Our first travel day of tour went very smoothly. We only had a two hour bus ride to Guangzhou and we were all excited to see our new home for the week. We were a bit spoiled with the warm weather in Shenzhen and even though it was only two hours away, Guangzhou was a tad bit on the colder side. It rained for a couple of days here and there was not too much sun; but we were still able to check out the local sites. Since this is week two, we have started to get used to the culture a bit more and have realized some more cultural differences.

Happy Holidays from California! As I’m sure it was for all of you, this week has been a flurry of festive activities for the Boyne Company. We stayed in the Claremont Resort, a historic hotel with a massive spa, ten tennis courts and hilltop views of the San Francisco Bay. Quite the picturesque setting for Christmas!

We left Nantes after the Show on Sunday and began our long journey to Amsterdam. We travelled to just outside of Champagne, France that night and stayed over in a lovely hotel. It was bed for everyone as we had an early start in the morning again the complete our journey.

Welcome to China with the brand new Bann Company. Riverdance will tour 12 cities in China including Beijing and Shanghai from December 2009 to February 2010. We begin the tour with 6 shows in Shenzhen.

This week we embarked on the California leg of our tour with a split week between Santa Barbara and San Bernadino.

If you have never been to Austin, I would highly recommend it! The city is so full of film, theatre, dance and especially music. Our hotel was situated right off of 6th street, which was the place to go for live music. There is a plethora of different clubs and restaurants to choose from, many with local bands playing into the late hours the entire week…our hotel even gave us earplugs for this reason!

This week we had two short stops in Lille and Lyon. We also said goodbye to some company members, and welcomed four new members!

This week we visit Fort Worth in Texas. We also say goodbye to some company members who will join the Bann Company, and welcome some new members! We celebrate a birthday and visit the Southern Region Oireachtas in Dallas!

This week we return to Paris, after a few days off. In Paris we see many of the sights and have 8 sell out shows!