Ireland is for Lovers

Chapter 7

The next morning, we took the two-ish hour drive down to Galway (he let shotgun pick the music again). This was one of my cousin Nicole's first stops on her and her husband's Ireland trip, and when I told her I was coming over here, she said if I happened to find myself on that side of the country, Galway was a must-see.

We started the day down by the harbour. We had gotten it in mind to pop into the Galway City Museum, but because it's Sunday, they were closed. So,we took a brief walk along the River Corrib.

Later, after mass had finished up, we took a quick tour of the Galway Cathedral. Being Protestant, I almost felt like I might burst into flames just walking in the door, but Max assured me no one who wasn't Catholic has ever spontaneously combusted from just going in.

The place was gorgeous-- I don't think I've ever seen so much stained glass in my entire life.

After Galway Cathedral, we parked near O'Connell's, and took a walk through Eyre Square, and the downtown area, and circled back to the pub for a drink. Like most pubs in Ireland, O'Connell's is small, intimate, and seemingly very popular.

Max and I found a couple of empty spaces at the bar, and the bartender, whose name was Alex, came over to find out what we were having. Max looked at me, and asked "Shots and pints?"

I turned to Alex and said, "Two shots of Jameson, and two Guinnesses, please."

As he's pouring our drinks, Alex notes that he's never seen us in before (because like most bartenders, he knows his regulars, and clearly, we were from out of town--- especially me); I said we were down from Sligo for the day.

I turned to Max and asked what we were drinking to; just like the other time, he goes, "How about us?"

I said "Sounds good to me.... Here's to us; Slàinte," and we clinked our shot glasses and knocked them back.

As we took our shots, Alex noted my American accent, and asked where I was from; as soon as I could breathe again from the whiskey, I proudly said Tampa, Florida. He then asked me the same thing the girl at St. Stephen's asked me: what brought me to Ireland. I cocked my head toward Max and simply said, "I owed this one a visit...."

Alex then asked how we knew each other, and Max goes, "We used to date; I was going to school in Florida a few years ago, and we had a couple of classes together"

"And you're still good friends?"

"Aye; we parted on friendly terms, and we've kept in touch over the years."

"Well then, this round's on me; good friends are hard to come by these days, especially if those good friends used to be lovers...."

We both laughed, and thanked him.

The man and lady who were sitting on the other side of me, who appeared to be just a few years older than us, and I guess had overheard part of our conversation with Alex, asked me how long I had been here for; I said about a week, and I still had another week left.

They asked me what kind of work I did that afforded me the ability to take that much time off. I told them I owned a restaurant, and I gave everyone who works for me the time off as well; I figured it would be a jerk-move on my part to take that time off to come over here, while they all still had to work. They appreciated my reasoning.

We had a rather nice chat with them. Their names were Monica and Robbie; they have two young kids, both girls, ages 9 and 7; they live on the north side of town, but both are originally from down near Killarney.

Before they said they had to leave, they put our next round on their tab--in honour of their new American friend. I thanked them, and they said they hoped I enjoyed the rest of my visit.

As soon as they left, I turned to Max and said, "Well.... Nicole wasn't kidding when she said the people here--present company included-- are some of the nicest you could ever hope to meet....."

He huffed a laugh and said "Well, of all the Americans I've ever met--present company included---you're by far my favorite"

Then he added, "You about ready to go, Love?"

"Yeah, if you are...."

Max and I got back to his parents' house late in the evening, after dinnertime. We were both kinda wrung-out from the day, so we had a light bite to eat and went to bed.

Monday, we slept in, and went out for a late breakfast before heading back to Dublin. Before we left, though, Pat and Emily both expressed how glad they were that they got to see me again. I told them it was good to see them again, too, and that if their travels should ever find them in my part of the world, by all means, look me up; they said they would.

We got back into the city in the late afternoon/early evening, and stopped for dinner before we got back to the apartment.

When we got inside, we set our stuff down, and we both dropped down on the bed,which is where we stayed for the remainder of the evening,and the majority of the next day.