After much waiting (all year really), the Milletts finally embarked on their trip to the Republic of Ireland. The independent country (not to be mistaken as part of the UK or you get quite the look) of emerald green hills and guinness stout known lovingly as black gold. We travelled as a group of 4 Milletts - which made booking anything really easy! Myself, Syd, Syd's Bro Sam and his wife Becky made up the notorious quad.We flew into Dublin but immediately rented a car and drove to the West side of the country to the city of Galway. When we first got on the highway we noted how flat the terrain was and remarked that it looked a lot like Ontario. It was only when we got nearer to the coast did the green hills start to emerge and the feeling of Ireland started to envelope us.
Due to impeccable navigation we made it to our cute bed & breakfast and then took a trek into town for a night out. When we came upon the town we crossed a couple bridges over small canals.
Cute restaurants lined either side of the canals, but we kept on to the main part of town to a pedestrian street called Shop Street that was lined on both sides by pubs and restaurants whre people were hanging around with their drinks outside of packed pubs.
We went in for a pint of black gold in one of such packed pubs. From the outside the pub looked very small, but as we soon realised with this pub and many others, the pub is more than what it seems! It had multiple nooks and crannies to sit and chill in, and then you go through a side section and you are at the back of the bar where there is a dancefloor, and upper level with a dj that overlooked a main large bar section and restaurant beneath! We were quite impressed and decided to come back to it later (more to follow). But since we were starving, we finished our pints and went next door to a tex-mex place called Rodeo.Sam is quite good at knowing his tiredness limits so opted to go back to the B&B after dinner. The 3 of us then noticed a live band and instantly heard the opening riffs to 'summer of 69' and being the good canadians that we are we immediately went in and danced right at the front of the band. People in the bar looked at us like we had 2 heads because apparently you're just supposed to 'listen' to the band. Screw that! We soon started a trend and a bunch of drunk obnoxious girls danced a few songs later and ended up pushing us out of the bar due to our annoyance with their behaviours. No matter as there were other bars to explore!
We went into another pub that also had multiple levels and a dj. I lost Syd and Beck in here for a while and ended up talking to some guys in kilts (as you do!). The bloke was Australian with Scottish heritage so I could relate to him. When I found the others shortly after we didn't stay much longer as the place had NO air circulation and was uber hot in there.
Thus, we ended up at the original pub with DJ and secured ourselves a spot dancing next to the DJ - on a platform overlooking the crowd - felt much like a go-go dancer really and I loved it - ha ha! Syd was starting to fade at this point and was almost kicked out by the bouncer who wasnt' aware he was with us. We sent the poor guy home and he arranged to 'hide' the key for us under our car tire outside our room.
And then there were two...two Canadian gals out to have a dancing good time in a foreign city where we actually felt really safe. We soon realised that Irish men are very forward, very good looking, and super funny! We pointed out quickly in any conversation that we were married (and in Becky's case, with a child) but they didn't seem to care. They were like, "who cares, you're hot, let's snog anyway!" Becky says that some of her single friends should move here as they would have no problems 'pulling' an irish bloke. ;o)
The next morning we walked along the shore near our b&b
and took some beautiful shots of the town at low tide before we got on the road again to travel the coast.
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