The Wandering Genealogist: 10,351

In case you are wondering, the number above refers to the number of steps recorded today by the pedometer in my phone. My feet are saying "is that all?". It's not quite a record but good enough for a pair of often-sore feet. We really did pound the pavement all day long.
Today's retelling is not quite in chronological order - but I'm too tired to copy and paste. Sorry folks. The photos are at the end of the blog so you can skip directly there and not read my verbal meanderings.

The Airbnb we currently call home, is a bit out of the centre of the city but we managed to be exactly on time to catch the bus into Eyre Square - centre of town. The trip takes about 10 minutes. Driving takes that long for the "getting lost and re-found" portion, plus actual travel time. Beside parking is a nightmare. For a small city, the traffic is atrocious in rush hour.

Mostly we meandered along the pedestrian streets, listening to a few buskers, making conversation with one of them who was wearing a Conor McDavid Oilers jersey. He had picked it up when visiting Edmonton not too long ago.

There are numerous shops flogging all sorts of things, notably Aran sweaters and other items, woollen wear of all descriptions, Claddagh rings, typical souvenirs found all over Ireland and almost surely made in China. We visited the tiny Claddagh ring 'museum' behind the jewellery shop.

The Hall of the Red Earl was interesting. It is hundreds of years old but excavations in the 90s discovered the outlines of several things including a forge. It is well done with glass around the excavation and signs telling about it. There was a group of school kids visiting and we listened to some of what the guide was describing. Replicas of some of the finds were on display. One can only guess that the originals are safely stored or maybe in the museum - that is always closed on Mondays. This is my second stop in Galway - on a Monday.

The architecture of Galway varies from the very old to the fairly new. St Nicholas Church was built in 1320 and will celebrate 700 years soon. As we wandered around inside this Church of Ireland, we could hear a few choir members practising. The choirmaster is a very picky individual. Apparently Christopher Columbus worshipped here in 1477 - or so says the sign.

Just outside the church is Lynch's window which seemed more like a stone archway or part of a wall. Magistrate Lynch sentenced his son to hang for murder although he could have commuted the sentence. He did not want it to seem like his offspring was above the law. After the sentence was carried out, the senior Lynch was despondent and lived as a recluse. This was the origin of "lynching" - or so said the tour narrative. There was a driver on our tourist trolley, but the descriptions of what we were passing were recordings. I do wish that the accompanying music had been turned down a bit more when the narrative began.

Our tour was on a little trolley train and took about 45 minutes. There were a couple of stops where folks took advantage of the hop-on-hop-off privilege. There's a stop at Salthill along the promenade in front of the aquarium. Just at that point the grey and blustery day turned wet, so we stayed on board for the return trip to near the Spanish Arch.

The sea, or rather Galway Bay, was rather turbulent today. OK - the waves were really big and the wind was very strong. I don't know if the ferries were operating to the Aran Islands but even so we would not have been interested in being tossed about - to say nothing of other potential consequences of such an adventure. Alas, another visit to Galway has not included a trip to any Inis.

Today's forecast said rain would start around 2 pm. It was about an hour late but we didn't complain.

I think we covered all of the interesting streets and alleys, including a longish stop at Charlie Byrne's bookstore. Braden decided he really had to have a copy of Joyce's Ulysses but Olivia and I didn't buy anything. That shop is quite amazing - one room leads to another then another then ... I found a book that was about blacksmiths in Leinster and there was a reference to the Rocktavern and Tom Byrne. We had tea there last week. Tom is not a blacksmith but lives near the location of something. Now if I had a memory, I'd be sure to tell you what that something was. Sigh! There was a photo of an old forge with a horshoe-shaped doorway in Craanford or Monaseed. Both are near Rocktavern and I shall be on a mission to find that forge very soon. I think I know just the guide I need.

By mid-afternoon Braden was suffering Guinness withdrawal and we popped in to Fibber Magee's for the cure. While he enjoyed his brew, apparently better than at some other 'dispensaries', I checked out the ladies' room. I thought I heard a cubicle door close - but there was nobody there. While drying my hands, I felt someone go behind me and touch my shoulder. There was nobody there. Hmmmm - I opted not to ask the publican if they had ghosts. I'd rather not know.

Once the rain got a bit more intense we hustled off to McDonagh's for fish and chips. They are reportedly the best in Ireland. Well, the fish was very tasty but they had the worst chips ever.

The rain was still nasty so we took a taxi back "home" where we are in for the evening. Perhaps it was the traffic but our cab fare was 5 Euros more than Braden had paid when returning from their night out from very near the same spot. Hmmm.

Today also, the lightbulb finally lit in my brain. I took the SIM card from my Irish phone and put it into my 'regular' smartphone. Works like a charm. Duh! Now I won't accidentally turn it off when trying to answer a call. The only obstacle to be surmounted now is entering my Irish contacts into this device. Ah well, we have time to kill tonight while the laundry is swirling about in the machine.

With help from the supplier of our dash cam, I think I have it re-formatted and ready to roll. Who would have guessed that on this Mac I had to format it to MS DOS? The Mac format didn't work. Tomorrow I will put it to the test. We shall have either 5 hours of footage or 5 hours of nothing. That will be our longest day of driving. We will make stops - but the forecast isn't good so they will probably be brief bio-breaks. Subsequent days on the north coast hold the promise of some sunshine. Lets hope that's right. There's nothing better than visiting the Dark Hedges on a sunny day.

It's a different country up there and we will temporarily put away the Euros and bring out the Pounds. There's no obvious border and that's a bit of an issue for Brexit. Northern Ireland is part of the UK. The future of crossing back and forth to the Republic is a bit of a sticky wicket right now.

Our accommodations here are very nice. I have a lovely big bed plus a single one for good measure, in my room, and O&B are sharing a room with twin beds and an en suite bathroom. My bathroom is a few steps from my door.

The guestbook is the entrance hall wall(s). A bucket of pens and markers sits just waiting for us to write on it. Will come up with something shortly. It really is nice having an entire place to ourselves. The thought of being squashed into one hotel room, which would have cost much more, is simply frightening. Lots of space to spread out and everyone gets along and we do make some of our own meals.