I Now Understand Why The Galway Girl Left Galway...

We woke up early, ready for our adventure to Galway. Roundtrip bus tickets were 16 euro which isn't bad considering its about 4 hours each way. The bus we wanted to take was out of downtown Dublin at a place called Busarus at 10 am, which I'm guessing is Gaelic for Bus station. Sounds like a dinosaur to me. We caught the bus out of campus at about 9:15 and made it in time to board our bus. The bus driver automatically knew I was American from my name on the bus ticket. He inquired how I like Ireland and how I like Obama. The bus wasn't busy so we all got 2 seats to ourselves. I had my IPOD all ready to go, and was excited to see some of the countryside. Well, great plan, except for the fact that the day we decide to venture into the countryside is the exact day the whole country of Ireland is covered in dense fog. Now, you ask how can a whole country be covered in fog...well I traveled from the eastcoast to the westcoastand all I saw was fog. No rolling hills, nor green splendor, just fog. I'm beginning to see why everyone loves Ireland weather. All the little towns we passed through looked the same.

There were some cool things I saw from my bus window. Ofcourse those things were within 3 meters visibility.
I saw some livestock like sheep and horses and cows. Claire even saw a donkey on the side of the road between two buildings in one of the towns we stopped at. However, the bus did offer one source of entertainment. Well two. There was something extremely weird about cruising through said countryside...rolling (foggy) hills, sheep, horses, stone fences, while the bus driver played the radio which was rocking out some Replay & Lady Gaga. Just didn't seem right. And for Lindsay, I have the first entry into the BUS PEOPLE section of my blog. I've been keeping my eye out for the strange people that grace public transportation, and today I found one of my favorites in Ireland. This somewhat geeky looking guy gets on the bus. I just smile and ignore him. He is causing no harm, or bringing any sorts of attention to himself. Until, he reaches into his bag and pulls out knitting needles. I am in disbelief..thinking maybe they are something else. Things are confirmed when he pulls out a 1 foot ball of yarn, to KNIT. Yes, this young man sat on the bus, in public, and knitted himself some kind of scarf. Can you imagine Brent knitting? Because that would be the equivalent to this. Thank you bus people for another laugh.
When we arrive in Galway, we are hopeful that the fog will subside. We check with the bus driver to when the last bus leaves, he tells us 8:30. It's about 2. He tells us that there is not much to see in Galway so that's plenty of time. Okay, we're tourists we want to see everything. After all Galway is listed as one of the 1000 places to see before you die. 999 to go for me. The main streets look kind of like Grafton Street...and has the usual staples..Dunnes, Supermac's, McDonalds. We are all hungry--the honey loops on the bus didn't hold me over-- so we decide on McDonalds. We just want a cheap snack to hold us over until we can get some real Irish food later for dinner. The EuroSaver menus provides us with 1 Euro hamburgers. Not good, but it'll do. We wander down the street. Alright, Galway is definitely quirky.

We see all sorts of street performers. Some a little off their rocker. A group of people are playing African type music with drums and maracas. A man playing an instruments with cardboard cutouts of Marilyn Monroe & Elvis as his band members. He started playing "How much is that Doggie in the Window" and this dog came up and started barking at him. We decided to head for the water to see the west coast of Ireland. Which I am very sure is very beautiful.... if only it wasn't covered in dense fog. We walked along the fast moving river and towards what must have been the ocean. I felt like I was in San Francisco. We saw this cute little boat. I'm not sure its sea worthy any more.
Galway is also the hang out of much of Ireland's youth. They congregated everywhere. By this Latin Quarter arch, in the town square, on sketchy street corners near the drug paraphernalia and "party pills" store.
We walked to the end of this ledge. It was gorgeous with the fog, so I'm sure it's breathtaking without.

After seeing the foggy seaside, we walked to see some old sites. We went inside this old church... Collegiate Church of St. Nichols. There may or may not have been some kind of service going on, but we are stand out tourists and we were invited in.
We were feeling like a church kind of day, so we walked down to see the Galway Cathedral. Built in the 1960s, it is a beautiful stone church. It has gorgeous stained glass, and even better a mosaic to none other than JFK. What up America representation.

After wandering around for a while, we stopped inside of a bookstore to get some entertainment for our tv-less lives. I bought the Time Traveler's Wife. I almost bought Jane Eyre in an attempt to further my culturalization and broadening of my horizons, but I don't think I would get into it. Maybe someday. We decided it was time for dinner so we head to a local place called the Front Door. We were going to go authentic and order Shepard's Pie, but they were all out of Shepard's according to our waiter/barkeep...so I had the roast of the day. Pork with an orange glaze, veggies, and mashed potatoes. Hello, Real food.
After dinner we wandered through some pubs searching for the promised live music. We found an accordion and fiddle in some place so we settled there for a while. Given the damp, cold, foggy weather that I guess is common in Ireland, I see why they enjoy the warm pubs. There was a younger pub crowd and we had the enjoyment of some young gentlemen singing "Going to the Chapel" to a girl who just got engaged. After a bit, we wandered to another pub. I utilized my one veto on this pub...it was crowded with Irish men with long beards and it smelled a little funny. No thank you. We got some hot chocolates at the local chocolate place and headed back to the bus stop. Galway had been a bit of a let down, due to the fog, and high expectations of the "gem of Ireland".

As we waited for the bus, we saw more of the adolescent youth of Ireland. We were asked if we were "Galway girls", and then asked if we knew where to score some ham. After my obvious puzzled look, the girl with the guys said oh you know, the party pills? For the first time in my life, I was actually able to point the Irish youth in the direction of a place where they could score some party pills due to my observant nature on our walk earlier. First time for everything. While they waited for their friends to use the washroom, we were serenaded by these young men to our favorite classic "Galway Girl". They went in search of whatever would keep them occupied for the night and we boarded our bus home. Slept a little, played some Snake on my sweet old school Nokia, and got back to campus by taxi about 11:45.

Check Galway of the list, and remember that the Irish weather is unpredictable as the people you will meet.