Gorgeous Day in Dublin

Hi Everyone,

What a FABULOUS day in Dublin! It was about 75 degrees and sunny and we had such a great time walking around the city. We went to the Dublin Zoo.  It's a terrific place. They have Sumatran tigers, orangutans, elephants, sea lions, penguins, giraffes, rhinos, reptiles, and now a brand new baby gorilla, born just a few weeks ago. We had a wonderful time there, it could not have been a better weather day.  We also spent time shopping on Grafton Street, and Henry and O'Connell streets. Dublin is my kind of shopping town. We ended our night down in the Temple Bar area.  We had another fine meal and it was a fabulous way to end this wonderful trip.

We are heading home tomorrow. We have an early flight back to the states. This has been an amazing trip and I will look forward to returning to Dublin in the future.

Shannon and I want to thank everyone who followed our blog. We hope you enjoyed seeing Ireland through our eyes. We had a terrific time sharing our trip with you. Thank you all for your support for Shannon's dancing.  She did an amazing job and we are so proud of her. We are thrilled that she qualified for the World Irish Dancing Championship and that we were able to bring her to this fabulous country.

All the best to you all,

Sharon and Shannon

Touring Ireland

Today, we toured by rail to the west of Ireland. We had a totally full day. We began our day at Dublin's Heuston Station. We rode the train and before too long, arrived in Limerick. Limerick is actually a city older than London. As we traveled, we crossed the river Shannon -- Ireland's longest river.  We saw King John's Castle, which is the setting for Frank McCourt's book, "Angela's Ashes." We then traveled to Bunratty Castle and went on a tour of the castle and folk park. We continued onto the quaint town of Doolin, and had lunch in O'Connor's Pub, yummy soup! The highlight of our tour was visiting the majestic Cliffs of Moher on the Atlantic coast.  It was absolutely breathtaking! We continued on the coast road for much of the way to Galway. We stopped at the Burren, which means, rocky place, for some pictures. We traveled along Galway Bay through Black Head, and the coastal villages of Ballyvaughan and Kinvara. From here, we went to Galway and walked around to see this great town. Our trip landed us right back where it began at Heuston Station in Dublin. It was such a full day and a terrific way to see Ireland.

Dublin

What a day! We did Dublin proud. We were up very early to start our day off. We headed right out of our hotel and across the street into St. Stephen's Green. It is such a beautiful park in Dublin. We then jumped right onto the "Hop On - Hop Off" bus tour and headed straight for Dublin Castle. We took a tour of it and what interesting facts we learned. It is an active building in Parliament, where the current president of Ireland, Mary McAleese, holds social functions and entertains. We saw remnants of the original castle, the cathedral royale and the castle gardens. Dublin gets its name from the Black Pool (Dubh Linn) which was on the site of the present castle gardens. It was truly beautiful. After that, we headed up to Kilmianham Gaol, (pronounced jail). This is a focal point of many important events in Irish history, including the history of the 1916 Easter Rising. Since the 1980s this has been open to the public as a museum.  After this, we went to the St. James Gate Brewery, Guinness Storehouse.  Michael and my father certainly enjoyed this stop. This production site has been here since 1759, when Arthur Guinness signed the now famous 9,000-year lease. This is a walking, self-guided tour of the brewing process. The tour ends with a highlight at the Gravity Bar.  This is a 360-degree panoramic bar which has gorgeous views of the city of Dublin. There is also a complimentary pint of Guinness at the end of the tour. Dinner was at the famous Hard Rock Cafe in Dublin.  Great music, great food and great memorabilia of Irish music history, including great treasures of U2.  From here we walked back to our hotel via Grafton Street and enjoyed some shopping along the way. We ended our day right where we started it,  by St. Stephen's Green. It was a fun-filled day.

Dublin's Fair City

We headed up to Dublin today and began the next part of our trip.  We drove up in the morning and jumped on the 'Hop On - Hop Off Dublin Bus Tour'  What a great way to see the city.  We were with friends and we saw so many great historic sites and had a wonderful time.  I am going to attach photos of our day.  We started our tour at St. Stephen's Green, it is known as Europe's biggest square.  It is beautiful and has many numerous monuments of Ireland's historical figures.  We passed the Mansion House, the residence of the lord mayor of Dublin, the famous Celtic Whiskey Shop, the TempleBar area (which is full of restaurants, live music venues, nightclubs and bars).  We met a great street vendor named Colin, who played the Irish drum and played a tune for the girls to do some street dancing.  We had a crowd watching the girls and clapping along.  We also went to Trinity College today.  What a beautiful campus.  It was a graduation day.  We saw many happy graduates in their robes and shawls.  We saw the Book of Kells, one of Ireland's most treasured possessions.  We had a terrific meal at Foley's bar.  Live Irish music was playing during our meal by a great musician named Brenden, and the girls were busy entertaining guest dancing some Irish reels and jigs.    We are looking forward to another fun day tomorrow.

Dancing fun!

I wanted to post some pictures from Shannon's dancing day.  She had a blast with her friends!!!!  'Failte' means 'Welcome' :)

Dancing Day

Hi everyone, 
Today was the day that Shannon danced on the World stage!  It was a pleasure and an honor getting to watch her.  It was so exciting. She danced her best and had the time of her life.  We are very proud of her. We'll be off to Dublin's fair city tomorrow.

Practice Day

Hi Everyone,  today was a total practice day.  We spent the entire day at the CityWest Hotel, getting ready for the competition tomorrow.  We practiced at the venue, went to get any last minute supplies and just prepared for Sunday.  We did have time to hang with friends, and also have a good meal at the hotel restaurant. Sunday will be totally busy for us.  Shannon is ready and she is going up on that stage to have the time of her life.  We wish her all the best :))))

City West

We ended our day out in CityWest Hotel.  It is in Saggart,  just a little bit southwest of Dublin.  This is where we will be for the next few days.  It is where the Worlds competition is being held.  This sign greeted us as we drove in and Shannon soon found her friends from some other dance schools to hang out with.   We are getting ready for some busy days ahead.  Wish us luck:)

Dundalk dancing

Shannon had to practice in the afternoon today up in Dundalk, Co. Louth.  We explored this area a little more.  The people are just so friendly and love to talk.  We had a meal in Fitzpatrick's Pub.  It is a terrific restaurant on the outskirts of Dundalk and on the way to Carlingford.  They are known for their seafood chowder and I have to say, it was fantastic.  The pub is on the base of the Cooley mountains on the Cooley peninsula.   There was a large rock outside called 'Mollshies Rock'.  You were supposed to kiss it - for good luck forever - of course, we kissed it :)))