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Published: June 25th 2015
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Long day yesterday Marseille to Belfast; dragged our suitcases down the street five blocks to the Metro station. Down escalators and stairs and onto the subway then up escalators and stairways into the train station to catch the bus to the airport. All of that actually worked out very well with no problems. After a VERY tight connection in Munich we arrived in Dublin, but, ... our suitcases did not. The counter staff knew they were still in Munich and would arrive in Dublin by midnight. Not much use to us as we were immediately getting on a bus to Belfast.
So off we went, just with our carry-ons. Quite nice actually not having to drag those suitcases along! Arrived into Belfast Victoria Street station and walked across the road to the Days Hotel. Quick check-in then a Guinness and some dinner. Chris had a HUGE piece of fish with chips and I had their roast turkey. Nice quiet night although we found that our phone and computer charge adapters were in the suitcases back in Munich, or Dublin or wherever. Interesting point here; I learned that if your TV has a USB connection you can plug your phone into
that and it will charge. But the TV has to stay on. So I hit the mute button and covered the screen and off to sleep.
Breakfast was nice the next morning (today) and then I got a call from the luggage detectives to say our bags were in Dublin and being loaded into a van to deliver them to our cottage at Garron Point. So I made sure they had the address and directions and we checked out and left the hotel, only to discover a HUGE fire the height of the hotel, right beside it! Somebody had lit a HUGE pile of wooden pallets on fire while we were checking out. The heat was incredible; even a short block away at the train station we could still feel it.
It was a nice, hour-long train ride along the coast to Larne on the NE coast of Northern Ireland. Slight drizzle when we arrived but we only had to walk a block or so to a "Lidl" grocery store. Chris shopped for a while and I waited under cover in the entrance with our bags as it was raining steady now. We found a taxi a short
walk away (Thank God because now we also had all the groceries) and agreed on 27 Pounds for the 1/2 hour ride out to Garron Point. Our cottage there is really out of the way and RARELY serviced by buses in the right direction so although a little expensive, taxis are our only choice at the moment. It was a beautiful drive along the coast and through a few towns and villages until we arrived at the Coastguard Cottages. As the taxi pulled over to stop, a van pulled in right behind him ... with our missing luggage! Talk about perfect timing!
We had a little visit with the next door neighbour (Marie and John) who take care of the cottage and guests for the owners who live in Belfast. We got settled in, got the wood stove heating up (damn cold around here!) and after some home-made bread and soup (left for us by the owners) and some chicken Chris bought, AND, charging all of our devices, we had a nice, warm, relaxing evening cacooning here on the coast of Antrim on Garron Point.
VERY interesting history about the cottages we are staying in:
The four
cottages were built in 1850 by Lady Londonderry, Frances Anne Vane, Marchioness of Londonderry (Jan. 17, 1800 - Jan. 20, 1865) who was a wealthy English heiress and noblewoman. She also built the Londonderry Arms hotel in Carnlough (closest town to us) as a coach house and the castle at Garron Tower (just above us here, now a secondary school with about 500 pupils). Lady Londonderry was the great grandmother of
Winston Churchill and before the cottages passed into private hands,
he was the landlord! Lots more interesting history around here and many beautiful walks to go on, trails through the hills, castles, etc. So its off to bed soon and hopefully no rain tomorrow so that we can enjoy a hike in the hills. We managed to buy some hiking shoes in Marseille the day before we left so hopefully the weather will cooperate enough to allow us to make use of them a bit.
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Adrienne
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Travels..
Welcome to the "Old Country" ! Glad you like Guiness! Aaah..the joys of travel and lugging bags around (when they are not misplaced!) Hope the weather improves for you , but of course that is why it is so green there. Enjoy!!