main shopping area for Dublin.

From Grafton Street we wandered over to George Street Arcade. The Arcade is one of Irelands oldest shopping center built in the 1876. Its house in a Victorian style building with a eclectic stores, galleries, and eateries. A very unique shopping experience.

The group made its way back to hotel and freshen up for dinner. We met in the lobby of the hotel at 5:45 to walk to dinner at the Celtic Nights Dinner and Show. For our final night in Ireland we were treated a traditional dinner of Bangers & Mash, Irish Stew, or Fish and Chips. The highlight of this dinner was entertainment. The musicians played a traditional Irish tunes that may of our Fiddlers knew. We also learned that two of the musicians were heading to Muskegon in September for the Michigan Irish Music Fest.

Along with the music they also had world championship Irish dancers. They performed traditional ‘Sean Nos” old style Irish Dance and the famous Brush Dance. They also pulled a few audience members up tot the stage for quick lessons and to dance with the dancers. The lucky dancers pulled up stage was Mrs. DeRose and Parker DeRose (who is also a competitive Irish Dancer). It was a very entertaining night and a great farewell dinner.

We departed the restaurant at 8:30 for our walk back to the hotel. Interesting to see stores starting close up and the nightlife in Dublin begin. With the time change back in the US the video Portal setup with New York on the street was interesting to see. We learned the Portal shuts down at night because after a long night in the pubs shenanigans take place in front of the Portal on both sides.

The rest of the night back in the hotel was used to pack and get organize before we depart for the airport in the morning.

Day 10: Thursday, June 28, 2024

Day 10 was our travel day home. We started out with our last full Irish breakfast, the Taylor Swift buzz was in full effect from discussions in the lobby, breakfast area, on TV, etc. Tonight was her concert night. Our big concern was the AerLingus Strike, all of the pilots on AerLingus basically shutting down the airline. We had been monitoring the strike since we got to Ireland and we assured we would get home today. Two days ago AerLingus was going to keep a few routes open NY-Dublin and ORD-Dublin would not be affected.

We need to be done with breakfast on the coach by 8:30 am to arrive at the airport by 9:00 am and our flight was at 12:05 pm. We needed to be early for a few reasons staffing and the strike was a unknown, we needed to go through security, US Immigration & US Customs before leaving. Going through the Homeland security is a bit of a pain but made it supper easy when we landed and didn’t have to wait in a huge line at O’hare. We did have a huge line through security, they made the students pull all everything including instruments on their instrument cases to be hand checked. Joe was there and I think he gave each everyone us a hug goodbye. Super nice guy and very proud to show off Ireland, we were lucky to have him.

High School, International Trip

Exploring Ireland: Day 8, Dublin

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Day 8: Wednesday, June 26, 2024

Day 8 will be our first full day in Dublin. We met in the lobby at 8 am for a full Irish breakfast plus more of an American or standard international breakfast like you would find in a Holiday Inn Express in the US. After breakfast we assembled at 9 am to make a short walk down the street to our coach to transport us to Phoenix Park and the Papal Cross. 

Phoenix Park is a 2000 acre park that was established in 1662 as a royal hunting park to this day it still contains pheasants and wild deer. In 1979, 15 acres on the edge of the park were used for a outdoor mass celebrated there by Pope John Paul II. The Papal Cross was constructed as a back drop to the mass for the first papal visit to Ireland. 

Our coach dropped us off in the park close to the Wellington Testimonial, Phoenix Park Tea Room, and the entrance of Dublin Zoo. We walked to the Wellington Testimonial the tallest obelisk in Europe at just over sixty-two meters tall. Wellington Testimonial was built in 1862 to honor the Duke of Wellington. There are four bronze plaques cast from cannons captured at Waterloo; three of which have pictorial representations while the fourth has an inscription at the base of the obelisk. 

We walked from Welling Testimonial to the Papal Cross from the Papal Cross to the Dublin Zoo.     Our stay at the zoo was enough time to get some lunch and see the animals. We had some change in plans because of a errors made in scheduling our local bus charter. Instead of heading to Patrick Pearse Museum the bus picked us 1:45pm to take us back to the hotel. From the hotel the group walked to the National Museum of Ireland for a quick visit and a small tour of the Temple Bar. 

National Museum of Ireland was constructed in 1856 and the building itself is jewel of Ireland. Our tour guide’s, Joe, daughter works at the museum. Joe was able to show the group show some highlights of the museum, the “Bog People” being one of the memorable. The museum has a strong emphasis on national and some international archaeology, Irish history, Irish art, culture, and natural history.

The group walked back to hotel through Temple Bar to meet up back in the lobby at 4:30 pm. The hotel lobby and the city were starting to go Taylor Swift crazy. Taylor was scheduled to perform in Dublin in two days and the city was filling up with concert goers from all over the world. 

We bored the bus with instruments to be dropped off just outside of St. Stephens Green and walk to dinner Wagamama. Wagamama is a restaurant with a taste of Asia, our choices for dinner were a ramen set with chicken or Kare burosu, a noodle set with chicken & prawn or yasai soba edamame, rice set with chicken teriyaki donburi or yasai cha han three chicken gyoza, or a curry set with chicken cats or yasai gyoza. 

After dinner the we walked over to Christ Church Cathedral for our final performance. The Cathedral was built of stone in the late 12th century under the Norman potentate Strongbow, and considerably enlarged in the early 13th century, using Somerset stones and craftsmen. A partial collapse in the 16th century left it in poor shape and the building was extensively renovated and rebuilt in the late 19th century, giving it the form it has today. 

The performance was well attended because the performance was well advertised and many of the local news outlets, like the Irish Star.

Another venue with amazing acoustics, history, and a beautiful church. 

Facebook Live link to the performance

After the performance the bus took us back to the hotel for the night. Everyone was ready to call it a night for much needed rest after a full day of walking and another full day tomorrow. 

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Exploring Ireland: Day 7, Blarney Castle & Rock of Cashel

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Day 7: Tuesday, June 25, 2024

Day 7 is a travel day to our final destination city, Dublin, with two stops on the northeast route first being the Blarney Castle and then the Rock of Cashel with a performance. We grabbed an early full Irish breakfast in the Clayton Hotel Silver Springs so we could depart about 8:30 am on the bus from Cork. 

The 30 minute bus ride to Blarney Castle and Gardens got us to the castle as it was opening and beat the possible crowds. The current Blarney castle was built in 1446 on the site of previous destroyed castle. Blarney Castle is now a partial ruin with some accessible rooms and battlements. At the top of the castle lies the Stone of Eloquence, better known as the Blarney Stone. Tourists visiting the castle may hang upside-down over a sheer drop to kiss the stone, which is said to give the gift of eloquence. We are able to walk the grounds, kiss the Blarney Stone, visit one of the many gardens like the “Poison Garden” or the rock formations Druid’s Circle, Witch’s Cave and the Wishing Steps. We were on our own to wonder the grounds and get lunch before our 12:30 pm departure. 

We set off for about a 90 minute drive to the Rock of Cashel. The Rock of Cashel, iconic in its historic significance, possesses the most impressive cluster of medieval buildings in Ireland. According to legend St. Patrick himself came here to convert King Aenghus to Christianity. Brian Boru was crowned High King at Cashel in 978 and made it his capital.

Link to the performance:

https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=2323229671361188

One of the main reason for our visit to the Rock of Cashel was to perform The Fiddlers original tune The Rock of Cashel. The acoustics within the ruins of the cathedral was amazing. People throughout the castle and grounds came in for the impromptu mini concert. The group was able to perform approximately 20 minutes to a group of 50+ people. 

Including the performance, the time we spent was about a hour at the Rock of Cashel. It was long enough time to explore, take pictures, and a bathroom break before our two hour trek to Dublin. As our journey progressed we slowly watched the landscape change from farmland to suburbia to the busy city of Dublin. 

We made it in to Dublin and ready to check into Holiday Inn Express City Centre around 5 pm. It was at this time we Flan would no longer be our Charter Bus driver. We said goodbye to Flan as we would now be chartered around by a local bus company. 

With the hotel in the heart of the Dublin City centre the lobby was not as spacious as we had gotten accustomed to but a very nice hotel. Because of its size it took us a bit longer to get up the stairs to the elevators and to our rooms. We had enough time to check in, freshen up before we met in the lobby for dinner. We met at 6:30 for a short walk to Beshoff on O’Connell Street for either a Fish and Chips or Chicken Strips and Chips dinner. The was great but we all agreed the chips were some of the best we had on the trip. 

After dinner we walked back to the hotel for the night where we all made it back in time to catch Euro Cup Soccer game of the night. A early night to bed for a full day of walking and enjoying the sights in Dublin the next day.

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Exploring Ireland: Day 6, Cobh / Cork

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Day 6: Monday June 24, 2024

Day 6 started off a early with another full Irish breakfast in the Clayton Hotel Silver Springs so we could have a 8:20 am bus departure for Cobh. We had roughly a 30 minute foggy drive from Cork to the southeast coast where Cobh is located. The fog was thick as we were basically following the River Lee to the East bay where Cobh is located. 

Cobh’s name changed from Queenstown in the 1920’s during Irelands war of independence from England. It was a major port for the Royal Navy, it was the launching site for 2.5 million of the 6 million Irish people who emigrated to North America between 1848 and 1950, and it is also the final port call to Titanic before she set sail across the Atlantic. 

We arrived at Cobh out of the fog from the north end of town and it was St. Colman’s Cathedral that was the first striking landmark with a view down this very steep hill to the bay. The bus made a westerly turn parallel to the bay as began to descend to the bay where we were able to get a great view down the street with “Deck of Cards” houses. The streets had a few tight turns as the bus made it to the bay. Even with the fog we arrived at the city center at the bay a bit early for our 9:15 am tour of the Titanic Experience. The bus dropped us off at The Promenade of John F. Kennedy Park where we would wait for our tour and meet up before our departure. 

Our group was a too large go on one tour of the Titanic Experience so we broke into two groups. The tour was in the building where passengers departed for the Titanic. Unlike the movie passengers did not walk aboard the Titanic from port, but bored boats that shuttled them to Titanic, it was too large to dock. We were all given White Star Line passenger tickets with actual passengers names on them and at the end of the tour we would find out if they survived and what happened to them. Inside the building they had rooms that replicated the cabins of the different class size cabins that were offered to passengers. Combination of the stories of passengers, the cabins, historical artifacts, etc. on this guided tour made it a very entertaining and enlightening experience. 

After the Titanic Experience we gathered outside the building where we began our guided walking tour of the city with Joe. The tour started out at the RMS Lusitania Memorial which was in the city center and across from the Titanic Experience. From the memorial we walked up the steep hill on West View Blvd. to West View Park along the road is also the “Deck of Cards” Houses and finished the tour at the top of hill with St. Colman’s Cathedral. We were are on our own from the Cathedral to explore the city and get lunch before we departed back to Cork. Many of us found our way to SuperMacs for lunch. 

After lunch we departed back to Cork. The 45 minute drive was needed rest after climbing the streets of Cobh and full bellies. The bus dropped us off in the city center of Cork at the Merchants Quay Shopping Centre along the River Lee. We had the next 90 minutes to explore and shop Cork. 

We met up as a group again at 4pm to make the walk for dinner at Luigi Malones Cork with stops along the way. Our first stop was to the English Market. The English Market is a cover market that has been selling and trading locally grown and prepared organic food since 1788. A very unique shopping experience. Our second stop was at the Crawford Art Gallery. The art gallery had made interactive displays that everyone was able to do while we waited for our reservation time slot at the restaurant. At Luigi Malones we had the choice of Chicken Tequila Fettuccine, Lasagne, Cashew & Tofu Stir Fry, Chicken Caesar Salad, BBQ Baby Back Ribs, Hamburger or Pizza. The food was again was amazing and we all debated who selected the best dessert from the three options of Fresh Strawberry Pavlova, Caramelized Apple Crumble, or Toblerone Cheesecake.

After dinner we walked across the street to Emmett Place Opera House where our walking Ghost Tour of Cork begun. We were lead on a tour of horrible histories, ghost stories and hysterical shenanigans. To say this tour was lively would be a understatement. We had one tour guide that told us the stories and a young actor who played several characters or ghosts. The actor would hide, pop up along the tour, and then run off with a costume change before the next hiding. The ghost tour was a highlight not for the day but for the trip. We ended the tour and headed back to the hotel about 8:15 pm. 

High School, International Trip

Exploring Ireland: Day 5, Bunratty Castle

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Day 5: Sunday June 23, 2024

Day 5 was primarily a travel day from Galway to Cork but we had fun in route with a pretty awesome performance. Once again after our full amazing Irish breakfast at the Gallant Hotel we loaded the bus for a 10:30am departure. This time when we left we wouldn’t be returning to Galway as we were heading south to Bunratty Castle and Folk Park in County Clare. The further south we went the warmer it got and turned into a very sunny day in the high 70’s. 

We reached Bunratty Castle before noon and had time to wander the grounds, explore the castle including a guided tour, and a quick rehearsal before a 12:45 outdoor performance in the Folk Park area. The castle is on the site of three castles that have been built on the site and considered the best restored Midevil castle in Ireland with origins going back to a Viking trade site of the year 970.  The current castle was built in 1425 and has a long history of family ownerships and uses. The Castle ownership was only recently (2023) transferred to the County Clare. 

The orchestra performed a full set outdoors on this beautiful sunny day just outside of the Macs Pub in the Folk Park. The orchestra performed in front of a large crowd enjoying the performance from the Pub, the shade or while shopping. The orchestra and parents were fielding lots of questions from the crowd after the performance. 

Past Facebook Live links to parts of the performance at the Folk park of Bunratty Castle: Link 1 and Link 2

With everyone’s appetite growing large we made a very short walk to Durty Nelly’s for lunch just outside of the castle. Durty Nelly’s has been part of Castle Landscape for nearly 400 hundred years. We had one our best meals of the trip at Durty Nelly’s with choices of Roast Rib of Beef, Supreme Chicken or Baked Salmon.

After lunch we boarded the bus again around 3pm to complete our travel day to Cork. While we were at the castle the temperatures continued to rise and the bus had a chance to heat up while we were not traveling making it very difficult for the bus AC to really cool us down. We arrived at the Clayton Hotel Silver Springs a little after 5pm tired and hot. 

Once we were all checked into the hotel some ventured out to look for dinner and snacks outside the hotel, some stayed at the hotel for dinner, some just played board games in the hotel. For the most part I think most were still full from lunch and still tired from Dún Aonghasa adventure. Early to bed for all for a our next day in Cobh

Fiddlers, High School, International Trip

Exploring Ireland: Day 4, The Aran Islands

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Day 4: Saturday June 22, 2024

Saturday, day four of our adventure was truly a day of adventure from bike rides, cliffs, long walks, seals, great food, a boat ride and finished the day with a great performance. This day usually comes up in conversation with our travelers pretty quickly when “How was Ireland?” was asked. 

We started the day out at 7 AM with our full Irish breakfast at the Galmont Hotel for a departure of the Aran Islands. We head east out of Galway following the northern side of the coast of Galway Bay to our next mode of transportation. We were ahead of schedule before we made our way completely out the Galway area so we stop at the beach. We witness a very common year long ritual by many locals, a morning swim. 

We arrived on time at the Aran Island Ferry port at 10:30 AM where we would travel for 45 minutes by ferry to Inis Mor, the largest of the three Aran Islands. Inis Mor is 9 miles long and 3 miles wide, all the islands are mostly made up of grey limestone with little grass but many wild flowers and many rock fences. Our island bus driver told us that it is estimated the island has 2000 KM of rock fences, I thought it might be humor at first but he might not be exaggerating. The bleak landscape in its own way is very beautiful. The island has also been the back drop of many movies including most recent the dark movie with Colin Farrell “The Banshees of Inisherin”(2022) and the Amy Adams movie “Leap Year” (2010). Surprising small island has several small villages that thrive mainly on tourism. The island has very few cars, one grocery store that is open most days, several pubs, and one post office & bank that is open one day a week. 

We started our journey walking from the docks in the village of Kileany to our group lunch at the Bayview Restaurant at 11:30 AM. First thought from most people in our group that this was a bit early for lunch but not knowing what we were really in for, the early food fueling was going to be needed. The fish and chips and the pizza was the highlight for many at lunch, with the pizza be especially tasty. 

After lunch we were to make our way to Dún Aonghasa, a prehistoric stone fort on the cliffs of the island. We had two options to make our way to Dún Aonghasa, a short bike ride or a 5 minute bus ride followed by a short walk up to the fort. When a European tells you its a short walk or bike ride you quickly learn that Americans and Europeans have completely different definitions of the word “short”. 

For those of us that rode the “short 5 minute” bus ride (actually more like 15 minutes with a great local tour) we learned about the walls, the movies, the villages, the ancient church & cemetery, the bike ride is actually a 6 mile ride in each direction and that more importantly the walk up to the fort is a 30 minute hike up a 330 foot cliff and a 30-40 minute strenuous walk down on a gravel path. As we found with age and conditioning of our group some had no problem with this and others earned a certificate of completion. The group that took the bus were later named “The Smart Ones”. For those on bikes it was bit of a learning curve to ride on the opposite side of the road and on very narrow roads with some small island bus traffic. 

The views to Dún Aonghasa were very iconic stone wall landscapes with sheep & cows, ruins, and rocky shores. The bus riders of the group did make a stop at the Tempull Breccain, commonly called the Seven Churches of Aran, is a complex of churches and other buildings dedicated to the 5th-century Saint Brecan. On the grounds of the Seven Churches of Aran was a very rocky active grave yard with grave markers from hundreds of years old to only a few months ago. 

At the base of Dún Aonghasa was a couple of huge parking lots for bikes, gift shops, and coffee shops where all could rest at your next step in the journey or some left their bikes to venture back on a bus. It was at this site behind the coffee shops where “Leap Year” was filmed. 

Dún Aonghasa is one of the oldest and best preserved mid-evil fortress in Europe. The original construction date is unknown but is estimated that its construction sometime between the Bronze and Iron Age. The views are amazing and dangerous as some of the fortress has fallen into the sea. The original construction was built with loose rock as many of the border fences on the island. Today the original construction and the preservation construction can be identified as the stairs and reinforced walls have been updated with the use with mortar. 

We all slowly made our way back to the docks for a 4pm departure on the Aran Island Ferry. Along the way some stop see the beach, a seal on the rocks, or do some souvenir shopping back at the main village. Many took quick naps on the boat ride back or on the bus ride back into Galway. Our bus ride back into Galway was a bit longer than expected as we ran into traffic of a huge Hurling sporting event that had just ended changing our destination from our hotel to Saint Nicholas Collegiate Church for our next performance. 

We arrived around the 6:30 PM at Saint Nicholas Collegiate Church which left little time to find dinner nearby, change into performance clothes, and rehearse for a 8 PM concert. Saint Nicholas Collegiate Church is a parish of the Church of Ireland in the city center of Galway built in 1320. Mona Shores Orchestra received some local press in the newspaper and on local TV about the upcoming performance, so 8 PM the orchestra performed to a sizable crowd for their first Ireland performance. The beauty and the acoustics of the church made the performance amazing experience. 

Link to a small rehearsal of the performance on Facebook.

After the performance we walked back to the hotel at our own pace with sight seeing, snacks, or dinner for some. SuperMacs became a favorite for some on the group for meals on the journey home. We were all in the hotel early for packing and a good night sleep as we would be traveling to our next destination of Cork.

High School, International Trip, Photos, Uncategorized

Exploring Ireland: Day 3

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Day 3: Friday June 21, 2024

We started our day roughly at 8 am at Galmont Hotel’s Marina Restaurant where we enjoyed our first Irish breakfast. Breakfast typically included many cold meats, cheeses pastries, eggs, Irish breads, potatoes, mushrooms, thick bacon, waffles, toast, juices, coffee, hot chocolate, etc. Something for everyone and very tasty, I think most would agree this hotel had the best breakfast on the trip. 

As soon as we were done with breakfast we boarded the bus to start our adventure to the Cliffs of Moher. We head south/south west out of Galway following the coast and proceed to the Cliffs of Moher going through a very scenic region call the Burren. The Burren is a very interesting place as the limestone was scraped smooth by the glaciers providing very porous but almost waterless limestone landscape. It is ideal landscape for wild flowers and plant life but rarely a tree is seen. The landscape makes it very difficult for human life. In the mid-17th century General Ludlow reported to Oliver Cromwell that The Burren possessed “not any tree to hang a man, nor enough water to drown him, nor enough earth to bury him”. 

We stopped for a quick 15 minute break to walk around The Burren and to take a few quick photos. Where we stopped we could see the Cliffs of Moher rising up in the distance from the coast line. Our break at The Burren short was to beat the crowds and the rain that was expected at the Cliffs. A experienced rock climber or hiker may have wanted to stay longer. 

Our bus moved up the narrow roads to higher elevation winding through some smaller villages as we arrived the Cliffs of Moher. Upon arriving at the Cliffs we were the second tour bus of the day to arrive beating the crowds and the rain. Once the bus was parked we had the choice to walk or take a trolley (8 Person Golf Cart) to the top. It was recommend to go to the cliffs first to beat the rain, by the time we all started to head back down the drizzle was becoming a very steady rain. With the rain the gift shop and the informative movie theatre was packed. 

The Cliffs of Moher is a very different landscape of the The Burren. Its a towering layer of shale, silt, and sandstone towering 682 feet over the Galway Bay with amazing views of the Aran Islands. There is a 30 mile trail along the edge of the cliffs that is unguarded. The tower on the Cliffs of Moher was built in 1835 and on a clear day the mountains in Kerry can be seen. From here there is noting but ocean to coast of America. The views were amazing and the group has repeatedly reported this was one of their favorite parts of the trip. 

We left the Cliffs about 11:30 AM to travel the town of Lisdoonvarna and play the “The Road to Lisdoonvarna” in the center of town. Unfortunately the rain was now a very steady down pour so we stopped for a quick sing along on the bus at the city center. On our bus tour of we learned why people would be so happy to be on  “The Road to Lisdoonvarna”. The town is the host of the largest Match Making Festival in Europe with 100,000 people flooding the town after the fall harvest for the fest. Host of the fest is the town and Irelands last official matchmaker Willie Daly. 

After our “Sing Along” we made our way to the town of Kinvara for lunch. The rain at lunch made it a bit soggy to enjoy lunch at the outdoor Farmers Market. We had several pubs to choose from and a grocery store for us to find lunch and dry off a bit. The Great Famine of the 1840’s through the 1960’s the population of Kinvara dwindled down to 100 people but since the 1960’s the population as grown to about 1,000 people. Our bus driver, Flan, pointed out the  Pub that the legendary song writer John Prime use to visit when he lived in town. 

We made our way back to Galway to the Claregalway Educate Together N.S. school to have a after school exchange with the Lackagh Comhaltas, a power house of traditional Irish music. Its a youth group that dominates the Fleadh Cheoil music scene with winning many All-Ireland Awards. Both groups played a few tunes for each other and shared our music with them. They sounded amazing and also had two harp players. During their performance they also had dancers perform traditional Irish jigs. After the performance exchange they taught us how to dance. Big smiles and fun for all!!

Lackagh Comhaltas performing for Mona Shores.
Learning some basic Irish dance moves and learning a Ceili “Kay-lee” dance.

The exchange lead to big appetites so we made our way to downtown Galway where we had a 5:30 dinner at Monore’s. I should point out that our time in Ireland was also the beginning of the 2024 Euro Cup, so Football (Soccer) was on every screen at dinner with many roars of cheers. Many of us would watch the games back in the hotel to wind down the day. At Monore’s we had a choice of Irish Beef Burger, Bacon & Cabbage with Mash & Parsley Sauce, Beer Batter Fish & Chips, or Hearty Beef & Guinness Stew with Creamy Mash Potatoes. It was a very tasty dinner. 

Our evening was not over after dinner, we enjoyed a quick stretch of the legs at 7 PM to Carrol’s Bar. Carrol’s Bar is famous for live session music, very cozy, festive place. The music was slow to get started which some stayed to enjoy and other went into the heart of Galway’s Latin Quarter that is filled with live music and street performers. Walking through the Latin Quarter was fun walk back to our hotel for much needed rest on this very busy day. Our day 

High School, International Trip, Photos

Exploring Ireland: Mona Shores Orchestra Travel Journal, Day 1 & 2.

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In the merry month of June from our Mona Shores we started.
Saluted Father dear, kissed me darling mother.
Then off to Ireland, leave where I was born.
Cut a water bottle to banish ghosts and goblins
A brand new pair of brogues, rattlin’ o’er the bogs
Frightenin’ all the dogs on the rocky road to Dublin
One, two, three, four, five!
Hunt the Hare and turn her down the rocky road
And all the way to Dublin, Whack fol lol le rah!

Dear Fellow Ireland Trip Travelers, 

Our summer break is almost over since our travels to the Emerald Isle but it feels like a only a week since we have been back. In our time back I spent a more than a few days catching up on some sleep, uploading pictures, editing pictures, visiting friends & families, editing pictures, taking kids to camps, recovering from Cadbury chocolate addiction, editing pictures, and enjoying summer.

Thank you to all the parents who help keep an eye on my not so little ones as I fell behind the group, who helped Mrs. DeRose, for helping me along, and just being a awesome group to travel with. I really enjoyed getting to know you all. 

Thank you students for being a great group of kids and making this a memorable trip. Your dedication to rehearsals gave us some truly amazing and memorable performances in such iconic historical locations. I really hope you all had as a great of a time as I did, watching you all perform. I look forward to see what you all do next!

I would also like to thank Eric from Guardian Travel for planning the trip, Joe our amazing Ireland tour guide for showing us his beautiful country, and our amazing bus driver Flan who sang to us, pointed stuff us out to us and kept us safe on some really narrow crazy roads.

Very special thank you to our good friend Mrs. Melissa Meyers from Grand Haven. Mrs. Meyers helped throughout out the year at rehearsals, chaperoning, playing, help tuning the cellos, and making the trip just a bit easier for my wife. Hopefully see you on the next trip in four years.

Since our trip I received many more photos from all of you, even some from a professional photographer from our time in the Rock of Cashel. I have many photos and videos that have not been shared with the group or on any of our web page/social media pages. In the next few days I will share these photos with our highlights of our trip. 

Finally, I want to thank the person who made this happened. Without her this trip would not have happened. So thank you to my friend, my wife, and your teacher Mrs. Kelly De Rose.

Sincerely,

Bob DeRose

MSOPA Web and Social Media Support

Day 1: Wednesday June 20, 2024

Day 1 was long traveling day. We set out from Mona Shores High School after lunch on a charter bus to Chicago’s O’Hare Airport on Aer Lingus airline to Dublin Ireland. We left Chicago at 9:30 PM CST and arrived 10:40 AM Irish time June 21, 2024.

Day 2: We met Eric (Guardian Travel) and Joe (Tour Guide) at Dublin airport. We gather the group for a nice sunny outdoor stretch of our legs to our charter bus where we met our driver Flan. Our first day in Ireland and we going to make our way to Galway, where we will stay for a few days. Galway. Galway in on the east side of Ireland and Dublin is on the west so we have a few hours in the bus till our final destination. Trying to stay awake on the bus to adjusted to the new time change is a challenge, so a few stops were planned. 

First stop was to get quick lunch and bathroom break. We stopped at what we might call a truck stop but this stop had many quick options from burgers to kebobs to curry to pastries to candy. I think for many of us, this stop began our addition to trying the many assortments of Cadbury chocolates. 

Halfway between Galway and Dublin we made a stop at Clonmacnoise. 

Because Clonmacnoise is located on the Shannon River halfway be Galway and Dublin it was a very import location and was the most important Irish monastery in the Golden Age. It was built around 580 AD, was attacked several times when the Normans arrived in 1150, and in 1552 the English soldiers stole everything that could be carried and smashed what they couldn’t. Today its one of Ireland’s best preserved monastic sites where many riverboat cruise tours dock on the Shannon River for some amazing views. 

We continued to make our way from Clonmacnoise to Galway where we checked in at the Galmont Hotel and Spa about 6 PM. We had enough time to drop off our bags in our rooms before we headed out for a walk in downtown Galway for dinner at the Hungry Eyes restaurant. After dinner, light shopping for snacks or needed items was included on the walk back to the hotel for a much needed sleep for day 3, our first full day in Ireland.