Saturday, August 18 – Galway alone and arrival in Ennis

So…Emily left…which was very sad, but I wasn’t alone for very long because the French people from last night came and joined me…they are obsessed with food, it was fun

And then I wandered again, trip is calming down, not as much to see in Ireland, doing the relaxing thing. I went to Griffins and had porridge – the porridge itself was pretty  average, but it came with strawberries and cream – it wasn’t sugary enough to be whipped cream, but it was the same texture. – and honey! So yummy.

I wandered through a mall (without much excitement, did the shopping thing yesterday) (ok, not completely, I also finished up all my gift shopping, quite pleased with myself) and then wandered down towards the harbor and found out that Seattle, Washington and Galway are sister cities.

And then a walk by the canal, which was very pretty (I was intermittently reading this entire time as well). There’s this bridge called the “Friar’s Bridge” which I thought was very nice and then later learned that it was the Galway version of a wishing well, which made me like it even more.

Then I took a walking tour for the fun of it, it wasn’t that exciting – except for two stories – one about a monkey saving a baby from a burning building. The other was about the mayor’s son, who was a complete flirt, until a Spanish guy came in and one-upped him. So, the mayor’s son went and killed the Spanish guy, which was punishable by death, so, the mayor brought him up to a window and hung him. Lovely, no? Anyways, this is what was below the window. Yay skulls!

After a late lunch (at Griffins, notice a pattern?), I wandered down to the harbor, saw lots of boats and walked around a bit. I got to go past lots and lots of adorable houses, one of which was a hotel (which I want to visit now, just because its so cute on the outside)

And then – a train ride to Ennis. I spent some of the ride talking with my neighbor, who studies French, Spanish, and Japanese at the University of Limerick – cool, no? if it hadn’t been for Finnish, I would have gone there, because, you know, three languages are better than two.

Also, I knew I loved Ennis upon arrival because the train station had an adorable bridge (which I got to walk over!)

In Ennis, I did stop by a pub for a session, which was tiny – 3 people! So, I danced for a bit, felt unwelcome, and left, but at least I got to dance (which is better than the past four weeks)

Final picture! From Ennis – I think it speaks for itself.