Galway and the Aran Islands

We started our weekend waking up in Liscannor and packing our bags. Katherine came and picked us up at 11:15 AM and drove us to her home in Ennis once again. This time I made it a point to get my own coffee (from their ultra cool espresso machine) so that she would know we don't expect her to wait on us. She is so sweet that she offers everything to us every time and makes it a point to go out of her way to take care of us. It is the kindest thing, but I just wanted her to know that we don't require her to dote on us. She took us to the bus station after we had a cup of coffee and some brownies and cake that she cut up into squares and put in front of us. So delicious. We almost missed our bus because the ticket machine was not taking cash. I walked up to the driver and said something about how I was sorry for the delay and that my husband would be right there with the tickets. He looked at me with a scolding look and said "You are much too young to be married." Here in Ireland, 25 is young to be married. 28 to 35 is average. We saw a woman today with three children. Her youngest was probably 3 and her oldest probably 6 and she was probably in her upper 30s, maybe 40. I was just thinking that when my mom was 40 all of her kids were out of the house. Such a difference. Anyway, I think people here think we are crazy for being married, but after all, some people in the US think that as well.

We took the bus from Ennis to Galway - about an hour and 15 minute ride. We got off of the bus around noon and got a taxi to our Bed and Breakfast. The taxis here are really expensive. We learned that from experience. It was probably about an 8 minute ride and it cost us about 11 euros. The B&B was a lovely place. Our room was small, but with a nice view of the ocean with free internet and really nice, hot showers. The people were so friendly and helpful. We are starting to notice a trend. We left our room and walked into the "Latin District" of Galway. It is about a 5 mile walk. We also walked it back. It is a really nice walk along the coast, but I am really sore today because I was wearing boots with some heel. At least my calves will be looking good. We did some shopping some more walking. We got really excited when we saw McDonald's so we ate there. It was just about as good. Less options, but they do have two options for fries: regular or curly. Jared really enjoyed the curly. I really enjoyed the regular. After McD's we went to The King's Head pub. I had the best brownie of my life and some cappuccino. Can't tell you what Jared had. ;-) The pub is called The King's Head because the building used to be a castle that was given to the man who took the King of England's head in the 13th century. They used what was left of the castle to shape the pub. The walls are the original stone walls. The fireplaces are original as well. It is super historic, and super good.

The streets of Galway are really awesome. They are narrow with loads of tall buildings side by side. Each pub or shop is a different color. There are about as many pubs are there are shops. Literally: pub, shop, shop, pub, pub, pub, cafe, shop, shop... etc. You get the picture. They really like their pubs here. We walked back from our shopping in the cold, but once we got going it was enjoyable. We got back, worked for about 4 or 5 hours, watched our nightly Friends episode and then hit the hay.

We had a wake up call at 8 am. We went down for breakfast. Trisha, the lady who was taking care of us, asked if I would like "The Traditional Irish Breakfast." I asked what that was, and she told me. Something we keep seeing on the menu is black and white pudding. Jared and I assumed it was chocolate and vanilla since they do serve all sorts of sweet things for breakfast. Well, this kind of pudding they were serving at the B&B as part of the traditional breakfast. I finally just asked her what it was before she took my order. It is blood pudding, made from coagulated pig's blood. Where the white comes from, I don't know. Sick. Glad I asked. I just ordered bacon and eggs. After breakfast, we discussed our options for our day in Galway and decided not to spend it in Galway after all. We took another bus to a harbor and got on a ferry that took us to the Aran Islands.

The ferry ride was about 30 minutes and it was enjoyable. We got off the ferry and onto another tour bus. We spent our afternoon on a tour around the island. Our tour guide was hilarious and very knowledgeable. He spoke about every language. His first language is Gaelic (traditional Irish) and his second English and then he knew multiple words in multiple languages. Of course he knew super random ones like donkey and rabbit in like 7 languages. ahaha. First we went to see the seals, which are native to the island. There were about 15 out at the shore just flopping around. After the seals we went to the fort and the cliffs on the island. The fort was really huge and just awesome to see how people many years ago had all that time to stack loads of rocks together to build a fort. Interesting fact, there are so many rock walls on the island that if you put them all together in a straight line they could reach to the US and back. There are over 7,000 miles of rock walls. The island itself is 9 miles by 2 miles. Can you imagine how many rock walls we saw yesterday? After the fort and the stunning cliffs we did some shopping at the souvenir shops. I got the cutest ear-warmer in the world. You may have seen pictures. If not, you are just missing out. It was hand made by the locals on the island out of 100% wool yarn. The population of the island is about 840 and there are a total of 14 villages on the island. There are 3 pubs, two schools (one that teaches Gaelic to the children from the main island we know as Ireland), three doctors, and a couple of grocery stores. They did not get electricity until the 1970's and some of the homes still have thatched roofs. Despite all of these things, because it is such a lovely place to live, a beat down house with a thatched roof and only a couple of bedrooms is over $200,000.00. After the cliffs we saw an ancient graveyard known as "The Seven Churches" although there are only ruins of two churches within the graveyard. The other 5 buildings are the homes of some of the first islanders. There were lots of really interesting gravestones and some super-cool Celtic cross ones. It was a lot like every other graveyard in Ireland: fascinating and ancient. They have to bury their own dead on the island - no funeral homes to do it. If a family member dies they hold the wake in their homes and then bury their family themselves. All of the people are buried in the same graveyards. The tombstones all face East because that is where they believe the gates of heaven to be.

The Island was beautiful and made a day well spent. We were exhausted when we got back on the ferry and then on the bus that took us to the B&B where we picked up our bags and walked to the bus stop where we waited 10 minutes for another bus that took us on a 20 minute ride to the bus station where we got on another bus that took us back to Ennis. We got back into Ennis at about 10PM. We stayed the night in the Fitzpatrick's home without them because they are spending the weekend in Dublin. They gave us a key and trusted us with their home. Once we got into the house we had to to our days work before we could go to bed. We didn't wake up today until about 10, and we walked into town to find that everything is closed on Sunday. We finally found a coffee shop that was open and we had giant muffins and cappuccinos. Yum. We went back to Penny's where I couldn't resist the cheap clothes and I bought a couple of super-cute dresses and a jacket (only spent $15). I got to talk to my Mom and Dad today which was really wonderful. Miss you two. Now Jared and I are just relaxing in bed. It is going to be a lazy day much needed.