Galway

If only I had known, I would have planned my Ireland portion of vaca in Galway.  We rode a bus there (4 hours!) this morning to check it out.  The ride there was gorgeous though.  The kind of Ireland you see on postcards and in movies set back in the day.  Fields that never end, covered in cows, horses and sheep.  Rock walls everywhere and trees lining the meadows.  I really liked the broken down stone houses.  Cemetaries are nutty-looking.  A big elaborate headstone, and the ground over the graves are covered in gravel and have a border around them.

We stopped in countless little towns along the way and they were adorable and looked like Strawbery Banke in a way.  Galway had lots of shops and restaurants, and is right on the water on the west coast.  Beer was SO much cheaper there and the people seemed nicer.  Less trash, etc. too.  It was just a much more peaceful place and being in my 30's now I think it's more my style :)  I bought a claddagh ring today - common, I know, but I got MINE in IRELAND, so there.  I also got trinity knot earrings.  Good stuff.

The bus ride back was Hellish.  Some people here are so inconsiderate and rude...and they think Americans are bad???  This woman in the back wouldn't stop yapping about the new apartment she just rented in Galway.  I know her life story now.  All of it.  And I don't want to know it.  Then there was a 5 year old and his dad.  "Dad, what town is this?"  Dad:  "Athlone"  Kid:  "why?"  Dad: "Because that's what they named it."  Kid:  "Why?"  if you can imagine that with ten more "why's" and the dad not seeming to realize that it was a huge annoyance to the rest of us, who were trying to sleep, then you've imagined it right.  Then there were the two little girls, I'd guess around 4 and 5, who were with their grandma.  They were crying and screaming the WHOLE time.  "Grandma, she BROKE my DOLL...uuugggggggggghhhh waaaaah gufffaaaaaw!!!!!"  The gramdma didn't give one shit.  For a while I didn't know they had an adult on the bus with them.  They were also singing some song with lyrics that read "kiss my ass, kiss my butt, from the windooooooooooow to the waaaaaaaaaallll!"  I wanted to throw them out the window.  I've never seen kids behave so badly.  I call them maggots.

Anyway, aside from that, we came back and I was itching for Italian food.  We found a place called The Italian Connection around the corner, where they play lots of Pitbull and they have Polish women working there.  A little strange, but good food and good wine. We feel a lot better and are going to hit the sack soon.  OH I forgot to tell you about the obnoxious Americans who came into our 8 person dorm room last night at 1 am.  Two guys and a girl busted in without a second thought about the 4 people already sleeping.  They were loud as fuck, excuse my French, and weren't quiet for about an hour.  They turned on several lights, ate chips out of loud crinkly bags, and what sounded like milk duds out of a box.  They argued about contact lens solution and made out loudly in the middle of the room.  Poor Rachel got an eyeful, but I was turned the other way to block the light.  I hate the sound of extraneous mouth noises, especially from obnoxious people kissing next to me.  They also put their rank sneakers and socks up on the mantle and I could smell them from 5 feet away.  We tried to be as loud as possible this morning to get those assholes back.  Thank god they were gone when we got back today.  Ugh.  THAT'S why people here hate Americans.

Tomorrow, the plan is to do laundry, take the Guinness tour, and go see a movie.  We are pretty much all set with Dublin and are ready to move on to Brussels!