To Galway

My cousin Kim drove me to the airport early on the 28th and I flew to Cedar Rapids, IA. It was small, but I think Great Falls is still smaller. I was there for 3 hours before a flight to Chicago. To fly international you need to leave the gates and go through security again. I got through in the nick of time and then was on my way to Dublin. I knew it was a 7 hour flight, and I landed at 8 am the next day. It was my only chance for sleep. What did I do? I watched the two movies on the plane and then cat napped my way in.

I got in at 8. It took until 9:15 to get through customs and immigration. My brother was suppose to come in at 10:00, so I tried to stay awake until then. I paced around, and finally slept near a bus schedule. Scott came in at the right time and flew threw customs. He came out at a different gate than I expected so it was good he decided to look for me before he went to the main terminal. We met up and got bus tickets, took some cash out of an ATM, and boarded a bus to Galway. We were awake through the city and for about 5 minutes on the open road, then we both slept almost to Galway (approx. 3 hours).


We left the bus station, and walked a few blocks to our hostel. We checked in, took showers, and were ready to hit the town. Scott had spent the last few years in Jamaica with the Peace Corps, so he was excited to travel, but he was not about to spend money he didn't have to. Thank godness. We walked around Eyre square, and found a crepe place for lunch. We then walked through the town stopping when we saw a good photo or when it rained.

We explored the Cathedral, walked out on a pier to the lighthouse, and then up a hill and found a cemetery and St. Augustine's well. We decided to go back to the hostel for a rest and then try and go out on the town.


We were in Galway during the Galway races, much like the kentucky derby back home. The place was packed. We finally found a bar that we could sit down in, and watched part of a hurling match on TV. Another TV was turned up REALLY loud on a nature documentary and the sound of crickets was being piped through the pub at unreasonalbe volumes. A man walked over and turned the power off to the cheers of his mates, but an old man stood up and threatened to throw a punch. The old man was calm once the young guy turned the tube back on, but I was, in the back of my mind, hoping for an Irish brawl. Could you imagine, the first night and a drunk Irishman got in a fight? I don't like stereotypes, but that would have been a story.

We turned in after one or two beers.

We were tired and sore and one guiness was enough for a buzz. We slept well, despite our roomates coming in at 3:15am and talking about their mis-attempts at scoring that night. We were awake early the next morning and the hostel had a breakfast ready for us. I was disappointed because breakfast at all the hostels meant toast and jam and cereal and milk. I can't have cereal with milk, so I was stuck with toast and jam.

It was fine because it was free. We then boarded a bus and were on our way to Doolin.