Galway

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03-05 May 06
First off I loved Galway! It was so beautiful there. It is right on the coast looking right out onto Canada. The first day I got up at 5:30. It actually wasn't that bad waking up so early but I think that is because I knew I would be able to sleep on the bus. I met Sarah at the bus stop at 6:45 to take the 7am bus. Jay and her friend Karyne from Canada, were also coming but they were going to take a later bus. It took around 3 1/2 hours to get to the opposite side of the island. It's hard to believe that this island is so small. In Canada that would only take you just outside of the city! Sarah and I arrived in Galway around 10:30 and managed to find the tourist office to ask where our hostel was. This weekend was a long weekend so when Jay and I called to reserve rooms the tues previous, we had pretty much gotten the last beds in the city. By the time that Sarah and I found our way to the hostel and got checked in Jay and Karyne had arrived in the city. We then went for lunch at a place called Maggies Cafe.
Sarah had told us about a place that takes your horseback riding on the beach and we decided that was what we were going to do that day. It was just on the outskirts of the city in a place called Salthill. We had called earlier to ask about the price and we thought they had said that it was 5 euros/hour, but once we got there and told them that they laughed at us and said that it was 50 euros/ hour. They told us that they would give us a deal; I guess it was because of the mix-up, so instead of 50 we paid 45 euros for 1 1/2 hours. It still was pretty expensive but after doing it we all decided that it was well worth it. My horses name was Mutt, he liked to eat grass a lot so whenever we happened to walk near some I had to try and pull his head back, but horses are pretty strong and by the end of the ride our guide (Tracy) had to give me the riding stick to make him behave! I was scared to use it because I didn't want to hurt him! A few times we tried to gallop and for a few seconds we managed to do so but almost every time Mutt would start to run ahead, so we had to stop.
After the ride my bum hurt so much! I think I even had bruises! It is great for posture though! We stopped off at a restaurant on the way home but made it an early night because we were all tired from the early morning and traveling.
The next day we got up and went on a day tour to a place called Connemara. It is just to the North of Galway. A lot of the places that we saw were just scenery, but it was absolutely gorgeous. It was the 'real' Ireland that I had pictured. When I eventually get the pictures downloaded you will be able to see! Our main stop was Kylemore Abby. It looked like a 3-D puzzle! It was amazing! It was kind of disappointing once we got in though because we only got to see 3 rooms that were pretty much in the front entrance and the gardens were hardly gardens at all. The Abby is still used now for the Benedictine nuns and a boarding school for girls. We got home from the tour around 5:30, but that was long enough for us. I don't know if it was just the bus but we were so tired while on the bus and once we got home. We were going to take a bus tour to the cliffs of Moher the next day but after how we felt after this tour we didn't really feel like it. Once back in Galway I asked if there was a bus that went back and forth from the cliffs during the day because that would be something that I would have liked to do; go see the cliffs and leave, but you could only get there by day tours.
Later that night I went and had fish and chips at a place called McDonough’s. It was supposedly the best of the west, I don't know about the best but they were pretty good. Around 9 we met up with this Canadian guy named Andy that I had talked with through SWAP. The 5 of us went out and had a drink at a pub called the Kings head. This pub dates back to the 16th century. The King of England at the time had caused 2 civil wars and the people didn't want him to be king anymore so they wanted him executed. No one in England would kill their king so a notice was given out to people of Scotland and Ireland to behead the king. Two men from Galway agreed and they went over to England and be-headed him. In payment the two men received this building. so the name suits it.
The next day and our last day in Galway we got up early and went walking on the beach. Here I was able to touch the opposite side of the Atlantic Ocean. It was so nice and it wasn't that cold. The only bad thing about it was that I dropped my camera in the water, which I was not to happy about. It was only in there for about 5 seconds but that was enough to break it. I took out the memory card first and thank god that was ok. After we went back into Galway and had lunch and did some shopping. We took an earlier bus back to Dublin (3:30) because we didn't want to be coming into town really late at night. So it was an awesome weekend besides the camera.
The next day Jirka took me out and showed me some camera places so that I could buy a new one because there is no way that I can go the rest of the summer without having a camera!
I've been working everyday since I got back which was expected, but today I have the day off. I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet, probably just laze around and wander the city.

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