We had a full day in Galway after leaving the hotel at 9am (arriving in town around 10).  Over the day, there was cloudy to rainy weather which had a minor impact on what we could see.

In the morning, a few of us wandered through the small St. Nicholas church and an adjacent open air market (like the farmers markets back home).  We continued walking, reaching the stone arch (which dates from the 16th century).  With okay weather (for Ireland, this is no rain), we walk around the beach.  As it turns rainy, we wandered around town and the shop lined streets. 

Stopping at the King's Head Pub for lunch was a nice respite from the rain.  Since there is a King's Head Pub in Campbell back home, I was intrigued by the coincidence.  The pub is so named because an Irishman who chopped off the head of King Charles I was given this building back in the 1600s.

After lunch, we wandered along the river, crossing the Salmon Weir Bridge towards St. Nicholas Cathedral.  Built only in the 1960s, it was still neat to see.  On our first stop here, a wedding was going on.  I enjoyed hearing the organ and a quick look at a Catholic wedding.  Amy figured that there was a while left in the ceremony (I had no idea) so we wandered around outside a bit to kill some time.  Returning later, the wedding was nearly over.  I was waiting for the happy couple to break the glass, but that didn't happen.  I resisted the urge to yell out "Mazel Tov!" at the end of the ceremony.  Exploring the cathedral, I found the JFK mosaic in one of the side chapels.  He's quite popular here.

We got a flyer earlier in the day about a free concert at the Galway museum this afternoon and we headed over there.  There was an exhibit of town photos from 1916 at the museum.  It was amusing that the journal entries that accompanied each photo mentioned one or more of: bad, rainy, windy, or miserable, weather.  I had no trouble relating.  The concert was very entertaining.  It was a crazy string quartet that joked, danced, and wandered around the room.  When the concert ended, we found an indoor mall to get out of the heavy rain.  Exploring it, we took a hot chocolate break.  The tour group was meeting at the King's Head at 6pm so we had a little time to sit down.

When we got the King's Head Pub, it was too crowded to eat, so a bunch of us found, shockingly, another pub.  After nearly twelve hours in town, we met the bus for our return to the hotel.

As mentioned in yesterday's trip notes, we were at a brand new hotel and were literally the first guests.  The hotel was having a party for investors and VIPs tonight and we were invited.  Plus, we would get a total of 400 euros in drinks.  Quickly changing clothes upon arriving at the hotel, I hit the party.  Since I didn't need to fix my hair and makeup, I was the first from the tour to arrive.  Che arrived shortly and I chatted with him about life as our tour manager.  Lots of others came shortly and I enjoyed the party and music until around 12:30.  

View the Galway photos.