Dublin-Galway

Stupid iPad just crashed and I lost most of this post and it's getting late...I'll see how far I get.

Dublin is cool just like every other city so far. I feel amazingly claustrophobic in these cities between the high buildings, narrow streets, and lack of sun. Everything feels like it is hovering right over your head! Patrick hates our Irish car (I agree...it's bad) so he didn't want to drive in Dublin. We asked in the hotel how to get downtown and the concierge said to take a bus then a tram, but we needed exact change. We walked past the bus stop to a bank and then ate lunch. Patrick looked at the map and realized we could walk to the tram in 15 minutes, so we did. I had on my favorite little sandals with a toe strap. This becomes important later. I realized I could walk slower than Patrick and catch him at the lights when he had to stop, so that's what I did!

The tram was fine, but we got off at the wrong stop for where we were going and had to walk a ways again. Did I forget to mention where we were going? That would be the Guinness factory. It's Patrick's holy grail. The tour was interesting, even for non-drinking me. The factory has a 9000 year lease. Yup, 9000 years. Mr. Guinness was a forward looking man! Finn can now tell you lots about the beer...he likes reading the name everywhere we go now.

When we left Guinness, my shoe snapped. The little toe part pulled right out. I felt like a fool flopping around Dublin, tripping over the stupid thing! We took a cab to the Jameson Whiskey factory since I couldn't walk and got rubber bands so I could put them on my shoe as a temporary fix while we took the tour. This tour was better because it was guided and our guide was really funny. I like the Irish accent...I feel like I'm in Boston with Dad's family it this country. Everyone either looks like the family or sounds like them. Patrick and Anna both did the taste testing at the factory but again, I'm not a drinker. Especially hard alcohol like that...it tastes like rubbing alcohol to me.

Then we went to Temple Bar. That's basically a street with all the tourist shops and pubs on it. A friend of Anna's from her neighborhood growing up is in Ireland on her honeymoon, so we met up with them for dinner. Finn got a balloon that he fell in love with and was sad about leaving, and I got new flip flops. They are much better than the broken ones :). I had fish and chips again, this one was not good at all. Still on the hunt!

We didn't really want to leave Dublin, but we wanted to see the rest of the country so we left the hotel late (I slept till 9:30!) and drove the Galway. That's where we are now. It's a small city but goes back to medieval times. Tomorrow I'm going to go check out the medieval wall and see that section of town, I might be doing it without the rest of the family :). Today we walked around the main street and a park. Finn makes friends with everyone. He was playing soccer with a pair of brothers who were Italian or Russian, then he made friends with a little boy in the park, and on the plane to Ireland he because good friends with a girl named Sky. Adults watch him go by and laugh at him, or take pictures like a random tourist did today. It's amazing watching him plow through a city leaving a trail of smiles. There was also capoeira going on in the park, that was really cool!

We ate Italian food because we are all pretty sick of pub food and then walked down to the river. The wall just drops right down 12-14 feet to the water, that was freaky. I sat on the edge and got some pictures. Finn refused to go anywhere near it. We also crashed a wedding today. We were sitting in a hotel lobby because Finn NEEDED food right then and the whole wedding party came in. W left where it got too obvious that we were crashing and kept walking. Finn got in trouble at dinner and Anna stuck him in time out in a doorway in an alley. It was hysterical...Finn was crying, Anna was laughing, Patrick and I were taking pictures, and the waiter standing there was alternating between laughing and looking concerned for Finn. Classic!

Tomorrow we will take a ferry to the Aran Islands. I think I'm going to buy an Aran sweater. I could knit one, but these are cheaper than the yarn and a lot less work! They are beautiful though with wonderful cabling and great designs. I'll take pictures if I do get one.

That's about all so far, I'll keep doing what I've been doing with dumping pictures in and then updating when I can. The pictures are easy because they are an email, but I can only do one per email which is annoying. If you click them you can expand and see them in more detail.