Notes from Rome: Irish Adventures, Part Two, Galway

The second part of my trip to Ireland required me to overcome a really big fear: driving on the left side of the road. Oh, the anxiety! I was pretty much convinced that driving on the left equaled impending doom for me. Not only would I be doing it for the first time, I would be alone, with no one in the passenger seat to shout obscenities at me should I find myself drifting into oncoming traffic. This, I told myself - and anyone else who would listen - could be bad.

I arrived at the car rental location at Dublin Airport a pretty tightly wound bundle of nerves, but claimed my little Volkswagen Golf and bravely hopped into the driver's side on the right. Before I knew it, I'd white-knuckled myself right on to the Motorway and out of Dublin. And...it wasn't so bad! Thanks to my trusty GPS system, things went pretty smoothly. Ok, I may have bitten holes through the insides of my cheeks the first dozen or so times I had to navigate a roundabout...and I may have driven SEVERAL additional kilometers after taking the wrong exit(s) on said roundabouts. But, no casualties. I actually enjoyed the long, straight drive between Dublin and Galway. The rolling green hills stretching as far as the eye could see, the cows, the sheep...it was pretty much exactly the same as you'd imagine Ireland to be.

I arrived in Galway to my fantastic little B&B on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Thus far, in 3 days in Ireland, I had yet to see a raindrop. And this beautiful day was no exception, which meant the streets and parks (and pubs) were flooded with people enjoying the late-October weather. It was a nice sight and a good welcome to the city. I spent the remainder of this day and the next one (another beautiful day!) exploring Galway and taking in its sights. Galway is a small place, and easily walk-able I particularly loved Galway Bay, and my long walk on the walking path which runs alongside the River Corrib. Galway also had restaurants, cafes and pubs aplenty, especially in its colorful and bustling Latin Quarter. Being a solo traveler, I spent less time enjoying the pub scene than I probably would have with a companion, but I did make sure to catch some live music and have a Guinness! Here are a few photos from my time in Galway.

If the photos look a little bit different than my usual shots, it is because I am testing a new image processing software called Topaz Labs. I'm loving it so far, but still learning my way around.

A sculpture of Oscar Wilde and Eduard Vilde in Galway city center

The bright and busy Latin Quarter area of Galway

I absolutely loved the Guinness ads, which I saw all across Ireland, usually painted on the outside of a building.

A quick bit of Google research explained this ad to mean: You can't persuade him black is white. As in, a wise man won't be fooled into drinking anything that Guinness.

A beautiful, ivy covered building at the National University of Ireland, Galway

These ruins were at the Spanish Arch. The sign says A fireplace of 1602 A.D. showing the Lynch and Penrice coats of arms.

The Spanish Arch. On the morning I was here, they were filming a scene for a TV show, where a homeless man grabs a woman's handbag as she walks past him under the arch. I was walking right up to this scene as it was being acted out, without realizing what was going on. The camera was on the other side of the arch, around the corner. So the man grabs the woman's bag, she screams, and he starts running right toward me.

Yes, for a moment I did start to run away. Then I realized what was going on and felt like a huge idiot. Now I've admitted it and we can all move on!