Inis Oírr and Galway

Today was the day trip to Inis Oírr or Inishere on the “Happy Hooker”.  Neither of us had made it to the Aran Islands in '96 so we were eager to pay them a visit.

When we got there we had no plans so when approached to take a horse drawn carriage out to the Passy shipwreck for 5 Euros apiece we figured why not?!  Ronan, the driver, and his horse Connie, were good company on the 10 minute ride up the road where we learned a little bit more about the island and its inhabitants.  Marnie split a gut laughing when she fell for his explanation of how they got the livestock into the rock walled paddocks. ‘Ah, the farmers just lift the cows and sheep, you see.’

The Plassey ship is a rusty wreck that washed up on shore in the 60’s.  There’s no real story with it from what I could tell but it did make for some interesting photos. Unfortunately I discovered that for the second day in a row, my camera didn't have enough battery power. Frig! So Marnie let me use hers.

It wasn't raining! It's so much more pleasant being outside when you're not getting soaked.  We walked back from the ship into town stopping at the lough, the airport and the cemetery before stopping in for a delicious lunch.
Once we managed to leave the warm and cozy tea shop we wandered off in the direction of the famous well, Tobar Einne. Not too far along we saw Ronan again so we opted to get him to drive us to our destination and then walk back yet again. The island is small but it turns out that it's bigger than it looks!

It was a pretty but barren part of the island. Stone fences are everywhere. They've stood the test of time with their clever construction, allowing wind to blow through them. Ronan mentioned that they were built with the rocks they picked up when clearing pastures. Then they put down sand and seaweed and the grass and wildflowers grew.  Clever, that!

We never saw the famed eel in the well, though looking at it made me wonder how on earth one ever would have gotten in!   On the walk back Marnie made friends with a very sweet, very pregnant donkey. When a local lady walked by she commented that you can hardly walk around without seeing an animal dropping a calf.   We stopped in to a little croft to look at authentic Aran knit sweaters but came out empty handed, though not for want of trying.  Before leaving on the 5:30PM boat back to the mainland, I managed to sneak in a run on the zip line and got Marn on the fish teeter-totter.  It was quite a pleasant trip back and with the clouds having lifted, we got a great view of the cliffs.

Once we got back to the car it was time to head back to Galway.  Ah Galway!  Our home base for 3 months in the summer of ’96.  I was really excited to get back there.  It was the key destination for our reunion trip.  Along the way I played DJ-C with a series of carefully selected tunes that were part of our shared memories or Celtic songs. The Indigo Girls, Cranberries, Billy Joel, Ashley MacIssac... It made the trip more fun although we didn’t need too much to entertain us as the scenery along the way was just GORGEOUS!

We chose to stay at Jury’s Inn which, as it turns out, is where our old roommate Jay worked.  The main reason to stay there was that it was right in the centre of town so we could wander around to all of the pubs we wanted to go to.  Of course, in order to stay there, we had to pay the price.  For one night though it was worth it.  Driving into town we found the hotel no problem. The first part was through highway signs and directions from the hotel, the latter part through instinct and memory.  Marnie was the first to recognize a landmark – the Spanish Arch.  This is a defining part of Galway in the Claddagh area of town.

After getting ourselves cleaned up we hit the streets for a Wander around Galway. We both noticed that things have changed, such as:

• High street is a pedestrian mall now.  Cars used to drive up and down in.
• The money Ireland came into in joining EU has given it a face lift but it’s also taken away some of the charm.
• The fountain in Eyre Sqaure that we poured bubble bath into on Canada Day has been removed.  Hmmm...did we have anything to do with that?!
• Galway is a much busier city now!!!
• It is obviously a student town and most of the people out in the pubs were in kindergarten the last time we were here!
• 6 New Road looks smaller than it used to.  We didn’t knock on the door to see if Mary was still there!
• The Bridge Mills, where Marnie worked is still there although it’s not as big of a restaurant that it once was.
• Macken’s coffee shop is now an Italian pizza restaurant and looks pretty nice.  I found the spot fairly easily and knew immediately that despite the changes, that was the same spot I spent so many hours clearing tables and being reminded why going to university to get a real job was so important.

Quote-of-the-day: "Everyone's itchy asshole and hurt feelings deserve legislation." Said at breakfast at hotel during a conversation about peanut allergies.  This was overheard by a scandalized eldery couple.