Galway, or Driving in Ireland is Scary!

Dane would keep me updated about how confident he was feeling about driving (1 meant he thought we were going to die and 10 meant it felt just like driving at home). I think he was at about a 7 here, though it varied throughout the trip. We had to take a few different toll roads to get across Ireland (we were driving to Galway, which is on the west coast, from Dublin, which is on the east coast).


When we arrived in Galway, the last few steps in our directions gave vague instructions such as "turn left. Turn right." No street names or anything. That made it fun. We eventually found our hotel, and this is what Dane found when he went out onto our balcony.


I had not really known before this trip that cemeteries scare him a little. We've passed by cool-looking cemeteries in almost all the countries we've been to, and when I ask him if he wants to go walk around in them, he always says no. I guess that should have been a clue.

Galway is a little fishing town. We walked through this park on our way to the main street.





If you look closely, you'll see that the colors are knitted and crocheted patchwork.


There is an explanation of this carved into the front of this. It's a door from an old house (though compared to other things we've seen, this, being only 200 years old, is not that impressive) and it was preserved when the house was torn down as a tribute to the town's history. I think they built a subdivision of new townhouses where it was.


I made Dane take this picture for you, Shelley, because every time we see flowers like this, Dane says, "look at those pretty flowers!"


On the flip side, whenever we see rows of kegs like this, Dane snickers and says something about definitely being in Ireland. It's good that he's a balance of sensitive and snarky.


Street musicians seem to be abundant in Ireland. These guys were quite good. The one in the middle was singing and playing.


Quay (pronounced "key") street is the main street in town. It ends in a bridge that leads to a walk down the canal


When we got to that bridge, we saw this dog catch a pigeon! And then eat it.


It was a beautiful walk down to the ocean. When we passed by through an inlet, all of these birds started following us. I think they are used to being fed.


We did not do the 8km walk that is "famous" (we'd never heard of it, but whatever) but we did walk a little way along the beach. It was cold and windy, but the sun made you think that it was a little warmer.





At one point Dane bragged that he could skip a stone 9 times. We stopped to test this. He only made it. up to 6, but it was still more than my 3 (though mine was my first throw. His first few only went 2).


We continued to wander through town a bit, then headed back towards our hotel for the afternoon. We walked down to a tiny little castle on the beach. Even Dane was cold now










The pub we went to for dinner looked like a little library.


We walked by this little field twice. Both times, it made me, for a moment, want to have horses. Look at these adorable things!





This was actually from the day before.





The horses were by a little brook, that opened up into this. It was gorgeous.





I thought this sign was a little dramatic. Though at that moment, it was in use for my picture,


We picked these up because we were intrigued. There were multiple brands of them in the store, so we figured they had to be something that was at least a little common. They mostly just tasted like gummy candy.



We hit the road for Dingle, and so far it has been little tiny roads like this. More to come later!