On Saturday we took off for Galway and the Early Music Festival. It was about a two hour drive, which surprised us since in was only 10 miles. Not quite – but nearly. The roads around Galway Bay and the Burren were crazy. I’ve included a picture of us on Corkscrew Hill overlooking Galway Bay. If Kate looks a little green, it’s not your computer screen – she was.
We thought we were late – but thanks to my keen sense of direction in Galway (Anita and Darla would have been impressed with how well I remembered it!) we were there on time for the kid’s play about Noah. Well, my keen sense and the fact that nothing starts on time in Ireland. The play was in the King’s Head Pub, it was free, and we really enjoyed it. Aine and I scored some seats with our new best friend stranger in the front.
The show was very cute – and includes a remark of Summer Night that you can watch below.
After the play, we saw s demonstration of early music (recorders and bagpipes) and some dancing. Aine was quick to jump up and partake. The rest of us were active viewers. The music demonstration was in the Galway Museum. We didn’t see much of it – but we liked what we saw. They have a fun interactive kiosk where you can take a picture of yourself to get added to their digital montage. Also they had a beautiful display of glass balls like water drops hanging from the ceiling.
After the museum we took a walk in the medieval part of the city. We had pizza for lunch in Fat Freddie’s. Patrick duped me into sharing a potato pizza with him – thankfully Aine took pity on me and gave me some of her pizza. Patrick can be evil.
Galway is a great city for walking. The people-watching was great. Lots of people were celebrating with beer – even before noon, which was something I remembered from my trip with Anita and Darla. (That is, I remember observing this – not joining in.) We walked through the market and to Eyre Square and eventually headed back to Lahinch.
We took a longer, yet quicker route home, which included a stop in Coole Pak, near Gort (in honor of WB Yeats). The we got home and enjoyed a mean game of Cluedo while we relaxed.
Filed under: Clare
The aquarium and pool are under one roof – though we didn’t get to actually swim with the fishes. The aquarium was pretty cool. My favorites were the camouflage fish- I have a video of them.
The ugliest fish was the baby conger eel. The fact that they are hanging out in the North Atlantic is enough to keep me out of the deep. We also saw some baby lobsters. They were tiny – about the size of a quarter – and they are slow to slow. At about two and a half years, they were still small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. The staff members were feeding them with a tweezers. Lobsters live to be about 50 or 60.
We were there during the feeding and that was fun to see too. We were the only ones there for the feeding but the guy feeding the fish gave us a nice explanation about the fish and what they eat. Apparently they only eat twice a week.
After the aquarium tour we went into the swimming pool.
Friday night we had a nice dinner at the Liscannor Hotel – which is halfway between our place and the Cliffs of Moher. Grandma and Grandpa are staying at the hotel in about a week when they come back to go golfing.
