The bus actually had Wi-Fi, so I responded to some emails, read the news, and caught up on Facebook a bit. I did also look out the window a whole bunch, since the ride was two and half hours long. Quite sunny outside, and it reminded me a bit of Fort Collins, CO.
We arrived shortly before noon, but when we got to our B&B, it turns out they didn't have our reservation on file, even though we had booked it online. There was a mix-up in their communication, so there was no room at that place. But, luckily, they have a few sister B&B's, so we got a place at a nicer, but further away, B&B. It was a long walk though, and the lady felt bad, so she drove us.
As much as I'm enjoying the traveling and exploring, I'm losing steam quickly. Between doctor's visits in Marburg, weekend trips with friends, and my family's visit over the holidays, I've been on the road or out and about for more than three weeks straight now. I am in need of some quiet time at home, spent reading, writing, and just relaxing.
But since I'm here in Ireland, I feel like I should take advantage of what it offers as much as I can. The city of Galway is actually not very large, even though it's the largest in the West of Ireland (or the County of Galway). There are 70,000 inhabitants, of which many are university students at one of the few universities in the city. It's located on the western shores of Ireland, so it's a small sea town with pleasant scenery.
I was pretty hungry after all that walking and searching for our B&B, so we went to a place called Riordan's. For relatively affordable prices, they had some traditional Irish dishes—Shepherd's Pie and Vegetable Soup is what I had. Although the veggies and some of the potatoes were rather bland, it was overall quite good.
After lunch, we simply walked around the city center. We passed Kennedy Park, where there's a bust of President John F. Kennedy. He's quite popular here because of his Irish roots.
We also saw the house of Nora Barnacle (what a name), who was the wife of James Joyce. Apparently, he wrote a number of poems and other works in Galway.
As we were walking to the Cathedral, we were greeted by a fellow American, whom I had noticed earlier in the city center (I guess he noticed us then too). His name was William, and he was a masters student from Wyoming that now lives in Denver. He was traveling alone in Ireland for a few weeks, so we were all happy to chat together. We made plans to meet up for dinner and went exploring for a few hours. The Cathedral was quite nice. Surprisingly, not that old either.
From the Cathedral, we walked back toward the waterfront, where the city museum is located. Near the water is a monument set up by the city of Genoa, commemorating the 500th year anniversary of Christopher Columbus "discovering America." Apparently, Galway was the last part of land he touched before setting foot in the Americas.
It was quite nice along the waterfront though, and you could see the outlines of islands cross the water.
Near the museum, there is the Spanish Arch, which is one of four arches built in the 1500s. It basically leads right to the museum.
The museum closed at 5 pm though, so instead of going in for only 30 minutes, we headed around the rest of the city center. The marina is actually just on the other side.
We were not due to meet up with William until 7 pm, so we had to figure out how to spend our time. Frankly, I was quite tired from walking and would've had no problem going back to the B&B, but it was too far away to walk back there since we'd have to walk back to meet up with William for dinner. So after some more walking around and sitting in a cafe for 20 minutes (everything except restaurants and bars close around 6 pm...ridiculous!), we just chilled in St. Nicholas's Church for a good 30 minutes. I fell asleep a few times sitting in a pew.
Around 6:50 pm though, we headed back out to meet William, and he came a few minutes early, which was perfect since I was starving. We went looking for good places, but ran into a very excitable Irish chap who heard us thinking aloud. He stopped and chatted us up for a good 10 minutes, telling us about his two years in Edinburgh and other travel tales. I couldn't tell if he was a bit drunk, a bit high, or simply Irish. I do not mean that offensively either; I say that because another gentleman also came out from a bar and chatted us as well, acting very similarly to the other guy. Both were excited to share about Ireland, so it was quite interesting.
We finally decided to go back to Riardan's, since the guy said that was the best spot. He also recommended a fish & chips spot across from there, but it was far too expensive for dinner. The lunch menu was much more manageable. So back to that place we went, and this time I tried the Irish Stew, which I quickly found out is not exactly a stew (or at least what I was expecting)—much like the Shepherd's Pie I had for lunch. But it was definitely filling, though the veggies were much too bland and mushy for my taste.
Overall though, we had a nice dinner and chat with William. Very nice to meet other American travelers who have similar philosophies about the benefits of seeing other parts of the world and immersing oneself into the local culture. Good conversations and more to come as we all plan to stay in touch.
We left Riordan's stuffed, but we went down the street to a bar named Taaffe's, which a native resident of Galway had recommended earlier for drinks and live Irish music. I had a Guinness with a shot of Tia Maria (a.k.a. a Black Widow), which my roommate, Ronny, had suggested. The bartender had a very amused look on his face, so I asked if he got that request often. Apparently, not, but he would make it anyway. Turns out, it was ridiculously expensive (8,45€), so I will not be trying that again. The Guinness itself would have been the cheapest pint I've seen in Ireland so far, so next time I will just stick with that.
But as I got my drink, this Irish man in a dark sweater and dress pants sitting at the bar started talking to me and said that I should just drink straight up Guinness. I told him I'd already had plenty the past few nights, so then he just started asking me questions. Seemed to me like he'd already had a few drinks, but he wanted to know where I was from, so I obliged and told him that I was an American studying in Berlin. Then he asked me, "So who are you?"
I asked him what he meant, and he replied, "It's a simple question: who are you?" So I just started sharing a few more things about myself—what I hope to do and what my interests are. His response was, "I'm not interested in your interests or what you're like. I want to know who are you."
We went back and forth like that for a few more times with him responding each time that it was a simple question and that my answers were not answering his question. I was beginning to get a bit annoyed, and after the sixth or seventh time he said that, I don't know how to describe it but I felt this sudden warm rush of anger (perhaps frustration?) flush through my body. Weird feeling that happens very rarely, but his question made me think of Jostein Gaarder's Sophie's World, in which this question is a very important philosophical question.
So I told him, "I am who I am. I'm me. I'm one of roughly 307 million Americans, but I'm somebody who wants to be somebody. That's it." I was out of things to respond with and still have no clue what he was hoping to hear from me, but he gave me this cryptic smile and said, "You answered the question." Uh huh.
He told me his name was Seamus (or "James in English") and that he was born and raised in Galway. I asked him, "How would you answer your own question: who are you?" and he said simply, "I'm me." I told him that I was going to go back to my own table, but it was nice chatting with him. Interesting encounter, I'd say. But, nice, I suppose, to interact with the locals. :)
Anyway, that was the end of our day, and now we're back at the B&B, where the shower only had scalding hot water. Unbelievable. Tomorrow, we go to the Cliffs of Moher, which are supposed to be stunning. The weather should be agreeable tomorrow, so I look forward to it. More pictures tomorrow.
Cheers,
Sam
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