Limerick

Wednesday, May 16th - On our way to Newark airport!

Thursday, May 17th

We arrived in Shannon about 7:30am - I slept almost the whole way! We met our tour director, Tom and bus driver Charlie and we were off to Limerick and Adare. Our bus broke down in Limerick which gave us time to get coffee and wander through town before the next bus arrived.

Henry's Coffee Shop

After 15 hours of traveling it was sooo nice to sit and have coffee. It was overcast, rainy and cool, so the break was nice. This is where the group started to get to know one another over coffee. No one seemed upset about waiting for the next bus, but were ready to get going when it arrived.

King John's Castle is a 13th century castle on the Shannon River in the heart of Limerick.

Limerick is the home to the Frank McCourt Museum (Angela's Ashes) and Richard Harris (Dumbledorf in the Harry Potter series). The church below is St. Munchin's Roman Catholic Church, west of the Thomond Bridge and across from the castle. Built in 1920 - 1921.

The interior appeared much more modern than I expected, but it was still beautiful.

And we are off!

Wednesday,  May 15th
The NCCC group made it to Newark and waited for the group from GA that were traveling with us. We all met up @ the airport in Albany and took a bus to Newark - that was a trip! Driver was mean - made us load our own luggage and he drove like a maniac! I swear he was texting! A 12 hour flight ahead of us...

 

We were holding our breath!!

Catching up!

I feel like it has been forever since I began this blog - with intentions of allowing you to follow us on our adventure through Ireland. After three days of trying to connect to the internet (very spotty, to say the least!) I gave up and decided to fill you in when I got home (more a problem with Verizon, I assume). The trip was amazing and it ended up being very freeing to just leave the internet alone for a few days - although difficult at first! This is the amazing group of students and faculty that I traveled with - including our incredible EF tour guide,Tom (the tall guy in the back row) and bus driver extraordinaire, Charlie (2nd row, 3rd from the right)! I can't wait to travel again - wish I could clone this group!

Mirabelle has been dropped off, but I am not ready - not even close! Imagining she will have a great time because I am feeling guilty about leaving her for 11 days. http://bowsandbandanas.com/Pet%20Boarding.htm
If you are near Potsdam, NY, I would recommend this place for boarding especially if you feel guilty about leaving your pet! Now I'll be able to get some serious packing done! I have a feeling I will be up late tonight.... I will post again when we are on our way.

I am teaching an International Travel class with Cammy this semester and this blog will be about the journey to Ireland. Two more days until the class leaves - so excited, but too much to do. Still have to finish up end of semester stuff, clean my office, get Mirabelle's things packed for puppy camp :), clean the house - I don't know why, but I feel I should leave it clean....maybe so I can come home to a clean house, laundry, shopping and I haven't thought of packing yet. Too many things, too little time....