Belfast & Basshunter

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Well rested from an early to bed night, it was easy for the crew to rouse themselves. Carl and I feasted on the hotel buffet, Alex lounged, and the others visited the grocery store for provisions. Hustling to leave at 9 to get to the station for our train ride to Belfast, the front desk had some confusion on the outstanding bill on our rooms. Quite odd as we paid before AND were told we received a €50 refund due to the late room availability. She noticed our agitation and let us go to catch the train with the promise to call if she couldn't resolve it.



Laura guided us on our walk to the Connolly train station not too far away. As I returned to the group with our tickets from the machine, we realized Alex was missing from our group. After searching all shops, he called with a confusing claim he was at the train. As our group had tickets in hand and were staring at the gated by ticket scanner machines, we couldn't comprehend how. He walked back to us and we progressed through the machines then onto the car of our purchased seats.



We stowed our stuff and settled in for our 2.5 hour train ride to Belfast. The views were beautiful and each stop brought much confusion as many passengers mistook our reserved car as open seating so lots of ups and downs of groups. About an hour in, a Bachelorette crew boarded ratcheting up the sound in the car to about 3 times the volume. Some carried fun items for the weekend like blow up dolls, cowboy hats, and crowns. It was almost a relief to get to Belfast to give our ears a rest.



We arrived mid-day to rain. Which meant cabs were a full blown competition to acquire. Having 5 of us made it difficult as we required a larger vehicle. The first cabby said we would need to call for a crew our size. I grabbed the free taxi phone in the station, but there were none for our sized group available so we booked two. While we waited the boys ran off to find an ATM as Northern Ireland uses the British pound. Turns out 'booked' means nothing when the cabbies are trying to capitalize on the demand in the rain. Other customers were nabbing away cars left and right. We eventually called back to realize others took our cabs so we just nabbed the next two to arrive.



A short ride later we made it to our hotel. Luckily one of the two rooms were ready so we could store our items and regroup. An interesting cab ride enlightened Laura to the fact a concert would be in town this evening including Basshunter, a popular Swedish dj/singer from our high school days. Excited for the rare opportunity, we took it and booked seats for the concert that evening before deciding the rest of the day.



Being noon, we all could go for a bite to eat. A short walk away we ended up at a sandwich shop as planned but were dissatisfied with the options. So we crossed the street to a pub named Robinson's that had food offerings. The hostess had a table available but said we had to be out before the next reservation in 2.5 hours. Sounding like a crazy long time to us, we sat with a laugh.



After placing drink orders, Alex and Kyle excitedly ordered an appetizer of seafood stew with their meals. The extended time it to get the stew and then further gap to meals made us realize why the hostess commented on the time. Drinks, food, and atmosphere all were good so no complaints from the group. Especially the two fawning over the stew. I had to giggle as they collected our finished plates as I ate all the chicken out from inside my chicken tenders breading. I try my best to avoid unnecessary fats to help my stomach now with all the morning sickness and digestion issues this pregnancy is causing me.



Full from our meals, we planned next steps. Laura and I were interested in the Titanic Museum which was just down the block from the Arena for the concert. Alex and Carl not wanting to find their own way to the venue that evening agreed to tag along. Kyle not interested in either went his own way. Which I believe ended up including a nap at the hotel, a hunt for an available dinner option in a busy downtown space on Saturday, and a pub visit. Meanwhile, we all hopped into a cab over the the Titanic Quarter.



The museum turned out to be so much more than I expected. It began with history of the industries in the Northern Ireland area before progressing to in depth descriptions of the shipping yard that manufactured the Titanic ship. An Industrial Engineer's dream. Even more exciting for me was being able to compare it to the processes I learned about and observed while working on a Naval ship program in the defense contractor business. I had the opportunity to visit the shipyard for that program twice! There was even a cable car ride through the ship builders perspective that was calm enough for a pregnant woman to go on. It progressed into the description of the ship interior followed by the maiden voyage and crash. Some sobering statistics like only 32% of people saved despite seats being available for 53% with majority being women and children. Only 20% of men survived. It ended with the rescue of passengers and search for the wreckage. Surprisingly the US military funded the technology for the developer only if they used it to find two lost submarines first. The person then had whatever remaining mission time to find the Titanic. Amazingly with only 12 days, they did. We all left highly impressed with the museum.



Nearing 6pm, we began the walk over to the arena with a quick stop at Subway for dinner. As we neared the entrance, crowds of mostly women dressed in 80's and 90's gear many 40-50 year old range had Alex giggling about what we were about to get ourselves into. Upon entrance, we received light up wristbands. A great start as Alex was sad we had run out of time to buy glowsticks. At our seats, we had a fabulous view of the full floor of dancing standing only attendees as well as the stage. The group on stage had everyone dancing to the macarena, so naturally Laura and I joined in. Carl went on a hint for a beer whole Alex went for more glowing items. Both returned successful. Apparently, the venue had light up glasses for sale and Alex purchased a pink 'Biggest Disco' branded concert shirt for me as well. Carl encountered some 50 year old making out the entire line up to the drink purchases.



It was almost equally as fun to watch the crowd as the bands. Each band had time for about 4 songs before they switched to the next. Music was all over from Queen covers to Rednecks playing Cotton Eye Joe to soulful music and dance music. Some acts got a bit long as we anxiously awaited the 2 we were excited for Basshunter and Vegaboys. Most of the others we didn't know or only a song or two. From the advertisement, we were under the impression the concert ended at 10pm and Vegaboys were headlining. As they headed on stage at 9:30pm without Basshunter going we were getting sad he wasn't going to be there. Then during their highly entertaining show the commented to him while he was side stage about an after party which got our hopes back up. Basshunter went next. He managed the crowd well and played all songs we knew. A bit disappointed that it didn't include the Swedish version of Dota and Boton Ana, but still great to be able to see him perform. At our limit, we excused ourselves as the last DJ performance came on stage to head home.



We decided to enjoy the beautiful evening by walking back. It also gave Carl's shirt time to dry as the girl behind him spilled half her double gin and tonic down his back. We had the benefit of passing by the Big Fish statue we had teased Kyle he should go see. He chose not to go instead his only adventure was running into one of the train bridal parties at the pub he visited as they came in parading the blow up doll. Of course we took pictures for him before continuing through the city to the hotel. Laura eventually found a key to her room in ours and just had to walk next door. All of us crashed to be able to get up early for breakfast before our tour the next day.

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