Back In Business

Back from a great weekend in Galway. It's got a notably different feel than the other cities around Ireland I've been to; a very international, European flair to it. Pedestrian shopping streets jammed all day and night, street musicians around every corner playing everything from bodhrans to wood blocks to upright pianos, outdoor cafes - basically, just a cool city with so much happening. Highly recommended. We really lucked out on weather, too, and had a sunny weekend. And, though I may not hit all the pubs in Ireland while I'm here, we damn well might have gotten most of them knocked out in Galway. Friday we took a day trip through Connemara, which, along with Dingle, is the best scenery I've seen. Rugged mountains, lakes, green fields, isolated sheep-infested roads...you get the idea. Along the way, we stopped in the island village of Cong, which is famous for two things. First of all, Cong is where The Edge from U2 has lived. Secondly, it's home to The Quiet Man everything, the 50's film with John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara. It was shot in the area, and the town is quite willing to let you know that and make a Euro off of it. We had lunch at the The Quiet Man Cafe, which apparently the Duke hung out at back in the day, but who knows. Points to those ladies for serving sour cream 'n onion Pringles as a side to my toastie, though. The waitress at the cafe directed us to what she called "the best pub in the country" in Maam, a short drive down the road. After shooting the peat with our squeeky-voiced bartender for about 45 minutes, who filled us in on everything from how to properly hand-wash an Aran sweater to how televisions in pubs have been ruining the social scene, we set off to find the Kylemore Abbey, an impressive structure nestled within the Twelve Bens mountains that started off as a present from a 19th century tycoon to his wife, became a WWI refuge for Belgian nuns, and is now a girls' boarding school run by the sisters. We came across a few of the students, but when I told them that I was thinking about taking a class or two there, they thought that I was too old. Too bad. Friday night, I saw my second U2 tribute band, Rattle and Hum. Both of the ones I've seen have been musically spot on, but this Bono seemed to have much more passion in his voice. Saturday, we walked around Galway before taking in more of the nightlife. If for no other reason, being one trips like the one I am on is amazing because of the people you come across. Some nice ones, some weird ones, and some crazy ones that you could never even dream up with a Guinness-soaked imagination. Thanks to John, Martin, and Nederino (when we saw him) for letting Ellen and I invade their hotel room for a couple days and for giving us a great weekend.