Ireland, Day 2

So today, I had to go in to work. It made it easier reminding myself that work is the main reason I was in Ireland, but I still would've preferred to just hang out with Mandy. However, that wasn't in the cards, but that's not a big deal. I'd always wanted to visit the plant in Galway and put faces with the names of the many people I'd worked with from there over the last decade or so.

The drive in to the plant was exciting to say the least. The Merit-Ireland folks had arranged a rental car for my boss to drive while he was here so we took that into work. First, I went around to the passenger side to get in but oddly there was a steering wheel on that side. The vehicles here are all left-side drive which we'd forgot. Then, over here they drive on the left side of the road. My boss had driven in this situation before but it takes a bit to get used to it apparently. I have to admit, it takes some time to get used to even riding on the wrong side of the road. Several times, I thought for sure we were headed for a head-on collision before remembering where we were. Also, the lanes seem way more narrow here than in the States. When the big double-decker buses pass you, it seems as though they're just inches away from you. It makes riding in a car quite the adventure. We almost got into to only one accident and the car would've hit us on my bosses side of the car so no big deal (I was actually pretty scared!!!).

The folks from Merit-Ireland are great people; real salt-of-the-earth type people. It was great to get to put faces with names. Just being around them all talking with their Irish brogue is really cool. All of them are very polite and have great dispositions. Being good at being social is a must for Irish people due to the amount of bad weather. There is a lot of time spent inside socializing. That's why Public Houses (Pubs) are so abundant and popular I've been told. Oh, one other thing I forgot to mention, all of the street signs, advertisements, and things of that nature are presented in both Gailec and English, Gaielic first, and sometimes only in Gaelic. There are still communities in rural Ireland only minutes from the city center of Galway that don't speak any English and all the signs are in Gaelic.

After work, my boss and I headed back to the hotel to pick up our wives. Mandy and Lisa (my boss Garrett's wife) had spent the day together walking the streets of Galway. Mandy visited a couple of really beautiful old churches. She also went to a sweater store to buy a hoodie as she didn't pack a jacket. She bought it just in time to get caught in a rainstorm that soaked her new hoodie through and through. Her and Lisa also went to a tradition Irish tea shop and had tea and pastries. Let me just say I love tea of all kinds and have continually tried to get Mandy to like it too for as long as I can remember with no success. However, she loved the tea at the tea house and I may make her into a tea drinker yet.

Once we picked up the ladies we headed west up the coast of Galway towards O'Grady's Seafood on the pier in Barna Ireland. The day prior Lisa had read that O'Gradys had been named Ireland's best seafood experience so we were super excited. On the way we drove to Spidael Ireland wher they had some craft shops. We just missed several of the shops as most shops close around 5pm durint the week, even in city Galway. But the jewelery shop was open, so we poked around in there for about a half an hour. The shop keeper/owner was a typical Irishman. He was very social, funny, and a very accomplished craftsman in his own right. He had to know where we were all from and swore he knew Garrett and I both. He then proceeded to tell us of how his real love was engines and how he just go through restoring a 1950's Massey-Ferguson tractor and was hoping to start retrofitting his VW bus into a camper van. I wanted to tell him about the VW Bus Mandy and I had, but that would've led to another half hour of socializing, so I decided to keep that to ourselves, and we got back on the road and headed to dinner.

O'Grady's was what I thought a typical Irish seafood restaurant would be. It was right on Galway Bay with fantastic views from almost every table. Mandy and I split a ravioli filled with local prawns and greens for starters and split a fantastic seafood platter for the entree that was made up mainly of cold smoked fish. All of it was first rate. The food mixed with the ambience and company of my boss and his wife made for a very special and memorable evening. After eating, we walked down to the beach and picked up a few shells and rocks for some special folks back home. We saw some old fishing vessals that looked to have simply been left where they currently lay. Ther were in a bad way but made for some great photos. I can't post the pics from my phone over here so I'll get some photos posted next week sometime.

Upon arrival back to the hotel, we parted ways with my boss and his wife and Mandy and I headed for a dip in the hot tub. The jacuzzi was outside. The hot temp of the water mixed with the cold temp of the air and the view from the hot tub of the water was truly relaxing bordering on perfect. We soaked for about half an hour than went off to bed. Day 2 is in the books.