Galway with the Dsigs

Streets of Galway

The original plan for Kristina and Carolyn's first full day in Ireland was to wake up at 6 am and catch an early bus to Galway, but waking up at 6 am was asking a lot so we hit the snooze button for 2.5 hours. We then were out of the room by 9 and caught the bus out of Dublin.

Once we got into Galway our first task was getting tickets for the ferry that we had to take that night into Inish Mor. We got those at the Tourist Information place and then walked along the seaside into the center of town where all the shops and restaurants are. On Saturdays there is a small market around St. Nicholas Church so we browsed around there for little while. Carolyn and I got pretzels and Kristina and Carolyn also got crepes for a crepe stand. The owner was having a lot of fun cooking their crepes and even let them come into the small stand to take a picture.

One of the objectives we had going to Galway was getting an authentic claddagh ring from which originated around there. Serious shoppers that we are we browsed around for the best price and the perfect ring, ending up  at Thomas Dillon, the "original" makers of the claddagh ring. I don't know exactly what the qualifications are for being the original but their rings are the only ones that are allowed to write "original" on the back of their ring. They also had an exhibit at the back of the shop showing the first claddagh rings and telling their story. With the help of Kristina and Carolyn, enablers extrodinaire, I ended up purchasing a sterling silver one, which has a lifetime guarantee. All in all, I'm really glad I got a claddagh ring to remember my trip to Ireland.

After getting Kristina's mother some Ireland wool yarn we got on the shuttle that would take us to the dock for the ferry. It was a fairly long drive and then we had to take the ferry for about 45 minutes, leaving us at about 2 hours roundtrip with waiting. The Ireland v Scotland rugby game was on that day and the Irish, as of most of Europe, are very passionate about their rugby. Therefore the game was on the TVs on the ferry and everyone riding would cheer or moan with the game.

Watching the match

We pulled into the dock in Inish Mor, the largest of the Aran Islands. Our B & B, the Pier House, which Carolyn booked was right at the end of the pier (you probably could have guessed that) and we made our way over there. We ran into the man of the house coming out of the driveway and he said that we must have the wrong place because he had no reservations for that night. Carolyn panicked slightly and told him that she certainly made reservations. He brought us inside and realized that he had written our reservations for the wrong day and there was definitely room at the inn because we were the only people staying there. We dropped our stuff off in the room and headed out to find some dinner.

We ate at the Bayview Restaurant which had a fairly good selection and amazing garlic bread. After a short dinner where Carolyn and Kristina argued over who should have what sugar packet (because each had a different Irish proverb on it) we went out in search of some Irish music. We were told to go to Joe Watty's which was up the road about 7 minutes. The walk was kind of scary for me because it was so dark. The island is so vacant and there are barely any street lights so we were wrapped in darkness. Carolyn and Kristina said that they felt perfectly safe on the island but I always think of the worst case scenario.

We got to the cozy little Ti Joe Watty's and the music was going to start in about ten minutes so we got a table and some water. The music group of the night was a group of three boys, two of which were probably younger than us, and who looked like brothers. They played traditional Irish music, along with some contemporary pieces, and during "Galway Girl" a girl ran up and started Irish dancing. I got the local flavour there and it was a lot of fun. The boys were fairly good and near the end another older man took over for the guitarist. I just loved the feeling of the island and its people.

I'm thinking about trying to bring live Traditional music to Champaign.