Blogs from Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, Europe - page 23

Atter getting the bus form the airport into the city we checked into our hostel room. We'd booked a twin room because it was cheaper and normally you can just push the beds together, but these ones were super skinny and bolted to the floor! So we made a little cubby house under them. We went for a walk past the Queens University and through the Botanic gardens then did some shopping for supplies for our road trip. We looked for the famous political graffiti and banner around the place but only found one. It just so happened that our trip to Norther Ireland coincided with the Belfast World Rally special stage. So our first night in Belfast was spend watching cars racing around the castle. Very exciting stuff! And VERY cold. The next morning we ... read more

Mon 08 - got up at 7am to be on the road for 10. Had to leave early for the 3hr drive to Stranrear for the ferry over to Larne. Got into County Antim, Ballycastle about 5pm and went into town for dinner. Early to bed. Tues 09 - got up at 7:30am so we could be on the road early. Went to the rope bridge, then went for lunch. After lunch drove to the giants causeway. Home for dinner at restaurant. Wed 10 - Up agian at 7am to be on the road eary to go to Belfast. Parked the car in the carpark then got sausage roll. Went to the visitors center and bought tickets for the open top bus tour. had an hour to wait so went to see what was in the ... read more

It's amazing how fast time slips away from me here, so here goes blog round two. Although I would love to spend a good bit of time on sightseeing in Paris, I think I'll have to skip through that rather quickly to get to more current things, like life here at UUJ. I'll start back in France, which was an absolute blast. Our first few days were spent in Paris with some hard-core tourism, with Coralie acting as, friend, guide, and translator all in one. From Monday morning until Tuesday evening, we managed to see highlights of the Louvre, take a boat tour of Paris, visit Montmartre, hit the second floor of the Eiffel tour, walk to the Arc de Triomphe, and visit Notre Dam. We also hit up a perfume store and took a tour ... read more

Went to the beautiful seaside village of Bangor today. We walked along the sea wall past the harbour and the rows of tidy little San Francisco-like homes. I wonder if the people who live there take for granted that spectacular view across the peninsula? So beautiful. The wind across the water is brutally cold and smells like sea salt. The water was really choppy which Rose tells me is referred to as "white horses." (Remember Rose is from Ireland so she's hip to the lingo and legend). I said, "how do the waves look like horses?" She said, "Have you no imagination? The whitecaps are like their manes." I suppose if you had a few pints under your belt, the waves could look like horse manes surfacing momentarily then rolling under the water. Like horses moving ... read more

It's tradition with the Irish rellies to meet every Saturday afternoon for tea at the coffee shop in Debenham's shopping centre downtown. And then afterwards they all go shopping. The lingerie department was advertising "free bra fitting" (did you know that 70 percent of women are wearing the wrong size bra?) so we all lined up and waited our turn to go into the little booth to be measured. Turns out, 70 percent of us were wearing the wrong size bra, too. Rose promptly bought herself a (giant) lovely pink bra in the correct size and after wearing it yesterday she has just now informed me, "it's cuttin' the tits off me."... read more