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    EngagingIreland

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    Engaging Ireland – Episode 20 – Top 10 Monastic and Spiritual Sites

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    Outer wall at Kells

    Outer wall at Kells

    In the next few episodes, we will be taking a look at our Top 10 lists for Ireland. Seems like everyone is putting together a “Top 10” list these days, so we thought we would share some of our top choices for Ireland. We have chosen our favorites from several categories; for example, we’ll list our top ten favorite towns/cities, our top ten. Why didn’t we limit ourselves to just one list of Top 10 Favorites? It’s too hard! And, while we admit we haven’t seen everything there is to see yet, these are our favorites thus far.

    We begin the podcast series with our Top 10 Monastic/Spiritual Sites. Ireland is virtually littered with sites dating back thousands of years. These are the sites we are most drawn to again and again. For more information on any of the sites we mention, please click on the links below. NOTE: Many of the sites are part of Heritage Ireland (www.heritageireland.ie). If you purchase an OPW Heritage Card, you can enter these sites for no cost or reduced cost.
    (more…)

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    Episode 17 – Irish Fireside Interview

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    Liam, Corey, Kathy and Travis at Irish Fest

    Liam, Corey, Kathy and Travis at Irish Fest

    At the 2009 Milwaukee Irish Fest, we sat down for an interview with Liam Hughes and Corey Taratuta, the hosts of the popular Irish Fireside travel podcast.  They told us a bit about their podcast, Liam’s cottage in Ireland, their favorite places to see in Ireland, and gave us some tips for first time Irish travelers.  You can find their amazing podcast at http://irishfireside.com

    You can find more information about the festival itself and our topics of conversation by checking out the following sites:

    Irish Fireside – http://irishfireside.com

    Milwaukee Irish Fest – http://www.irishfest.com

    Liam’s Jazz CD – http://liamjazz.com

    Lamplighter Studio – http://www.lamplighterstudio.com

    Knockahopple Cottage – http://www.knockahopple.com

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    Engaging Ireland Minicast – The Christmas Narnia Experience at the Saint Patrick Centre

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    Kathy brings you an update about the Holiday exhibition schedule at the Saint Patrick Centre.  You can find more information about their holiday exhibit, the “Christmas Narnia Experience” on their website: http://www.saintpatrickcentre.com/

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    Episode 16 – An Interview with Dr. Tim Campbell

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    Saint Patrick Centre (Courtesy Lancastrian)

    Saint Patrick Centre (Courtesy Lancastrian)

    Episode 16 ñ Interview with Dr. Tim Campbell
    Dr. Campbell is the Director of the Saint Patrick Centre in Downpatrick, County Down. He was kind enough to sit down with us for a few moments during Milwaukee Irish Fest 2009, and he told us about the Centre and several of its programs, which include local outreach events and an international ambassador program.
    The following information appears on the centreís website (http://www.saintpatrickcentre.com/):
    The Centre is an exciting interpretative exhibition which tells the fascinating story of Ireland’s Patron Saint. Through Patrick’s own words a light is shone on the arrival of Christianity in Ireland and its development through his mission. A series of interactive displays allow visitors to explore how Patrick’s legacy developed in early Christian times and reveal the fabulous artwork and metalwork which was produced during this Golden Age. The exhibition also examines the major impact of Irish missionaries in Dark Age Europe – a legacy which remains to this day.
    The Saint Patrick Centre is the only permanent exhibition in the World†dedicated to†Ireland’s Patron Saint and one of the top tourist destinations in Ireland. Situated in the heart of Saint Patrick’s Country, beside Down Cathedral and Patrick’s Grave,†we are just 2 hours north of Dublin and 40 mins south of Belfast. The Centre provides a cutting edge interactive exhibition about the life and legacy of Patrick and is a central hub on the new Saint Patrick’s Trail through Counties Armagh and Down. As a non-profit organisation we provide reconciliation†education programs to thousands of children in Northern Ireland every year as well as†running cross border and international youth programs. The Friends of Saint Patrick is a support†organisation which is growing around the World to make people aware of our work and the new Northern Ireland.
    Bernd Biegeís article (and many others about travel to Ireland) on About.com can be found at http://goireland.about.com/od/countydown/gr/patrick_centre.htm.

    Dr. Campbell is the Director of the Saint Patrick Centre in Downpatrick, County Down. He was kind enough to sit down with us for a few moments during Milwaukee Irish Fest 2009, and he told us about the Centre and several of its programs, which include local outreach events and an international ambassador program.

    (more…)

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    Engaging Ireland MiniCast – New Website and the Podcast Awards

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    In our first mini-cast, we talk briefly about our plans for our mini-casts, talk about the new website, then give a bit of detail about the 2009 Podcast Awards. Nominations for the Podcast Awards open on October 4th and close on October 18th.

    Links to the nomination categories can be found here:

    http://www.podcastawards.com

    The nomination rules can be found at:

    http://www.podcastawards.com/index.php?option=rules

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    The Construction Continues!

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    Whew!  This rebuilding project is taking longer than we planned, but don’t they always?  We’ve got about half of the blog posts and podcast show notes copied over to the new site.  The bulk of the basics are in place…all the pages are there, all the links work (we hope) and more content is being added each day.  We hope to have the remainder of the posts and show notes moved over by the evening of September 10th (as well as the comments, if we can figure out a good way to do that).  After that, we’ll be focusing our attention on adding more photos to the photo page, getting some links added to “Our Favorites” and getting the new Forum in shape and some discussion-starting questions posted.

    This weekend, we plan to record a brief show to let everyone know about the new and improved site.  We hope that everyone can stop by and take a look and that you enjoy what you see!

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    The construction begins!

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    To the fans of the EngagingIreland podcast…we know that there are a few of you out there…please be patient.  It’s September 8th and we’re beginning the update to our new hosting service, and our new WordPress blog.  Unfortunately, we had to shift the engagingireland.com URL over to the new site before we could begin our updates.  Fortunately, we’ve been working on creating a demo website behind the scenes, so the majority of the construction should be over fairly quickly (by the evening of September 8th).  The changes to the blogpage should not negatively impact the podcast feed subscriptions in any way.

    So, what can you expect on our new page?  Well, we’re glad you asked!  At the very least, the new and improved Engaging Ireland website will (eventually) contain the following

    • A much cleaner, nicer interface (with more photos, yay!)
    • A list of our most recent Twitter updates.
    • A separate photo page, with photo albums broken out by location.
    • A forum, where you can all ask questions, share stories, and talk about Ireland.
    • A separate page of travel tips.
    • More detailed lists of our favorite websites and resources for Ireland trip planning.
    • A new page for guest blogs and special features.
    • More information about us (just in case you wondered)

    Now that we’ve got you interested in what you’ll see once this is all over, hopefully you’ll be able to be patient while we finish today’s construction.  When you come to this page on 9/9/09, what you see (we hope) will be an immense improvement, and extremely useful to you when you’re planning your next trip to Ireland.

    Thanks!  Slan!

    Travis & Kathy

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    Episode 15 – Tommy Sands Interview

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    Tommy, Moya and Fionán Sands (Courtesy of Ixtlan Artist's Group)

    Tommy, Moya and Fionán Sands (Courtesy of Ixtlan Artist's Group)

    We caught up with Tommy Sands, world-renowned singer/songwriter and social activist from County Down, at the 2009 Milwaukee Irish Fest and asked him about his musical influences, his new book The Songman: A Journey in Irish Music, and how he views the changes that have taken place in the last few decades in Northern Ireland. (more…)

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