Claire Blogs Day 7: I Am a Very Handsome Woman, and Easy on the Eyes

I love Galway. I really do. It's more like a big town than a city, and very very pedestrian-friendly. We dealt with our mid-vacation exhaustion by taking today pretty easy, but still managed to see the whole city, do some shopping, visit a pub, take 130 pictures or so, and meet some incredibly entertaining locals.

This morning was for the history, as we went to the Galway museum and visited the various other sites of interest around the city. This included a couple of churches, such as the one in which Columbus is purported to have prayed before setting sail for America. Mostly, though, we wandered, in and out of shops, around pedestrian malls and streets, and into used booksellers. In the West End, we found a bookshop that not only sold us each three books for 10 EUR, but also contained a couple of locals who could confirm the Irish interest in American country music. This was good, as we had been wondering; more than one restaurant we have visited has had country music playing, and we were definitely Confused. One of the men also mentioned that the weather we've been enjoying on the whole (sunny and beautiful) is not normal, and we shouldn't expect it again if we come back next year. I think we're just good-weather totems, at least for vacations (albeit not for graduations).

The afternoon was spent drinking tea, window-shopping, and reading; I picked up some sci-fi, Irish mythology, and Irish history to keep myself busy (yes, I brought books, but somehow they haven't been matching my mood...). This was fitting: as we applied sunscreen this morning, it was, of course, raining, and so reading-in-coffee-shops was a better plan than spending-much-time-outside.

We had a pasta dinner along the primary pedestrian street. 6.90 EUR each for giant pasta plates! Best deal in the city, as far as I can tell. Galway has been hella cheap, actually, as we followed up cheap pasta with a free chamber choir concert at St. Nicholas's church (this adds to the free beer and bar snacks and free wandering and free museum...). Although St. Nicholas is now considered the patron saint of children (Santa Claus), he was once largely thought of as the patron saint of sailors, which is why seaside towns like Galway are rife with Churches of St. Nicholas. The music was lovely, in any case, and a good, wholesome way to spend the evening.

But it was not the best part of the evening

No, the best part of the evening, by far, was afterwards, at Richardson's, a pub off Eyre Sq (where our hostel is located, roughly). I cannot recommend the pub thing in Ireland enough. Pubs in Ireland are large, with plentiful seating and good lighting and appropriate noise levels, and most have some sort of live music almost every night. Pubs in Ireland are just places where strangers hang out and talk and make friends, and have a drink or two at totally reasonable prices, and eat some food if hungry, but not if not, really, whatever suits you, and the locals, usually oldish drunk Irish guys, are both the friendliest and the funniest of the bunch. This pub was no exception.

Richarson's was quite empty when we got there, around 9 pm, but with promises of live music to come, we settled in with some pints and hung out. At this point, Sarle, a regular, passed our table on his way to the men's room. He saw us, and started making conversation. Just friendly stuff, how are you, where are you from, what do you do, etc. He was obviously far beyond his first beer: "I'm sorry, I'm just pissed. In fact, I've been pissed since......what's today?" "Wednesday." "...1976!" "1976?! That's a long time..." "No kidding!"

By his account, his goddaughter has been staying with him, with a friend. They're both 14, and have scared him out of the house.

It only got better. Sarle's friend Tom came by too, both with pints, and really, I can't convey this in a blog post, but it was hilarious. The Irish have a concept they call craic, pronounced crack, which means good times and laughter and fun, and that was all anyone was after, so the conversation was just funny and goofy. The music started, a guy with a guitar, and Tom, Sarle, and I ended up swaying in a row and singing along (most especially, but not exclusively, to the song "It's a long long way from here to Clare"). Emily is sad she has no photographic evidence of this, but I think it's one of those things we'll just have to remember. Neither Sarle nor Tom was trying to pick us up (unlike our friend in Cong), and in fact, a running joke was the comfort zone of space that Sarle and I left between each other on the bench so as to avoid making anyone uncomfortable. He did, however, see fit to give us a compliment or two. I am evidently a very handsome woman, and Emily is also fairly easy on the eyes, but as she is but a child, at 21, we aren't to tell anyone he said so.

We took our leave not too late, as we have a busy day planned tomorrow, but it was really an incredibly funny evening all around.

Also, I had too much Guinness and now must go lie down without posting pictures. I'm sorry! Tomorrow we're off to the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren, so hopefully I'll make it up to you then.