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Blogs from Belfast, County Down, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, Europe
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An ounce of beauty and a measure of hate in a glass of whiskey
Published: December 27th 2012Europe » United Kingdom » Northern Ireland » County Down » Belfast
December 27th 2012
I ran around for years, looking for answers that were buried deep under blood and hate, dirt and shame. Still today, I struggled to control my sense and can't fully understand. I remember the ritual like it was yesterday. You were once again leaving. During a couple of seconds which felt like hours. My world was stopping. My eyes were getting wet, but I couldn't look away. I knew only too well what was coming, but couldn't do better, but look at you as you were leaving. Questions were popping inside my heads and getting lost through a chaos of sadness and incomprehension. I was acting tough and I kept telling people that you were a good man and you were doing this for the better good, but I was burning from inside. Not long before, ... read more
June 18th 2012
(Note: There are more photos on pages 2 & 3 of most of the blog entries!) Friday 15th Car from Biarritz to Bordeaux; Plane from Bordeaux to Dublin; Bus from Dublin to Belfast = 11 hours. Flight delayed 30 mins, and then a screw-up with the Irish bus company, who hadn't enough places on the Express bus for all the punters coming home from various European football matches. So I ended up on whatever the opposite of Express is, and got into Belfast at 9:30 pm, instead of the predicted 6:00 pm! >:/ Met at the bus station by the fabulous Ian and Janet Corry, and whisked off for Billecart champagne, a great Spanish red, and an excellent dinner in a restaurant called Cayenne. Home by midnight to sample some of their poteen, sloe gin, and ... read more
De eerste week
Published: January 13th 2012Europe » United Kingdom » Northern Ireland » County Down » Belfast
January 13th 2012
Liefste thuisblijvers Zoals velen van jullie waarschijnlijk al wel hebben gehoord was het hier de eerste dagen nogal moeilijk. We arriveerden 's avonds laat in een oud huis zonder verwarming en mét schimmels. Van de aanblik van mijn kamer werd ik ook niet bepaald vrolijk. We hebben dan direct olie besteld zodat de verwarming zou werken, een grote poetsbeurt gehouden en een heleboel vrolijke, kleurige spulletjes gekocht om de kamers wat op te fleuren. Ik zal zo snel mogelijk foto's uploaden maar het kabeltje van mijn fototoestel is verdwenen =p Ondertussen zijn we hier iets meer dan een week en we hebben al heel wat beleefd: De school: St Mary's university college is een heel mooie school met veel voorzieningen (studentenruimte, sportzaal, fitness,...) maar het is een echt doolhof! Ik loop hier maar wat rond en ... read more
Guards Hotel
Published: July 17th 2011Europe » United Kingdom » Northern Ireland » County Down » Belfast
July 17th 2011
Reached Edinburgh Haymarket station after a trip of about 10 hours on July 14th.Changing train in London was quite easy for King s Cross is only opposite the international terminal.London-Edinburgh is about 4,5 hours ,Funny thing in the train is that opening the outside door goes as follows: open the window of the door, reach out for the handle outside and open the door.During the trip lots of naked sheep in the meadows. Arrived at the Guards hotel at 19.00 hours.A 12 room hotel that s connected to the Scottish Guards club, club for all ex members of the scottish guards male and female. My room was a 4x4x4 m room so volume enough. However no window at all. Went down and asked for a window.One of the ex majors, there are a lot of ex ... read more
4 tour busses in one day
Published: July 17th 2011Europe » United Kingdom » Northern Ireland » County Down » Belfast
July 17th 2011
Seeing the most of Edinburgh in one day is not easy so I decided on July 15th to take a combination ticket good for 4 different coaches with 4 more or less different routes. I saw Edinburgh old and new town, a world heritage site of Unesco, quite well. Specially the old town with Edinburgh Castle is very good to see. Did not find any internetcafe so I had to wait for Belfast with checking my mail. However there are a lot of good restaurants and it will take you a half year at least to have a good idea of all eating possibilities. Unfortunately in two days I had only some very good tastings in Rosestreet. The weather was quite good with most of the time sun and only in the evening some rain but ... read more
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Endless Green
Published: July 17th 2011Europe » United Kingdom » Northern Ireland » County Down » Belfast
July 17th 2011
Took yesterday the 6.40 from Haymarket to Glasgow Central and had a connection to Stranvaer at the same station at 8.07.At Stranvaer the ferry of the Stena line is next to the station. The trip Glasgow Stranvaer takes about 3 hours and you see a lot of green, hills, meadows and a lot of unknown stations like Perswick international airport an hour from Glasgow. A small airport however with huge parking lots .The day started with rain but slowly slowly it became dry. On the way there are also meadows with only completely black cows. When these are the Angus cows the meat tastes better than it looks like when still alive. Other small stations like Maybole and Barhill where people get on and off the train and finally Stranvaer.Was able to take an earlier ferry ... read more
The Color Beneath
Published: January 13th 2011Europe » United Kingdom » Northern Ireland » County Down » Belfast
January 3rd 2011
The controversy astounds me. At first glance driving along the interstate my overwhelmed senses strain to take in all of the city -- the rich sense of culture found in the simplicity of a tall glass building situated just steps from a gothic stone cathedral whose mast stands high in the skyline leaves my mouth gaping. The mountain-top crowned with the name Napoleon's Nose for it's striking resemblance to a human nose (Napoleon's or not I couldn't say!) and the giant yellow cranes that hang triumphantly in the distance are only some of the distinguishing factors. Driving through the city on the freeway I'm reminded of how I once heard about a city under duress here. But like the international news in America, we are through the city and onto a new place before any of ... read more
Our brief visit to Belfast
Published: May 11th 2010Europe » United Kingdom » Northern Ireland » County Down » Belfast
April 14th 2010
Our ferry to Ireland that was leaving at 8pm and arriving at 11pm didn't leave till about 9pm and when we were only 20 minutes from Ireland the captain had an announcement to make. We thought it was that we were going to be in Ireland soon and to get ready. We were completely wrong, he told us that a boat had come loose from the dock because of the storm and they had 2 tugboats trying to restrain it but one of those has broken down so they were waiting for another to come. He then told us that it shouldn't be long..... After 2 movies and one complimentary breakfast at 3am he told us we should be in at mid morning! Sighs of disappointment could be heard from all over the boat. Almost through ... read more
