Day #15 - Connemara - Galway, Ireland

Pat Cohan's Bar - famous for movie - The Quiet Man

Kylemore Abbey

End of day

Monday, March 29th

If you're going to travel long enough - you're bound to run into a bad day every now and again. I'm doing this blog to keep a running account of how things are going; well, today, it was not that pleasant.

I scheduled a tour of Connemara - in Galway, Ireland. This is a one of the biggest tourist attractions on the west coast of Ireland - and - part of one of the 3 items my buddy listed as must-see.

First off - it was raining - hard - all day. I'd put the temperature at upper 30's to low 40's. Winds were gusting at over 15-40mph alot of the day. I didn't have to experience today to know that you can be in the most beautiful places in the world, but if the weather doesn't cooperate, it just doesn't matter. I have to say that I've been lucky on my trip to date. I'm so very thankful for the great pictures and experiences. This blog today is not complaining - it's just throwing out the true story.

I get on this bus at about 10am. The driver goes to a round about. He circles it saying: "Which way to Connemara?" He circles again, then again. He's pulling the Chevy Chase: "Hey kids, there's Big Ben and Parliament" act - but it wasn't funny. We made a stop 10 minutes into the trip to see if everyone was on the correct tour. Some of the bus load was supposed to be on a different tour; therefore, we transferred buses to correct the issue. There were about 25 people on my trip. It was a big, touring bus, plenty of space. I had a seat to myself. People of all ages were taking the tour. Our bus driver was an older gentlemen who supposedly had tenure.

45 minutes into the trip, we stop at this castle. Our driver gets us out and we all walk into this unfinished castle, with the rain pouring down on us. He begins to go into his 'obviously planned' speel. Part of his speel is to give jokes - lengthy ones. Unfortunately for this gentlemen, he really wasn't that funny - not at all. We're all huddling in a circle, people's umbrellas are turning inside out and this guy continues on. Not only do we not care what he is saying - but we are all praying that he stops. He comes to this little well. He asked the question: "Does anyone know what was kept in this well?" Someone threw out a response. "No, anyone else" Another response. "No, anyone else." He does this for about 5 minutes. People were beginning to angrily yell out something that could never have fitten in this well. The guy finally says: "It was fish - ha ha -- Can you believe they kept fish in this well" The guy made this statement like it was some sort of an earth-shattering discovery. Like we will forever be changed by this statement. People began to walk off. We got back in the bus and were on our way.

The road we travelled was bumpy - very bumpy. About 2 hours in - a lady 2 seats in front of me got sick. Her husband was there and very supportive to help her out. Also, their son and his girlfriend were along. Across the aisle, this overly perky girl jumps in and says: "You should have taken draminine about an hour before the trip. I'm very versed in motion sickness. I have friends that get this as well. I have a couple draminine if you want" The husband was very appreciative and the perky girl was very proud of herself for her quick witted medical knowledge.

3 hours in - the bus driver hasn't stopped talking. He's monotone and talking at such a low volume that few people could hear him. The bumps are making everyone feel a little queasy. We stop for a break at this town. The scenery would have been spectacular. Today, you could barely see the buildings. I suck down some coffee and a bagel and sprint threw the rain taking a couple photos along the way. Back on the bus. We stop for lunch at Kylemore Abbey - an unbelievable site. It's labelled as Ireland's most romantic building built in the late 19th century. There was little romance going on today. I forged into Minot, ND-like weather, risking loss of my fingers, to get a photo. Wind at this time was blowing so hard that I couldn't even stand. We made it to this cafe for lunch - powering the door open. It was at this time, the husband and wife team who were dealing with motion sickness came through. I made eye-contact with the husband. We gave each other the approving head-nod - indicating that we can make it through this. They were on their way to buy the wife clothes to change into.

I didn't even walk around to tour this unbelievable site because I physically couldn't remain uprite. The busload of people spent the next 2 hours sitting in the tour shop looking through books. We get back on the bus, ready to leave. 2 people missing. We wait around for 30 minutes until they show - nice. We're leaving lunch at 4:15pm and we're supposed to be finished with the tour at 5:00pm. We're only halfway. All the side roads and "so-called funny" stops that the driver made has delayed us bigtime.

30 minutes into the ride after lunch - the lady gets sick again. Bus driver stops. She gets out for a while. The perky girl runs up to the front of the bus: "My friends put a newspaper in front of their faces and smell it - that sometimes helps, but, they would have also taken draminine 1 hour before the trip" The husband gives her the "Yeah - point taken" look. The driver still has not stopped talking - he's now annoying everyone on the bus. People are sitting quietly, less than pleased that they are missing the unbelievable lakes and hillsides out their foggy, rain-soaked windows.

Another 30 minutes, the lady gets sick again. Bus driver stops. We wait for her to get back on. Perky girl runs up again: "I'm so sorry for this sickness, I have some ginger pills if you want them. My friends take these - but they would have also taken draminine 1 hour before the start of the trip." At this time, the son of the couple goes to front of bus to help out. He gives the perky girl this stone-cold stare for about 2 seconds. No words were spoken. But in his peering eyes he had said: "Overly perky chic, nobody cares about your quick-witted medical knowledge. Yes - perhaps my mom would have been better served by taking precautions before this trip, but right now, we are just trying to survive. Your overbearing words are not welcome. Please, stop talking, sit down, and don't ever talk to me or my family ever again." The perky girl seemed to get it - she slowly walked back to her seat and melted away. At this point, at this exact point, I found happyness (like The Pursuit of Happyness). Even though I didn't think I could be happy today - that time had arrived.

Next - someone from the front must have clued in the driver, because he asked: "Does anyone want to hear some music" Everyone bursted out a "Yessss" The rest of the trip, we sat in silence, listening to music, looking out through the raindrops. I had a smile on my face the rest of the day. We arrived 1-1/2 hours late to the bus terminal. I got out and ran back to my hotel - 2 miles in the rain to get rid of the days events from my head.

Here's to a better tomorrow.