Milwaukee Has Arrived!!

We spent today with Emma, the Chair of The Board of Directors for the St. Patrick Centre. We started the day with a drive to Armagh about an hour and a half from where we are staying. The least populated city in Ireland - Armagh is the county town for Armagh county. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland; the seat of the primates(a title of honour) of all Ireland for both the Church of Ireland and Roman Catholic, the Archbishop of Armagh. It is home to an ancient pagan ceremonial site, Eamhain Mhacha - Navan Fort. Armagh was also one of the ancient royal capitals of Gaelic Ireland. Known for its Georgian architecture, it’s home to two cathedrals both named after St. Patrick and the Armagh observatory. Emma’s daughter was competing at the local Feis (Irish dancing competition, pronounced like fesh) so we got to experience some Irish dance culture, think big curly wigs, fake tans and beautiful sparkling dresses. We also met their Irish dance schools teacher who invited us to attend their adults class on Monday night which should be great fun, I also found out Katherine one of the Young Ambassadors from Milwaukee has been an Irish dancer since she was young.

After the results were announced for her daughters age group (she got 3rd!🏆) we headed out. A short drive and we were at the St. Patrick cathedral right there in Armagh city. Seated high up on a hill you can drive up to the cathedral on one side but on the other there’s dozens of stairs you must climb to reach the cathedral. Once you get inside it is just as breathtaking as the outside, the paintings on the ceilings and images in the stain class windows paint a vibrant story. Confessionals bearing the most amazing wood work, intricate carvings and statues along the walls are amazing to view. When you walk down the steps, below the cathedral there is the old cemetery which we walked through. As you walk through the old headstones some so weathered and worn you can only just imagine the names and dates that would have been carved into them, you look up and can just see the tallest spire of the cathedral rising through the trees.

Loughinisland was our next stop along the way. We arrived at the old church’s and cemetery, after a drive out on a little road to an island in the lough. The story goes..that the North church was used by both Catholic and Protestants congregations but that arrangement broke down in 1720 and saw the Protestant congregation leave to Seaforde..taking the church roof with them!

Being shown around by someone who is local and grew up here in the community was absolutely brilliant as we got to hear a lot of local information and stories.

We’re all in this together...Milwaukee has finally arrived! We have fast discovered that all of us can related just about anything to a song. All it takes is a couple of words that are from a song; so about every five minutes we all break into song..it’s quite good fun!

We all decided to head to Denvir's for a first night dinner, and were able to enjoy delicious food while getting to know each other. On the way home we wandered around some of the local sights, including the church right around the corner from where we were staying. It was a great evening getting to know one another and starting to find our way to working together as a group.