They had some guys playing again so we stayed for a pint before I was ready for a new crowd. I wanted to hang out with the locals, plus the waitress from dinner was giving me the eye and said that maybe she'd see us at the Hardware store. It turns out all establishments can double as a bar at any time. It's kind of like every Israelis having military training – just in case. Anyway, we walked over to the hardware store and saw she wasn't there so we tried a place that wouldn't let us in the night before because of the late hour. Man, we begged and pleaded last night with that woman but she had no love for the Mitchell Brothers. Anyway, they let us in this time and it's this weird wine and pizza/pub/restaurant/coffee house. So we grab a couple of beers and sit down in the leather, oversized couches and this chick, a guy on an acoustic and a guy on a mandolin tunes up. Now, as a rule, I think most people over estimate their talent and generally suck. But one thing was for certain, this girl did NOT suck. She was amazing. She was maybe my age, dark brown hair and couldn't have sounded more Irish if you tired. Guys, I know what you're thinking, and it wasn't like that. Sure she was hot and of course I could have made something happen. That's not the point. She was completely captivating. The room was lit with nothing but candles, everyone was at least buzzed, it was cold outside, it was warm inside, and it was Ireland for Christ sake. It's the perfect storm. Ireland already has this weird ability to impress upon you immense tragedy and unbounded hope at the same time. Mix all this with her ability to let her voice float (I know, I'm risking having my Man Card revoked here but seriously, FLOAT) and it was nearly too much to withstand. She covered Bruce Springsteen's The River. I think even he would admit she did a better job. I'm pretty sure Matt and Paul and I said maybe 5 words to each other the entire time we were there. We finally left around 12:30, completely awestruck. Oh yeah, it turns out the people we were sharing a couch with were her parents. I think they overlooked the comments I made about her physical talents by the end of the night. Good times.
We woke up this morning, ate breakfast and headed north towards Galway. I drove and suggested Paul sit shotgun and navigate. It was sad really because Paul had the darndest time seeing over the dashboard so he and Matt had to switch before too long. We were in the car from 9:30-6 today, stopping every now and then for a tour or important sight we weren't to miss. The weather sucked - rained all day and cold as hell.
Galway is supposed to party balls, especially on Saturday night so we'll raise a little (read: a lot of) hell tonight. We've heard great things from people who've come this way. It's a college town and they say even Dubliners (people from Dublin stupid) come to Galway to tear it down. The slow town (Dingle) is behind us now. It's time to turn it up.
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