Finally in Ireland

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Well here we are in Ireland. We left the Isle of Wight last Thursday and headed back up to London to Auntie Jan's again. We were only there 2 nights and then she drove us up to Leicester where we met my Uncle George and Auntie Jean. We stayed at there place for 3 nights, they live just outside of Leicester in Loughborough. They took us into Nottingham on Monday which was a really neat town but the weather had changed drastically and instead of sun we had a bit of everything. Sun, cloud, rain, wind, snow, hail....you name it we had it. And it was bitterly cold. We did tough it out and took a walk aroung Nottingham Castle which was nice, but there really wasn't much of the castle left. Saw the statue of Robin Hood and saw the oldest pub in Nottingham which was so small! We left Nottingham right in time, because as we got in the car a huge hail and wind storm started.
Tuesday morning Uncle George drove us to Manchester where we had most of the day to look around before catching the coach over to Liverpool. Manchester was ok, nothing too exciting though. It was really cold and windy again so it wasn't fun to walk around. We had lunch in Witherspoons Pub which is one of our favorite places to eat because it is so incredibly cheap! Only £1.80 for a pint. Can't go wrong really. And I've decided that Strongbow is my new favorite beer, well cider I guess.
We caught the coach to Liverpool that evening and found our youth hostel which was really cool, our first hostel stay of the trip and it was a good one! We walked up to the town that evening to have a bite to eat but it was pretty late so we didn't do too much else. The next morning we found a tour bus that took you on a one hour tour around the city, Liverpool is a really really cool place. I would love to have had more time there, I gues I'll just have to go back someday. We went down to the Beatles museum on the docks, saw where the Titanic was built and docked. it was all really neat.
We headed to the airport at 1 o'clock as our plane was due to leave at 3. We checked in and had a drink and then an announcment came on "Attention passengers on the 607 flight to Belfast. We regret to inform you that your flight has been cancelled due to operational problems" We were so mad, we had no clue what to do. We found out later that we were being put on another plane at 5 o'clock. So we waited and waited and waited. There was another flight cancelled and 4 more long delays while we were there, I guess that's what you get when you buy a cheap flight. We eventually got on the plane 5 hours later than we were supposed to be. We arrived in Belfast where Stef's Auntie Jean and Uncle Mervyn picked us up. Our Ireland adventures have begun!!

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Photos

Liverpool Cathedral
The guy who designed this wanted a more modern look....strange for a cathedral. The 4 bells are even nicknamed after the Beatles!

Newcastle, Ireland
Note the weather...almost everyday has been like this since we arrived.

Europa Hotel
This is the most bombed place in Belfast

Belfast Murals
There are Murals painted all over the town, mostly about the Catholic/Protestant wars