Galway

We arrived in Galway on Sunday and after we booked into the hotel we went for a wander and had some lunch.  We had arranged to meet Sean Ashe and his wife Maree that evening.  Sean took us to his local golf club for dinner so we could see Galway Bay while we ate.  it was very pleasant, Galway bay was beautiful.  we had a lovley dinner and then Faye, Kevin and Maree took a taxi home.  Sean , Ian and I went to a local bar called O'Connors, it was fabulous.  this bar was two doors away from where Sean had lived as a boy everyone knew him, it was quiet being Sunday night and sadly there was no live music.  I had an irish whiskey for the ocassion adn many drinks were had for our late friend Chris Smith as Sean was a very good friend of Chris's.

the next day Sean met us and took us on a walking tour of his city Galway, it was very interesting and informative, we went to the University, the Cathedral, the lochs the museum and finished with a coffee in an old bar at the spanish arches.  there are waterways throughout galway and they were used for the production of power for the industry.  sadly like other irish cities the rubbish is disgusting they really need to run a campaign to clean up Ireland.

Maree cooked dinner for us on Monday night, Ian's favourite irish stew and it was just like his mother cooked it.  we all had a great evening with a lot of wine, port and baileys drunk.

Tuesday wet again so we missed out on going to Coonamera as we would not have been able to see much.  We got on the road just after 10 am and travelled to Dublin.  Today i was the driver and Faye co pilot.  Fayes job was to call the coffee and food stops.  this was an impossible job for her.  The standard of cafes and eating places is very under par.  We saw sign saying lucury hotel and followed them only to be very dissappointed (Faulty Towers).  we arrived in dublin without incident and another bad meal under our belts by 3pm.  It was difficult to find our hotel at the airport as the name has changed to "the Raddison" but the signs on the road said the"Great Southern", incidently i had booked at the great southern. We have returned the rental car and settle din for the evening, we have an early start up at 4am.

i guess no one will be surprised if i say i'm not planning a return trip to Ireland.  we have met some lovely people to be sure but the placneeds to be cleaned up, the streetsa re littered the waterways are littered and the Hotels good all do with a good clean. sorry still no photos as there are no facilities to download them in the hotels.