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Living the dream - quit my job and traveling the
world. Over 50 countries
in just under two years.
Having a monkey for a
traveling companion
assured me of some fun
adventures.
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all things Irish
Entry 17 of 80 | show all | print this entry |
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As I was taking the bus from Dublin to Galway a couple days ago, I gazed out the window and saw the wee little people with their green jackets and green hats dancing little jigs taunting me while I was stuck on the bus. I could just hear them, "why don't you get off the bus and gets our pots o' gold? hee, hee, hee!!!"...knowing full well I wouldn't be able to get the bus driver to stop. Arrgghhh, those wee leprechauns will get theirs...
Anyway, I got to my Galway hostel and found to my horror that it was overrun with American rugby college kids. Americans alone aren't too bad, in pairs can sometimes be annoying, but in large groups are very, very annoying...especially at that age and all guys. I did my best to stay away, though it seems Americans are all over Ireland.
My first day here it was windy and rainy and not very pleasant for wandering around, but I did it anyway. Stopped by a pub my Let's Go book recommended, and found it to be a dark, smoky pub filled with older locals. Yeah, that furthers my distrust of things that book recommends.
houses in Galway
The morning of St Patrick's Day it seemed like a ghost town...hardly anyone was out. That soon changed though...by 11am the streets were getting filled with people wearing all things Irish. I broke down and bought an Ireland soccer shirt. The parade started at 12:30pm and was alright - most the bands were little kids with the exception of some bagpipers from the States, there were several businesses with cars or marching with signs and local groups...no real floats. I'll attach a picture of what I thought was the best. I went back to the hostel and made lunch and "chilled" before heading back out into town. I found it overrun with kids hanging out in the streets since they couldn't get into bars and there was trash everywhere. I went to a bar called "The Kings Head" and listened to bands there (it was REALLY crowded). Funny thing was, they were cover bands playing a lot of American music.?.? I met some Kiwis and we went in search of some trad (traditional) music, but the place we went had their band end just a bit before. I didn't stay out too late and was back to the hostel a bit after midnight.
Today I went took a day trip out to one of the Aran Islands...Inis Mor, I think. I rented a bike and road all over to the sites. The wind was blowing hard so the weather changed frequently - from sunny to cloudy to rainy. Only a couple of the ruins on the island were worth seeing...the others were just piles of rocks. Some of the roads were rocky and made for very bumpy riding. Needless to say, I'm very sore and will probably need some Aleve before bed.
here's me on a cliff at the Aran Islands
Tomorrow I go back to Dublin and leave on my tour of the south on Saturday.
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