Welcome back!
Its been an eventful and highly educational couple of days since our last post.
On our first "official" day, we decided to drive into Galway City with Celine and spend the day exploring while she was at work...meaning that we would be there from 9-5. It sounded like a good idea but it ended up being completely overwhelming and exhausting. We absolutely realized that our days have to be planned out in advance to avoid aimless wandering. Sarah swears that the day wasn't that bad, but I found it to be utterly lackluster.
We decided to use our second day as a "chill" day to plan our next move and rest up a bit more as we're still adjusting to the time change. Unfortunately we ended up sleeping until 12:30 and lacked the gusto to do much planning. Celine says we need these types of days to rest. We tend to agree.
Today was the best day by far. We chose to make our way to the Galway Atlantaquarium where we got a STUDENT DISCOUNT making our total ticket price 7 Euros instead of 10. What a bargain! Although the building was small there were plenty of interesting exhibits, the highlight of which was a massive stingray/regular fish touch tank. Sarah and I spend a good hour doing meet and greets with the rays and trying to touch the fish. If you haven't yet had the chance to touch a ray, make your way to the closest That Fish Place and find a touch tank. Sarah (the future marine biologist, mind you) heckled me for trying to squeeze the fish, but I say I was just being friendly. If you're interested in reading more about the aquarium check out this link: www.nationalaquarium.ie
We stopped at a small cafe on the way out of the aquarium so that I could get a smackeral of something, and ended up spending almost 3 Euros on an apple muffin that tasted like it had been hibernating in someones old boot all winter. I ate the good parts and gave the rest to my pigeon and seagull friends while Sarah pretended not to know me.
The walk to and from the aquarium was almost as beautiful as the pigeons and included sweeping mountain views and rocky beaches and rolling hills. We are continually amazed by how green and well trimmed the grass is here...it's too cold for the grass to grow much bit it is incredibly green...not dark green like lawns in the US, but a bright lime green.
To wrap up, here are just two interesting things that we've learned about Ireland and the Irish so far:
1. Irish dogs are exceedingly well trained...all during our walk to and from the aquarium we saw people taking their dogs out for walks on the beach, no leashes needed. They may run ahead of their owners to play in the water but always look back to make sure they haven't gone too far. At one point, an older gentlemen walked by us with his dog and went into a museum. The dog waited quietly outside the doors for him to return.
2. The Irish use lots of great expressions and phrases like, "Thanks a million," "Thanks a heap," "Thank ye," "Go streeeght and then teck a heeeerd laft" (go straight and take a hard left), and "Will ye have eh pint?" They could pretty much say anything and make it sound good.
Also, two name corrections from the last post:
The terrier's name is Bobby not Benny
And the daughter's name is spelled Clodagh not Claudia. It's pronounced Clow-duh.
Thanks so much for taking the time to read all of this and follow our trip.
Much Love,
Emily
No comments:
Post a Comment