Crack on Day 1

Yes, that said crack, which is the pronunciation of the word craic, and yes, we all had crack today, but no, it isn't what you are thinking!  In Gaelic, craic means "fun", and it has been an awesome day full of craic!

 
After clearing customs in Dublin, we met our tour guides and boarded our coaches for the Ancient monastery of Clonmacnoise, founded in 526 on the river Shannon.  This served as one of the most important educational establishments in all of Europe and we were able to see the castle ruins, the cathedral, high cross, and various other temple ruins.  For many, this was the first time seeing ancient ruins in person and it was a spectacular site. 

Flat Mr. Branigan even came along on the trip!  Maybe he will have a new book series out soon?

Mr. Oestreich had a chance to catch up with his Eastwood connections.

We learned that there are over 4000 castles in Ireland.  Many of these were built around 1429 because of a subsidy granted for castles or towers built to specifications outlined by the King:

"It is agreed and asserted that every leige-man of our Lord the King of the said counties (viz. Dublin, Meath, Kildare and Louth), who choose to build a castle or tower sufficiently fortified, within the next ten years, to wit, twenty feet in length, sixteen feet in width, and forty feet in height or more, that the Commons of the said counties shall pay to the said person to build the said castle or tower, ten pounds by way of subsidy".

Humm, subsidized housing in the Middle Ages, who would have guessed?

 Next, we found lunch at Galway bay, where Christopher Columbus set sail.  Galway is the westernmost port, so many explorer's last port of call was Galway.

Other miscellaneous facts from today:

• The Irish flag consists of three colors:  Green for the Catholic religion, Orange for the Protestant religions, White represents the desire for peace among the religions 
• Thatch lasts about 20 years on a house and you don't remove it, you just add layers.  Canopied beds, or four poster beds, provided cover from insects and critters living in the roof.  I itch just thinking about that! 
• In 1851 Danny Boy was first written down.  It was believed to be a gypsy melody heard by a young pianist, Jane Ross, who rushed home to write it down.  Gypsies are common in Ireland, and we passed a Gypsy camp on our way to Galway.

We ended the day with checking in at our accommodations (featuring beds and showers!) and a delicious dinner in the hotel.  We are looking forward tomorrow when, among other things, we will have our first concert performance (including an arrangement of Danny Boy).

I'm going to experiment with the best way to post photos.  Tonight, I'm just posting them all in this blog.  I'm doing my best to get photos of everyone, but we were divided by coach quite a bit today.  If you don't see your child in the photos that are posted tonight, I promise, we haven't lost anyone!  With 120+ travelers, it may take me a few days to get everyone's photo up.