Well, we have all arrived home safely....and no missing luggage! As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end, and our travels and this blog are now over. I need to say a huge thanks to Dr. Suzan Hebson for being my ghost writer. She even used the pronoun "I" to make it seem as if I really did write the entries. I wish I could take credit for the brilliant descriptions of our adventure, but that would be dishonest. I appreciate the detail she included each day and I plan to print the entire blog and keep it as my travel journal! I also would like to thank Kenny Kim for the amazing photographs he provided for the blog. It was a treat having a world class photographer chronicling our journey. I will send the travelers a link with ALL of the photos that Kenny took during the week. In the meantime, you can see his other work at www.kennykim.com. Another huge thank you goes to our 5 amazing chaperones, Mrs. Johnson, Dr. Hebson and Mrs. Kim for keeping our students safe and supported throughout the entire trip. Our travel agency, Chicago Modern Tours, did a tremendous job providing a fun, educational and rewarding experience for ALL the travelers. We ate well, stayed at wonderful hotels, got a thorough introduction to the country and met the most wonderful people along the way, especially our drivers Mike and Kevin. Thanks to Mr. Christopher Cho and Ms Meena Cho for a first class tour! Finally, my deepest thanks goes to my colleague, Mr. Velleuer. He did everything from stand guard while we shopped, to conduct at the concerts, to late night hall patrols to dance partner. I am blessed to work with such a fine person and am eternally grateful that he agreed to be with us during his spring break.
I hope your students get some rest and take the time to fill you in on their favorite moments from the trip!
Sincerely yours, Alicia Akers (for real this time!)
Friday, April 1, 2011
Thursday, March 31, 2011
3/31/10—Blog — 12:05 PM Ireland Time (6:05 AM your time)
Hello Everyone Interested in the DHS travels to Ireland:
Do you believe no rain again? As with the last few days, it looked like it would rain this morning, but the storm blew through overnight. Some students woke up at 5:00 AM Ireland time and heard howling winds and driving rain. This morning when we boarded the bus, no rain, just the best part of passing storms as my son Patrick exclaimed, “Look everyone, a rainbow.” Moments later, a DHS student said, “Look everyone, refracted light!” We chuckled at our students turning this moment into a scientific phenomenon.
We drove to Rathbaun Farm in Galway. It was a little place but the “mom” and “pop” who ran it were so nice. They were obviously local experts who took pride in their farm and work. We saw horses, cattle, many different kinds of sheep, several young lambs, some just 5 days old. The students bottle fed a couple of the lambs and they watched a border collie herd up the sheep. The “pop” explained the business side of the farm, noting that they sold the animals for meat. Sheep sheering and raising them for wool was not cost effective, he said, with most people ultimately losing money. After viewing the farm and learning about their work, we had the most delicious scones and tea. Francis, the “mom” of the clan noted that Samantha Brown from the Travel Network had toured their farm a year ago. And another famous tourist and writer, Peter Greenberg, (also does features on the Today Show) did a story about their farm. She shared that the website: www.RathbaunFarm.com would provide information to you and RECIPES for the scones we had. It is definitely worth checking out. Feel free to make scones for our class anytime. J Many on the trip said they would never buy a Starbucks’ scone again having had these. She also allowed us to tour an old home that would be typical for an Irish family—it had a thatched roof and a traditional fireplace utilizing peat as the energy to burn.
Much of the day was spent driving from Galway to Dublin where we would perform in St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Before the performance, we all ate at a famous restaurant on Grafton St. called Bewley’s. You might know them for their tea which is sold in stores worldwide. With a few minutes to spare before bus deadline, some jammed in a little more shopping while others made it to the Book of Kells at Trinity College because they missed it the first time. It was weird feeling like we were in a familiar place since we had only spent a day there a short time ago. St. Patrick’s Cathedral was huge and hugely famous. It has a tremendous history, not only for the design, architecture and building process, but also from a religious perspective. Students performed admirably to an audience that kept growing in size and appreciation for their talent. For some, it was an emotional experience both being in the Cathedral and wrapping up their overseas performances. After the performance, a woman provided brief background information about the Cathedral and kids walked around a bit reading the walls, messages in the stained glass windows, etc. Afterward we drove a short way through Dublin, again seeing familiar sights this time, and arrived at our hotel which is unique. It is a castle hotel called Clontarf. It was refurbished with 10 million euro in 2006 and it shows as they are an award winning hotel in terms of creative design.
In the evening for dinner, we went to the Abbey Tavern for a traditional Irish Night of entertainment. Kids looked forward to hearing the song with this refrain: NO, NAY, NEVER, NO NAY NEVER NO MORE…they’ve been hearing it on the bus this week. The entertainers did not disappoint. Our group heard that song and many more. There was lots of toe tappin’, lots of hand clappin’ and of course, sing along. PLUS, now that we are such the Irish dancers, students enjoyed that too—a few even danced on stage! The show talent asked our students to sing a few songs; so we sang Fiddler of Dooney, Dancing Queen and U2. A surprise note requested that Ron and I sing a song. Our fans were relentless chanting for us to sing, so we finally did a duet and sang Amazing Grace. A bit later, Ron became our Fiddler of Dublin and played a tune on the violin. Another highlight was the birthday celebration. We had four birthdays during our trip: Xinyu, Maia, Grant, and our travel guide Mr. Cho. We acknowledged them with a song and a “line jig” around the room. Oh what a night...
I want to thank the parent chaperones who came on the tour and were terrific: Barby, Kerry, Lisa, Margie, and Suzie…your efforts are so appreciated by our students and staff. THANK YOU THANK YOU.
Thanks to our students too. You continue to represent yourselves, DHS, and your country well. I am proud to be with you. It is nice to hear from so many Irish natives how impressed they are with your talent. They also always mention how impressed they are with your respectfulness and they applaud your joy for music.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
3/30/10—Blog — 11:40 PM Ireland Time (5:40 AM your time)
Hello Everyone Interested in the DHS travels to Ireland:
Today, once again, the skies pretended that it might rain, but we lucked out in the morning and throughout the day. The weather was nice. This evening it started to drizzle just before we got on the bus to go to the church, but essentially stopped even before we had to get off the bus. The buses could not drive up very close to the building because the streets were too narrow; so the kids walked (about 10 minutes) to the church. The Protestant church was called the Collegiate Church of St. Nicholas. It is, according to their pamphlet, the largest medieval parish church in Ireland still in constant use. Built in 1320, they chose the name of St. Nicholas because he is the patron saint of sailors and Galway is a seaport town. It actually is not a college as we know the term, but rather a seminary where priests are trained. The students sang for a relatively small audience, but those who attended gave them a standing ovation. The acoustics in the church were simply incredible. The woman who booked our choir for the parish spoke to the students afterward and explained that the acoustics are equal to that of Westminster Abbey. She also shared a great deal of history about the church. Because our students are much more trained in terms of listening to historic lectures, ask them about the following: 1) how these “people” are connected: angry Normans, Ferdinand, Isabella and Shrek, 2) the history of the word lynching, and 3) why the holy water is covered in their church.
Another church the students sang in today was beautiful as well, not as old or as large, but impressive still. In fact, it had marble in it that we had seen manufactured earlier in the day. At the Kylemore Abbey Church, students sang for a larger audience than the evening group. They too enjoyed the performance which sounded terrific. Right outside that church was a graveyard for nuns who had lived in the Abbey. One tombstone showed that a nun lived to be 102. This gothic church was on the grounds of a huge residential mansion built from 1867-1871. The estate is surrounded by mountains, has its own private lake, and the grounds are well manicured. Fit for a queen, I’d say. Since, I have been officially crowned on this trip, I am moving in. This home was actually built for Mitchell Henry’s bride because they had honeymooned in this area. Her husband purchased this 15,000 acre estate as a romantic gift for his wife, who unfortunately died 3 years after the mansion was complete. Much later in 1920, the land and mansion were sold to a community of Nuns of the Order of St. Benedict. We had time to take a quick peak at the interior of this mansion which was ornate and of the highest quality. They displayed an architectural drawing of the entire mansion. Viewing that, I still can’t figure out why the nuns needed a billiard room. Anyway, I’ll remember the freshly baked scones, homemade jam, the relaxing lake, and our students’ voices.
We started the day by learning about Irish marble dug from local quarries, which first opened in about 1800. Ambrose Jr. invited the group into the workshop where we also met his father. We entered in two shifts and stood in the small back room of the shop; the front half was a store where people could purchase their products. They discussed the process of moving from excavation to large marble blocks to final polished products. The marble was multiple colors depending upon the area from which it came—there was black, red/rose, two different shades of green and white. The green Connemara marble is estimated by geologists to be over 500 million years old. Much shopping took place in this location. Today, we boosted the Irish economy singlehandedly.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
3/29/10—Blog — 10:40 PM Ireland Time (4:40 AM your time)
Hello Everyone Interested in the DHS travels to Ireland:
The day’s adventure started in our first cloudy, misty skies. People here say to expect rain daily especially this time of year, but we have had the opposite. We’ve experienced slightly cool weather but no rain and generally blue and often times sunny skies. This morning, kids were well prepared with umbrellas and coats that would protect them from rain and cold. As it turned out, the only use for umbrellas was some pretty cute photos.
We went back to Bunratty Castle to tour it and the park grounds associated with the Bunratty Castle “experience,” as they promote it. Last night as you recall, we had our feast in the Great Hall. Today, we’d see that room again and others in the castle. This particular castle was once residential, home to the family O’Brien—kings and later earls of Thomond or North Munster. In fact, an ancestor of William Penn was a member of this family tree. William was the fourth branch to the left of the trunk, just above the birds’ nest. Just kidding about the tree imagery but he was related to them. We learned important safety features of the castle, like the fact that the spiral staircase winds in a direction that is advantageous for the owner in case of an attack. In addition, the entrance doors are so small, both in height and width, to make access difficult for intruders. Also on the grounds, we saw buildings that were reconstructed from the originals over a century ago. The doctor’s house or the post office, or the village streets or the many other buildings were designed and furnished as they would have appeared at the time.
Next, we boarded buses and drove to the Cliffs of Moher, which we were told is Ireland’s most visited natural attraction. The vista awes viewers, nearly one million every year. Approximately 700 feet at their highest point, the cliffs are geological wonders. I heard one student describing the stratified layering from a scientific perspective and connecting that knowledge to information learned in Mr. Stafford’s geology course. This is the place where the waves of the Atlantic Ocean hit the western most shoreline. The cliffs were formed nearly 320 million years ago. The view is remarkable and some students even got higher up by climbing O’Brien’s tower which is 175 years old. Panoramic views of the ocean are even more mind blowing when seen on the roof top at the O’Brien tower. It costs only 2 Euro to go up to the tower. The stress test for those still on the ground watching kids up there was free.
This experience was truly a “natural high.” While in the bathroom, we learned that the Cliffs of Moher are one of the top 28 remaining nominations for the 7 Wonders of Nature. The signs encouraged us to vote at www.new7wonders.com What are you waiting for?? Go vote! Everyone in our group thought this Cliffs were unspeakably powerful. While there, students also presented a few informal performances, singing both outdoors and indoors. They received warm recognition.
After lunch there, we boarded the buses again and were on our way to Galway. Given that it was a few hours drive, we made one short sightseeing stop at The Burren, which was a landscape of rolling hills yet under the grasses are limestone pavements that create what they call “grikes” or crisscrossing cracks. I call it YIKES because the terrain creates an “Ankle Breaker Alley” if anyone walking on it does not take the time to be surefooted and plant.
Speaking of footedness, sure or not so sure, the students tested their footwork after dinner, now in Galway when they participated in an Irish Dance Workshop. The teacher, a local here, brought two of her 12 year-old students and they performed for our group several Irish dances. These girls were talented, national level champions, as she described. Soon enough, it was our turn and our students proved they have rhythm for more than just vocal performances. They learned traditional Irish dances called: Stack of Barley, The Walls of Limerick, and Shoe the Donkey. I will briefly teach you Shoe the Donkey. It is a partner dance where the partners are hand-in-hand across the front of their bodies and facing the same direction. The steps are:
Hop 1, 2; Hop 1, 2; Hop 1, 2 3 TURN AND
THEN: Hop 1, 2, 3 TURN, Hop 1, 2, 3 TURN, Hop 1, 2, 3, TURN x 8
Back to the Beginning and repeat….it’s that simple. You too can SHOE THE DONKEY! You have a few days to practice before your kids come home…
Come on—“get JIGGY with it” and give it a try!
Monday, March 28, 2011
3/28/10—Blog 5— 11:57 PM Ireland Time (5:57 AM your time)
Hello Everyone Interested in the DHS travels to Ireland:
Today we got up early as usual and felt like we needed a breath of fresh air. So after our 7:30 AM breakfast at the hotel, we took all the kids for a JAUNT in the National Park of Killarney. Now, a jaunt in Ireland at least in our experience, is not a brisk walk or jog, but rather a seated carriage ride led by a harse and driver (that’s a horse, in case you still haven’t adjusted to the accent). About 8 people sit in a carriage, six in the back and two up front with the driver. The horse travels for a short bit on the road but soon turns left into the park area where you enjoy the Irish scenery once again. The park winds through a forest-like area which according to the driver is very safe. He noted that women jog there at night or day without a worry.
We were fortunate to see wildlife native to the area, specifically, a herd of red deer. Timing was such that we saw half of the herd cross over a river—they had to jump a fence and traipse through the stream to get to a field on the opposite side. There must have been about 25 in the herd so everyone in our carriage watched it happen. It was not like at home where one person sees the deer and shouts about it to realize that it is now no longer in view for the others to see. At various points, we saw different angles of the same lake with a few different islands in our view. One island, the smallest, was called Honeymoon Island, because it is said that only two people can fit on it. The kids have all been really good so we did not want to ship any of our students off to any of the various islands.
The ride ended at a castle (where else?—we are realizing that castles are abundant). This one happened to be Caislean an Rois, Ross Castle, built in the late 15th century by the O’Donoghue Family who ruled Killarney at the time. The ancient brick building was on the waterfront and was the site where some boats that board passengers for a lake tour depart. We learned an interesting fact from our driver, besides the fact that Francis was our horse’s name. We learned that his family has been in the jaunting business for 4 generations and that you can’t just apply for this type of job. It needs to be passed down to the next generation of the family or the driver upon retirement of his position must turn in the license to the government. If you ever want to go, it is a website and an ocean away at www.killarneyjauntingcars.com
After the jaunt, we boarded the buses and drove to a Flying Boat Museum which sounded strange to me, but was a great history lesson about how man learned to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. The museum is in the process of being renovated but there was a lot finished that we could see. We boarded the only Boeing B314 replica in the world, which is about half the length of a current day 747. Did you know that people had chairs that folded out into beds for this flight?
We also saw a 3D hologram that re-enacted the night that Irish Coffee was invented at Foynes. Not to worry, no samples were allowed, but there was a coffee and hot chocolate shop as well as a small gift shop. As the story goes in my tired mind, Irish Coffee was invented in this very building for a pilot who had crossed the ocean in one of the earliest flights. However, others correct this memory and contend that the person who was first served Irish coffee was simply a passenger (one of the affluent 35 or so, who fit on the plane and could afford a 700 dollar flight) who got off the plane and was “served something special from Joe.” Joe was inspired by his grandfather who noted that “presentation is the key”. These details were shared with us in a somewhat cheesy 4 minute movie that we watched while standing in a replica bar. Ask your child about it because that’s the best I can do and although this memory is clearly quite shaky, I swear I did not sample the Irish coffee. The students sang for a packed house of local folks of all ages, from 2 or 3 years old to 83 years old. They received a standing ovation and great appreciation from the curators and employees of the museum.
After the performance, we boarded the buses, stopped quickly at a grocery store for students to buy some food for snacking to hold them over as they would be having a late dinner at the Bunratty Castle. I anticipated that this experience would be like Medieval Times, but the only part that really echoed that was the attire of those hosting the party. The rest was unique to Ireland in that the evening was filled with Irish song and music. A special feature was the naming of the Lord and Lady from the guests for the evening and guess what…Ron V. was selected as the Lord and I was selected as the Lady. Our students were excited and amused as we were crowned and escorted to the throne and main table for the evening meal. My Lord tasted the soup first to ensure its goodness and the feast was on! We had bread, soup, ribs, and for the main course, chicken, vegetables and potatoes. For dessert, we enjoyed a mousse. In the midst of the meal, my Lord was asked to name a guest who would be placed in the dungeon. Our student, Rahm, was called to the stage and quickly hauled to the dungeon. When my Lord was asked what should happen to Rahm, despite shout outs from the audience to import all sorts of evil on him, my Lord said he would be saved if he sang for us. Rahm sang for his life the U2 song we’ve been performing. Nathan Fertig joined in the rendition as did the rest of his classmates. It was their joy to sing most of a song to the unsuspecting audience—onlookers who just thought they were going to the castle meal-- commented that they felt that they had now seen Glee first hand. It was indeed a GLEEFUL experience and I intend to remind my family of my ROYAL stature for many days and years to come.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
3/27/10—Blog 4—10:05 PM Ireland Time (4:05 PM your time—note Daylight Savings Impact)
Hello Everyone Interested in the DHS travels to Ireland:
Today was jam packed with sightseeing, all around, and I literally mean “around”, the “Ring” of Kerry. We were told it is the most famous and most popular driving tour people take while in Ireland. It is just that because the sights of the landscape of Ireland are truly incredible…mountains, water, rivers, rocks, canyons, lakes, green grasses, grazing sheep, little lambs, cows, horses, traditional homes/farm houses, and small, quaint towns, you see it all.
To describe it, I’ll spin off on a Deerprints’ feature. They publish a column called, By the numbers. So I’ll describe our drive today, BY THE NUMBERS:
In miles, the Ring of Kerry is 120.
In time, we drove from 9-5:00, that’s an 8 hour day as Dolly Parton taught us, with 5 stops.
In bus sickness, it was 2 who reported feeling seriously queasy and 68 (the rest of us) who felt the same way, but tried to ignore it.
The close calls with other vehicles were too many to count—seemed infinite. But that is because the roads were snakelike windy, two-lane country roads that were extremely narrow. They could fit two cars side-by-side relatively easily. But we are on a coach bus. Comfortably, that road could fit our coach bus and a motorcycle, assuming we both stayed in our lane. With care and skillful maneuvering, that is patience, timing, and cooperation, the twisty road could fit a coach bus and a car.
Staying with the numbers, there were 00 accidents and 00 injuries, fatalities, bumps or bruises. We traveled safely but closed our 70 pairs of eyes approximately 128 times, which is 17,920 total.
I’m exaggerating of course, but it was a tight road. Nevertheless, we had a great time listening to the driver explain the history and/or hearing traditional Irish music.
During the driving tour, we went to Skellig Island and learned how hundreds of years ago, young monks wanted to find solitude to pay homage in an early Christian monastery. So, they moved onto that island and built a 600 stair walk that would take them to the peak area, 714 feet above sea level. There they built stone, rounded huts that would protect them for enemies, elements, and evil. We also saw a few quaint towns and stopped for lunch and ice cream at two different places—no, we didn’t get ice cream twice. I meant we had lunch at one place and ice cream at another. Another shot at the ice cream would come at dessert after dinner! The restaurant options were right across a green field that then eased into a rocky border, some sand and the Atlantic Ocean. Stunning. The day was sunny—yes, we were lucky again with weather, and at times the ocean front was a little chilly given the wind, but not bad really. As you know, we are from Chicago.
When we got back to the hotel, we had another quick turnaround and the group went to dinner. Immediately after dinner, the students began their Traditional Music Workshop. They worked with four Irish musicians who played various instruments such as the harp, the banjo and mandolin, the flute, the box accordion, the bagpipes, and various percussion instruments. These people were talented, friendly, and interesting. Students got hands-on opportunities to play some of these instruments and learned a lot about the uniqueness and the similarities of playing various instruments. When they figured out the Irishman was saying CHORDS and not CARDS, they got into the flow of the teaching session. It was a history lesson, instrumental instruction, and music theory class all wrapped into one. (Sorry, no high school or college credit is awarded.) The students shared their talent too, singing for their new teachers the "Fiddler of Dooney”. All in all, from breakfast until bedtime, it was 14 hours, 840 minutes, or 50,400 seconds of fun. Now, if only we could increase our sleep number.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
3/26/10—Blog 3—10:59 PM Ireland Time (5:59 PM your time)
Hello Everyone Interested in the DHS travels to Ireland:
Tonight I will start backwards because the best part of the day was the evening choral performances. The students sang at St. Mary’s Church of Ireland. The neighborhood folk and parishioners attended and were in awe of the talent in this group. My favorite two moments were when one older Irishman mouthed the words to the Irish song that the group performed. I could see his eyes getting a little misty as he listened. The acoustics in this quaint, traditional, beautiful Catholic church were fantastic. Students did not need microphones; they sounded amazing. The second special moment was when the kids sang their final number—“Bridge Over Troubled Water”. I know you’ve heard them sing it before. Personally, I get the goose bumps every time. But this gentleman sitting next to his wife nodded his head at the introduction, indicating that he knew the song. As the kids began, his wife reached over and took his hand. Together, they enjoyed our students’ rendition. The kids sang a Happy Birthday encore, surprising Mr. Cho, one of our tour guides. A big birthday cake was walked up the aisle along with two large lit church candles.
So what did we do during the day? We spent a fair amount of time on the bus driving from one coast of Ireland to another. The scenery, as you can imagine, was amazing. Picture Kermit the Frog because the fields we saw were most often green. We went to the Rock of Kashel, which is actually not a big rock. Well, it sort of is a big rock. Really, it is a huge, rock castle built on a rock which is on a hill. The group took some photos, walked around a bit and then got back on the bus to go to the Blarney Castle and Stone.
The Blarney Stone, once kissed gives you the gift of gab…not that our students need any help with that! Nevertheless who would turn down a chance for a kiss? Not many. Most members of the group took the windy 100 stair trek up the spiraling staircase---up, up, up, up, up….stopping now and then to look out a turret window only to realize that this castle was pretty high…those feint of heights do not typically go. A rope handle was the only assistance up the steep climb. Once up there, those who were willing to kiss the stone had to lay down and essentially do a back bend to kiss the stone while inverted. It was open to the ground below while inverted, so a worker held onto the patron’s legs. Sounds crazy right?? Actually, it was not quite that dangerous as there were steel rods that also were below one’s head to ensure that no one would be kissing the ground rather than the stone. The grounds had some caves that some members explored and of course, some stores. The town was famous for its wool products so some bought sweaters to bring back. We know sweaters come in handy in Chicago even in March and April. Here it was a bit nippy, but the lighter jackets we had were fine and the sun shone again on our travels.
We drove to Killarney—another 75 minutes or so to get to our hotel. Dressed for dinner literally in 7 minutes—so if your kids pretend in a real pinch that they need more time to get ready, tell them you know they can do it. After dinner, straight to the church—only 5 minutes away—a fast warm-up and PERFORM for a wonderful audience.
I originally thought kissing the Blarney Stone gave you good luck. But learned twice that was wrong. I learned it from the sign that said we’d get the gift of gab and from the unfortunate news that tonight is THEIR DAYLIGHT’s SAVING TIME…so we lose an hour of sleep AGAIN! Oh well…better get to bed….
Friday, March 25, 2011
3/25/10—Blog 2—9:12 PM Ireland Time (4:12 PM your time)
Hello Everyone Interested in the DHS travels to Ireland:
After our Irish breakfast, we boarded the coach buses and went to downtown Dublin. Climbing onto yellow “busboats” with “Viking Splash Tours” lettered across the outside, our group donned plastic viking hats, complete with horns. We wore the hats proudly and took numerous photos. Each driver quickly “trained” their busboat passengers in the Viking cheer—a deep, intimidating grunt (almost a GRRRRRRRRR) that was to be delivered to unsuspecting passerbys on the street. Since the busboats were open roof and no side windows, it was easy to get the attention of all! The students loved it. The Viking driver knew the city well and pointed out many historic aspects sharing details intermixed with Irish humor…which is I think, a bit like our “Daily Giggle” during homeroom announcements…sometimes funny, sometimes an eye roller, but worth the effort. On the road part, we also learned about the literary artists who hailed from Dublin—Swift, Wilde, Shaw and Yeats to name a few. While on the water, we put on orange pull over life vests and saw where U2 recorded all but 2 of their albums.
Chaperoned groups could then decide to use their time while at the Trinity College campus area to go exploring. We saw a green grass square where many students and adults relaxed, reading, eating or talking. Some went to see the Book of Kells and the old time library founded by charter of Queen Elizabeth in 1592. The library is one of the world’s greatest research libraries, holding the largest collection of manuscripts and printed books in Ireland. It was amazing…truly ancient books, walls and walls and shelves and shelves of them in an architectural masterpiece of a building. The “long room” which is the main chamber of the library; is 65 meters in length, and houses around 200,000 of the library’s oldest books. The barrel-vaulted wood ceiling atop the books and the marble busts on each side of the room was magnificent.
The lunch options and shopping were fun too. Many shopped along Grafton streets where cars were not allowed—this was fortunate because we are finding the streets narrow and the drivers a bit aggressive. Cyclists on the streets think they own the roads too and literally dodge and weave between traffic, even between buses. They were crazy. No one that we saw wore a helmet, Viking or otherwise.
Another cool thing on the shopping pedestrian strip was the ‘sideshows’ of people—some guitarists played, a 4 piece band set up and performed, a person crafted a sculpture out of clay and sand, three men pretended to be sculptures. They did not flinch as people gazed at their exterior that was either black or a crackled gold, looking like a believable replica of a formal statue of someone famous displayed in the square. Eventually most noticed that these statue people were real and when they did, they took photos or tried to get them to talk or respond.
Back to the hotel, organized rooms, got luggage from a holding room and an hour later, we were eating again…dinner was bread, soup, chicken with gravy, mashed potatoes, peas, and some vegan students requested an alternative and were brought a good looking pasta dish. The kids then went back to their rooms to SLEEP because even with all the fun, they are walking zombies. Tomorrow, they will be back for more and have a performance scheduled for the evening.
WE ARE HERE (in the sun) AND YOU ARE IN CHICAGO (in the snow?)....
Hello Everyone Interested in the DHS travels to Ireland:
We have officially landed and have already eaten the following since leaving O’Hare:
· At O’Hare, travelers chose between McDonald’s, pizza, sandwiches, salads and the like
· On the plane we had the small bag of pretzels, but that’s not all, we had VEGETABLES (somewhat unrecognizable, but hot nonetheless) and travelers could choose chicken and rice with the veges or beef and potatoes with the veges.
· At about 2:00AM Chicago time, they also gave us a “snack bag” of a ham and swiss croissant and an OJ cup.
· As we arrived in Ireland after picking up our bags, we swiftly got on buses and then drove a fast 5 minutes to the Carlton Hotel where we immediately sat and ate an Irish breakfast buffet: Ham (they call it bacon), eggs, potatoes and sausage…or travelers could eat cereal.
If you love food, you love the trip so far. The kids have been awesome and everyone is fine and safe. We are going soon on our first excursion, maybe to a “Drive-Through” WHO KNOWS?!
Anyway, we will keep you posted each night and we promise to move from a Food Network report to more of a Travel Channel.
Monday, March 21, 2011
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