My first weekend

I was very excited to hear that my second week of school in Ireland was their mid term break. All of the schools in Ireland had the week off of school. It falls on this week because of Halloween and a fall break before Christmas comes. So Ang, Sandi, and I decided to take a holiday!

Due to our late planning, we could not find any where to stay in Galway for Saturday night, the city we really wanted to visit. There was a big Gaelic Football match in Galway between Australia and Ireland. We really wanted to go somewhere, so we decided on Limerick. Sandi and I arrived early Saturday morning, and walked along the streets hoping to find a bed and breakfast. We took the first one that we could find, and later regretted it. It was only 20 euro a night for each of us, a good deal, but it was not located in the best part of Limerick. Ang later arrived, and told us that the lady she is living with, Claire, said that a couple of years ago the Irish used to call Limerick stab city. Needless to say.......we were quite nervous then! We decided to make the best of it, and do some shopping.

We also went out to a pub by our bed and breakfast in celebration of Sandi's 22nd birthday. We were approached by the ex deputy mayor who taught us how to do a toash in Irish. We usually say 'Cheers', but the Irish say 'Slainte', which means health. Several older men, very friendly, kept coming up to us and giving us information about their country and Limerick. It was quite humerous. We were going to go to another pub, but due to the fact that we were extremely scared, we called it a night. There was also Halloween parties going on in every pub, so people were all dressed up......does not make one feel the most comfortable, even if we were in De Pere. We spent the night with our door locked, and our luggage piled infront of the door.

On Sunday we finally made it to Galway, and spent 3 days there. We really enjoyed the city, and it was just as I remember it. Galway was the city that my family and I used to live in 8 years ago. I revisited my old house, school, soccer field, favorite shopping places, and the prom. We walked the streets and did some shopping, visited a cinema, had a pint with the Irish, and of course chowed down on some amazing Fish'n Chips. If anyone is traveling to Galway, McDonaugh's is the place to visit. The food is lovely....as the Irish would say!

Our bed and breakfast was in Salthill, which is still in Galway, but not the heart of Galway. So we needed to take a taxi to get from and into town. It was Angela's first time in a taxi, so it was quite exciting. I think one of our taxi's was even a Mercedes. One day we decided to walk from our bed and breakfast, with our luggage because we were checking out, to the prom. They call the shore line of the Atlantic Ocean the prom, and there is a nice walkway there to walk along the ocean. It was a very windy day, and our luggage was extremely heavy....so probably not the best day for a stroll. But we walked to the prom, the three of us in a row. Well walking the prom, turned into walking all of the prom, then the streets, going around roundabouts, through stop and go lights, and eventually we made it all the way into town. Roughly 4 miles. We were nuts! But apparently we wanted to save money and did not want to call a cab. The three of us must have looked ridicilious. All of us had heels on, in a line, usually with large gaps...Sandi always last because the wheel on her luggage broke and she had to carry it :) It was not funny at the time, but when we look back it was hilarious!