This morning we departed Dublin by train for the roughly two-hour journey west to the seaside town of Galway. About 60,000 full-time residents live here, but it swells on weekends when many come for a getaway. We found that to be true this weekend, especially with the arts’ festival in town. The gentle rocking of the cross-country train was quite pleasant…we felt rather European. 🙂

We settled into our lovely hotel and got lunch prior to departing for waking tour #2 by Sean Finnegan. He is a wonderful, knowledgeable man, but boy has he got the gift of gab (I wonder how many times he has kissed the Blarney Stone and been touched with its eloquence?)! The kids stayed behind in the hotel, which was a good thing as it grew rather long (again). Still, I really enjoyed learning about this once fishing village with quite a trade route to Spain. It is even rumored that Christopher Columbus was inspired to sail west to the Americas by experiences he had in Galway!

We had a group dinner scheduled at Monroe’s, a famous Galway pub (there sure seem to be a lot of famous pubs in this land). We have joined up with a student group from Fullerton, CA, so we are quite a spectacle going around, all 30 of us! Reed stayed on longer with the students to listen to traditional Irish music…I returned to our hotel with the kids and my folks. We have a ferry to catch to the Aran Islands in the morning, so we are looking forward to another new adventure, this time on the sea.

At the station in Dublin

Countryside

Lynch Home (1500s)

Tricolor and Galway Region flags

Art imported from America

Erin Anne!

Lynch’s Window (sad story)

Gargoyes at the Church of Ireland, Galway

Catholic Cathedral

Our dinner pub

Shop Street