"Standing Firm on Foreign Land"

I gotta stop walking long distances just to see things called "castle" on the map. That's the takeaway for today.

Anyhow, stopped into a lovely little cafe called Dela to fuel up for the walk-- green eggs and ham, all in one!

I *do* like green eggs and ham!

Now, only a 90 minute march through the suburbs to go see something called "Merlin's Castle" on the map. That's gotta be cool, right? I mean, it's a wizard!

Before I spoil that surprise, let me say, some things here in Galway are illogical. I stopped into a language center, hoping to get some cheap Irish lessons. They tell me, no, we don't do that here, but there's a place around the corner that does. So... I look around and around, and turns out, the place called "Áras na nGael" teaches Irish. Now, speaking no Irish, how is someone supposed to identify the place to learn Irish???? Anyhow, the lady didn't seem very interested in the proposition at the front desk, and said no openings until September, so... out of luck there.

I'll spare you the trek through soccer fields and housing developments, and share the relative disappointment of the "castle"

Not worth a 90 min walk...

You couldn't even go inside! Also, my thoughts about "this would be a cool place as a teenager to drink/misbehave" were confirmed by the garbage found around the place (not shown here).

Anyhow, it did start to rain a bit, so took the bus back to Eyre Square from here instead. If you've never shared a bus with a class full of Italian kids scream-singing "Bohemian Rhapsody", let me tell you, you are missing out. Mostly because they only knew half the words (but were great on the Galileo part!). Was hoping for some acerbic comment from the bus driver, but somehow to no avail.

Tired and hungry, I treated myself to a nice dinner at Universal on Dominick Street-- scotch egg and some salmon!

This was delicious, but the *best* part was that the wifi password here was, no joke, "wutangclan". Points to those of you who picked up that reference from the blog post title!

Dealt with some minor domestic problems, you know, like breaking my washer/dryer when I got home (not my fault thankfully!). This should not just be one machine.

What does PC Load Letter mean????

Anyhow, meant I had to go to a "launderette" the next morning to finish the drying of my sopping clothes. True story, here in Ireland these things can be at gas stations, you know, like an air pump or a vacuum.

But you have to wait in a gas station parking lot...

Anyhow, gonna call this post for now. Heading to Belfast tomorrow for the weekend, should have more stuff to write about then.

Random Thoughts:

- I really gotta start saying "grand" instead of great to fit in here.

- A lot of people walk their dogs off the leash here, which I really like.

- Don't know if I've mentioned this yet, but the parking situation here is... incomprehensible. There's either nothing or people parking both ways, half on sidewalks, or often, all around a church at mass time.

Moment of Zen: