Galway

I just love Oscar Wilde

Yesterday the U of I girls decided to take a daytrip to Galway, which was about a four hour drive. I'm glad we went because it seemed like most people I talked to raved about Galway, but in the end it wasn't the amazing eight hours that I had expected.

We woke up and took the bus from campus into the city in order to catch the 10 am bus to Galway. The roundtrip only cost me sixteen euro, so I thought that was a deal! And the drive there was very illuminating seeing as I found out two things about Irish fog: 1)It lasts the whole day. At home, it may be foggy for a couple hours in the morning or a little at night but it certainty wouldn't last the whole day. In Ireland, however, the fog sticks. And 2)The whole country is covered in the fog. I know because I pretty much cut through the whole country. There were occasional breaks in the fog where I could see some of the famed Irish countryside, but other than that it was like trying to see the landscape in the mirror after taking a shower.

Irish Sheep

When we arrived in Galway around 2:00 we needed lunch and made it to the quickest, cheapest place we could find. I am slightly ashamed to say that place was McDonald's. All I can say is Ireland is expensive and we are on a budget. They did however have curly fries at this Micky D's, so I did sample something I couldn't at home.

After the one euro hamburgers (even McDonalds isn't cheap; that's about $1.50 for a single hamburger) we headed to the ocean. I imagine the view is beautiful but the blanket of fog kept us from finding that out ourselves.

The Spanish Arch, built in 1584, was where the Spanish would unload their cargo from the many ships coming into Galway. This is the best remaining piece of the city wall. Also, Christopher Columbus was said to have visited Galway in 1477 and the Irish don't want you to forget it!

Brittany and Stacy in the fog off the River Corrib.

After our seaside stroll I lead us on a tour of both St. Nicholas churchs. He was the patron saint of sailors so that helps explain why there are two St. Nicholas in the same town. First stop was the Church of Saint Nicholas. There were people having some kind of service/social thing when we got there so we didn't have a great opportunity to look around. My guide book claims it is the greatest medieval building in town, dating back to 1320. Columbus was also said to have worshipped here when he visited in 1477. (sorry but I can't seem to get the pictures to center.)

Next we were off to the Cathedral of St. Nicholas which as built over 600 years after the church in 1965. It was a lovely church that I am very glad I made it to. And look who I found hiding there:

Why it is none other than the 35th president of the United States John F. Kennedy!

Who is apparently Jesus' left-hand man.

This is suppose to depict the "modern Irish holy family" according to my guide book. You can see Jesus serving Joseph a cup of coffee and Mary knitting.

It was really beautiful and I think the girls were glad I dragged them there.

The rest of the time there was spent walking along the cobblestone streets and window shopping. The Claddagh, the village where the claddagh ring originated, is right next door so they had a lot of rings on display. They also had a lot of musicians playing on the streets, including the guy with the invisible head:

Not only did the claddagh ring come from Galway, but so did the term "lynching." Apparently during the 15th century one of the Lynch boys killed a Spanish visitor and his father was the judge. He was sentenced to death but no one was willing to execute him, so Judge Lynch did it himself, and then went into seclusion. Lovely.

After we had had enough window shopping we found some dinner at a cute place called The Front Door. I had the beef and Guinness pie, which was basically just a beef stew type of thing, using Guinness, and some pastry on the top. Next we looked for some of the famed traditional Irish music of Galway, and stumbled into one of the pubs. It was a cute and warm atmosphere, but the music was not lively at all. The highlight was when one of the girls there said she just got engaged and all the men in the pub began singing "Going to the Chapel." After one drink, it had been a long enough day that we were ready to hop on the bus and go back to Dublin.

It was agreed that had the weather been better it would have been a better trip, but all in all I'm glad I saw Galway. It also might have been more fun if we had money to spend, but the exchange rate is not so good and even McDonald's isn't cheap.

Getting off the bus is Dublin showed me how much of a local I'm starting to become. I recognized landmarks, knew how late the buses ran, which routes we take back to campus, how to get the taxi and how much it will cost. There is still a long way to go, and I don't think I'll ever stop saying dollar instead of euro. Twenty years of habit dies hard.