I arrived in Galway and my first stop was with the other "Tir" apostles, to have lunch at "The Quays" pub, a very medieval looking place right in the heart of High Street, the mostly pedestrian avenue in the heart of Galway. I then said my goodbyes to the group from "Tir" as they're staying only for a 6 day tour, and i want to stay here in Galway, and take a day trip out to Inishmor, in the Aran Islands. After walking around a bit, I got settled into Barnacles Hostel across the street. It turns out, that this hostel isn't as good as i'd hoped, even with the central location. (Should have known, as I'd moved from their sister hostel in Dublin, too). I tried to take a shower, and the water was ICE cold. (Remembering the times in Asia, when the same occured, but at least there, i was prepared for it there!) Also, a huge Amnesty Int'l. group is staying here for a conference of some sort, and there are no available bunks anywhere else, so i had to make due with a 12 bed dorm. Ugh. Several of the boys were loud and drinking in the room, etc. The next morning, their "complimentary" breakfast was such slim pickings, with no juice even left for me and the bathroom light in my room was burned out, so i had to use the toilet in the dark...so once more, I scraped Barnacles off my list and i moved down the road a bit, to Kinlay House....which is a much cleaner and friendlier place. Before leaving Barnacles, though, I told the manager about my problems with their hostel and was given a 10 Euro discount on the ferry ticket to Inishmor tomorrow. These Irish are honorable folks! Galway is full of young people, many wearing face piercings, and ear guages the size of pennies. It's a bohemian city, full of students. In fact, i read that over 25% of the population is under 25 years old. Last night, i went to hear music at Roisin Dubh (Dubh means black) and heard this young guy and his band play. The singer, who was a throwback to the big band era sang Mack the Knife and Life is a Cabaret (sung badly, but still entertainingly funny.) I wanted to stay to hear a Scottish band called "The Nucleotides" play surf music, (their brochure says they play "Pop Terrorism" music)...but after 11:30 pm, they still hadn't started to play yet, so I bagged it. Geez, back in the day, I'd only be getting started at this hour, but these days good sleep in on my agenda, or i'll regret it the next day. I hope to hear more "trad" music later in the week, as just about every pub in Galway is renowned for. Kinlay House, where i'm staying now, is great! Clean, quiet rooms, a nice breakfast featuring REAL coffee and i'm sharing my room with a very nice 27 year old French girl named Melanie, from Brittany (cool, as i've been there--to her home village, too). Melanie is here for a year and hopes to find work in Galway, as do so many others! She spent 2 years in Paris, previosly, working at Les Invalides museum, where Napolean is buried now. We spent the day cruising around, visiting St. Nicholas Church, the Spanish Arch (built in 1584 by Spanish Armada settlers), and just walking around Galway's streets. It's a small town, really, with the city and surrounding area has less than 100, 000 residents. I seem to be able to strike up a conversation in just about any place i end up in....most of the Irish must have kissed the Blarney Stone too, i 'spose. No lack of the gift of gab here. One guy, Fred Molloy, spent an hour talking music to me, and when he found out i was from the same city as "The White Stripes", he felt compelled to kiss my hand and tell me "You are a blessed woman", then went though his luggage to give me a gift (I tried to resist it) and pulled out an old tattered Kurt Cobain T-shirt and made me take it! So many strange, but interesting tortured souls i've sen in this city, very different from the other places i've seen in Ireland so far.