Ireland

Ben and I were fortunate enough to join the Big Red Marching Machine in Ireland over Saint Patrick's Day. The girls split the time between my parents and Ben's parents and it seems that everyone had a great week! I'm so grateful to the band director, Gavin, for inviting me to tag along with his wonderful group of students! They were such a great group of kids who represented ISU very well!

We landed in Dublin around 5:30am on Wednesday and set off on a bus tour of the area around 7:00. It was a long day of sight-seeing and napping on the bus while we waited for our hotel's checkin time. Our first stop (after a rest stop breakfast) was a small fishing village called Howth. We had beautiful views of the Irish Sea and Harbour Lighthouse.

We also stopped at Phoenix Park, where Pope John Paul II celebrated mass in front of a crowd of more than 1 million people in 1979.

We saw a lot of beautiful countryside, but photos didn't really turn out well at all from the bus. And I also spent a few chunks of time dozing. :) We checked into the hotel mid-afternoon and took a wonderful nap before dinner with the group in the hotel. And then I slept a full NINE HOURS and it was amazing!!

We had more sight-seeing on Thursday. Our first stop was Trinity College. We saw the Book of Kells (no photography allowed), and the library, called the Long Room. We bought Charlotte a small, handmade harp here. She loves it!

Then we were got to see Saint Patrick's Cathedral. It was beautiful and enormous with so much history! Photos really do not do any of these landmarks justice.

The band played at the Guinness Storehouse and we all got to enjoy a free pint of Guinness (maybe 2 or 3 pints...) and learn all about how it's made. The top floor has a 360* view of the city of Dublin. I didn't have a clear shot for photos, but the band sounded great, the Guinness was good, and the crowd loved the BRMM! We also got some time to shop and have lunch in the Grafton Street area. 

Thursday night, I met my friend Marianne! We've been in the same mom group on FB for 5 years and finally got to meet in person. She's lovely and I'm so glad we got to meet up.

Friday morning was Saint Patrick's Day and we were greeted on our way downtown to a lovely rainbow! It ended up raining for most of the parade, but cleared up just before the BRMM stopped to play in front of the grandstands. The kids played excellently and won Best Overall Band at the Dublin Saint Patrick's Day Parade!

BRMM's VIP cheering section :) 

wrapping up with the Alma Mater 

Lord Mayor's mansion

Friday night, the adults went to Abbey Tavern in Howth for traditional Irish dinner, music, and dancing. And cocktails :) This was probably my favorite event of the trip. It was exactly what I'd pictured when Ben first brought up the idea of going on this trip. 

Singaporean tourist totally winning the crowd!

Amanda getting her chance to dance

The next morning, we loaded up the tour buses and headed to Galway. We had some time to walk around the shopping district. Ben loved all of the little music shops there and I ended up buying Natalie a little music box with an Irish tune and dancer inside. She loves it! 

 The band played in the Limerick International Marching Band Competition on Sunday - and again took home the prize of Best Overall Band! It was another wet parade, but the rain lifted just before BRMM performed, and it was even sunny by the time the awards were handed out. There was a lovely view of the River Shannon and King John's Castle.

After the competition in Limerick, we returned to Galway for dinner and music at Monroe's Tavern. Again, very good food, very good music, and very good drinks! :) 

Monday was our last day in Ireland and it was amazing! We toured Bunratty Folk Park, Bunratty Castle, the Cliffs of Moher, and Burren National Park. The rain (and sleet, and snow!) all lifted at just the right times. 

just a little windy! :)

 The Burren is a natural landscape where erosion has taken all of the soil and softer rock, and left a large outcrop of limestone a the surface. There are lots of fossil imprints from when the area used to be a seabed.

 Tuesday morning, we loaded the buses at 5:30am, drove across the country to Dublin, flew across the Atlantic and half of the US, landed in Chicago, and then fought rush hour traffic before getting home to Bloomington-Normal about 7:00pm - only about 18.5 hours from when we left Galway. :) It was a long day, but boy were we excited to see our two sweet girls! We're so grateful that our parents were willing and able to keep them for us while we had this amazing adventure. They were pretty excited to have us home, too. :)