log entry, day two. the adventure begins!

friday
friday morning we were up early and on the road by 8.30am to drive to shannon airport to meet up with charles, tayna, erin, tyler and tyler's friend, andrew. we split up into cars for the remainder of the drive to galway. tayna and erin rode with me and mom and the boys had a car to themselves.

once we arrived in galway, we first found the hotel where the stones were staying. they checked in, unloaded their suitcases and then we reconvened in the lobby, piled back into the cars and headed for our hotel. due to a less than detailed map and poor communication from the hotel staff, our hotel wasn't where we were told it would be. after sitting in some serious traffic, we decided to drive back into the city centre, find a place to park and then a place to eat. the king's head was the choice venue and after a server pointed us upstairs, we found comfortable seating for eight. our server was a friendly fellow from donegal and he was good to bring the guinness straight away. once we were full, we walked around the city a bit. we stopped into the tourist office and picked up a few maps before heading back to the carpark. we had to sit in traffic again, however we were successful in finding the hotel by driving a bit further than we did originally. mom checked us in and the wisconsin stones headed back to their hotel to shower and nap before meeting up with young charles for dinner later in the evening. even though i hadn't really done much for the day, i was also feeling exhausted and took a nice, long nap.

the stones were back at 6.30pm and we enjoyed some appetizers while we waited for young charles to arrive at the hotel. when he got there, he shared a few stories from his recent trip to belfast before we headed out for dinner. our plan was to walk the mile (plus) into the city centre and find a place for seafood. however, we passed 'the huntsman' on our way and after a quick look at the menu, we decided it was what we were looking for. dinner was delicious and the conversation was fun. after coffees, banoffee pie, and a selection of ice creams, we walked back to our hotel. the stones departed for their hotel and we headed up to our room.

the three of us were quick to put on our jams and climb into bed.