Europe adventure. Day 3 of 34.
Written in O'Connor's Pub in Salt Hill.
Today was full of great small moments. So many fantastic experiences. I hope I don't forget anything. So much has happened, I feel like. To begin with, I slept wonderfully on Adrian's couch. It was very comfortable and I am looking forward to curling up on it again in a couple of hours. I woke up to my alarm, which was the familiar sound of the Firefly theme song. It sounded like home. The plan was originally to head to the Aran islands, which I was crazy excited about. Ariel and I were going to go, and we left the house in a rush to catch the early ferry.
The problem was that we somehow missed the bus to the ferry... We got the tickets with time to spare, were waiting where we were told to be waiting 15 minutes early, and waited for a good half hour at least. We even checked with the ticket salesman to make sure we were waiting in the right place, but eventually realized the bus would not reach the ferry in time even if it did eventually arrive. And then the salesmen told us he had seen it around a half hour early and it had probably been waiting around the corner. Why he hadn't mentioned that, I don't know, but I'll have to see the Aran islands next time I'm in Ireland.
So with refunded money in our pockets we decided to find out what performances were going on for the arts festival, which is going on this week and seems like a huge, very exciting event. Most of the shows were sold out or very expensive, but we did buy two tickets to a play called Riverrun that was on that evening.
With at least some plan for the day, we set out to explore more of the city. Almost instantly we ran into a couple of completely amazing street performers, one playing the harp and the other three accordion. I was literally standing in awe of them for a while, and I was almost glad then that we didn't get in that ferry.
We wandered around, listening to the street musicians, reading and drawing in a gorgeous church, buying postcards. We found a fun at gallery that had some very interesting pieces of art. A lot of it still sticks in my mind. And at that art gallery we were invited to a comedy show at a discount price, which we decided to go see. In the meantime we picnicked and walked by the bay, where we were followed around by a couple of smelly wet dogs with no owners supervising them.
The show was run by a few people from Toronto and it was very silly and fun. The only sad part is I started to get very tired, from hunger, I think. Good thing Adrian was making us a delicious homemade Mexican meal!
When we got back to the house Adrian was still cooking, but I was glad, because walking by the beach in the sun on my way back to Salt Hill I had decided I wanted to go swimming in the Irish sea. It looked cold, but I had made up my mind. Terra and Adrian were also all for going swimming, and I found out there was a giant public diving board into the ocean, which sounded a bit terrifying.
I ran right the ocean, even though the sun has decided to hide behind the clouds and it felt much colder out. And then we all walked down the coastline to the diving board, enjoying some good conversation and building up our courage to jump.
Oh my god, jumping 6 meters or so into the ocean was amazing. A little painful if you hit the water wrong, but still so, so fun. And then with the salt on our skin and the waves still rushing and pounding in our heads we headed back for dinner.
Adrian is an terrific cook! If he opens a Mexican restaurant in Galway as he wants to, I would come back just for that! Everything was made from scratch, with "too much love", as he said. He is hilarious. Did I mention that?
After stuffing ourselves with as much food as we could manage Ariel didn't have much time before we had to be at the play wet had bought tickets for earlier. The bus from Salthill to Galway is always late, too, so with only about 20 minutes to spare we decided to flag down a cab. The cabby was great, too! Very friendly and talkative, so used to Galway he seemed to find it a bit old. He got us to the theater with just enough time to spare.
The play was so interesting and intense, one one woman in a tiny medieval theater with a fantastic sound and lighting team doing a very Irish piece with influences that I don't really remember, to be honest.
I don't think I understood even a quarter of what she said, and because of the environment I almost dozed off in a sort of mesmerized sleep a couple of times, pinching myself to stay awake. But she was so talented I am in shock. So many words, tones, sounds, movements, expressions for one person to remember! And she did it all so, do well, making the audience really feel everything she was expressing even without knowing what she was talking, shouting or whispering or making noises about.
She was just a very interesting looking person, also. Very long white hair and very sharp, androgynous features. Lithe and small and not young. The way she appeared and the way she moved reminded me so much of faerie folk, otherworldy people.
Now, after the play, I am sitting in the pub right in front of Adrian's house, drinking Irish hard cider (which is the best!) and enjoying the live music and the sound of people. Tomorrow, The Cliffs of Moher! This time we won't miss the bus. :P
The problem was that we somehow missed the bus to the ferry... We got the tickets with time to spare, were waiting where we were told to be waiting 15 minutes early, and waited for a good half hour at least. We even checked with the ticket salesman to make sure we were waiting in the right place, but eventually realized the bus would not reach the ferry in time even if it did eventually arrive. And then the salesmen told us he had seen it around a half hour early and it had probably been waiting around the corner. Why he hadn't mentioned that, I don't know, but I'll have to see the Aran islands next time I'm in Ireland.
So with refunded money in our pockets we decided to find out what performances were going on for the arts festival, which is going on this week and seems like a huge, very exciting event. Most of the shows were sold out or very expensive, but we did buy two tickets to a play called Riverrun that was on that evening.
The show was run by a few people from Toronto and it was very silly and fun. The only sad part is I started to get very tired, from hunger, I think. Good thing Adrian was making us a delicious homemade Mexican meal!
I ran right the ocean, even though the sun has decided to hide behind the clouds and it felt much colder out. And then we all walked down the coastline to the diving board, enjoying some good conversation and building up our courage to jump.
Oh my god, jumping 6 meters or so into the ocean was amazing. A little painful if you hit the water wrong, but still so, so fun. And then with the salt on our skin and the waves still rushing and pounding in our heads we headed back for dinner.
After stuffing ourselves with as much food as we could manage Ariel didn't have much time before we had to be at the play wet had bought tickets for earlier. The bus from Salthill to Galway is always late, too, so with only about 20 minutes to spare we decided to flag down a cab. The cabby was great, too! Very friendly and talkative, so used to Galway he seemed to find it a bit old. He got us to the theater with just enough time to spare.
The play was so interesting and intense, one one woman in a tiny medieval theater with a fantastic sound and lighting team doing a very Irish piece with influences that I don't really remember, to be honest.
I don't think I understood even a quarter of what she said, and because of the environment I almost dozed off in a sort of mesmerized sleep a couple of times, pinching myself to stay awake. But she was so talented I am in shock. So many words, tones, sounds, movements, expressions for one person to remember! And she did it all so, do well, making the audience really feel everything she was expressing even without knowing what she was talking, shouting or whispering or making noises about.
Now, after the play, I am sitting in the pub right in front of Adrian's house, drinking Irish hard cider (which is the best!) and enjoying the live music and the sound of people. Tomorrow, The Cliffs of Moher! This time we won't miss the bus. :P
Comments
Post a Comment