Since last we spoke, Ireland has seen some of the nicest weather it's ever had! This, coupled with the
Volvo Ocean Race, has made the streets of Galway overflow with people. A chronological account of all the fun things I've been up to would take way too long, so I'll just leave you with some highlights.
-Boat races. This is, I suppose, rather obvious as the whole reason for the festivities is a 'round-the-world yacht race, but it wasn't just the official Ocean Race yachts. There were also curragh races and hooker races! Yes those are both types of boats. A curragh is a small canoe-like boat that is rowed by three people, and a hooker is a fishing sailboat. Anyway Jenn and I went down to Salthill and watched the boat races on Monday, which was also one of the nicest days. It was at least 80° F and sunny! (In addition to watching the boats racing, we waded in the ocean and skipped stones for an hour. Lovely.)
-The mass amounts of people and the Race Village. The Race Village was set up on the Docks, around the harbor where the boats were all docked, and consisted of rows of vendor tents. Mostly food and souvenir vendors, though there were some other random little local companies represented. In the evenings, all the pedestrian streets were barricaded off as "no glass zones," and the bars all threw opened their windows and sold beer in plastic cups right onto the street! It reminded me of nothing so much as Bourbon Street in New Orleans. I am not much for the bar scene, but one evening Jenn and I each got a plastic cup of Guinness and just walked around people-watching. I have never seen so many people in Galway! All the hotels must have been overflowing.
-An airshow. My father used to take my sister and I to the airshow in Muskegon every year, so it was rather nostalgic for me... but also, it was just cool. The
Red Arrows are the U.K.'s Royal Air Force Aerobatics team, and they are awesome! It was a very exciting show.
-Free concerts! All types of bands, from trad to folk to rock, played for free all week. Jenn and I went to three evenings of music, and with the nice weather and the 10:15 pm sunset it was always fun.
-Swimming at the beach. Let me explain how significant this is. When I moved to Ireland, I saw people swimming in Galway Bay, and I thought they were crazy. It's not usually much above 60° F in midsummer, and the North Atlantic is always effing freezing, so I swore I would never swim in the ocean. And then, Tuesday, it was over 80° F. It was sunny and there was no wind-- also very unusual for Galway!- and so I packed up a beach bag and went down to the beach at Salthill. I lay in the sun reading until I got too hot, and then I waded into the bay. The water was cool, but it felt wonderful after being in the hot sunshine. It was also incredibly clear, even when it got deep... clear and green. I floated easily in the salt water until I got too cold, then returned to the beach to read. I ended up swimming three times, and then again on the walk home! Gorgeous.
-Just generally laying around in the sunshine. Last Sunday, I spent about five hours laying in the grass by the canal reading
Pride and Prejudice, not to mention the three hours at the beach on Tuesday. I even managed to get a bit of a sunburn on the first day of sunshine! (After that I was quite careful with the sunscreen.) On Wednesday and Thursday, I decided that I really should get back to working, but I couldn't quite face sitting at my basement cubicle. So I brought my books to a coffee shop and read outside while drinking iced coffee. I love summer weather... it's the biggest thing (that isn't a person) that I miss about Michigan.
Of course, Friday it dropped back down to the low 60s, and yesterday was the last day of the Ocean Race. So Ireland is back to normal, cool and rainy and sparsely populated. Which isn't a bad thing, though I miss the warm weather already. (I wore skirts and tank tops for four days in a row! Fantastic!) It all makes me look forward even more to my upcoming summer adventures in the 'States... more on that later!
(Pictures forthcoming, whenever I get them uploaded.)
