September 13 - September 19Arrived in Ireland to the most beautiful weather. Lots of sunshine and gorgeous shades of green everywhere you look. Ireland experienced the worst summer of rain in 180 years so the island may be a bit water-logged but it is an exquisite example of Mother Nature’s magical touch.
Spent lots of time with my sister Jean Marie's day-care children doing puzzles, playing outside, and watching them play a few games on the Wii. We took three of the young ones to the Budding Cafe for breakfast one morning and everyone enjoyed themselves. The children were perfectly behaved. Jean Marie runs a tight ship and these kids rarely get unruly.Mother and I spent two beautiful days walking around the charming and colourful streets of Galway City. We went to mass at the Franciscan Abby on Wednesday which tur
ned out to be a celebration of Saint Anthony so one of the priests brought out Saint Anthony's relic and we all kissed it. I must admit the idea of all our germs co-mingling did worry me a bit but they gave us a cloth to wipe off the relic's glass encasing so I felt a bit better and of course there is such a thing as faith and I suppose that's what this is all about.
ned out to be a celebration of Saint Anthony so one of the priests brought out Saint Anthony's relic and we all kissed it. I must admit the idea of all our germs co-mingling did worry me a bit but they gave us a cloth to wipe off the relic's glass encasing so I felt a bit better and of course there is such a thing as faith and I suppose that's what this is all about.A
t the Galway museum, opened just a few years ago, we came across the statue of Padraic O'Conaire, a famous Irish writer. This was of particular interest to my mother as she had heard he had to be rescued from some hulligan boys from Northern Ireland who beheaded the statue where it once sat in Galway's Eyre square a few years ago. Either way the statue’s head was recovered and to prevent further assaults on him he was moved to the museum for safe keeping. You have to wonder though how much Guinness it takes to give these boys the impetus to lop off the head a life size statue carved in stone sitting in a very visible public park and smuggle it out of the country. I'm going to say it is an awful lot. Of course several years back a man lopped off a part of Michelangelo’s David’s toe and I’m sure there is not much Guinness in the heart of Florence.
t the Galway museum, opened just a few years ago, we came across the statue of Padraic O'Conaire, a famous Irish writer. This was of particular interest to my mother as she had heard he had to be rescued from some hulligan boys from Northern Ireland who beheaded the statue where it once sat in Galway's Eyre square a few years ago. Either way the statue’s head was recovered and to prevent further assaults on him he was moved to the museum for safe keeping. You have to wonder though how much Guinness it takes to give these boys the impetus to lop off the head a life size statue carved in stone sitting in a very visible public park and smuggle it out of the country. I'm going to say it is an awful lot. Of course several years back a man lopped off a part of Michelangelo’s David’s toe and I’m sure there is not much Guinness in the heart of Florence.On one of our walks we went to the Galway Arts Center for a photography exhibit in a home which was once lived in by Lady Augusta Gregory who, with W.B. Yates, founded the Abby Theatre in Dublin. Yes, it is all about the theatre for me sometimes but none the 
less the gallery space is well worth seeing no matter what exhibit is being presented. After the 
gallery we headed to a friend of the family's building which now houses several charming stores, a restaurant and was once a working mill opened about 480 years ago. Our friend, Frank Heneghan and his lovely wife Ellen restored this impressive building making it a must visit while in the city.
less the gallery space is well worth seeing no matter what exhibit is being presented. After the 
gallery we headed to a friend of the family's building which now houses several charming stores, a restaurant and was once a working mill opened about 480 years ago. Our friend, Frank Heneghan and his lovely wife Ellen restored this impressive building making it a must visit while in the city.
One of the highlights of our visit to Galway was the performance of Martin McDonough’s play “The Cripple of Innishmann" which was the only one of his plays I had never seen. It was very well directed by the incredibly talented Tony winner, Garry Hynes and I was thrilled to see Ms. Hynes sitting only five rows behind us and next to her the amazing playwright himself. I didn’t go over to say hello but I did contemplate it. No one else around me seemed too impressed with it all but I was on cloud nine.We visited Jean Marie's inlaws house to see Caroline, Gary and the boys who are so grown up now and adorable. We enjoyed tea and lots of laughs with them.
Along with the 
usual tourist things Ellen and Frank took me to dinner at a fabulous tapas restaurant called Cava with some wonderful friends of theirs and afterwards we walked to a local pub for, of all things, some authentic Spanish music. The music was fantastic but not at all what one might expect to find in an Irish pub in Galway.
usual tourist things Ellen and Frank took me to dinner at a fabulous tapas restaurant called Cava with some wonderful friends of theirs and afterwards we walked to a local pub for, of all things, some authentic Spanish music. The music was fantastic but not at all what one might expect to find in an Irish pub in Galway. The next night we had dinner in a small town outside Galway called Oughterard. The Italian restaurant, Archers had very authentic food and was run by a charming young Italian man named Pasquale who did all the cooking and a very sweet young lady name Alexia who served us (both who arrived from Italy only four months ago). They have become very friendly with Jean Marie and Alexia practices her English on Jean Marie and Jean Marie practices her Italian on Alexa so it works out very well for both and not to mention you always get a great meal out of the deal. We stopped by Ellen and Frank's home which was once an old transtation but now converted into a spectacular home.
Thursday night we headed to Dublin to be close to the airport for our early morning flight to Italy on Friday. Dinner in Dublin was Italian cuisine with our dear friends Ellen and Frank who took us to one of their favorite restaurants, Picasso owned by a friend of theirs.
