Cathair na Gaillimhe (Galway)

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Well today we are in Ennis, Ireland but this entry is mostly about our time in Galway. We arrived at our hostel Barnacles Galway a bit early, so we had a chance to wander around and grab some yummy lunch. We were referred to McDonaughes next for some famous Fish n Chips - which were excellent!

We also went around exploring a bit and came across the Church of Galway, a beautiful park that criss-crossed over the river, and other cool little sites and shops. After we got back, we figured out some plans for later on in our trip and decided to go out for some yummy Morroccan food for dinner! Another delicious meal :)

We had a quiet evening in our first night in town, then in the morning we were recommended a sight-seeing tour by a roommate of ours. It went to the mini cliffs, some neolithic burial grounds, Dunguaire Castle in Kinvara, a working farm that included a hike deep into the hills (really interesting actually), and then ended at the Cliffs of Moher. In my next entry I'll post some pics, but of course the one computer that has a memory card slot for cameras isn't registering my camera - UGH!

While our day was quite busy we found enough energy to take some showers and go out to watch the final match of the Euro Cup for Ireland who were playing against Italy. We lost 2-0 (a guy threw a fit and Italy were given a free kick - hence the second point), so while the game was disappointing we ended up having a nice surprise much later! Sasha and I were thinking of heading back across the street to our hostel after a couple of ciders and Coors Lites (yes, Coors Lites), some intoxicated Spanish language practice, and laughing at some other tourists, but then Sasha said, ''Hey, isn't that Sandy?!'' - our friend from Barnacles hostel in Dublin! He was quite the life of the party, and the reason why we were out dancing the night away back in Dublin until about 3:30am. It was so nice to see him! We had just been saying, ''Man we wish Sandy was here, then we'd have someone to hang out with''. His tour that he's on which seemed like it was an all Australian tour included several other loud drunken Aussies who were staying in Galway for our second night and the night after we leave. We had a few more drinks with him and his friends Dan, Dan, Neil, Floyd, and someone else and had a great time belting out songs that the live band were playing. Sandy as usual supplied his crazy dance moves - flipping over a banister, running around with a chair as a guitar, carrying people, sliding across tables, etc. He got told off quite a few times and kicked out as well - but we were able to sneak him back in. All in all the night ended on a high note at about 3am again, but it was so nice to get some crazy back in our lives. We're trying to convince him to join us in Spain at the 4 day music festival - hopefully he'll give in.

We finally got to bed, and then proceeded to wake up around 9 in the morning and head off to the coach statio at 11. We made it into Ennis after a sleepy bus ride and have just been bumming around. There's not much to do here, but we originally were planning on going down to Dingle to do some horseback riding. Unfortunately that includes a 3 or 4 transfer bus route, and we've only got one day in Dingle. So after today, we'll be headed to Cork instead for a couple days then onto London! Anyways, I better be off now, Sasha and I both just spent ages on here getting our internet fix - I'll try the pictures again later tonight and hopefully do a picture post. Hope everyone back home is doing well!

*update - no such luck for camera memory card to be read by these crap comps. sorry! ugh!*

*also, I'm pretty sure I have an Irish twinge to my voice...*

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