Finally we got a good uninterrupted nights sleep last night and got up at a 'reasonable' hour ready to pack and hit the road for the first time since we arrived in Ireland. The morning started with a walk to the end of the village where we enjoyed a great Irish breakfast. I will say we skipped the Black Pudding. My Dad used to eat that under another name, Blood Sausage, and I remember my Mom cooking it for him and deciding then it was not for me. I maintain that position! The walk, the breakfast and the tea were delightful and prepared us to hit the 'wrong' side of the road. Our Tom Tom was charged and prepared to show us the way from the East to the West, we had reservations in Galway and were ready to go.
The drive was beautifully green and pastoral, however not the dramatic scenes I expected but of course we were driving cross country and not along the coastline. That was fine we are patient but no worries we did have our excitement! John began to get his 'sea legs' on the Motorway and you could hardly tell he was not accustomed to driving on 'this' side of the road. Our Tom Tom beeped madly at random moments and we realized it was signaling speed cameras! These on what we would call our Interstates. The Tom Tom actually has an icon to invite you to add any cameras discovered they may be unaware of. We found this humorous but not nearly as funny as our petro stop. It was Paris revisited! Again, we are driving an exchanger's Mercedes and as we prepared to stop John commented he hoped he didn't have problems opening the gas cap as we had in France. Well, of course it was self fulfilled prophesy! We stopped, I headed to the bathroom only to return to find John with his nose in the owners manual. I soon joined him to no avail. My normal reaction, and never John's, is to simply get out of the car and ask some young man! The young man walked over, pressed on one side of the gas cover good and hard and it popped right open. You had to be there I guess but it was funny and actually John took it very well. Age does that for you. After shelling out E77 for 48 liters of gas (@$100)we were back on the road.
We continued on our journey across the country just enjoying the pastures, cows and sheep nothing to astounding and then to break our drive along came a car towing (in Ireland clamped)another car. Not so very unusual except it was towing the 2nd car with a nylon rope. No kidding! That entertained us for sure and caused us to catch our breathe I might add.
We were nearing Galway and looking to find the hotel where we had made reservations and suddenly Tom Tom stopped talking. Are you kidding me? Now when we are coming into a city we have no clue being faced with one roundabout after another? The battery was already dead and of course the lighter socket was fried so what the heck? John had a brilliant idea and pulled over got out the computer, propped it next to the shift and plugged in Tom Tom. Didn't work...dead again and just as we are once again big eyed in wonder of what to do Irish music began to blast in the car and we cannot figure out where it is coming from. Finally, we realized the computer had pressed against a radio button of some sort thus our unplanned concert.
With Tom Tom once again dead, we were left to rely on signs with all these roundabouts. Knowing this wasn't going to make it we pulled into a parking lot and called our hotel for directions. I just love to hear how other cultures and languages describe things and today was no different. It may be English but in so many ways it is so very different. So the young woman started by telling us to get on the '"dual carriage roadway". Ok after some thought it might make sense she meant a two way road but it took us a moments to figure it out.
And so we landed at the 'G Hotel', rated very highly by Frommer (our travel Bible) and Trip Advisor. I am picturing something elegant yet picturesque within walking distance of lots of cool things. When John pointed to the building and said "That is the G".....I said "No it isn't" He said "Yes".....I said "No." Guess who won? Yep John was right. We were in the middle of a shopping mall and movie complex! Seriously! Great if you want to grab a show and a room. Right on the motorway, decorated in disco bright Pinks and Purples and very modern posh. The best was when we got to our room and our big windows open to Woodies. Yes, Woodies is Ireland's answer to Home Depot. You just have to love it. On the upside we have a lovely room and great bed which we will both enjoy.
I had not been feeling well all day so we decided to just go down to one of the 'neon' lounges and have something to drink and a light bite. It was entertaining for sure. Seems it is the place for the young and beautiful. We lucked out to become the center of a 'hen' party and I found out what it must be like when I get together with 20 of my best friends in a bar. Enough so our server asked if we would like to move to 'another lounge' and we took him up on that.
I'll end today with a conversation with a painter in the parking ramp. Yes, we have conversations with everyone everywhere! I had shared with John that I wanted to go somewhere while on this trip to year traditional Irish Storytelling. So as we got our luggage out these two guys greeted us and John decided they may be our source. Out of the blue after a simple greeting 'nice day' and all that, John asked if they knew a good place to go for good Irish storytelling. You had to know the response and please add a good rich accent....the guy didn't miss a beat and responded laughing....."You get Irish storytelling in every pub....they are all lies!"
Looking for beautiful sights in the morning.
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