Galway

Our bus departs at 10:03 on Thursday with us in seats at the rear of the bus. Our first stop is downtown Galway. The city has a long pedestrian mall lined cheek by jowl with small shops. Buskers sing, dance, and perform puppetry, artists offer their pieces, and the whole length is crowded.

Galway is an old city, built for horse and carriage traffic, so the streets are very narrow and twisty. Traffic is heavy, slow and confusing, with one-ways, side alleys, merging streets, and few traffic lights. Population has doubled just in the past ten years, and our leader James who lived here years ago, says traffic was wild even back in those days. There are precious few large or modern stores downtown, even around the central Eyre Square.

Our bus parks along a narrow canyon street two blocks off the pedestrian street. Across the street is a vintage resale shop with some items hanging outside. The place is a whitewashed hole in the wall shop in an old stone building, might have been a one-time coal bunker for the building, heated by a small electric fan heater. The front room contains racks of overcoats, and the second room is racks of dresses, suits and jackets for women. Paula simply has to check out a coat she saw from the bus and winds up buying it before we head for the street to find some fish and chips. The coat is visible in the picture.

Sorry, no pix of the fish and chips.They were good, but kinda oily. The tartar sauce was great, though.

After lunch and some other unsuccessful shopping, we head back toward the bus with another stop at the vintage store, mostly just to kill a few minutes. Paula’s sister Nancy has a fundraiser gala at the end of the month with a circus theme and inquires without anticipation. The shop owner waves her to the left rear corner of the second room, and Nancy finds the perfect outfit needing only accessories. Pictures are embargoed until next month.