Finally a morning where we had nowhere to rush off to! We slept in and enjoyed the huge breakfast buffet included with our room charge. We even tried Weetabix, “the nation’s favourite cereal.”
After breakfast we walked the pathway along the Corrib River which is joined by a canal and the Friar’s River (according to the plaque on a stone). This walk took us to the enormous and beautiful Galway Cathedral built in 1965 on the site of an old jail. We walked back through the shopping area and discovered St. Nicholas Collegiate (Anglican) Church, built over 700 years ago. Then it was time to check out of our hotel and board a train back to Dublin. The return trip seemed to take a lot longer.
James our taxi driver from Heuston Station loved pointing out more sites, but we also noticed that he was taking us the long way back to our Dublin hotel — so his tip got shorter.
We unpacked our overnight bags and went out again, exploring St. Stephen’s Green Park a bit more including the Fusilier’s Arch (Europeans love arches!) which is a tribute to soldiers killed during the Boer War (1899 to 1902). We ate dinner at a Middle Eastern/Pizza place which was nice and bright after being in so many dark pubs. One thing we’ve noticed, our servers are never in a hurry to give us our check (but the food service is always fast). We have always had to ask for our bill at every sit-down meal on this vacation. Are we Americans in too much of a hurry?
Kathy was really exhausted, so we went back to the room before it got dark to plan our final full day of this trip. There is a 98% chance of rain tomorrow, but we have been so lucky with the weather for this whole trip that we won’t complain. Jack had actually hired a local photographer to act as a guide out to some of the more scenic landscapes well away from the city tomorrow. That got cancelled due to the weather. Maybe next time.
