National Botanic Gardens of Ireland

Last week Kaitlyn's class had a field trip to the Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin. I decided to volunteer as a chaperone to get my head in the door and meet some of the other mothers. I meet the class at the school and we all walked down to the gardens. Joe stayed home with Lauren so that I could go alone. Both the 5th classes went on the field trip. It was a 30 minute walk. Can you believe that? A class in the US would never be allowed to walk 30 minutes on a field trip crossing major roads. They really do walk A LOT here! 

K's 5th Class at Corpus Christi

Walking to the Botanic Gardens

The gates to the Botanic Gardens

After we arrived at the gardens the teachers told the four of us mothers that we could go into the cafe and get a cuppa tea while the girls go on the tour. Seriously! A field trip and I get to sit down and have an adult conversation while drinking tea! This is awesome! I need to volunteer for all the field trips in this country. I have to say now...it was very nice to hang out with the other mothers. They all knew who K is - "The American." They kept telling me that their daughters love K and they LOVE hearing her talk and they LOVE her American accent. Funny that they think WE have an accent. I had loads of questions for them and they had many for me. It was really nice to just hang out with a few of the mothers. I learned about the school and how they operate, etc. We exchanged our mobile (cell phone) numbers so that I had them if I ever needed anything. 

The girls had their picnic lunch after their tour

The Botanic Gardens was established in 1795. The purpose of these gardens was to study agriculture. By the 1830's this led to the pursuit of botanical knowledge which became their focus.  Different plants were arriving from all over the world to Ireland. The gardens were the first location in Ireland where the infection responsible for the 1845-47 potato famine was identified. During the famine research to stop the infection was undertaken at the gardens. In the last 13 years they have done many restoration projects at the gardens to make it one of the greatest botanical gardens in Europe. 

K quietly sketching the sculpture

There is a sculpture exhibit going on at the botanical gardens right now. The girls spent time at a few of them sketching with pencil some of the exhibits. Later in the week they were going to pick their favorite sculpture and make it with clay. They do real art  here in school. They learn about the famous artists, types of art, drawing techniques, etc. I'm learning too! 

Not sure what this tree is?

Its common to see people walking around the gardens or just sitting and reading a book

Near the end of the day the girls walked back to their school in time for dismissal. They definitely got their exercise for the day. Don't forget most of these girls also ride their bikes or walk to school. 

When we got home we found out T's class also went to the Botanic Gardens with his class the same day. They walked down to the gardens also which I believe is even a longer walk from Sacred Heart. T is not the boy with many words so we did not find out very many details of his trip. Here are some pictures his teacher posted. 

T's class at Sacred Heart