And Then, And Then, And Then, And Then

Today was full. We used every minute. Our last full day in Galway, we got up and went to the Fort Hill Graveyard, called so because it was St. Augustian’s fort situated upon a hill. It’s a notable cemetery in that three hundred beheaded soldiers from the Spanish Armada of 1588 are interred there and, I suppose, just because of its age relative to other cemeteries. Its layout is chaotic. There are graves literally everywhere, with only one main narrow path through the grounds, and it is impossible to get elsewhere without trampling over the large stones. 

We also spent some time at the Galway City Museum which is free but could charge for admission. There are three floors of exhibition space. The first floor is dedicated to prehistoric and medieval Galway, a subject about which archeologists learned a great deal when the municipal roads were being created.  The second floor had an exhibition about dance halls in the mid-20^th century and Irish censorship of films. Humphrey Bogart couldn’t get a complete cut of one of his films seen in this country for a long time: Casablanca was banned (Ireland was neutral during the war!), and The Big Sleep was banned (Kissing is bad!) among others. The third floor was most interesting with an exhibition about Galway and the Wars of Empire, including Irish soldiers’ involvement on behalf of the British in the Crimean and South Africa. There were WW2 recruitment posters in the exhibit, as well, including one with the McMahon crest.

We came back in the midafternoon because we had to move today, because we decided to stay an additional night in Galway. Our apartment was needed for another party today, but Crescent Close had another unit available for the night—a four bedroom house, so here we are. It’s a treat, actually, because it lends us some insight about what an actual Galwegean home might be like. The street door opens into a narrow and steep staircase. And to the left and just ahead are doors, one opening into a sitting room with a fireplace and a picture window and the other into a country kitchen and the bedrooms are upstairs. The floors are thick planked and dark. It’s legit charming. 

After we settled in, we visited St. Nicholas’ Collegiate Church, built in 1320 and, not surprisingly, filled with history. St. Nicholas is more recently associated with Santa Claus, but at the time this church was built he was more commonly revered as the patron saint of sailors. Like other churches we’ve been to here, there were regimental banners from the Peninsular War hanging in the church, these from the Connaught Rangers, an army division formed in 1793. It reinforces the close connection between religion, politics and strife in this country. Trivia Bits: It is believed that Christopher Columbus worshipped at the church in 1477 and Cromwell—reviled in all parts of Ireland—used the building to stable his horses when he took the city in 1652.

Sometime and somewhere in our walks today, we passed a poster for the Galway Arts Festival and Chris said, “Doesn’t that guy look like Francis Guinan?” And we talked about all the plays we’ve seen him in and all the shows (most recently Boss—so, so good) and talked about how often he throws on an Irish accent. And then we looked at the poster again and decided it was Francis Guinan. And then we found our way to the Galway Arts Festival theatrical box office and bought ourselves tickets to tonight’s performance of Stella and Leo at the Town Hall Theatre. We’ve seen some rotten theater on vacation so the bar isn’t set terribly high, but this was a good performance of a good script. 

We hadn’t time for dinner before the show, but afterwards we stopped at a little pizzeria on the way back to our neighborhood where the waiter was beside himself they had such a rush today. Normally on Friday, they sell 50 pizzas but with the festival in town today they had sold 175. Ours was the last bit of dough; the kitchen told him he could take no more orders after ours. We sat in a big open window right on the street and people watched as Saturday night got off the ground, because remember that the sun doesn’t set until after 10:30. Walking through the Latin Quarter after dinner was like Grant Park on the Fourth of July. All of Galway was outside, throbbing with terrific energy. It was alive and bright from the huge full moon sitting over Galway Bay. Now, though, we’re back in our enormous house thinking about the good bits of today and thinking, too, about tomorrow. Tomorrow, we leave for Dublin.