Time To Reflect

With the passing of another St. Patrick's Day, I found my self looking at different things than I had in the past.  

Whereas North American's celebrate St Patty's day as a day for drinking green beer and wearing green, in Ireland, this is not the case.

They do like a good reason to celebrate, and will have celebrations for the 6 days prior in Dublin, but they won't be seen wearing green any more than any other day.  And they do wear a lot of green on an every day basis!

Instead, they will wear a bunch of irish shamrocks (not four leaf clovers) on the breast of their shirts or jackets to symbolize the teachings of the holy trinity by St. Patrick.  And while he wasn't actually made a saint my the church, St Patrick is one of the most well known saints.

I bring this up due to the shift in my perception of culture and history.  On my last trip over, I discovered that I had more than just ancestry that had come from Ireland - but that I still had family ties.  Ties that I had never realized that I had until about three weeks ago.

And now I feel an unbelievable pull towards Ireland, it's cultures, history and traditions, as I feel like I have finally found something that gives me roots on this wonderful world.  Where will this mean that I go next?  I really have no idea.  Only time will tell.

Happy St. Patrick's Day....

And in tribute to St. Patricks Day, Dublin hosts a six day festival filled with Irish music, green beer for the tourists (real irish folk drink Guiness) and much much more.

But the place that holds a special place in my heart is a little place known as Galway.  It was once a walled city, and while the interior of the main business district is a maze of crooked streets with houses that feel like they are going to fall over into the middle of these crooked streets, it is a true testament to the beauty of an older centre. 

About ten minutes outside of the heart of the city centre, there is a beautiful little 'seaside resort' town called Galway that hosts a great selection of restaurants as well as nooks and crannies that crave to be explored.  This little motorworks was found up the back alley, off of the main through-fare.

There were many little things that made Galway one of my favorite stops.  One of the others is linked to my past, and so will be discussed at a later date and time.  But until then, know that this is definitely one place worth the visit.