Ireland: Day 3 - Galway

We awoke to finally see our beautiful Home Exchange in daylight. As promised, Matthew made us the best scrambled eggs, paired with the morning light streaming, instant coffee, and Irish butter on toast, it became our morning ritual. 

A 15 minute drive into Galway, we started on our food tour with not one but two guides, since one was in training. We had a fantastic time learning about Galway, its rising food scene, and Irish history from the perspective of our college-aged guide alongside the veteran guide who was in the generation above us. Some of our foods and stops included a bakery with green croissants, a coffee shop, an assortment of local charcuterie, sushi, and whiskey, tiny traditional pub which was entirely too much seafood paired with Irish lamb stew, The King's Head where we had what I would call elevated bar food that included beet salad and lamb meatballs. We rounded out with delicious ice cream at Murphy's where we had samplings of unique flavors like Irish Brown Bread, Dingle Sea Salt, and Chocolate Whiskey. 

Needless to say, we had time to kill but no appetite or room in our stomachs to sit at another pub. So we walked along this coastal city, stopping into wool clothing shops, used-book stores, and then finally along the waterline with the wind in our faces. 

Finally, we had some room for a pint, so we found a quiet pub and sat down for card games and drinks. We had previously discussed, since we were newer friends, that we wanted to get to know the family dynamics, per se, of everyone's upbringing. Thus began, over the course of several days, what we called 'family tree.' We started by showing a picture of each family member and describing 'in a nutshell' who they were and our relationship with them. This really began etching in the depth of our friendship with the Artigues and now, months later, I look back on all those hours of conversation with so much fondness. 

As a group we had decided we wanted to go to KAI, which is a Michelin Star restaurant in little Galway. We continued our lovely discussion of family and had a lot of great food and wine. 

Back to the Home Exchange, we continued to play games, talk and make a plan for the following day. I loved the nightly routine of talking about our Rose, Thorn and Bud of the day, and I think all of us had to say that Family Tree made it's way into everyone's hearts!