Greetings from Galway!

Greetings from Galway, Ireland!  I am on the third day of a ten day choir tour of Ireland with UW-Eau Claire's Women's Concert Chorale.  We are having a really good time so far, and the ladies had their first (successful!) concert last night.  Yesterday was St. Patrick's Day so it was an interesting day here in Galway.  Kind of a Bourbon Street, New Orleans vibe but with lots of red hair and cool accents!

Travel to Ireland was smooth--bus from Eau Claire to Chicago and then a direct flight from Chicago to Dublin.  We arrived there at 7:00a.m. so the first day was pretty sleepy for everyone, and despite the tour guides' best efforts to keep us awake there were many naps on the bus.  That included me--the country roads of Ireland are windy and bouncy and my self-defense from motion sickness is to sleep!  But, Mom you'd be proud of me for grabbing the front seat with the unobstructed view.  I've tried to keep up your tradition of taking pictures out the window, but mostly I ended up with a bunch of blurs!

This is near Galway--the stone walls separate farms, many of which contain sheep.  It is lambing season right now, so the girls are squealing at the cute little lambs which I did not manage to capture on film yet. I did buy a tea cosy with lambs on it, though, so at least I'll have that  :)   We have also seen a lot of cows, mostly Holsteins.  The walls do not use mortar of any kind--having some space between the stones allows the wind to blow through and the walls then don't fall down.  This was a "soft" day with a mild drizzle on and off through the morning.  Temps in the 50s and pretty windy.

To the right is County Clare, which so far is my favorite part of Ireland.  Parts of it are compared to a lunar landscape--very rocky and barren.  It is called "The Burren" and I want to come back in summer because apparently the flora is amazing with a huge variety of plants growing up between the rocks.  Our tour guide Anne called it a rock garden.  I can understand the romance and mystery of the language of Irish poetry and stories.




In County Clare are the magnificent Cliffs of Moher.  I loved walking out on the cliffs until you couldn't hear anything but the wind.  A great natural wonder.

Me at the Cliffs of Moher with my new Mohair scarf!

This does not capture the majesty of these cliffs but you can see the size of the people on near cliff and the tower on the far cliff.  700 foot drop friends.  Below, the Plattenbergers in Ireland in 1962 and again in 2014.

On day one, we stopped at Clonmacnoise Monastery on the River Shannon. We were kind of rushed, but did get to enjoy a red-haired charmer tour guide who led the tour with only a short sleeved t-shirt so that he could show his muscled arms to the Wocettes--these Irishmen are very charming to say the least and can really spin a yarn.  

Celtic monument at Clonmacnoise

Me after our epic shopping trip outside of Claddagh, near Galway.  This is the little village where the very popular Claddagh ring originates from.  Many of the Wocettes bought Claddagh rings, but I decided on an Aran sweater instead.  Ironically, the coat came from Younkers in Eau Claire, Wisconsin!  That would be the Galway Bay out there past the strand.

And, a picture of WOCO rehearsing in St. Catherine's Catholic Church--the oldest practicing Catholic Church in Ireland I believe.  The section in the back behind the ladies was built in the 1300s.

And, a wee Irish lass at the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Galway.