After a lovely breakfast at a little café near the hotel, we planned the day. There was an 11:00 train to Athenry, only 20 minutes away from Galway City, so we decided to see what we could find there. Hopped on, hopped off, and there we were. The Athenry Castle is a short walk from the train station, and the woman at the reception center was kind enough to give us a starter tour of the sparse but interesting spot. After squeezing as much as we could out of the castle, we went in search of more ancient ruins. We found the Athenry Dominican Priory, which was closed (and seemingly abandoned, though there were several graves in the graveyard from the 20th century), and that was about it. We caught the train back to Galway City just in the nick of time (any later and we would have had to have spent 3 more hours scouring the town for something interesting and open).
Back in Galway, we visited the Collegiate Church of St. Nicholas, then on to Galway Cathedral where, ironically, the Athenry School of Music was holding a concert. Maybe that was the problem earlier--all of the village's inhabitants had gone to Galway for the concert. It was packed with kids and parents and some adult performers, and with the amazing acoustics in the cathedral, most typical young players' mistakes easily blended in and everything sounded very nice.
We sat and listened for almost an hour to all sorts of genres of music, and at one point I actually got a little emotional seeing these kids play so sincerely and beautifully. I guess it reminded me of my own playing when I was a kid; music probably saved my life, as it was one of the key areas in which I excelled. My playing and singing gave me something to be proud of when my peers were less than kind. And what an amazing gift music has been to me. It's opened doors, helped make connections, and brought so much joy into my life.
We left at the end of the concert, then headed back to the hotel and a little afternoon nap. I could get used to this whole napping thing.
Evening came, and we met my friend Darren for dinner. I met Darren on my last trip to Galway 2 years ago, and we picked right up where we left off--the tell-tale sign of a great friendship. We had a really lovely dinner at the Quay Street Kitchen that lasted 2 hours, and then we went back to the hotel where we had coffee in the hotel's lounge and talked for another nearly 2 hours. Great to catch up and see Darren looking and doing so well.
Back in the room, after debating renting a car, we decided instead to take our first (and only) tour bus excursion, and booked a tour to Connemara for today.
Before the pictures, the song:
Paul and his Irish breakfast
Athenry is where I've decided to open my own bar, apparently.
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