k e e l y | d u n n

kilkenny

This morning we did our last hard-core sightseeing venture, walking through the town centre to the far end where St. Canice's Cathedral is situated.

it's a long way to tipperary

Actually, it's really close to Newmarket-on-Fergus, which we left this morning. We skipped through the county of Limerick, resisting the temptation to stop in Limerick town in which the profound and somewhat controversial book Angela's Ashes /a> was set. Apparently there is little to see there for anyone but the hardcore Frank McCourt fan.

heading south

Today we left the Connemara/Galway area and headed south down the gorgeous west coast. Our route followed the east edge of Galway Bay through Kinvara, Ballyvaughan and on to Doolin.

galway city

Today was a bank holiday in Ireland so when Greg and I arrived in the city centre around 9:30, things were pretty quiet. We were walking on our way to see Lynch's Castle when we happened upon this replica sculpture of Oscar Wilde and Eduard Wilde, famous Irish and Estonian writers respectively who never actually met. Galway has historically been the hub of Irish culture and art, sitting as the gateway to the west's large Gaeltacht, so monuments and historical sightings of literary figures abound here.

enroute to galway

After I moved out of the UCD residences on the last night of the tournament, Greg and I stayed in The Morgan hotel in downtown Dublin. Greg had been there for a night already and had the bags under his eyes to prove it. Located in the Temple Bar district, it seemed like it would be a hip place to stay for a couple of nights, but our room looked out on a main pub street that hosted drunk revelers until 4 in the morning and had absolutely zero soundproofing. We did our best to stay out late at a pub where I told Greg every story about the tournament I could think of, but there was no way we could outlast the real party people.