Sunday June 26th - Edinburgh - LAST DAY!

So this is the last day before flying home.  I have to admit I'm very ready to go home at this point but it has been a wonderful trip.

We continued our stay in Edinburgh with a Scottish Experience last evening which included Scottish music, dancing and even a bite of haggis.  Yes, I tried it.  It really wasn't all that bad though it was a bit on the spicy side.  Not sure I know what the spices were but all good.

We took the bus tour this morning with an aim to visit the castle.  Unfortunately it wasn't accessible this morning so we took the complete tour and then visited one of the art museums which was nearby the bus stop and our hotel.  We had a nice lunch and then back to the bus and the castle.  As you might guess, the castle is on a high hill overlooking the city and visibility to the eastern shore, so it was a walk up.  Given that walk and this point in our journey we probably didn't see as much of the castle as we might have had it been earlier in the tour but we did spend some time there.  Then back down the hill to the bus. 

Now we're at the hotel just winding down.  Our flight leaves quite early in the morning so it will be an early evening.  We have yet to sample any whiskey so we may need to find time to at least get in a taste at a nearby pub or restaurant.

Thanks for following along.  It's been great to give you a taste of the journey.

Lori

saturday june 25th edinburgh

siting at another starbucks, this time in edinburgh.  took the train frok glasgow this moning but it definitely wasnt the express.  i believe we made 15 stops.  if you look at a scotland map you can probably see every town we stopped at.  got to our hotel too early to check in sob checked our bags and hit the streets.  our hotel is rght in the middle of everything so eplenty to see and do.  there is a disney store right next to our hotel so of course we stopped there.  then on to the hard rock for lunch where we had a lovely waitress who was very helpful in giving us tips.  after lunch we headed to the royal mile for browsing shopping and a visit to the john knox house.  knox was responsible fr the reformation in scotland and starting the presbyterian church, to which i belong.  coming out of the house we discovered it was raining yet again.  i have to say at this point in my journey i am quite weary W thus the lack of capitilization and spelling-and the rain just adds to the weariness.  this is just a wet part of the world.

tonight we head to a nearby hotel for a evening of scottish food - a little anxious about that - and entertainment.  tomorrow we may do a bus tour an d hopefully se the castle.

sun appears to be coming back out.  hotel is hopefully a quick walk back.

Friday June 24th Glasgow

Sitting in a Starbucks currently - God Bless America! - using the free wifi to update.

Took the Glasgow bus tour this morning.  Quite lovely. I think we will be hopping back on to go see the Glasgow cathedral which is on the east sie of the city.  Would also loveto see a coupleof things on the west side such as the University and the Kelvingrove museum.  Named after the man who developed the Kelvin temperature scale.

Glasgow has an abundance of shopping so may ned to take some of that in as well.  A few gifts left to buy.  May take in a movie thi evening as the cinema is quite close to our hotel.  Its actually the tallest movie theater in the world.

Would definitely reccomend Glasgow as a tour stop if considering it.  I had heard less than positive things about it prior to my trip but there is plenty of history and culture here to ill up moe than a couple of days.

Thursday June 23rd Glasgow

spent the morning in York ad visited the Jorvik viking museum which was very interesting.  After that we shopped the Shambles area and doged the rain. After arealy nicelunch we dexidedb to head for the train station and on to Glasgow.  It was about a 4 hour rde total so we arrived in Glasgow around dinner time.We found a lovely Italian restaurant near our hotel and had a very relaxing dinner.

Tomorrow we are planning on the Glasgow bus tour and possibly stopping stoping at a few places along the way.  Our cab driver in York told us that Glasgow has some of the same religious tensions that Belfast has,  with one football team being Catholic and one being Protestant.  It seems that a large number of Irish made their way to Scotland thus creating the tensions as Scotland is largely Protestant with the Presbyterian church being dominant.  I dont tink we will encounter those tensions here in the Glasgow City Centre but good to be aware of.
Moe tomorrow hopefuly after a day of sightseeing.

Wednesday June 22nd York

The Bangor Cathedral made for another interesting logistical experience again for our choir, dancers ad instrumentalists.  Especially given that we needed to add a 80 voice male choir for one movement.  But all worked out in the end (and up until the last minute).  It was probably our best of the three performances.  AFter the concert we enjoyed a lovely dinner just out of Bangor.

While the tour group headed back to Chicago early this morning, my traveling companion (Carolyn) and I went on to York.  It took three trains leaving out of Bangor with stops in Chester and Manchester but we made it to York about mid afternoon.  With most shops and attractions closing about 5 we had a little time to figure out what we will look into more tomorrow.  I got some good suggestions from one of my Aviva colleagues who spent three years working at the office here. The city centre does seem to be a lovely little area.  They even have a cat tour where you can find 16 or so cat statutes places on buildings around city centre.  I managed to find four this evening so maybe a few more tomorrow.

Maybe wishing we had booked more than just a day in York but will try to stay here tomorrow as long as we can and hopefully get to Glasgow for dinner.

Tuesday June 21st - Caenarfon

We arrived safely in Wales on Monday after a couple of hours on the ferry.  Such an interesting journey.  A bit of a floating city with resaurants, a bar and shopping.  It was about an hour from our arrival at Holyhead on Anglesey to our hotel in Caenerforn.  anAngelsey is where the new Duke and Duchess of Cambridge live but no sightings.

We had  very quiet afternoon - I took a nap - and then after dinner we rehearsed with with thw Welsh mens choir.  They are fabulous and very much looking forward to them joining us this evening on the Benedictus.

This morning we visited the castle here in Caenarfon.  It dates back to the 13th centgury and was where Prince Charles crowned Prince of Wales.

This afternoon we are headed into Bangor for rehearsal.  Tonight is our last evening together.  The bulk of our tour leaves for Heathrow in the morning.  My traveling companion and I will be heading into York and then Scotland.  Will plan on keeping the blog going until I come home on the 27th.

Monday June 20th

Currently waiting to load the ferry from Ireland to Wales.  the whole bus goes on the ferryso we get to leave everything on the bus.  We have been told it is a 2 hour ride though only about 55 miles.

We will have dinner and rehearsal this evening.  We are being joined by a Welsh mens choir who will be singing part of the mass with us, the part that is in Welsh to be specific.  hope it isnt the rest of it as we woment may be sorely outnumbered.

lacking on slep at tis point in the tour so looking forward to much.more relaxed schedule beginnign wednesday when my friend carolyn and i are on our own as we head to York England and then on to Glasgow and Edinburgh Scotland.

Sunday June 20th - connected in dublin!

Yeah finally fre wifi at our Dublin hotel.  Hopefuly the trend will conti.ue the rest of the trip.

Today was a most lovely day. We had a late start and met Tomy Sands just outside of Armagh.  He took our busload to his home in  Rostrevor which is right on the Irish sea and the river between Northern Ireland and Ireland.  I dont think there are many places on earth that could compare to the beauty of this area. After lunch several  of us enjoyed the beauty through either a walk along the beach, a hike up the mountain with Tommys daughter Moya or a "dander" with Tommy through the nearby park and forest.  I chose the dander and i was wonderful.  Every so often along the walk Tommy would stop and tell us a story of Irish history or legend.  And we got to visit the wishing rock which Tommy says is pretty succesful. If you arent familiar with Tommy Sands  and his music you should look him up.  I honestly didnt know that much about him before this journey but he is a genuinely wonderful hauman being as well as being talented.

We left Tommys later than intended so our tour of Dublin was quite brief.  a few of us decided to be tourists and went to the hard rock cafe for dinner.  now  bed.

June 19th - Saturday Debrief

Happy Father's Day!  (Yes, they celebrate it here.)

Saturday was our day in Belfast which is about an hour NW of Armagh.  We left from Armagh about 8:30 in the morning and picked up our travel guide at the rail station in Belfast.  We had about a two hour tour of the city, the highlights of which included a tour of the harbors (the Titanic was built in Belfast) and a tour through the Unionist and Nationalist neighborhoods.  It's very clear which is which, based on who's flying the Union Jack and who is flying the flag of Republic of Ireland.  While the Troubles are no longer, the Peace wall that was errected in 1969 to divide the sides, still stands.  It has become a living work of art and visitors and residents are encourgaed to leave there own personal messages of hope and peace.  When it gets full, it gets painted over and the messages start anew. 

After the tour we stopped at our church, St. Anne's Cathedral and sough out lunch and shopping.  We returned to the church at 3:00 for rehearsal which should have been pretty straightforward but it turned into a tech session due to some unforseen difficulties.  So not a lot of singing time.  And it was COLD in the church.  Definitely not that prepared for all this overly cool weather that seems to permeate everywhere.  Especially large stone churches.

The concert again went well, with some definite improvements from the night before.  Hopefully by Tuesday (our 3rd and final performance) we'll have it perfect!  We had dinner after the concert (yes it was a late night) and then the hour bus ride back to Armagh.  Fortunately we have a late start this morning (11), down to visit Tommy Sands at his home which is not far from Dublin, on the coast.  Then we head to Dublin for a tour and maybe some shopping, but being  Sunday not sure much will be open. 

Wishing yesterday that more of my VAE friends were on the trip.  While there have been some expected challenges on this trip (misery loves company), there have also been lots of other wonderful experiences to share. 

Hopefully I'll be able to send a message from Dublin later tonight.

Peace to all.

Lori

June 18th - Friday debrief

Friday started off with breakfast in the hotel and nice buffet.  If you've ever traveled to the UK you know that stanadard British breakfast includes stewed tomatoes, what we would call baked beans, and blood sausage.  Fortunately there were also standards like eggs, cereal, yogurt and toast.

Friday was a soft day in Ireland, meaning that it was a bit cool (even cold at times) and damp.  After breakfast we all boarded the bus for the cathedral where we received a short history lesson on Celtic Spirituality and a short prayer service in the Lady Chapel (i.e Mary's chapel).  Finally about 11 we got around to the business of trying to rehears but we need to work out a lot of logistics with the instrumentalists and dancers.  And after a couple of movements we decided we needed to switch the voices around. Lots of moving and lots of people in a tight space.  We broke for lunch around 1 and all headed down the very long and steep hill on foot to find lunch.  Needless to say the trip back up was a challenge.  \I couldn't imagine people doing that on a regular basis just to get to church.

AFternoon rehearsal went until 5:30, a quick run back to the hotel for dinner and to change and then back to the church for the concert.  As in Des Moines, the beginning of the concert was preceded with special music.  In addition to Tommy Sands and family, who were joined by a Kevin Kniff (sp) of the Chieftans, we had a trio of young musicians - a piper and two string players - who were just wonderful.  Finally at 8:15 it was OUR turn to take the stage.  We had an audience of about 150 people so we were happy with that.  The concert overall went quite well - no stops! - though there were a few scary moments.  Ben was doing the solo on the Credo so we had the director from Opus 42 with us to direct.  \It provided a few scary moments (at least personally) but we made it through.  Overall I think we were very well received.  The Mayor was was there and there was a free will offering with all of the proceeds going to a charity of her choice. 

We got back to the hotel about 10:30 and several of us spent some time unwiding in the hotel bar. A few of us decided to try our luck at a bit of gambling in the hotel - just a pound.  Sort of a lottery type game but none of us won.  So off to bed about midnight.

This morning it's off to Belfast just for the day for sightseeing and our concert.  We have dinner scheduled for after the concert and then back to Armagh for our last night in N. Ireland.  Fortunately tomorrow morning is a late call.

I have not been able to post any pictures due to some technical difficulties (wi-fi is not free in the hotel) but hopefully can find some in Belfast later today and can at least get something on Facebook.

Happy Saturday to all!

Lori

June 17th - Day 2 in Armagh

Good Morning all!  After some much needed rest last night, we're all ready for a day of rehearsal and our concert this evening at the cathedral.  We were able to get a feel for the space yesterday and it is fabulous.  In somewhat typical anglican fashion the choir loft is split so we have Soprano/Bass facing Alto/Tenor.  It actually makes hearing each other quite easy.  The rehearsal today will be more for the dancers to figure everything out in the space they have, working on a stone floor, and for Tommy and company to get back together.

Those who were part of the premeire concert,  you may remember Tommy's soon was part of the group.  He is actually in California currently learning about organic farming so Tommy's brother is filling in. All the more reason for the band rehearsal today.

For my VAE followers, you will be surprised to know that Peter Olson is on this trip.  I didn't realize that his wife Carla was one of the dancers when we did the performance in Des Moines but she is on this trip and he has tagged along.  He is helping the videographer with lighting etc.

You might be interested as to how we're getting around.  We have a very comfortable double decker coach bus.  And as with most tours we have a great bus driver who is very good at navigating the city streets.  We also have a great guide named Anne who makes sure we know where we are supposed to be and when.

Off to rehearsal - more later!

Lori

June 16th - Arrival and Armagh

A weary group of about 40 arrived in Dublin this morning about 8 a.m.  Not much sleep had by anyone on the 7 hour flight.  Fortunately the airport was quiet and it was easy getting through customs.  AND all of our luggage and equipment arrived.  It was about a 90 minute bus drive from the Dublin airport across the border to Armagh, Northern Ireland.  We picked up our local tour guide at the hotel and she gave us a tour of a few highlights of Armagh.  Most noteably, Aramgh is home to both the Catholic and Anglican churches of Ireland, each with a St. Patrick's cathedral.  We will be singing at the Anglican cathedral on Friday evening. 

After our tour we returned to the hotel to check in, grab some lunch and some rest.  We had a brief late afternoon rehearsal with the combined 30 person choir.  A magnificent space to sing in!  AFter the rehearsal we had a reception with the mayor of Armagh, followed by a lovely dinner in the hotel. 

Since this author has been awak for about 36 hours, \I will sign off for now but hope to be back at it in the morning.

waiting in chicago

all of the des moines travelers have made it to chicago and are waiting for the rest of the group to arrive.  we understand they are going though security so all is going smoothly so far that we know of.  very rainy here in chicago so hopefully it doesnt cause too many problems.

June 15th - Ready to Go!

After several hours of rehearsal over the past few weeks for the singers, instrumentalists and dancers we're ready to go.  There are about a dozen singers from the Des Moines area, a couple from Omaha and a number of singers joing us from Decatur.  We have a handful of dancers from the premiere production who are joining us and some of the singers (and one spouse) are helping to supplement some of the dance scenes (this author is NOT one of them!)  For instrumentalists, we have the accordion player, "fiddler", guitarist and organist.  One of the singers from Omaha will be playing the harmonica part. 

We depart from Chicago this evening around 6:30.  Several people from Des Moines are driving to Chicago but a handful of us are flying in this afternoon  (please keep your fingers crossed that the weather cooperates for that).  So we will all eventually be meeting up at our departure gate - hopefully anyway.  We covet your thoughts and prayers for safe travels. 

More later today hopefully as we get closer to departure.

Welcome!

Just setting up this blogspot prior to leaving on the 2011 Celtic Mass Tour.  Assuming I can access the internet on a regular basis, I will try to make updates as to our daily adventures.  We leave June 15th so look for the first major post at that time.