5th Class School Tour

Today, 5th class visited the Galway City Museum down by the Spanish Arch. We got a bird's eye view of the Claddagh area of Galway from the top floor observatory. We learned about the foundation of Galway, about the rule of the Ó Flaherta family followed by the Norman De Burcas. We heard about the importance of Galway as a trading port with countries like Spain and France and about the fishing industry in the Claddagh. We even heard that the Claddagh still has its own king!

Following the guided tour, we got a look at the marine science exhibits on the top floor. This showed the real map of Ireland which showed all the Irish territorial waters and we learned about the exploration of the sea and all its marine life. There was a huge globe showing global climate systems, wind-up machines showing how deep ocean creatures create electric current so that they can glow in the dark. We even had a look inside a submarine.

We also had a round of Crazy Golf in LeisureLand. Initially, there was a few fresh air shots and plenty of balls were lost in the rough but there were also some sparkling displays of golf and one or two hole-in-ones. Watch out Rory and Tiger!

Finally, we got to the main event which was swimming. We got to practice some of the strokes we learned back in November and there were some notable attempts at synchronised diving; many of the spectators in the stands got wet!