The day Donna and I and Rich and Barb tracked down the Quiet Man bridge was the summer solstice, the longest day of the year for those of us north of the Equator. In Galway we were treated to 17 hours of daylight, extending until after 10 pm. The sky wasn’t fully dark until past midnight and it started getting light in the wee morning hours well before 5:30. We spent the afternoon after our Quiet Man bridge adventure shopping in Galway. Claddagh, an area close to the center of Galway city, where the River Corrib meets Galway Bay, is known for its namesake ring whose heart, hands and crown symbolize love, friendship, and loyalty. We strolled around and explored the streets and nameless alleys of the Latin Quarter. We came across the entrance to a small handsome pub called the Slate House, its sleek and modern interior a sharp contrast to the earthy, dark, stone-and-wood-beam styles typical there (after all, a number of the buildings stretch back four centuries to medieval ti