[Written by mary, edited and published by brian]
Hello campers, last night we both SLEPT (some later than others). I slept in until 9:30. Perhaps I was tired, or it’s the lovely Irish air and can’t deny the fact that we are walking significantly more than usual at most destinations.
Just like yesterday (remember yesterday, so very long ago?), we were going to spend a day at the hotel to address some travel issues, BUT, no, my spouse (that’s me! Remember me?) decides it’s the day to go into Galway, and purchase his lovely (lovely) and talented (talented) wife some jewelry, what with Galway being the home of the Claddagh ring and all. (Also, we’ve been to the East, North and South….it’s a fine day to Go West).
It was a beautiful day, sun out, nary a dark cloud in sight, and the road to Galway is almost like a real freeway in the states (Very much like the 5 in Calif Central Valley). The fun began when we entered the city proper, Yikes, so glad we did this on a Sunday, and not a weekday (Downtown traffic lighter on weekends). The parking structure we chose, OMG, the ramp couldn’t have been any narrower, smaller, more gut wrenching than nails on chalkboard (It took minutes, literally minutes to navigate the turn to transition from level one to level two). And then there’s the width of the actual parking spaces, with signs everywhere, PARK BETWEEN THE LINES OR YOUR CAR WILL BE CLAMPED. Ah, but my trusty chauffeur got the job done, and the car is in one piece. The joke is, when we returned to leave, some knob(local sarcasm) parked so close, Brian had to enter the car on my side!
I digress, we were able to park very close to the Quay. The Quay is a multi-block long open-air mall-like shopping area, foot traffic only and offers the two main Claddagh jewelry stores in Ireland (and the world).
Lots of both locals and tourists. I found a ring I liked (in minutes) and the Mr. picked out a necklace for me (that’ll teach her to waffle. Another ten minutes and I’da found a bracelet!).
And to top it all off we found a replacement for a sweater I purchased for Brian on my first trip to Ireland twenty-some years ago. This was a very particular and distinctive sweater, and Brian was dancing to have found a similar sweater to replace the completely worn-out original. So, I don’t feel too bad about the jewelry purchases…………ok, maybe just a little bit.
By then we were both hungry, so found a little place, and as usual, Brian got the seafood chowder – and wow, don’t call it soup! it’s CHOWDER as a starter (Just to make sure the CHOWDER filled me up, it was loaded with barley).
For lunch it was Shepherds Pie for me and Roast Pork for Brian, yummy-yummy.
The drive back to the hotel was uneventful except we passed over the River Suck, yep, the River Suck………I’ll just leave that one.
Welcome to 10 Angels 