Boston travel day

This is a little out of order, but I wanted to comment on our travel day through Boston.We all got up rather early for quite a journey. The group met at the Pittsburgh airport at 5:30 a.m. for a 7:00 flight to Boston. Everything was on time. When we arrived in Boston a little after 9:00, we checked into the Airport Hilton at Logan to store all of our belongings while we walked around Boston all day. Our flight to Shannon did not take off until 7:15 p.m. (!)It turned out to be a lot of fun. We tooled around Boston in two groups. Everyone saw at least a bit of the Freedom Trail before it rained cats and dogs. Then, for lunch we had reservations at the famous Kingfish Hall in Faneuil Hall right in the heart of the financial district in Boston. Fantastic food.We had a chance to clean up a bit before we had to check in at ticketing. While we were tired, it turned out to be a good experience.

Sunday & Monday: Medieval & Modern Ireland

Sunday was 'sleep-in' day, and even though breakfast went until 11AM, a number of our group were, uh, not quite able to make it in time. After the long trip over, sleep won out over food. Luckily, everyone was awake in time to board the bus in the afternoon for the 1-hour ride to Bunratty Castle and Folk Park. The castle itself is a fully-restored and authentically-furnished 15th Century castle. The park surrounding the castle is a fascinating depiction of life in medieval Ireland, complete with weavers, butter-churners and chickens ... lots of chickens. One actually laid an egg on a pillow on one of the beds! Plus there was a rooster with a serious attitude. It kept cockadoodle-dooing in mid-afternoon, as though it slept in a little too late. ;^)

At 5:30PM we entered the castle for our 'medieval banquet', with lots of servants calling us m'lord and m'lady. The evening was awesome. It featured a complete multi-course dinner and entertainment by musicians and singers. The highlight of the evening was having Dr. Wasieleski (aka, 'Dave-O') tossed into the dungeon for bad behavior (hey, the students voted, and Dave-O won .. or lost, depending on your perspective). Although Dave-O complained bitterly and vowed vengeance, as you can see he doesn't seem particularly distressed.

The story gets better. In order to be released, Dave-O had to sing a song. "Sing an Irish song!" someone yelled. Dave-O replied that he didn't know any Irish songs, since he was from Pittsburgh. At that point the room of several hundred people erupted into cheers, and the Duquesne students spontaneously started singing "Here we go Steelers, here we go!". Not only did that get Dr. Wasieleski out of the dungeon, we are quite sure that this was the first time in the 600 year history of the castle that the Steelers chant had been heard. And quite possibly the last!

This morning (Monday) we took the 20-minute walk to the National University of Ireland, where a number of lecturers from the university discussed various aspects of business and the economy in Ireland. Today the topic was modern Ireland, particularly the evolution of Ireland from one of the poorest countries in Europe to arguably the richest in only 15 years. It's quite a story.

Tomorrow we return to NUI for another morning of lectures, and then it's off to Dublin in the afternoon. Tomorrow evening features a dinner and show, with traditional Irish song and dance, at the "Merry Ploughboys Pub". Based on our experiences so far, it should be fun!

Arrival in Ireland!

After a lo-o-o-o-n-n-n-g flight from Pittsburgh through Boston (with a serious layover) to Shannon Ireland, the group finally has arrived in the Emerald Isle. And guess what? It really is green! From the plane it looked like a shimmering, flourescent green carpet ... which is not surprising considering all of the rain it gets! Rain was definitely part of the experience on arrival, but luckily it didn't rain all of the time.


First stop on the coastal route from Shannon to Galway was the town of Ennis for a quick coffee and a breath of fresh aire. ;-) As you can see, it is a very quaint little town.

Next stop was the breathtaking Cliffs of Moher ('Moe-hur'), which you can see behind the group in the first photo above. The cliffs are a sheer drop-off of several hundred feet. Reportedly people routinely fall or are blown off of the cliffs to the extent that the local media treat such accidents essentially with a ho-hum attitude. That said, you will be happy to know that none of our group were blown off of the cliffs. (Whew, that was a big hurdle to get past!)

Another interesting feature of this area is O'Brien's Castle (below), which sits very near the edge of the cliffs. Apparently the O'Briens were the biggest, baddest family at one time in Ireland's history, and essentially ruled a large portion of the country.



The final part of our journey took us through the 'Burren', a desolate area near the coast, and finally into the town of Galway and our temporary home, the Harbour Hotel. The hotel is very nice and is only 5 minutes walking distance from the heart of the old town.

Most of the students took to Galway right away. It's an incredibly quaint and accessible town of cobblestone streets, shops, restaurants and pubs. Absolutely delightful. We arrived at around 2:30PM, headed for a group lunch at the 'Quays Bar' (superb!), and then dispersed to various stores and pubs ... and in some cases, beds. ;^)

Today (Sunday) we board the bus at 1PM for the 1-hour drive to Bunratty Castle and Folk Park. We are hoping for decent weather and -- incredibly -- this morning the sun is actually shining. After touring the park, we will participate in a 'medieval banquet', which should be a lot of fun. Reportedly someone is crowned king or queen, and someone else is thrown in the dungeon. We certainly will not have a problem finding candidates for the dungeon ... we might all end up there! ;^)

Tomorrow (Monday) we get down to business with an all-day visit to the National University of Ireland (NUI), where students will listen to lectures from several of the NUI business professors. We will also get a tour of the campus, which is absolutely beautiful, by the way.

More on that later!

Kicking off the Europe blog ...

... from Pittsburgh. On May 11 at 7:30AM, the group will depart Pittsburgh for Shannon Ireland and points beyond. We will describe the journey in both words and pictures here.

Stay tuned!