We left the house at 11 this afternoon (Don't judge! We're on vacation!). This was about 45 minutes after our estimated time of departure. Not uncommon for us considering we have four heads of hair and one travel size hair dryer.
Our first stop of the day was a cute little shop we discovered last night while we were leaving dinner. We each bought an Irish necklace that the owner of the shop made himself. Cheryle's necklace was inspired by Donegal, the area her ancestors were from.
Next we drove the short distance to Dunguaire Castle aka "Our Castle". The castle sits on the shore of Galway Bay and was built in 1520. It was lived in by Richard Martyn, Mayor of Galway, and his family until 1642. Then it was renovated in 1924 by a famous surgeon, though he never lived there. Dunguaire was acquired in 1954 by Christobel Lady Ampthill and she lived in the castle for over 20 years even after she opened it to visitors in 1966.
The tide was so far out this morning that people were walking in the bay around the castle where yesterday, in that same spot, swans were swimming . We all agreed that the castle tour was anti climatic. I guess we built it up all week, which set us up for a let down.
We drove into Galway City, which is about a 30 minute drive from our house. Galway is a vibrant city with a great town centre for shopping. The claddagh ring (the ring with two hands holding a heart with a crown on top) originated here. The ring stands for love, loyalty and friendship.
The oyster festival is this weekend in Galway City. We asked about it and the description that was given reminded me of a small Mardi Gras. Today was for the "common folks" and tomorrow you had to buy tickets (€175 a piece) and it's black tie! Apparently all the local celebrities are at this event. Not sure who those celebrities are, but oh well.
Once we parked (try parking in a deck with everything backwards), we walked towards the city centre. The first thing we saw was six military guards on each corner of a major intersection with guns drawn. Curiosity finally got the best of me so I asked one of the guards what they were doing. He pointed towards two armored vehicle at a nearby bank and said that they were guarding the trucks. Wow! I've never seen that many soldiers with machine guns drawn EVER, even when guarding one of our US bases. Amanda took a picture of one of the guards and he started waiving at her and said, "no photo!" She said, "hey!!" and waived back, not realizing what he had said. She thought he was just being nice.
We began our shopping trip bundled up. It was very cold and rainy. The more we shopped the more Cheryle and I started stripping off layers. As we'd take them off, Carrie would add them on. Towards the end, she looked like an NFL middle linebacker. Cheryle went up behind Carrie and tried to push her arms down and they would just pop right back up!!
We shopped for a few hours, had an amazing lunch, and I realized that it was Cheryle's turn to drive. Lord, you are too good to me!! We made our way back home and as soon as we pulled into the drive the sky turned black and the wind kicked up. We wanted naps, but we had 30 minutes until the world toast. Besides driving, this was our biggest stress of the week!
Today is Arthur Guinness day. It's the 251st year since the founding of the brewery. Apparently last year, the first world toast, was so successful that they decided to do it again this year. I’m not sure what makes a toast successful?
We waited around until it was 5:59 and we raised our glasses. I said a traditional Irish toast that was apparently too long, as the girls started propping their arms ups and groaning (bunch of arsses).
At 6:15 we were all napping. We didn't start stirring until after 8. Carrie went to wake Cheryle up after 9 and said "Cheryle, it's 9:15." Cheryle said "It's WHAT??" She got up like a woman on a mission. We're now watching a movie and trying to stay warm. We are bundled up with bare feet. The floors in the house are heated! What a bonus!
We'll probably be up as late as yall tonight! Let's just say we trying to adjust our bodies back to US time. Tomorrow's our last full day in Ireland. We're really sad, but homesick for the following:
Cheryle - a toilet that you can sit on and your feet touch the floor! Her toilet is made for Shaq.
AM - DOT and wider roads. Amanda said "convicts on the side of the road." I'm also homesick for a full keyboard.
Amanda - Pest Control. She's killed four spiders (she says they're tarantulas) with spray kitchen cleaner.
Carrie - Central heat. Her radiator kicks on at 5:30 in the morning and pings until 9. She has said every morning "this will not beat me!" She has two more mornings!
