Weather: like perfect! Sunny and warm. I could have (but did not) wear the one pair of shorts I brought on the trip.
If you ever go across the sea to Ireland
Then maybe at the closing of your day
You will sit and watch the moon rise over Claddagh
And see the sun go down on Galway Bay.
Today we did a walkabout of Galway. Lots of walking! We walked into downtown Galway (about two miles), walked all about town, and walked back. Probably eight or so miles in all. Good exercise. I will let pictures tell the story. One incident to report: I tried to stealthily take a picture of a colorful apparently homeless lady. I got the picture, but she saw me, yelled at me, and chased us down the street. We got away, but nervously expected here to reappear at any moment to harangue us with invectives. She did not. We also met three nice gentlemen from Scotland in a pub while having a lunch break. We had a nice chat – about one’s 30-day road trip across America, about their love of the TV show Golden Girls, and about the Trump travesty in America.
CLICK ON PICTURES TO ENLARGE
The Irish writer Oscar Wilde statue is to the left and the Estonian writer Eduard Wilde statue is to the right. They appear to be conversing, but two men are not related and never met. The Eduard Wilde statue was presented to Galway when Estonia joined the EU in 2004.
Dinner was back at the Black Cat. Wine, of course. Pork and chorizo meat balls, chicken livers on toast, local mussels, fried calamari (a repeat from last night), and bread. Dessert was scrumptious crème brûlée for me and Elaine’s new favorite, white chocolate with a berry compote.
We passed right above you today on final approach into Heathrow. Did you see our big 777? Safely made it despite torrential rain at Heathrow. We were amazed that our luggage was checked in Phoenix and through. Never worried until we saw it again in Copenhagen. Had crazy bus driver, the purple connection, from terminal 3 to 5. He thought he was driving a little car, took lots of turns!!
Love how slender you are Joe, keep up that walking! Cheers, we just hoisted a Carlsberg to you two!
We have many of those same shots of Gallway and its environs (in Day 19) including Fat Freddy’s Restaurant. Still same chalkboard sign! Not only is there a Murphy’s tavern, but a Hanley clothing store! Meant to be! We took your Day 19 trip by tour bus as we had no car until the end of our month. I had shin splints as we often walked from Salt Hill to City Centre 2x in one day! ! OY the pain! Have a great motor trip to Dublin. Looking forward to that blog as well.
We did not have that great pic of the colorful old lady. She may have thought you guys were her long lost relatives from America! Ha Ha!