We board our flight and enjoy a movie and a meal. After sleeping for a while, we are served breakfast and we watch another movie. Upon landing in Ireland, we realize that it wasn’t such a long flight after all.

After collecting our bags, we meet with our personal driver and tour conductor for the next week. We board our luxury coach as peter loads our bags on board. After driving for a bit and enjoying the scenery, we stopped at the majestic Cliffs of Mohr.

 

Everybody is able to get out and stretch and hike around for a bit. There is a small coffee shop with sandwiches and snacks, along with a souvenir shop. After an hour or so, we get back on the bus and head for Galway.  Peter tells us Galway is a busy town with lots of growth. It has grown the most of any town in all of Ireland in the last forty years. The Galway Bay Hotel sits on the promenade, right on the beach. After a smooth check in, actually Peter checks us in and brings us our room keys, we all go to our rooms to freshen up. Our rooms are very spacious as are our bathrooms. Most views look out over the promenade. We all meet for dinner and are pleasantly surprised at how delicious the food is. Afterward most of us went back to our rooms. It had been a long day. Some of the group went out and explored Ireland’s nightlife.

Cliffs of Mohr

After a good nights sleep and a good breakfast, we are on our way to the beautiful Connemara area. We stop along the way at a small coffee shop and the dancers are invited to dance. No matter that our costumes and shoes are back at the hotel. Dancers need to be spontaneous! Off come the shoes and everyone can see all variety of socks. On  comes the music and we’re dancing our feet off. We’ve never done this before and we’re loving it! No matter that our counting is off and we’re laughing out loud as we dance in our socks, we’re having a blast! It’s an experience we’ll never forget. We received much applause and a special thank you from the coffee shop owner. We get back on the bus and we enjoy the wild and untamed scenery.

 

Peter keeps mentioning places where “The Quiet Man” was filmed and a few of the grandparents know the film, but most of us agree we’ll have to watch it sometime after we get back. We stop for lunch at a little inn where Peter has connections. The kitchen is opened just for us and all of us are getting used to eating three huge meals a day. After lunch, we see the cottage where “The Quiet Man” was filmed. It’s one of those cute cottages with a thatched roof. After stopping by a bridge, again where “The Quiet Man” was filmed and taking some group photos, we head back to Galway. After such a long day, it’s a very quiet ride back. Time to wake up though! Dancers have to be on the beach, in costume, for a one hour photo session. After dinner, the dancers have a sleep over in one the rooms, so the adults can go out and enjoy Ireland’s nightlife.

 

We have a long day today. We say good-bye to beautiful Galway and head south to Killarney. Two hours into our trip, we move off the beaten path and down the road to Cahersiveen, which is where the Irish Dance school we’re visiting is located. It is a tiny town with long gravel driveways. Peter expresses some doubt as to whether he’ll be able to maneuver the bus down the long, narrow driveway. He proves that he is indeed the BEST driver! As the bus comes down the drive, ten little faces can be seen plastered against the large picture window in the dance studio. Suddenly, you can see tiny dancers jumping up and down and someone emerges from the cute home in which the dance studio is located and takes a picture of our huge tour bus coming down the driveway. We say good-bye to the rest of the group, as the studio is quite small and can hardly accommodate the whole group. Later we learned that Peter took them to a coffee shop and they were able to sit outside and enjoy some sun. We meet the other dancers and their teacher and discover that they’re kids just like us. Many of the steps they do are more traditional that what is learned in the states. We learn a new dance to bring back and the Irish girls learn a new dance from us.

The dance teacher, Ina, brings out homemade chocolates, scones and water for everyone. We ask the Irish girls if they get these treats at every practice and they laugh hysterically and say NO! After we get back to dancing, we notice our moms hesitantly heading back to the studio with their cameras. We’re all laughing and dancing and having the time of our lives when we notice that the moms all have tears in their eyes when they see us. We’re all just having fun. We later learned what the term “sentimental moment” means. Our one hour session turns into three hours and after many tears, much laughter, and many address exchanges, we finally say good-bye to our new friends and get back on the road to Killarney. We’ve two more hours ahead of us and Peter calls the hotel to advise them to keep the kitchen open for us.

After a very lively two hour ride, learning pub songs, we arrive at The International Hotel in the heart of Killarney. Peter quickly gets us checked in and hands us our keys. We all freshen up and meet in the restaurant for dinner. We all go on about on charming the hotel is and how it’s so close to everything. After dinner some of us go back to our rooms and the rest of the group goes out to explore Killarney’s nightlife.

O'Connell Street, Cahersiveen

We’re a sleepy bunch as we meet for breakfast. We have a tour of Muckross House scheduled and then some free time. After breakfast, we’re still felling sleepy and we’re told “Wake up dancers and get changed for a performance in ten minutes!” April Fools dancers!! Laughingly and finally waking up, we board our bus.

 

Before touring the inside of Muckross House, we’re told we can explore the gardens and we dancers take off and do some exploring on our own. We meet back at the main house at the appointed time and tour the home. Lots of history and antiques. Returning to the International, we decide to have lunch and then ride the jaunting cars. Our driver, Billy, promptly tells us he’s looking for a wife, anyone’s will do. We tour a lovely garden and see where the leprechauns live and then halfway thru our tour, the rain comes. Luckily we all had umbrellas but we still get soaked. Our first rain in Ireland and it comes on the next to the last day of our trip. Not bad. After a wonderful dinner, we all walk over to The Laurels for our scheduled performance. We dance our hearts out and our teacher joins us again. I think they loved us, we got a LOT of applause!

 

Muckross House

Blarney Stone

Bunratty Castle

After breakfast, we all remark what an incredible trip it has been. We all agree there will never be anything like it, but where are we going next????

 

Upon arrival at Shannon Airport, Peter says good-bye with hugs and handshakes all around. We do a final group photo with peter in front of the tour bus and tearfully say good-bye to Ireland with promise to return one day.