Erin's trips

Prague

2008-08-26T14:26:00Z

So Sunday was a long day. i was up at 6am to get the 7am train to vienna (3 hours) then had another 3 hours in Sudbahnhof before the 4 hour train to Prague. Then I got to the hotel and they hadnt recieved the reservation yet but they gave me a room anyway and had it straighten out by the time I got downstairs in the morning. Yesterday I went to the castle and the charles bridge. About half way through the castle grounds my camera decided not to work any more, so I was going to buy a disposable and figure out what was wrong later but i left my debit card at the hotel so i had to walk all the way back then of course my camrea started working again so I had a little rest and bought a bag of microwave popcorn from the desk and went back accross the river and up the hill to finish the castle. I also saw the astrnomical clock which always looks like it is really high up but it is acctually at the bottom of the tower. I looked in a couple churches around the square and then walked up Wensaclas (like the christmas carol) square back to the hotel.
Last night I acctually found good british tv, its so funny they have all the usual terrible stuff on durring normal hours and then there was a late night sitcom on that was absolutly hillarious.
This morning I went to an old fortess that I cant spell the name of but its something like vhyarhd. Unfortuantly the big basilica up there was closed today. Then I went back up to the castle grounds to see the basilica there because i ran out of time yesterday. It was cool and that is where St Wencaslas is buried. Then I looked in some more chuches and walked around for a bit and now Im going to find some dinner and pack. My flight dosent leave till 2 so I will proabably go walk around a bit in the morning.
The check language is weird, they have words with no vowels.
It is kind of cool being in Hungary, Slovakia, and Czech Republic before they switch to the euro in the next year or so because now I have cool coins that wont be used soon. Although it is kind of a pain to figure out. I know it is about 25 czech krowns to one euro, Slovakia i have no idea but its a weird one, and then about 270 hungarian florints to 1 euro, that one was hard to figure out. Also they dont have cents in hungary just florints, but here they have cents which I only just figured out today.

Prague remains copyright of the author Passmore, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Last day in Salzburg

2008-08-23T14:34:58Z

So we had our concert this morning and then I had my last Itlalian diction lesson a little while ago and so Im done now. Its cold and rainy today which is kind of good because it makes me want to just go home and pack and I have to leave really ealry tomorrow and head to Vienna because I#m not to sure how the train to Prague is going to work or how getting to my still unknown hotel once im there is going to work.

Last day in Salzburg remains copyright of the author Passmore, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Operas and the Sound of Music

2008-08-18T10:33:43Z

So it was a pretty routine week last week. We start with gymnastik at 9:30 for an hour where we all get our butts kicked by a 55 year old man. We have to run around the room and stretch and do ab excersises and isometrics which get more intense everyday. Now we have to do the ab isometrics while doing our deep breathing hyper ventalating. Then I either have a musical class with the woman or a tech lesson with the guy again and then every other day I work with a vocal coach/accompianist who is thankfully american so we can have good english converstations. Then some days i have Alexander tech which is always awsome and then every day I have italian diction. The italian prof is really funny, very steriotypical italian. My favorite day though was saturday when he went from his usual tight white jeans and half unbuttoned dress shirt to liederhosen, it was great. Then Friday was a holiday so we only worked a half day and unfortuantly it was pouring all day and everything was closed so there wasnt much to do. Then Saturday we worked another half day, we didnt really have normal class though, just italian and a mini concert for the other people in the class. Again it was cold and rainy but thankfully it cleared up that night so i could watch Don Giovanni in the square with the castle over the screan and the moon eclipse over that, it was pretty cool. Still really really cold though so I didnt watch the whole opera which was too bad, it was fantastic and this years production from the festival. Then Sunday we had off completely so I slept in and then went to Schloss Hellbrun. It was cool, there are a lot of springs underneath the property so the emporer that built it had a bunch of trick fountains installed so he could spray people as they walked around the grounds. He also had a stone table with a wine cooler in the middle, and when people were getting to roudy he had a button that had water shoot up from a hole in the bottom of the chairs. There are also a bunch of little mechanical things that run on water pressure. The inside had some frescos and a room with fantastic accoustics and then a couple rooms of paintings of wierd or rare animals that the emporer owned. I also saw the gazebo from sound of music

THEN I was looking in a book of sound of music landmarks in Salzburg and fliped over to Schloss Frohnburg! Thats where I live! I have lived in the sound of music house for a week and had no idea! Its because it is the house they used for the front facade and courtyard and I only ever use the back gate, but ya I live in the sound of music house!

Later I walked up to an old chuch on a hill accross this river from the castle and the old town. Then I walked up to the abby from the sound of music and got there just in time for the early evening gregorian chant, so that was pretty cool. And then I ended going to the square again to see Romeo et Juliett which was unbelievable. Again this years production but just amazing singers. Unfortuantly it was the last night of the opera recordings in the square so i have to find something else to do now for the next week.

Operas and the Sound of Music remains copyright of the author Passmore, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Peanutbutter

2008-08-12T15:22:58Z

i forgot to add that although Ive been pretty much converted to fresh apricot jam, after 7 weeks and 3 countries I have finally found a jar of peanut butter

Peanutbutter remains copyright of the author Passmore, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

First day of working

2008-08-12T15:21:25Z

Last night I went to watch a play on the bis screan in the square but i was really tired and ended up going all the way back home, there is a really good opera on tonight though so hopefully i last a little longer.
This morning we all went to our group breathing lesson. Which was acctually runing around the room, stretching, isometrics and sit ups in our dress clothes and then a couple standard breathing things at the end. Next I had a diction lesson with a very italian man, he is funny. Then I ran over to my practice room becasue they overlap 15 minutes (im going to see about renting another hour later in the day) my room is in they very bottom corner of a basement which I am so happy about now because it is soooo hot out. Then I had to run over to masterclass (of course everything is in a different building) it went well and because it is so hot they are being quite relaxed about dressing up and we can sing in our barefeet because they teacher dosent want to wear shoes. Then I had to run over to my Alexander technique lesson which I just finnished so Im all ready for a nap now before tonights opera in the sqaure.

First day of working remains copyright of the author Passmore, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Salzburg

2008-08-11T15:40:08Z

So I left Budapest on the 9th and 7 hours of trains later got to salzburg. The directions to the dorms they gave me was go to the poleizei bus stop and then it is 5 minutes walk from there. But they didnt say which way for 5 minutes so i wandered around for a loooong time and eventually got the gas station to phone a cab which drove me about a block and a half to a place I walked by more than once. Then I had to sit there for a few hours waiting for someone to check in even though it was within check in times so theoretically there should have been someone there. It is basicly a villa that is conversted to dorms, its quite nice we have a kitchen and I have my own room for the first time in 7 weeks. Yesterday I walked around the old town for a while and registered for classes. There is no set scheduelle for anything so I am in the situatio nwhere i can be easily quadrupal booked. Then I went up to the castle which has fantastic views of the citty on one side and the mountains on the other. I also saw someone who had rolled out a grand piano and was busking in a square. Unfortunatly i dont have tickets to anything with the festival there are some amazing singers in town that i am keeping my eye out for though. I found a big scream tv in a square as well that I think shows operas and concerts from past years and then a little later on will show a couple of this years operas.
This morning I had a practice room booked from 8 to 9 and then italian diction at 830, but i just ran down and told him i couldnt be there. Then we had our masterclass audition which was done entirely in german. There are 18 people and only three of us have bad german but the three of us had no idea what was going on. We all sang (there are some very good and very experienced people here) and then they said some stuff in german and listed off some names and then told us all to go stand in the hall. I just assumed that since my name wasnt there that i didnt pass so i would just be audiditing it was all very confusing. Then we all went back in and had a group breathing lesson with the guy who was nice enough to alternate between english and german. I went and talked to him after and he explained what was going on to me too, so i will be singing, i just dont start till tomorrow because im at the bottom of the alphabet. We have one lesson a day either with him or with his wife (the mezzo) but we wont know what time until tomorrow and hopefully it is a set time for the 2 weeks so i can straighten out the quadrupal bookings. Then I went to rent my practice room time for the next two weeks, i just had to guess when I will be free so hopefully it works out. Next I had a seminar on Alexander tequnique and had to book my individual lesson time for that too without knowing when i will be singing, those may have to be moved around and i dont even know when my italian individual lessons are yet. But now Im done for the day and will go get some greoceries and then maybe go see if that big screan has an opera on tonight.

Salzburg remains copyright of the author Passmore, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Last Day

2008-08-08T19:32:21Z

This morning I went to the Church in the rock, it is built in a cave where a saint lived and healed people with the spring waters. I went for a walk to find the caves you can go on tours through but I gave up walking because my feet were sore and went to the Hungarian folk museum instead. It wasn't great but ok. Now Im back early to pack and get ready for Salzburg in the morning where I will have my own room for the first time in like 7 weeks! Also I have been guessing the temperatures wrong, i guessed high 20s but i saw a thermometer today that said 33 and today was better that it has been the last few days. And I did not watch the opening ceremonies today which is probably a good thing when i think about it, im still a bit frustrated about the whole womans spot thing and about not shooting now but oh well, if you haven't heard than just google it and go through the articles.

Last Day remains copyright of the author Passmore, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Churches and Statues

2008-08-07T19:04:59Z

So this morning I started out at the Basilica and saw the mummified hand of St Stephan. Then attempted the Budapest transit system for the first time. I miss Vienna it was a lot more straightforward. Eventually I figured it out and headed out to monument park. This is the park where they put all the statues that were unsuitable after the fall of communism and socialism. They obviously don't like them because they are way out in the middle of nowhere outside the city, I knew it was going to be far but wow. It was mostly Stalin and some other guys from around that time. I was following an English tour around the park and we were all pretty much convinced by the end that the tour guide was an ex communist. It was actually quite interesting to listen to as he was in Budapest for numerous different governments and policies. I think my favorite comment was - And now to this handsome fellow, we wernt allowed to talk about him for a while, but he was a good guy! He also talked about when Stalin died that everyone was sad and if you wernt they just put you in jail. After that I went on the tour of the opera house. It is modeled after Vienna's but smaller because that was the only way the emperor would pay for it. The inside of the hall I think I like better than Vienna though, I bought a book on it because the pictures wernt turning out well. But the intermission rooms and the entrance I liked better in Vienna, at least the original parts of viennas. there was a fire in Viennas that ruined a lot of the original parts which is why the Budapest one now has an iron curtain on the stage that they can close and contain a backstage fire. Then after the tour I went to the music store not nearly as good as Doblingers in Vienna - my new favorite place in the world - but they did carry middle key which is more than i can say for Canada. After that I went down to the river and read until the sun went behind the hill and castle on the other side, it was pretty cool.

Churches and Statues remains copyright of the author Passmore, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Castle Hill

2008-08-06T19:40:21Z

I spent most of today on Castle hill. I went to the Hungarian national gallery, it was interesting as pretty much all of the works were by Hungarian artists with the exception of a few cross overs during the Hapsburg era. Then I sat and read and ate fruit looking over the Buda hills for a few hours. Then I went to the Castle Labyrinth, under the hill are a series of tunnels that you can walk through, they have a bunch of weird stuff in them to make them more interesting i think but it was weird. It would be the perfect place for a Halloween party though, it was pretty creepy and damp and low ceiling and dark. Then the last section of the tunnels is called the labyrinth of courage. It is pitch black and you have to follow a chord on the wall and try not to run into the stranger in front of you and not knowing when you will change direction or altitude. It was creepy.

Castle Hill remains copyright of the author Passmore, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Castle Hill

2008-08-05T19:17:29Z

Today I walked around another park and went to heros square. Then to the fine art museum, i liked the ones in vienna better but it was ok, it was more religous scene based. I found a used english book store today and traded mine in for news ones so thats good. Then I walked up to castle hill and went through the fishermans bastilion and one of the old churches up there. It was very different archetchture from austrian churches. Then I walked around through the opld town and castle grounds for a whole before going home.

Castle Hill remains copyright of the author Passmore, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Parks

2008-08-04T18:14:57Z

So i pretty much just spent today doing nothing, i was going to go to the art gallery but it is closed on Mondays so i just went and walked around and sat in the park on the Island. Its a pretty big park the river is quite wide here and the park is on an island in the middle, there are some ruins of an early monestary there, so i just sat and read all day. im just really tired still, kind of wish i had booked a hotel for the first couple nights so i could have caught up on sleep, maybe i will do that in prague.

Parks remains copyright of the author Passmore, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Budapest

2008-08-03T17:05:29Z

Ok so this spelling could be horrendous, there are lots of extra keys and some of them are in the wrong spots. I walked up to the independance monument today, you can see the entire city from there is was cool. It is really hot out though. The Formula 1 races are going on just north of the city so all the hotels all full of racers. It is pretty cool here, the river runs between Buda and Pest and you can walk down the sides of it. I think I liked Vienna better though, it is a lot cleaner. They are pretty run down here thoguh I think becasue democracy is a fairly new thing still and the ecomony still sucks from it. I miss Baden though, and german and suprisingly all the people I spent the last 5 weeks with. Couple of the guys from the program might be meeting me here in a couple days though, well see.

Budapest remains copyright of the author Passmore, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Baden

2008-06-30T17:17:44Z

Ok so have in baden for a couple days now. May not have so much time to write for the next 5 weeks, we'll have to see but we have a pretty tight schedule. Christine and i get up early and practice from 8 to 9 (then we don't have to fight over the room with the grand and its pretty much the only time to temperature is decent) then 9 to 10 is poetry seminar, then 2.5 hours of master class followed by lunch and then 2.5 more hours of master class, an hour for dinner and then various individual coaching on acting, diction, poetry, piano and voice from 6 to 9. so far we have had everything but the master class, those start tomorrow. But we have had a few day of practicing and poetry and walking in the woods.

Baden remains copyright of the author Passmore, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Art Day

2008-06-26T18:21:28Z

So today I went to three art galleries. It took all day and I deffinatly skipped over some stuff.
Sot the first was the Albertina they had an exhibit of Monet to Picasso so it had all of the impressionists ect it was quite good acctually. Saw those two, matisse, braque, chagal ect.
Then I went to the Leopold Museum they had another big Klimt.
And then I went to the Art history musuem which was the best but gigantic. The building itself was amazing, it was built by the hapsburgs to be their art gallery. Then there is one wing of all of the italiian artists - raphael, cargovaggio, ect and then another wing of dutch and austrians - van Eyck and van der Weyden (i have a big list of all the big names that i saw that i will put in next time i didint bring it with me). I really liked the Rubens and the Titian and they had a lot of those, again very glad for art history.
So now Im just figureing how im meeting with christine tomorrow so we can figure out how to get to Baden, thakfully it dosent matter what time we arrive tomorrow so if it takes us the day to figure it out we are ok. And the game is in Vienna tonight so it could be loud, last night was thankfully really quiet despite the game becasue of the crazy big storm we had.

Art Day remains copyright of the author Passmore, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Opera and Slovakia

2008-06-25T16:31:08Z

I forgot to say I sat in the balcony for Don Carlo well stood, i think i liked it up there better. Itis easier to sit when you get tired and its not as crowded, cant see the bottom corner of the stage unless you get there really early but its not to bad.
So yesterday I went to Belvadere Castle. It was a lot different than the Schonbrunn. The grounds were a lot smaller and not as impressive (they were working on the fountain though). Then there are 2 buildings, the lower palace has a bunch of more contempory art didnt like most of it there were a few good ones though and there was a salvador dali that i liked. That building was under construction though so zyou couldnt really see the outsidfe of it. Then the upper palace had soe really cool rooms and a way more interesting gallery. They had some medeval works and sculptures as well as Monet, Manet, Rubens, Renoir, Munch, Klimt (the kiss and judith) and David (the one with napoleon on the horse). Its kind of nice that I took art history and acctually understand what those were.
Then I went to Stephansdome it was very different than Karlskirche but they had these whute decorative sheet things up that kinda of just wrecked it.
And then last I went to the Volksoper to see Orpheus in der Unterwelt. I got really cheap sitting tickets so i didnt have to stand for the 4th night in a row so i couldnt see the a big chunk on the bottom part of the stage but at least i didnt have to stand. It was good though, really funny and really good acting even if the singing wasnt as good.
Then today I went to Slovakia for the day. Went up to the castle wich of course was under construction and you couldnt go in, but the view was really good. Then i just walked around the old town for a while it was nice. It was cool how differnt it is arcitchturally and langage and everything but its only an hour away.

Opera and Slovakia remains copyright of the author Passmore, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Schonbrunn

2008-06-24T08:15:19Z

So in the morning I went to the Schonbrunn palace. Its a huge mostly rococo designed building with french gardens in the back. Had a mozart crossaint for breakfast but it wasnt that good had some funny green stuff in it. I basicly spent the whole day here the grounds are huge and there are fountains and statues and stuff everzwhere and a hedge maze that i deffinatly did not get out of.
Then I went to sit in the line for Don Carlo. I only got there like just over an hour early and it was a busy night. it was crazy, after every act they put the curtain down and came out for bows. Then at intermission after lots of bows a bunch of people in suits come out and this guy talks for 15 minutes in german and then brings out Dr. somthing from the chorus and talkes for another 10 and then the Primeminister comes out and talkes for about 5 and gives the chorus guy a ring and a certificate or something and then the first guy goes on for like 10 minutes and then the Dr. went on for another 10. I have absolutly no idea what was going on, I could understand most of what the Primeminister said so it was some sort of award for service to the opera house i think.
So today I think im going to go to the belvadere castle and if i have time to stephansdome.

Schonbrunn remains copyright of the author Passmore, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Vienna!!!!

2008-06-23T07:54:38Z

Ok so Ive been here for a couple days but onlly just found a internet cafee, the spelling could be pretty bad here, none of the keys are in the right spot.
So heathrow was confusing again i didnt have a ticket and noone could tell me which terminal i should be in but thankfully i had like 5 hours to figure it out.
So the first day i walked around and figured out where everything is. Unfortunatly since the Euro 08 is here all of the gradens in the ring are closed off and a lot of the squares are filled with fanzone and stages and big screans.
So I went to the haus der musik, it was really cool they had the museum for the orchestra and then a bunch of things on how the ear works and different levels of hearing and then rooms for each of the major composers.
Then I went on the opera house tour, they let you go on stage!!! and it was cool becasue they were just setting up the set for Capriccio.
Then i went to change to go watch it later. There were people in line 4 hours ealy! I got there about 2 hours early and thankfully the door was already open, its really really hot here. So then you sit inside on the floor for a long time. i was getting something out of my bag and slipped and hit the French guy next to me which was great he showed me how the whole system worked and knew more about opera rep and performers than anyone ive heard. So we got our tickets, then you go stand in another line, then they finnaly let you in, you take a scarf and tie it on the railing to mark your standing spot and then you can go look around. The French guy then took me on basicly the tour of the house over again before the opera started(Capriccio). So sore after from standing but it was really good!
Then that night there was a big game so it was loud all night, im talking like whyte ave durring playoffs but aallllll night.
So now yesterday i went to Zentralfriehof in the morning, it was really hard to find but i saw the graevs of beethoven, schubert, strauss, wolf and gluck. Then I went to the Stadtpark becasue its one of the few parks/gardens acctually open, wasnt very good though.
So I went to karlskirche, wow!! so cool. I went in and thought that they were doing maitenence becasue there is scaffoling up the the cool ceiling fresco but it turned out it you can take a scarry elevator up to the dome where the whole platform shifts when anyone moves but you are right up at the fresco and then there are even scarryer stairs (praobably not acctually that bad but you can see the whole way down) they went up through the dome onto another little platform in the little tower thing, there were bars on the windows but you could still see really far and the fresco on the roof in there was really nice.
Then I headed back to the standing ticket line to see Pique dame, the line wasnt as long this time but the opera sure was, I liked it better though, the cast wasnt as notable but i like the opera where people die better.
And now my legs hate me but there is another good one tonight, 4 hours though so we'll see.

Vienna!!!! remains copyright of the author Passmore, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Galway

2008-05-08T13:29:00Z

Tuesday morning we went on a tour of the ring of Kerry. Its about a 5 hour bus trip including all the stops in little towns or along the ocean/mountain range. It was really cool to see the mountains, they were a funny grey color but I guess thats because in August they will be all purple with heather. We also saw lots of sheep and dry stone walls. We also stopped at a little place with the old thatched roofs for a 10am Irish coffee. After the tour we went straight to rehearsal in Killarney and then had our concert. Unfortunately I seem to be sick and only sang about half of the night, there were two people sick before we came and now they have spread it to basically everyone.

Wednesday morning we head off to the cliffs of Moher and the Buren county. The buren is very rocky and basically the only thing they can do there is have sheep farms. The cliffs were pretty cool. We've been really lucky with the weather and it has only rained once and it was while we were singing and the days where we have had a lot of time outside have been really warm. After the cliffs we head off to the Aillwee caves. They were formed by an old underground river under the river aillwee, they were ok but the tour was not a long as we had expected but it was funny to watch the claustrophobic guy. Then off to Galway, we all went out to the pub for a little but but seeing as I am really feeling sick i went back pretty early.

This morning we were supposed to go bus to Bunratty castle at 8am, spend the day on the bus and then do our concert in a town outside of Galway. However seeing as we are all sick (largely due to the amount of time spent on the bus together) the whole choir opted out and spent the day sleeping and doing what we felt like in the city. We walked down to the ocean for a while today, then had lunch and went shopping for a bit. Tonight we are doing a benefit concert for some youth music project, it will be the last concert. And in the morning we are back to Dublin. Galway is very much a university town, the roads are really confusing too, trying to figure our if it actually a driving road or just walking but some of the seem to change at random times.

So couple things I've noticed, since I think this may be the last time before we get home
-no one here seems to work, it didn't matter where we were, at 2 in the afternoon on any the streets were packed
-also no matter what day it is at 1 in the morning the streets are still pretty full
-hotel rooms don't have alarm clocks, or any clocks at all really
-British tv is really horrible but they seem to have a thing for American Idol
-traditional irish breakfast is pretty gross and heavy and they like their meat (eggs, sausage, blood pudding, bacon, a whole tomato)
-a toastie is just a sandwich on toast
-everything costs the same as it does in Canada until you remember that the euro is worth over two and a half times as much as our dollar

So hopefully I'm feeling a little better tonight so I can go out, there are a few people leaving tomorrow morning to go off on their own travels so it will be last night with everyone here. We do still have the last night in Dublin though.

Galway remains copyright of the author Passmore, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Catching up

2008-05-05T23:36:47Z

So ya didn't have much time to write while we were in Cork so I hope I remember everything, might just have to come back and edit later. (Some Irish guy that I did not understand in the slightest just talked to me)
So the concert in the non competitive part went well and meeting the mayor was good. After we were pretty tired so we just got a movie in one of the rooms.

On Saturday morning we had to go on another bus tour which was as annoying as the last one but at least this one was only an hour. Both my rommates are sick so they got to sleep through it. I spent the morning shopping with the boys and then went to rehearsal. This night was the compitition. We had a couple slips but overall didn't go to badly. That night there was the festival club, one room is kareke with live piano and the otehr room was a ball room. Every few songs they would play something traditional and teach everyone how to dance, it was so much fun. And, although it was not near as funny as Rio, I did seem to gain a couple underage Sweedish boys.

Sunday - Got to sleep in a bit then we walked over to St. Francis' church to sing in the 12:00 mass, the accousitcs were amazing and we had some crying choir members after the mass, it was just so amazing to sing in there.
The afternoon was the awards ceremony for the international compitition. Its weird cause we have no idea what our scores are before we go in there. There are a couple awards other than the trophys and Len won one for most creative and original programing. We found out our scores and placement after, we tied for 5th with the american choir (also from the U of A acctually, Alabama) with a 90.92 but the winning choir had a 91.8 so we are pretty happy about that considering we got that despite our slip ups. So tonight a bunch of us went out for dinner and then a samaller group went to the festival club again (I dieffinatly havn't been to bad before 2am yet)

So now we come to today which was fantastic, we had the whole day off singing. We started out this morning by driveing to the blarney castle it was fantasic lots of good pictures and yes I even flipped upside down and kissed the stone and have pictures to prove it. It was acctually really freaky its way farther down than you would think and you are in that hole quite a bit. Then we went for lunch, we still had 2 hours before the bus was to leave so we just sat there and relaxed. Now we are in Killarny. It is 1:30am and there are a bunch of crazy old irish men that i don't understand in the loby next to me. When we got here we went for a walk which turned out to be well over 2 hours. The entrace to the nataion park is right around the corner from the hotel so we thought we would check it out. Took a while becuase we found a castle on a lake and a field of deer that you could basicly walk right up to. We went for dinner and then to a movie. Now we are in the pool lounge of the hotel. We brought down a kettle and a bunch of mugs and are sitting around with tea. But I think I'm going to go to sleep now, I'm really sore from the walking/dancing.

Catching up remains copyright of the author Passmore, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Cork

2008-05-02T12:10:40Z

I forgot to say about the fantastic dinner in Greystone, yet again on the choir, wow good food! So yesterday we walked around Cork for a while, looked at some very cool churches and since Thursday is basilcy universal church choir rehearsal we got to listen to a few of them as we snuck into the churches that let their doors open. We also found a little shop called Ginos that has fantastic gelato. There is also a river that runs though the city and some beautiful buildings that line it. I diddn't bring my usb cord so I will have to put pictures up when I get home.
Today we had a concert in a little library in a residential area, it acctually went really well and the audience was great, bunch of old people and a couple elementary school groups. Then in a couple hours the executive (Me!) gets to meet the mayor before we all sing again. This one will be for the National School Choirs Compitition, we are not acctually competeing tonight (just the Ireland choirs) but it is a chance for us to try out the space for the international compitition tomorrow.
Its really interesting how different it is here from Dublin and we were downtown in both places. but I will explain that later, I think we are going to wat soon before the next gig.

Cork remains copyright of the author Passmore, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Cashel

2008-05-02T12:11:18Z

So today we left Dublin and are in Cork. It may be kinda tricky to update now, the internet cafe is hard to find. The rock of Cashel was amazing, its an old ruined church on a hill, there used to be a fortress there as well but it was wood so its gone now. I have a video of us singing in the old chapel but I wont know if the sound worked till I get home.
Now we are in Cork, its kind of like Banf but big and super classy. We looked up the hotel in the guidebook and it costs 150£ per person so ya good deal for us.
Going to go find some food.

Cashel remains copyright of the author Passmore, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

The Pub

2008-04-30T22:52:27Z

So I've been able to write on here a lot more than I had thought so far, fortunately there is a really cheap internet cafe across the street from the hotel, but tomorrow we go to Cork so we'll see.
So yesterday after I got back after writing, a couple of us decided we should go find a little Irish pub and have some real Guinness. So we asked the desk at the hotel where was good and in walking distance. The place he sent us was called Bleu Note and supposibly has good live jazz (which sure doesn't sure Irish spelt that way and didn't have jazz but it was a Tuesday night) and once we found it, it had half its signs in Chinese and only 2 people were sitting in it. So we walked a little further down the street and found Slatterys. It was amazing, we got upstairs and it was Portuguese night or something. But every other Tuesday they go there with drums and cowbells and shakers and sing and jam around a big table. I tired videoing it on my camera but i wont know if it worked till I get it on to the computer with the sound. Also the Manchester game had just finished so it was the Portuguese, the hippy's jamming with them, the guys watching the game and the table of Canadians. We were sitting with the guys who had just finished watching the game and learned some stuff. They taught us if the pub is two floors always get your Guinness from the bottom floor because it gets shaken up on the way up to the second and doesn't taste as good. And we told them our story of the other pub we got sent too so they wrote us a list of places in Dublin and another list for Cork. There is a really really old one in Dublin that we are going to go to on the last night before we leave and then there is another in Cork that they said was great because they guy that runs it is crazy, everyone sits around a tells stories, and when it rains it leaks through the roof.
So today we had a three hour bus tour of the city which was ridiculous, everywhere we went was in walking distance and we never even got off the bus. Thankfully we had a couple hours free so we got up to the river and the Christ Church Cathedral. Hopefully on the last day we can get to the St. Patrick's cathedral.
Then we had a concert in a little coastal town called Greystones. beautiful little town.
I'm going to go back and play cards in the lobby!

The Pub remains copyright of the author Passmore, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Dublin

2008-04-29T20:24:48Z

K so we are in Dublin now, I've slept about 2 hours since I woke up Monday morning. We had a couple people missing tickets in Heathrow but the people just hand wrote ones on a blank boarding pass and we had two bags that didn't make it over from Heathrow but they should be getting to the hotel tonight. Which is good cause I only brought one extra dress for the choir and there are two missing at the moment. And then we were delayed sitting in the plane from Heathrow to Dublin for at least an hour. Our hotel is really nice but it took everyone a while to figure out how to turn the lights on, and the shower on, and the tv on Then we had about half an hour to walk around for a bit. There was a ridiculously tall silver metal pole about a block from the hotel but we couldn't figure out what it was for. (Turns out it was a millennium monument that cost millions of euro). We had to go back to the hotel then to meet with our tour guide that is traveling with the choir. We all went for dinner to a place called The Temple just a couple blocks from the hotel. It was fantastic, a bunch of us split a bottle of good wine then for appetizer I had a sun dried tomato and butterbean dip, then the main course was fantastic. It was chicken stuffed with vegetables, garlic and feta with a really good sauce and then for desert a fantastic white chocolate and raspberry cheesecake. It was great two because part of the money we paid to the trip goes to a welcome and a goodbye group meal. So all we had to pay for was the wine. So right now we are trying to stay awake for long enough so we are on a somewhat normal schedule with the gig tomorrow night in Greystones. And tomorrow morning we are going on a tour of the city (unfortunately a bus tour a walking would have been better) but we do have some time in the afternoon to look around as well on the way home we have a full afternoon here.

Dublin remains copyright of the author Passmore, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Packing/Cleaning

2008-04-26T20:58:05Z

So I am currently cleaning my house before we head off the Ireland on Monday! Hopefully I will have chances to write in here on this trip but it is with the choir so it might be a little tricky. Here is the website for the competition though:
http://www.corkchoral.ie/pages/fitc.php

See the itinerary of this trip, and details about each destination.

Packing/Cleaning remains copyright of the author Passmore, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs