Day Six
"Full Circle"
We got up early and headed downstairs for our (as usual) free breakfast, and found out that their dining area was up about three or four steps, for no good reason (I love European architecture). But the hotel was also attached to a pub, so we got to sit in there and watch war news while they came down and served us there. Sweet.
Today was our day to get back to Dublin, find a place to stay close to the airport, and crash early, since we had an early flight, customs to deal with, and a rental car to return. We decided we were up a good lick before checkout time, so why not get our last-minute shopping done here in Galway instead of fighting Dublin traffic? So we did. There was a mall walking distance from us, so we explored that a bit, went through a whole bunch of stores. In one, we found rugby shirts for the various Six Nations teams. Russ, being the big Wales fan he was from his last trip, decided to pick up the red Wales shirt. So I grabbed the green Ireland one, and just for kicks, we got Aaron the white England one (since Aaron had been to England). Figured later we could all have a scrum or something.
Purchases behind us, we packed up and hit the road. We needed to get from one side of the country to the other. As the morning was already behind us, we decided not to make any more stops along the way (except once for gas, only our second fill-up during the whole trip) and just press on through. So it was a lot of fast driving (this being Russ) and lots of passing other, slower cars. Only had one near head-on with a huge semi, so not a bad score. We made it back to Dublin, finding the airport easily. Next step was a place to stay. We checked out the Great Southern Hotel, another four star joint right by the airport, and found it a little pricey. So we drove around doing some more looking, but nothing was coming together, and the hour was getting late, so we decided to go first class again. I tried to check us in and see if there were any wheelchair rooms. To the girl's distress, there were none left with two beds. Since Russ and I aren't THAT good of friends, that wasn't going to do. So we just got a regular room with two beds, and I figured I'd make due. I asked if she could come up with a shower stool for me or something, and she said she'd look into it.
Look! Dublin hippies!
Russ grabbed a couple of pints from the bar and came upstairs, and before we got to unwind too much, the phone rang (I love that wonderful Twilight Zone paranoia moment of going "Wait, no one knows where we're staying..."). It was the girl at the front desk. Down at the other end of the hall from us was that one-bed room she was talking about. Since no one was staying in it, they said they'd send me up the key for it, and I could just shower in there. Thinking that was a very nice gesture, I said really, they didn't have to go through the trouble, since we were already in this room, and a stool would probably work fine. That's when she said they didn't think their insurance would handle letting me use a stool. Ah, I see. Good enough. So we kind of got two rooms for the price of one. At least two bathrooms.
Smooth, creamy and blonde. Just like me. Actually, I'm not that creamy...
It was time for our lunch/dinner. While driving around, we'd spotted a really big restaurant/pub called the Coachman's Inn. We thought at first it had to be part motel, too, because of its size, but it ended up just an eatery. So we thought we'd try it out. While driving there, however, we were stopped at a red light when a helpful lad got out of his car, came running up, and let Russ know we had a flat tire. Ah, well...as many miles and tortures that we put that Fiat through over the week, stood to reason we had to have something go wrong before we turned it back in. So we pulled over and Russ had to change the tire. He didn't realize until after his hands were all black that there were rubber gloves provided along with the spare. Nice thought, a little too late.
We hit the Coachman's and ordered our chow (and pints). On my last night in Ireland, I finally got some shepherd's pie. Mmmm. Unfortunately, Russ's fish just wasn't coming. He kept checking, but no one seemed to know what was going on. The girl finally brought it out, with apologies and all his money back. Nice. Free fish. We ate well. Too well. I was stuffed.
We got back to the Great Southern and, after a trip upstairs, decided we'd have our final pub night right there at the hotel instead of driving around town more, just to save time. There was both a pub and a large, posh lounge attached to it. I figured we should try the lounge and light up our cigars there (less chance of offending people, as the lounge was pretty big). So there we sat, got served our pints, smoking our cigars to the tunes of yet another player piano (does it just suck to be a piano player in this country or what?). We headed back upstairs after a while, and I headed over to my private bathroom and got my shower out of the way to save time the next morning. Back in the room, we watched news, and Russ decided we needed one last pint to toast the end of the trip, so he grabbed them from downstairs. And toast we did. Our Ireland trip had ended up a smashing success.
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