St. Nicholas's Cathedral. (Used to be a jail.)
Me! That's Galway Bay, as seen from near Salthill.
A lot of green, on Nun's Island.

I'll have to sign off for now, as I have to pack up my stuff and move.

One more post for today!

You couldn't plan this shot! This is the roof of the Church on/near Nun's Island. (I think)
This was somewhere on the way to that church, just a canal leading to the river.
This thing is one the Allied Irish Bank on Shop St. (Which used to be Lynch's Castle, explaining the gargoyles all over the thing.)
Quay St., viewed from the other direction than in the post below.

This is Tigh Choili, "The home of traditonal Irish music!" There's a couple sessions there every day of the week.
Looking up Quay St., on Sunday morning.
My bicycle! More pics to follow.

It's my last night in a hostel.

I had been busking last week, when a man ran up, asking, "are you a musician?" Considering I had been playing the last 20 minutes.... anyhow, he put a paper in my hand and said I might be interested in it. Now, there's a ton of people out on the streets, trying to sell the bible, the koran, karma, scientology, everything you can think of, all with accompanying pamphlets explaining the joys that will abound if you follow their particular path. I thought this was the same thing. But, turns out it was an ad for a Folksinging session.

I went to that session last Friday. It's in the Galway Social Space, near the Gaelic theatre. I think the building is wedged in between a cafe and a tatoo parlour. Its old (like everything else here!), and has a revolutionist air about it. I met the man running the session, Thomas, and we went upstairs to where it was being held.

Thomas had only started the session a couple months ago, so the word still isn't completely out about it. Besides myself, only a few other people showed up, and they had no idea what it was supposed to be about. Nevertheless, everybody gave a song! I showed off my collection of Canadian songs, with "The River Driver," "The Dewy Dells Of Yarrow," and "Come And I Will Sing You." We had a couple Argentinean and Israeli songs, along with traditional English songs from Thomas. However, everyone but Thomas and I left early to attend a play. Turns out that Thomas is big fan of Martin Carthy, so we hung around for another hour singing songs off his albums. I'm going to go this week as well, as it's hard to get a chance to sing with other people.

I also went to some good sessions over the weekend. At one I met up with Glen Watson, a flute maker. I'm looking for a flute with keys, so I might go over to his workshop to check out his flutes. Sam Murray is also in town, and his flutes are available in a few music stores. There's a flute maker from France that might be in next month, so I might check out his as well. It's great having so many instruments, and instrument makers around.

In order to get around a little easier, and to drop off my CV at more places, I've also bought a bike. I picked it up this morning and road out past Salthill, then looped north of the city on the N6 highway, before heading back into town. Halfway out, my peddle started to fall off. The nut that holds the peddle arm began to unscrew, so it was an interesting ride back to the bike shop. It was fine though, after the bike mechanic tightened it. It's a blue bike, with front and rear suspension.

At a session on the weekend, I was talking to Jonas, the banjo player, and it turned out he had a room available in his house. I went and looked at it this afternoon, and I'll be moving in tomorrow! Since it's all musicians living there, no one minds each other practicing tunes. My room is a little small, but it has a closet, desk and shelf space, along with internet access, and the door closes, so things will definitely be better than a hostel. The hostels I've been at have been great, especially the Claddagh hostel, but eventually, you want a room you can call you own!

It was great today, riding with a warm breeze, by the coast of Galway Bay, the palm trees gently swaying in the wind, and the cherry trees starting to bloom. It's surreal to think that its still snowing in Winnipeg!

Some more pictures! I'm back at the Claddagh hostel, which has free internet, so its easy to get pictures up. I got into Barnacle's for the weekend, and it was okay, but Kinlay house was very nice. Super clean and organized. Nothing was all that remarkable though, except for one morning. I came back from breakfast to find two of my roommates, Americans, standing in the room, staring at a bundle of sheets in the middle of the floor. They had been out drinking the night before. The next morning, he felt like he was going to be sick, and promptly threw up all over himself.

I need to find a flat.

The last few days have been pretty similar; handing out CV's, doing some busking, and going to sessions! I was at some great sessions over the weekend at Tigh Choili's, and last night at the Crane was really fun, with a melodeon player, John, bouzouki player, Paddy, and flut(ist?) Jerry, and bodhran player/singer, Steve. At Tigh Choili's I ran into two players, Jonas, on banjo, and Anders, on numerous instruments, but notably the box. Amazing stuff from both of them too, and they both knew my friend, D'Arcy, from when he was here in Galway.

A couple days ago, I went for a walk out to Salthill, the resort suburb. It was a nice day, and I got some good shots.

This is the view from Nimmo's Pier.
The Spanish Arch.

The view from a bridge.

I'll try to get some more up.

So, I left Dublin on Monday, and made it Galway in a couple of hours. It's crazy that an entire country can be crossed so quickly by bus!

Galway is completely different than Dublin, and it's apparent as soon as you arrive. The buildings aren't as large, or as imposing. As soon as I stepped out of the coach station, I was struck by how many people were out walking around. Not that they didn't in Dublin, but here everyone seems less frantic.

I found my way to the Claddagh hostel, where I've been staying the last few days. It's an independent hostel, and has a really laid back vibe to it. However, the bathroom doors lock, and the kitchen is actually looks like a kitchen, so its been good staying here.

The first day I mostly walked around the city, getting to know my way around. I'd get lost, then try to find my way back. Fortunately, Galway is not very large, and signs are everywhere pointing to the city center, so getting back is not so hard. The city center, to the pedestrian, is Shop St., and the the streets that connect to it, as well as Eyre Square. Most of these streets are off limits to vehicles, except at certain times, so the road is free to walk on. There's a ton of unique, and often, useful shops and pubs all down the road. There's even a mall set up in a building on Eyre Square.

The buildings tend to be painted bright colours. I imagine that since the pavement usually goes right up the buildings, and the buildings are made of brick, the city would be an unpleasant, bland gray, if the shops weren't painted.

The second day, I went to the Tigh Choili pub, around 9pm. I asked the bartender if there was a session, and she said there was one just setting up in the corner. I went and introduced myself to the fiddler, who introduced herself as "Liz." She was there with a box player, Johnny. I said that I played flute, and they said, "sure, sit down." They are both great musicians, giving each tune as much as they could. It was really fun playing with them. A little later we were joined by a guitarist, Declan, (who had a great style of accompanyment) and a couple American musicians.
It was a good night.

Over the next few days, I started applying at different places for jobs. Some places aren't even taking CVs, but I'll follow up on the places that did. I'm also looking for somewhere more permanent to live, as staying in hostels can get expensive over time, not to mentioned cramped. Currently I'm looking at moving into a house just off the Joyce roundabout, about a kilometer out of the city center. There's three Canadian girls that just moved in, and they're renting out a single room upstairs. I took a look at it last night, and it seems decent, and the rent is pretty good too.

Anyhow, I've had to change hostels this morning, as my booking is up, and I need to be out in about ten minutes, so I'll sign off for now. However, I got in at Barnacles hostel on Quay St., so I'll be there over the weekend.

Pictures to follow!

Here's some more photos of Dublin.
Above is a picture of one of two fountains in a garden square, near to St. Stephen's Green.

This is a goose. (self explanatory!) Hard to tell from the picture, but this guy was huge, his neck was as big around as my forearm. Taken in St. Stephen's Green
This is one of the fountains near the center of St. Stephen's green. Look, the water's not frozen!!! (Hello to everyone in Winnipeg. :D )
This is the main garden in Merrion Square.

This is a sculpture at one corner of St. Stephen's Green, "Famine."

Hey there! I'll post more about what I've been doing later, but for now here's a couple of pictures of Dublin, and my flight. I've just made it into Galway this afternoon.

Here in Ireland...

I made it! The flights were quite long. Getting to Minneapolis was okay, but there were some delays on getting on the plane to Amsterdam. Once onboard, all was fine though. It was an 8 hour flight, and although they served dinner, breakfast, various snacks, I couldn't sleep. We landed in Amsterdam, and it was a short wait to board the plane (couple of hours, than another hour and a half to get...) to Ireland.

We landed in Dublin. Once I got out of the airport, I could start to see just how busy this city is. I decided to take a taxi to my hostel; I figured that having had no sleep and not knowing the streets wouldn't make it the best time to bus it!

Globetrotters hostel is quite decent, right in the middle of town, and near to call shops, phone vendors, Tesco's, Spar's and lots of other useful stores. After I recovered a bit, I went out and got a pre-pay cell phone, pretty cheap to do here. I stayed awake as long as I could, then called it a night.

(my drunk roomates wandered in around 2 in the morning)

I woke up in the morning, and it actually felt like morning. Other than the first day, I haven't felt any jet lag. They serve a "full Irish breakfast" here, toast, beans, sausage, hasbrowns, bacon, cereal, fruit salad and orange juice. It was great! I decided to find the Irish Traditional Music Archives that day, on the south side of the Liffey, by Merrion Square.

Its a bit of a walk to the square, and through a maze of busy streets. I haven't quite figured out the traffic lights, and sometimes it seems like the Irish haven't either. They seem to just walk out into traffic, regardless of honking cars.

Merrion Square is something else. Its a big garden, surrounded in paths and old trees covered in moss and vines. Since I was early getting to the ITMA, I walked about a bit and took some pictures. (when I figure out how, I'll post some up!). There's lots of flowers, and some of the trees actually seem tropical. It was great to get out of the streets and the noise for a few moments.

At last, the ITMA opened at 10am. Its located in what was a big row house. The public reading room is on the second floor, and it's full of books covering every subject regarding traditional music. It's loosely broken into Irish music in Ireland, and Irish music abroad. You could be weeks going the books, but there's also a collection of 700 CDs. That's not counting the material they haven't yet digitized, such as cylinders, 45s and 78s. There's tons of material in storage as well, and all of it available to the public. I completely lost track of time, and only emerged five hours later. I'll have to go back.

The curator tipped me onto a session happening at the Cobblestone pub last night, as well as some good ones in the next few days. I walked to the Cobblestone; its a bit of a stretch, but manageable. I stepped inside, and right away I ran into a man I saw at the archives. He plays button accordion, and the session was already under way, along with bouzouki, fiddle and concertina. I asked if I could sit in, and he said sure. They played some great tunes, a few I knew, and all at a nice, comfortable speed. Later, we were joined by a couple more fiddle players, a piper, and another two flute players. The tunes were all great, and though I've heard most of them before, I haven't had the chance to really learn all of them. All in all it was a great night.