Big city ups and downs

I have decided that I prefer smaller Irish towns to larger ones. I have had the chance to experience two larger cities now, Galway and Derry. Derry also marks my first few days in Northern Irealnd, which is a completely separate country with a different currency than the rest of the island. These cities, just like larger cities anywhere, have more traffic, more litter, more people and more signs of the economic struggles that are taking place here. Now, my experience in both of these cities has been limited to the city centers of both, so there are probably very nice parts of town. And, although they are not quite as quaint and charming as the smaller towns, these bigger cities do offer things that the smaller ones don't.

St. Nicholas square, not at all Christmas related, in Galway could have been transplanted into any large city in the US. There were lots of people walking around, plenty of shops to go to, and people performing out on the street. There were more restaurants than you could possibly consider trying, which caused me some stress in trying to decide where to eat. The thing that I most enjoyed about Galway was that it was large enough to have it's own cathedral.

Now, I have been to a couple of cathedrals on this trip, but they have all been abandoned and are just ruins. But, St. Nicholas' cathedral is still in operation. This is not some little church on the hill. This is a massive stone building that could hold thousands of people. There is something that I really like about cathedrals of this size. They just amaze me. There seems to be too much stone, too high being supported by too little. It is even more amazing when you realize how long some of them have been standing like this, and how different the understanding of architecture was when they were built. This cathedral was very nice, complete with beautiful stain-glass windows and a man somewhere speaking Latin.
Derry also offered something that the smaller cities didn't- some night- time options. There was plenty to do here in the day. You could tour the walls that completely surround the city centre. It is quite a site to see. There is a lot of shopping, three different malls within a few blocks, which is not where I spent my time. There are also several museums in the area. There are some really nicely designed museums in Ireland, just as a general observation. But most of the small towns have plenty to do during the day. The problems is, around 5 everything except the pubs and restaurants shuts down. The pubs have their nightly music, but that is about the extent of an evening's entertainment options. Derry, and Galway too, offered more options because of their size. Within just a few blocks here in Derry you can find a cinema, a couple theaters and even a few night clubs.

I just happened to stumble upon a flyer for violin and piano concert that was taking place as apart of a larger music festival, so that's how I spent my evening. The two musicians have both toured the world performing on their own and in larger symphonies. They were incredible. The concert was set in the old Guildhall, which is a beautiful building. The windows in this this place are incredible. A man who works there snuck me in to see a few that were closed off for the concert, and gave me a bit of a history of the building while I was waiting. Most of the windows had to be replaced after two bombs devastated the building during the Troubles. There is something almost magical about hearing Brahms and Tchaikovsky performed in a space that actually existed while they were composing. Especially a space that was designed for music. The 3000 pipe organ that loomed over one half of the room is open for the use of the public, which I found really cool. It is also pretty amazing to hear Beethoven performed on an instrument that could have played at the piece's debut. The woman was playing on a violin from 1710.

The pictures that you see here are from the cathedral, the dome and the stain glass. There are also some pictures from the gardens that surround a very interesting museum on the famine, and the lead up to it. I haved learned alot about the history here that I was really unaware of. There are also some pictures from Glenveah castle. The last private owner here was an American professor. He loved The Sound of Music so much that he made his staff dress in Austrian uniforms, just like the staff in the movie. I will try and add some pictures from Derry later, I didn't have my camera with me for the concert.

I am off again to small towns, with the exceptions of Dublin and Belfast. The capitol cities shouldn't be too big, right?
I found another Irish cider that didn't make me want to hurt myself rather than keep drinking it. I just wish that they didn't serve the half pints in such girly looking glasses