Getting to Dublin, then to Belfast

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We got to the airport a few hours early so our chauffeur (Hillary) could get back for an evening meeting so we had time to buy and read a Post, eat our sandwiches, fiddle with our phones, and wander around before we even checked our luggage! Security went fine and we got to the B gate concourse in time for a glass of wine and some people watching. Flight was good, our luggage made it too, and we found our group.

The first part of this trip is with Road Scholars, to Northern Ireland. Got on a bus and headed north. Cloudy day but could see lots of green and plenty of gorse bushes in bloom. Got all checked in, showered (is there much better than a shower after a plane ride?), found the nice hotel bar to our liking, and had dinner with the group, after meeting and introducing one another.

Notes from the ride to Belfast:

--again, riding on the left side of the road is very disconcertin

--passed beautiful fields of rape grass, which is used to make rape seed oil--gorgeous bright yellow swathes on the hillsides;

--Belfast in Gaelic is Biel Feirst;

--there are no 'hard' borders in Ireland. This was a provision of the Good Friday Agreement. We knew we had gone from one to the other because the line on the far left of the road changed from yellow to white and the speed limit and mile markers changed to miles;

--We entered near the Moiry Pass, one of two historical entries into the north because of the lay of the land, the bogs, and the forests;

--our guide, James, gave us the first overview of the progression of the history of Ireland--Anglo Norman invasion, many battles, purposeful introduction of Presbyterian settlers from Scotland, penal laws, independence, civil war, partition, EU, Brexit. More over the next few days!

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