Oh, I see. The arms stay down at your sides.

Today was an exciting final day in Ireland! We began with an early morning and loaded the coaches to head for Galway. Originally, we were scheduled to make our way approximately four hours to Kylemore Abbey, stay for an hour, and then make our way back to the hotel. Our positively brilliant tour managers realized this would not have been the best way to end our Irish adventure, and they quickly devised an amazing alternative trek that allowed us to see one more historically important Irish city and to experience what most consider to be the most amazing part of the Irish landscape—the Burren, here in County Clare.

In Galway, the girls were given a chance to see where the Claddagh ring originated, as well as get in one short impromptu performance (mostly for themselves, but with quite a few passersby who opted to stay rather than pass by) in the Church of Saint Nicholas. Yes, that Saint Nicholas. The church predates this discovery of America, and, indeed, Christopher Columbus trod on the very same stones and prayed at that very church about a decade before making his voyage to the Western Hemisphere.

After the performance, we had one final opportunity to shop, on Quay Street, a pedestrianized street filled with shops selling locally made wares and touristy chotchkes. A few of the girls (well, precisely two) were even brave enough to pony up to McDounal’s and order the fish and chips for lunch. (Incidentally, they were delicious.) Once we had spent a considerable amount of time in Galway, we returned to the coaches and made our way back toward Ennistymon by way of the Burren.

The Burren is a “protected landscape” (we might call it a preservation area) that offers truly stunning vistas and valleys, with the most beautiful incarnations of the “rolling Irish countryside” you’ve been seeing in the photos all week. In the midst of the Burren, we stopped in two places—a seaside “rest stop” with beautiful ocean views, and the 5,800-year old Poulnabrone Portal Tomb. For many of us, the tomb was the single oldest man-made structure we had ever seen. Suffice it to say, the Burren was an exhilarating part of the tour and really gave us a sense of the majesty of the natural Irish nation.

After the Burren, we returned back to the hotel and prepared for our goodbye banquet. The final meal featured all the PGC Touring traditions you might expect: final Secret Singer gift exchanges, thank you’s and, of course, the much anticipated Paper Plate Awards. This year, a group also put together a retrospective song to the tune of Seasons of Love. As a special bonus, we were also treated to a performance by local traditional Irish musicians and a group of four traditional Irish dancers—Mary, Siobhán (I’ll give you this one, it’s pronounced “Shevonne”), Ian, and Tara. The dancers were all children or teenagers, ranging from Tara at about age 7 to Siobhán at about age 17. They performed lots of reels, jigs, and other types of traditional Irish dances, and then taught the girls to do a group number—giving encouraging suggestions like “keep your arms down!” as needed. After the interactive opportunity, the girls sang their version of the Irish blessing to the appreciative dancers and musicians. It was an amazing evening and a great finish to our Irish adventure.

Some pictures from today are up at http://picasaweb.google.com/pgcireland. Once we return to the States, I’ll be uploading the full complement of pictures that I took and the pictures that chaperone-photographer Sandy Brown took so you can download your favorites or get them printed.

Stay tuned to the blog on Tuesday evening or Wednesday to find out the details of the massive photo upload. This blog will stay online as long as blogspot allows, and the pictures will be online as long as Google allows, so feel free to return any time to relive the magic.

We get up very early tomorrow (actually it's today by the time I'm posting this), and the girls can’t wait to see you and give you their own personal stories and share their own pictures.

Thanks for reading!