First Stop: Galway

With Christmas day activities behind us, Oige and I jumped into the car for a cross country road trip to Ireland's west coast. Four previous trips and I had yet to see anything north of the Ring of Kerry, including Galway and Connemara National Park. Because holidays last much longer here than in the US, our choice to travel on St. Stephen's Day (the day following Christmas) was the perfect time: No traffic! With extremely narrow roads, limited speed enforcement, and the occasional farm animal crossing, the fewer cars the better. Our first pitstop in Athlone also happened to be Oige's old football stomping grounds while playing for the Athlone Town FC. We passed a closed Brett's Pharmacy, crossed over the River Suck, and stopped next to the water for a quick picnic of turkey sandwiches, Tayto, tea, and Dairy Milk chocolate.

Back in the car, a short drive and we were soon in Galway. Straight to the hotel, which was closed with a sign on the door saying be back at 4pm on Dec. 26th... Strange, so we went into town instead. Living up to the expectations, I was impressed with the beautiful pedestrian streets weaving through the city center decorated with wreaths, lights, and Christmas trees. Luckily we avoided rain, but it was even colder than Dublin had been so we stopped into the pub for a coffee, hot chocolate, and one berry crumble to share. Noticing that not a single hotel, B&B, or guesthouse was open we hoped that the rest of our 4 day trip wouldn't be too difficult as we hadn't booked any lodging before hand.

A short exploration of the Occupy Galway camp was my first personal encounter with an 'Occupy' demonstration. Complete with tents, porta-potties, a kitchen, and surrounded by a pallet fence, this was the full package. Considering the tremendous negative impact of the economic crisis on Ireland's youth, I was actually surprised that the camp wasn't larger. Four o'clock finally rolled around and we arrived to a fully operating hotel. Back into town for a delicious Thai meal at Tamarind and a full night's sleep ahead of another adventure filled car ride tomorrow!