Getting lost may be my new favorite thing to do

Yesterday I went for a 4 hour walk around Galway. I'm one of those people who, if with other people, will most likely pay no attention to where I am going unless I'm walking around alone. Until yesterday, I hadn't done that, so I figured it was high time I learned my way around the city I'm living in for another 4 and a half months. It was a beautiful day here yesterday, so out around town I went. I set off just me, my backpack, some chill music playing on my iPod, and beautiful scenery all around me :)



Galway Cathedral

 The first thing I wanted to do was visit the Galway Cathedral when there was actual sunshine. I'm one of those weird people who love going into Cathedrals and other places that have awesome architecture. Galway's cathedral did not disappoint. It has so many gorgeous stained glass windows and awesome paintings on the ceiling! I walked in and seriously just walked around inside for almost a half an hour (it's much bigger inside than it looks!) There is a small shop inside the church with a very nice older woman who runs it. She noticed my backpack and asked if I was visiting Ireland. We talked about how I was studying Psychology here in Galway, and how much I love it here. She was very friendly (even when she found out I was not at all Catholic) and told me that I was welcome back to talk to her anytime I wanted. After leaving the Cathedral, I literally just picked the first direction that looked interesting. I was not in any hurry, so getting lost was totally OK with me.



Houses along Galway Bay



I ended up by Galway Bay, which I hadn't yet had time to visit. It is indeed as beautiful as the locals say it is. It's there I witnessed possibly the most humerous of the day's adventures. There are a lot of swans and ducks that swim around the bay close to shore. One swan in particular decided it wanted to go up on land, which creeped out a lot of people sitting on benches close to the water. On a side note, swans walk really funny when they're on land. It's almost if there's cement on their feet and it's a huge effort to lift their feet. Anyway...a swan came up on land and waddled over to some fruit that's left out for the birds. Soon after it got to the food, a dog decided it wanted to go sniff/be friends with said swan. It's safe to say Mr. Swan was not a fan of Mr. Doggie. It hissed then tried to like, dive bomb this poor dog. Mr. Doggie quickly ran away back to his owner, who was laughing so hard he almost had to sit down. Lucky for me, I caught a picture of the two animals right before the dive bombing occurred.



Swans are apparently not fans of dogs.....

After leaving the Bay, I somehow ended back up in the outskirts of town. There are a ton of "Mom & Pop" stores there that I loved looking through! Everyone there is so friendly and curious as to where you're from and what brings you to Galway. I made my way into the heart of town (Shop Street and Eyre Square) and went down a bunch of alleys and side streets where I found St. Nicholas Market. It's only open certain hours on Saturdays and Sundays, so I lucked out that I was still going on. There are so many stalls and vendors there of things from all over the world, plus a few vegetarian food stalls (which I'll have to check out more thoroughly next weekend).  I bought a scarf and a hand carved wooden elephant from an Spanish woman, a marble Star of David necklace from a Middle Eastern man, and a bracelet from a very chatty Irish woman. Money well spent I'd say.

Finally I talked with a shop owner about Blood Sports. There was a protest on Shop Street against the sports, saying that they are cruel to animals, which they are. For those who don't know what Blood Sport is, here's the wiki page on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_sport. The shop owner explained it to me, than asked my opinion. Not really having a good grasp on what blood sport really was, I gave the "it's really not any of my business" answer. I told him I was a vegetarian, and against animal cruelty, since I'm basically the biggest bleeding heart when it comes to animals ( I would take every animal home from the shelter I work at if I could...), but since I didn't grow up around the "sport" my opinion was bound to be skewed.

Eventually, I left the store and continued on my way home since it was getting close to 5 p.m. Overall, I have to say yesterday was one of my favorite days that I've had so far while in Ireland. Some people may have been bored by just walking around, listening to music, and taking in the sights of Galway, but I loved it. I can't wait for another nice day on a weekend so I can have an excuse to do it again! :)