"Why would you want to go to Claddagh?!"

[[Blog for 1/9/10]]

So we are back in Limerick! Galway was so much fun :) It is such a cute little town and we were right in the middle of everything! Yesterday was our first full day there and thankfully we had a free day. Sleeping in a hostel with 7 other girls was interesting, but fun none the less. When we woke up I had breakfast there (toast once again) and the other girls went to McDonalds (can't eat it anymore!). After I ate I met them there and we strolled the town looking in all the shops and on the look out for Claddagh rings. It was REALLY cold, but still so much fun...everything was all snowy and it really looked like winter...I found myself singing, "walking in a winter wonderland.." :) We found a cute little coffee place called Pura Vida where we had hot chocolate and tried to warm up. After, we kind of split up and the group I was with walked along the harbor (the boats were FROZEN in the water!) and were in search for the little town of Claddagh where the rings are originally from. When we asked someone for directions she looked at us like we were crazy and said, "Why would you want to go to Claddagh?!" We had our reasons :) When we got there we understood why she asked. You could probably walk from one side of the town to the other in about 15 steps :) It was fun though and we were glad we found it! We met some people for lunch and ate at this pub...I had really good soup and chips (fries)! After lunch we walked the canal and went into the Galway Cathedral. It was gorgeous. 

Throughout the day most of the girls got their Claddagh rings, but there were 3 of us that were still searching for the perfect one. We ended up walking all through Galway and going in tons of stores. We finally found them and the ORIGINAL makers of the Claddagh ring, Thomas Dillon's. They were a bit more expensive, but well worth it. I plan on keeping it to pass to my daughter and there is a lifetime guarantee. For those of you who don't know, the Claddagh ring dates back to 1750 and, "...shows two hands holding a heart which wears a crown. This motif is explained in the phrase, 'Let Love and Friendship Reign,' an ideal poesy for a wedding ring used by a small community for over 400 years." The ring is so pretty, but it is all about how you wear it. If you are single you wear it with the bottom of the heart pointing out signifying your heart is still open to the world. If someone has your heart you wear it with the heart pointing toward you showing that your heart is already taken. This is the one thing I purchased for myself and I am so glad that I did. 

After we found our rings Kim, Maddy and I went to dinner at this place that served traditional Irish food...I ended up getting the best cajon chicken sandwich with mozzarella and bell peppers. Might not be that Irish, but it was so good! We ended up at The Kings Head pup down the street where we heard a live band and met up with a lot of the other girls. Galway is definitely a HUGE party town. There were people giving out stamps for nightclubs and people who were REALLY drunk walking through the town. After the music we went and got ice cream to people watch and then headed home to get some sleep. It was a little difficult though simply because our room was right over a nightclub that played their music SUPER loud, but with headphones and Keith Urban it wasn't too hard to fall right asleep :)