more ireland

Galway. It was busy, yet remained quite quaint. Riding through county Clare I was able to listen to news radio in the Irish language, and then when we arrived at our hostel, I went on the hunt for some good music. Turns out it only took us a couple steps. Galway is one of the hubs for traditional Irish culture and lots of fun.
This was the street our hostel was on, one of the main ones in Galway.
Cute, right?
The thing about Ireland is that from the very beginning I was a little shocked to discover how much actual Ireland, even the most out-of-the-way, non-touristic places, resembled the fake Ireland so admired by adherents to fake Irish culture in the U.S. At the first Irish pub I set foot in, it was impossible for me to feel comfortable, since the furnishings and decor reminded me of so many Irish pubs in the U.S. where the only patrons are frat boys with popped collars looking to drink 5 pints of Guinness and/or do body shots, along with the occasional awkward yuppie couple trying to bond over french fries covered with plastic-looking cheese. Luckily, the resemblance didn't go past the decor. The actual people in real Irish pubs are much more interesting than the people in fake Irish pubs.
Among the people I met in Galway were a group of Irish guys who were singing folk songs and cheering America because they said Barack Obama was Irish (!). In our second bar we met a middle-aged ex-seminarian from Connecticut who told us about his hitchiking days through Europe in the '70s. He said he expected sex pretty much everywhere he went back then, and had sex with a lot of people, both women and men, who offered him lodging and gave him rides (in between his protests of the War, of course). Thus, he said, my experience of hosting a CouchSurfer that seemed to expect sex seemed altogether normal to him...in fact, he had lived that exact scenario. He was a little surprised at my assertion that sex never has and never will play a part in my expectations for CouchSurfing and my annoyance at aforementioned sex-expecting CouchSurfer, acknowledging that the '70s "were different times". Just a question for those of you around in the '70s: Seriously?
He said he admired us for being CouchSurfers. I guess we made his day, but he kind of disturbed me. I also wonder at what point entering seminary seemed like a good idea for him...was it before or after these adventures?
Then we hopped in our car the next day and drove to Connemara, after getting lost and going in the wrong direction for a good three hours. It turned out to be beautiful, though, just like everyone had said. We had a picnic here:

Then we went on along the coast to the Cliffs of Moher, where it is prohibited to step on the Sydney opera house while trying to shake hands with a seagull:


Then we went to Dublin, after getting to Cork too late to do anything but trot sleepily through the airport for a couple hours. Well, that's what I did, anyway. But Dublin was nice in the morning. A highlight was the Guinness factory:
The best part is that you can go up to the top of the building and enjoy a free Guinness while looking out over Dublin:
Also, I really enjoyed all the publicity for Guinness. Somehow they managed to convince people that it was good for their health, and that doctors would prescribe it for fatigue and weakness.