There are not many places as beautiful (in my opinion) as the west coast of Ireland. Today we arrived in Galway, our home base for exploring the west coast. We took the train in the morning directly west across the country from Dublin and the boys really enjoyed it. For J, it was his first real train ride!
It was really nice to get out of the city and look at the beautiful countryside for two and a half hours. It was also fun to hear so much Irish being spoken! The train announcements are bilingual and the west coast is known for its Irish language culture. There are many villages out here where the people speak mainly Irish and we even found a kids television station when we took a little rest this afternoon where shows like PJ Masks and Cat in the Hat were in Irish! The boys really got a kick out of that. When we got into town, we dropped off our luggage and walked around to explore a bit. Galway just has a great vibe to it--lots of people in the summer, street performers everywhere, shopping and great proximity to the water...
On our walk, we found the Spanish Arch, which was constructed in the 1500s...
There was also the Galway City Museum which was fascinating! There were all kind of exhibits about the history of Galway, archaeological finds, and a whole section on the sea life specific to the area. Plus, it was Grammy's favorite price! It's funny because we said to Chris, "That was a great museum,
and it was Grammy's favorite price," to which Chris responded, "Oh, it was free" (Grammy I know you are laughing at that!)...
After a short rest at the hotel, we returned to town to listen to some live traditional music. It was a great afternoon!
After dinner we walked around some more, found some street performers who were Irish dancers, purchased a Claddagh ring (yay!) and got some gelato for the boys. Tomorrow, stay tuned as I attempt to drive in Ireland!
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