Good Bye from Dublin!

This morning we leave for the Dublin Airport to catch our connecting flight to London. Our Flight leaves London in the late afternoon at 5:05pm and we'll be home in Vancouver by 6:30pm. We are very happy to be coming home, we have had a wonderful trip seeing lots of great things and most of all experiencing the grand scale of the All-Irelands Competition. We hope you have all enjoyed following our Adventure as much as we have...this has been a trip that neither of us will ever forget!

Last Day in Ireland

Today we travelled from Killarney to Dublin, the train left Killarney at 7:55 and arrived on time at 11:20. We were at our Hotel by 11:45 which gave us the afternoon to go and sightsee. Macaela decided that we should go to DunLeary a town about 20 minutes down the coast from Dublin. DunLeary is a place that Macaela's Grandad said we should go see if we get a chance while we are here, so that is what she chose today. She wanted to be able to go home and tell him that we made it there and he was right, it was beautiful. We walked around town for a short time but the highlight of the day was walking the Boardwalk, it has two boardwalks a West and East and they surround the Harbour in a horseshoe. We walked the East side it was breathtaking, we saw a dolphin but we were wrong it was two! It was cold and windy but it made the day even better, we both had rosey cheeks after our hour walk. Tomorrow we leave for the airport at 10:55 to catch our flight to London once there our flight to Vancouver is at 5:10pm bringing us home around 6:30pm. We are very excited to come home and see everyone, this has been a fantastic trip and one we won't ever forget!

Last Day in Killarney

Well today was our last full day in Killarney... after all the excitement from yesterday, an amazing meal with Nora and a late night we were able to sleep in and catch up on some lost sleep. Today we found the Outlet Shopping Mall, we had a look around and found a little Sandwich Place where we had lunch. We went to a few shops that we had found on Thursday to buy a few last minute items to bring home. Instead of walking or taking a taxi back to our hotel we decided to take a Jaunting Cart, it was a great way to end our last day in Killarney! Tomorrow we take the train back to Dublin then we have one afternoon and evening to do any sight seeing we want to do before we leave on Tuesday afternoon. Maybe we'll go on a Bus Tour or take a train to Dunleary to see the Sea, we'll see what tomorrow brings.

1. photo-Dinner out with Nora to celebrate Macaela's accomplishment of attending the All-Irelands.

2. & 3. photo- Dessert, chocolate ganache with caramel sauce... oh we can't forget the whipping cream!

4 . photo- Micheal & Whiskey our jaunting cart driver and horse.

5. photo-Michael asking Macaela about her dancing yesterday, the Irish have to be the most friendliest people.

6. & 7. photo- Macaela taking over the reins as we arrived back at our Hotel.

Happy Saint Valentine's Day

As they say in Ireland " Happy Saint Valentine's Day". We strolled through the Streets today and here is a picture of a very nice local flower shop. We hope you all get spoiled today with flowers & chocolate!

Friday in Killarney

I know that this post is two days behind but we wanted to share our day on Friday with you all....we finally slept through the night Thursday into Friday, we didn't have our usual 2:00am cup of tea and a bit of TV. We took our time going into town after a nice breakfast, we walked around town for a little while then we took a taxi over to Ross Castle before we had to go back to the Hotel to meet Nora. The Castle was wonderful, we could feel all the history as we walked around the grounds. It was a beautiful day as has been every day that we have had in Ireland. We met Nora back at the Hotel at 5:00, Macaela had some practice time and then we all went for dinner in Hotel Pub. The lights went out early on Friday night in hopes that Macaela would get enough sleep to get her through her big day of Dancing.

No Recalls at all Today....

Well today was a huge experience for Me and my Mom. I did not get anything but that's okay. I am happy for my friend from Alberta, she recalled in everything and she is such a good dancer. If you can believe it she is better then me. Did I mention I am sick and I have been for the last 3 days, so it could be one of the reasons that I did not recall. Saying that it is only part of why I did not recall , the competition is really hard here... don't forget the Irish invented "Irish Dancing". I am still very happy about coming to Ireland, I will remember the experience forever!

No recalls.....

Hi everyone

Well it wasn't quite my day or easy for sure, I still have another chance to recall overall and do my Set. Keep your fingers crossed for me and I'll post some pictures when I get a chance. Thanks for the comments, Macaela.

The BIG Day!

Good morning CANADA!

We are at the All-Irelands as I type and our internet access has been down in our Hotel since yesterday aftenoon, sorry we haven't posted in a day or so. Thank you for all the comments and good luck wishes! We just read 17 and have just posted them all.

Macaela just completed her 1st. round -Hard Shoe, it went well and she feels good to get it over with, she is now looking forward to her Soft Shoe round which is her strongest dance. We then will wait to see if she recalls in both those dances.

Unfortuneately I won't update any pictures for now as I am typing on Nora computer. I will update as soon as I can. Keep you fingers and toes crossed that Macaela can get a recall!

Killarney Town

Today we walked to Killarney Town it took about 10 minutes. The weather is really nice, cold but sunny. We accomplished a mission today...we found a Candy Store! We had lunch at a quiet little spot called the "Humble Pie" we also found a place called "Mac's on Main Street" maybe we'll try that place tomorrow. We walked up and down Main Street we shopped a little and then made our way down to St. Mary's Cathedral, on the way we found a candy store. Tomorrow we will go back into the Town and decide what we want to do, maybe go see Ross Castle or Muckross House, maybe we'll have time for both. Till tomorrow......

Killarney at Last!

Yeah we are finally in Killarney!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!We spent most of the day travelling and getting settled into our Hotel. We had a "big" breakfast this morning English/Irish style, Macaela was starving! We took a taxi over to the Heuston train station for the 11:00 train, the train ride took about 4 hours and 10 minutes and we were running behind time, we arrived in Killarney at 3:15 in the afternoon, this gave us time to get to the the Hotel and get settled. So far from what we've seen Killarney looks wonderful, tomorrow we'll walk into town and and start to look for lepreuchans and the candy store!

1.photo Macaela's first English/Irish breakfast
2. photo-Heuston Train Station platform No.5

3. photo-Mom and Me on the train to Killarney (we had to change train in Mallow)

4. photo-the beautiful Countryside

5. photo-waiting for the train in Mallow to go to Killarney

6. photo-the Irish name for Killarney

7. photo-the English name for Killarney