May 2008 Concert now online

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Listen to our concerts

Sunday 7 June 2008

We have been so very busy, not too many posts so far.

Some highlights of the past few days:

After two full days in Dublin, we traveled south by our coach on Saturday from Dublin to Cork on an exceptionally lovely, sunny and warm day, with stops in Waterford to have a tour of the crystal factory and another stop in the little town of Dungarvan for lunch. Dungarvan is pictured here. Luvley (lovely) small town. On the drive we passed through several counties and learned about their history and geography from our superb tour guide, Barbara Hunter. We arrived at a FOUR STAR hotel, the Imperial, in Cork in the afternoon. After settling in and rambling a bit, we had a great dinner as a group in the hotel.

Cork is the Repulbic of Ireland's second largest city and has a lot to explore. On Sunday choir members were on their own to do so. Some went to the Women's Gaol -- quite interesting. Some to St. Fin Barr's Cathedral for a service that included their own choir -- quite good. Some went to the hotel spa. Some saw a cricket game. Many of us watched the hurling match between Cork and Tipperary. A huge event in this town.

We walked together to the Augustinian Cathedral of Cork to participate in the Polish Mass. The Polish community in Cork is over 20,000 (of 123,000) so this Catholic church has two Masses each Sunday. They have a choir which performs during the mass and we too sang three of our American pieces as part of the service (see video of 3 here]. Looking out at what was probably 1,000 faces was surprising, as was their applause. It's not clear what parishioners knew about us ahead of time -- the priest explained in Polish who we were at the outset of the service -- or even if they understood the words of the songs, but the tears we witnessed and kisses some received spoke volumes. It was exhilarating and moving and we can't wait to sing more. The Masses are recorded and we are trying to sort out the Polish language on the website to see where ours might be [any Polish speakers reading this? Link here].

p.s. Tipperary won, sad for Cork. Germany won over Poland in football (read: soccer), sad for our Polish friends.

We're here!

All luggage, all choir members intact...though tired.. in Dublin! We got on our bus at 10:00 to set off for a bus tour of Dublin, to give us an overview of the city and its rich history. Knowing that we were pretty tired, our great local guide, Barbara Hunter tried not to overload us with information but wanted to provide us with enough orientation to walk ourselves around the town. We stopped near Trinity College for lunch on our own and then checked into our hotel. Not bad at all. Dinner in the hotel at 19:00 with some preparation for a full day of touring tomorrow, punctuated with a concert at noon. As we arrived it was 8 degrees C and gray clouds have now turned to light rain.

Dublin weather...and start learning Celsius!

This week's forecast can be found at this site, with a "weather cam" of O'Connell Bridge, and a Fahrenheit to Celsius converter - try it out.

Time to start reading the Irish Times, or another newspaper

From the countdown clock, it looks like it's time to get ready to read the Irish news. The Irish Times can be found here. The Irish Independent here. And some radio news in Gaelic here.

Get ready!

Cool movies and music from Ireland tourism board here.  Click through the 4 tabs: Ireland's landscapes, People and Culture, History and Heritage, Cities of Ireland.

Highlights from Itinerary - follow the links for more information

Day 1: Wednesday 4th June
LAX -- Chicaco -- DUBLIN

Day 2: Thursday 5th June ARRIVAL DUBLIN

Day 3: Friday 6th June DUBLIN
Trinity College and the famous Book of Kells
St Patrick's Cathedral
Lunchtime recital
Dublin Castle

Day 4: Saturday 7th June DUBLIN-WATERFORD-CORK
Tour of the Waterford Crystal Factory
Stop on Dungarvan
Cork

Day 5: Sunday 8th June CORK
Leisure day
Concert at St Augustine's Church, to accompany Polish Mass

Day 6: Monday 9th June CORK-KILLARNEY
Blarney Castle
Killarney

Day 7: Tuesday 10th June KILLARNEY
View of the Killarney National Park
"The Ring of Kerry"
Brendan Ferris sheepdog herding demo
Glenbeigh
Carhiciveen
Waterville
Scarrit Inn
Carroll's Cove
Gap of Dunloe
Concert at Danny Mann Pub

Day 8: Wednesday 11th June KILLARNEY-GALWAY
Adare
Ennis
Cliffs of Moher
Limerick
The Burren
Galway

Day 9: Thursday 12th June GALWAY
Start Connemara Loop
Spideal
Maam Valley
Kilerry fjord
Leenane
Kylemore Abbey and Gardens
Concert at the Gothic Church
Inagh Valley
Oughterard
Moycullen Marble Shop
Finish Connemura Loop

Day 10: Friday 13th June GALWAY-DUBLIN
Dublin
Jameson Whiskey Distillery. Guided tour of the distillery followed by Whiskey tasting, dinner, and entertainment commences.

Day 11: Saturday 14th June Departure
Dublin airport.
Return Flight