Re: OT: Ireland this summer

<delurks>

This seems like a job for me!

taliesin the storyteller wrote:

> This mail is very off-topic, note that I've set replies to go directly
> to me. On to my questions:
>
> I'm planning to have my summer vacation in Ireland this year but know
> nobody who have been there. The plan so far is a couple days in Dublin
> and then find some quiet, smaller place to rest, read and draw. This
> smaller place needs to have restaurants/pubs very nearby as making
> dinner is incompatible with being on vacation and no cars will be used
> for transport.
Go to Galway, for a start. Far more fun, close to the Gaeltacht, and
nowhere *near* as expensive as Dublin. I'd at least think of going there
for at least part of your trip.

Where ever you go in Ireland, unless you're on Scellig Micheal or
something, you'll be within a couple of kilometres of a village or town,
and there's not a village or town in the country without a pub, and most
of those will serve food.

> Another, less important plan is to raid local bookstores for books about
> Irish-the-language, as in good grammars of Irish, written in English.
> I have no idea where such things might be found, but the size of the
> town apparently doesn't matter: I found a wonderful bookstore in
> Augsburg (Germany) this Easter who had shelves upon shelves of
> interesting language-learning material[1] (short on reference grammars
> though).
>
> So, anyone have any ideas?
I can't say I can think of any any particular bookshops offhand that
might be worth going to. There's Eason's, a rather large chain similar
to B&N in the US, and plenty of others. I would have recommended
Kennedy's in Galway, but they've gone completely virtual now, save the
art gallery.

I'm not sure, but it's worth checking if Trinity and UCD, and NUI Galway
(if you go there) have on-campus bookshops. If you're looking for
grammars, they're a big win.

If Stephen Mulraney is on the list, he'd be able to give you more
information on where to go in Dublin. I'll be heading down to Galway
later this week and I'll take a look around to see if there's anything
that might be of interest to you if I've convinced you to head there.

> [1] I'm preparing photos and descriptions of what I bought there. You
> just can't find stuff like that, for any language, in Norway!
Few more things: there's no train link down the west coast (despite the
consistent lobbying of the whole population of Connacht), Air Coach
provides a less expensive service than Bus Éireann, and the trains are
a little expensive. Dublin's Luas tram system is quite nice, but it
doesn't go everywhere, so I'd advise you to get a set up bus timetables.

K.

--
Keith Gaughan | http://talideon.com/
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
    -- Leonardo Da Vinci (attributed)