When irish eyes are smiling....Galway 2011

Seven stamps now proudly show themselves in my passport, which I just attained before coming to Europe. I feel like Jason Bourne or some classy jet-setter. The biggest trip I've made was obviously back home for my mom's birthday, but now, I've added a UK and Ireland stamp to the mix. It was all to meet up with my singing group, the University Chorale of Boston College as they made their annual spring-break migration to Europe.

The Journey:
The entire trip there included an 1.5 hour flight to London Heathrow, then a 45 minute flight from there to Shannon. From Shannon, I took a 2 bus to Galway. The return journey was the same, just backwards. I write this now as we taxi in Shannon and Aer Lingus is playing Vampire Weekend. I think I need to write a post on globalization, but now....only Ireland.

The flights there were grand. This time, there were no clouds over Europe and you could see all the small German and French villages. When we were over the English countryside, Victorian palatial estates were always in view. Both times there, I exited the plane directly onto the tarmac, a process and experience that is a little archaic, but one that I adore. It just added to the feeling of being jet set. When taxiing at Heathrow, I caught my first glimpse of the largest commercial plane in use today - the Airbus A380. I don't think I breathed as we passed it - all I could think was that the A380 could take at least 6x more people than the plane I was in. The future of air travel looks bright. I'm boring you so back to where we left off...

The bus ride was also glorious as it went through rural Ireland and stopped in small towns on its way to Galway. Once in the city, I tried to walk to the hotel where the Chorale was staying, but got lost in the Diagon Alley-like streets of Galway. I eventually took a cab there and was delighted at the cost since Galway is a college town. I walked into the hotel restaurant where they were having dinner and got too much love. I'm still riding the wave of happiness that was always with me in Ireland.

There was no set plan that night, so the group split up a bit. I somehow ended up walking into town with Chaz and Danny and because of that, every other time I walked the mile into town. We found out that most were at O'Connells pub (named after our former president Matt?). They had a lovely biergarten out back and it was warm enough that we stayed out there all night. Chaz and I decided to behave like locals and got rounds of beer for each other. Of course our first two beers were Guinness, which I haven't had in a while, so it tasted like ambrosia. Munich beers are so different because of the Reinheitsgebot - a law created in 1487 restricting beer ingredients to barley, water, and hops. In 1993 they updated it to include wheat malt and cane sugar. Wheat is not in the law, but is considered to be a part of it. This law makes German beers extremely pure, no funky after tastes, no hints of orange or citrus. No vermontian maple beer, no smokey fall beers, no spices for holiday beers. Simply barley, water, hops. I have become somewhat of a beer purist since being here - there is no fluff. Although my taste is now different, I still found the Irish beers and their slight complexity a nice change.

Throughout the night, we reveled, caught up, and enjoyed each others company. Nikki Gangi, who is studying in Liverpool, showed up and I was relieved that I wasn't the only crazy who decided to join in the fun.

Being a singing group, after a few beers we were belting songs to all. I remember this old Irish man smoking his cigarette, completely enamored in our singing. His clapping and cheers after every song just encouraged us more. The night ended early after the singfest because the whole day had been spent traveling - the Chorale flew to Dublin, then drove by bus down to Galway (quite a trip).

Quay Street

The whole time, I was lovingly put up in Clair and Mary's room (or Clairy Goetzlaughlin as people started calling them). I never had to break out my sleeping bag. Thanks a bunch! We slept like babies and woke up the next morning ready to explore with the free time they had. After a perfect Irish breakfast, Erin, Claire, Mary, Maggie, Annie, and I went on a walk around Galway proper. We started on Quay Street, the one that is the Diagon Alley for us Muggles. We walked through a hippie-like-yet-still-Irish farmer's market and had a hard time not buying the fresh cheeses and other goods. The sun started coming out and the day only got more wonderful.

Meeting Oscar Wilde

The sun starting to come out and light up all the stone buildings

Musical students at the college take advantage of the tourism.

Down by the river (no the Neil Young song, but actually down near the river) we walked through the tide pools where the River Corrib met the Atlantic. After, we ventured out onto an old drydock wall. The views of the land across the bay, the ocean, and the city were just too beautiful to describe.

The River Corrib

A curious pigeon who makes the Spanish Arch his home

The tide pools and shore

Boats at low tide.

The drydock wall

pure joy

A hunger arose and we filled it with fish and chips at McDonagh's right on Quay. Who else was there but THE John Finney, director of the chorale. He was raving about the meal he just had and we were soon doing hte same. A little more walking around and then we went back to the hotel. They were singing at 6 pm mass and needed to get ready, get to Galway Cathedral, and rehearse.

Nikki and I joined in the rehearsal from the choir loft, but for mass we sat down in a pew. Random fact about Peter: I have an obsession over organs and the cathedral had a regular cathedral organ - grand, mighty, and able to give you the chills. I had met Jen, the organist, a little bit before the mass, but MAN! The way she played those keys was absurd.

The mass was wonderful, partly because the Irish don't fool with the efficiency of the mass. The Liturgy of the Word took all of 5 minutes as one lector read through the 1st reading, the psalm, and 2nd reading without taking a breath, or so it seemed. I had been in this cathedral before six years prior with my mom. We showed up 5 minutes late and the priest was already at the homily. 10 minutes later we were somehow outside and mass was over. The homily at this mass was unfortunately about the church finances. They handed out the current finances of the church, and we didn't get much inspiration from that.

Nikki and I found ourselves singing along whenever the chorale was singing. The people sitting around us were pretty confused, I'm sure. The communion pre-mediation was a Mendelssohn organ sonata, which I was happy I recognized. Jen was, of course, spectacular. The recessional was Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, so naturally, I shouted it.

After Mass, Claire, Mary, and I went to Sahi an Indian restaurant next to the hotel. We then went downtown and started the pub crawl. Tollite, a song we sing every midnight, was performed in Eyre Square and we went directly to Club K afterwards. This club only seemed to play American music, including my homeboys Weezy, Snoop, and Dr. Dre.  It felt like we were at home, and was also a good change from the techno of German clubs.

Sleep was again enjoyable, but interrupted when we had to wake up early for our tour of hte Aran Islands. My last trip to Ireland in 2006, I took zillions of pictures, but didn't back them up. You can see where this story is going. I bought a new camera right when I came back since mine died on the Ireland trip and put the memory card in. Memory card - instantly formatted. Memories of Ireland - instantly gone. This second time to the Aran Islands and Galway was perfect to capture the memories again, if that is possible.

We boarded the bus which took us through southern Connemara. Connemara is known for the following:

1. Connemara marble - green marble that is some of the most expensive in the world today
2. Connemara ponies - some of the best show horses in teh world
3. ROCKS!

Takin the tractor into town?

The west of Ireland is already very rocky, but it just kept getting rockier. On the way our tour guide told us it used to be even more so. To make the land fertile, famers broke up rock and made rock walls out of it. This kept the wind form blowing things away. They would then place sand, manure, and seaweed on the ground and in 20 years BAM! you had soil. There were so many rock walls and they never got boring because they stretched forever and you knew there was a story in each stone.

so. many. rock. walls

We boarded the ferry from the same place I did 6 years ago. It only took 45 minutes to get to Inishmore, the largest of the three Aran Islands. As we got closer, a sun-drenched cloud hung behind the island and silhouetted it's gradual slope. I knew what was on the other side of that slope and couldn't wait to get there. Once on the island, we split up into 2 groups. The first group took a tour of the island as we walked to Joe Watty's, a local pub, and got a bite to eat. I got a shepherd's pie and a beer. There is NOTHING like a shepherd's pie from Ireland! Also, the beer was cheaper on this small 800-person island in the middle of the Atlantic than in Galway. This was one of the many temptations that I had to push away as I wanted more and more to live on the island. The buses then pulled up and it was our turn for a tour. I learned quite a bit since it's never hard to listen to an Irish accent. Inishmore has 4 prehistoric Celtic ring forts and the 4th largest fishing fleet in all of Ireland. Like Connemara, Inishmore also has a lot of rocks and rock walls. Every now and again in these rock wall-lined pastures, you would see very very happy cows. Meat form these cows is highly praised since they can graze outside all day in Inishmore's mild temperature. All these things the tour guide was saying as we were rocking down a ridiculously narrow road. All of a sudden we reached our first stop, DUN AENGUS!

This fort was built in 1000 BCE and was given major refurbishments every 500 years or so (e.g. adding another wall...like they didn't have enough before). The fort backs up to 300 ft. cliffs overlooking the Atlantic; this is what the gradual slope of the island led up to. In the center ring, there is 2-foot tall, perfectly rectangular rock slab, a geological formation which was perfect for Celtic pagan rituals.

The inner ring.

Choralers looking over the cliff

Once up there we lined up in a row, laid down, and stuck our heads over the side, looking down 300 feet to the churning and clashing ocean waves. When comfortable in that position and looking for an even greater adrenaline rush, we would stick our hands out in front and look out to the sea. At first, you felt like your hands would throw you off balance and you would topple, but once you realized that wasn't true...you were flying. The wind was at your face, the hazy winter sun was dead ahead, and you felt like the seagulls who were gliding below you. My heart is starting to race right now writing about that moment.

About a million pictures were taken at the top and near the cliffs. We took a ginger picture because we were finally in our homeland. the background was too pretty to pass up. Every now and again, I would start whistling or humming the Lord of the Rings theme because the fort is basically Helm's Deep.

The fortress wall leads right up to the cliffs

Our next stop on the bus was the 7 Churches, a site that contains only 2 churches nowadays, but dates back to the 8th century. It was a monastery and university but is now used as a cemetery for the local church. There is a grave there where 7 Romans are buried. Back in the day, people traveled a long way to get to this remote place.

The stones around windows and doors.

Beautiful graves

We got back on the bus and headed into town. After the necessary trip to the Aran sweater shop, we boarded the boar. Within 5 minuted everyone was asleep; the gentle rocking was too much.

At the hotel, Mary, Claire and I were trying to figure out what to do for dinner plans. Mary looked up a tapas bar which is considered by many as the best tapas bar in Ireland. I was indecent how good the food was, to steal Mary's words. Patatas bravas, artichokes with garlic and serrano ham, honeycomb and cinnamon ice cream, and a bottle of Spanish wine...nom nom. Towards the end of the meal, the owner came out. We knew his face from pictures in the periodicals that had reviewed them. He wished us, the last customers, a good night. I will be back sir, your food was divine. We thought the night couldn't get more perfect, but then we went to a pub with session music. Nicole, Chaz, and Ethan met up with us and we went to Taaffes to grab a drink. With the session, we couldn't help ourselves from going out on the crowded dance floor. All the college kids who had gone away for the weekend were back and it was nice because everyone was around our age.

At 12, we walked outside and people were forming the Tollite circle again. During out Tollite singing, Annie brought Emily and I out since we both irish dance for BCID. We humored them and performed a two hand. A great last tollite for me.

As a group we headed to the Front Door, which could actually fit all 70 of us, but was only good for a drink. We walked to Central Park, a club that was only open 1 hour more with a 5 Euro cover. Somehow that 5 Euro was worth it. We raged on the dance floor and when Martin Solveig's Hello came on, I lost it. It's been my one of my favorite songs for the past few months.

After that, I slept, woke up at 7am and caught a bus at 9 to Shannon Airport. I've skipped two days of class for this trip and I am sooo happy I went.

There is something generally happy about the people of both Galway and Munich. The smiles, the coziness, and the immediate feeling of inclusiveness are very refreshing for one's soul.

The other 80 or so pictures of Ireland you can find by clicking here:

Galway, Ireland 2011

Next post: Fasching Dienstag (Carneval Tuesday)