Day 11: Hunting for murals in the rain

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Ok UK – you’ve made your point – I shouldn’t have boasted that I had 11 days of no rain in May... now you’ve given us 11 days of rain, so we’re even. Please stop.

Today we headed out to hunt for (some of) the murals in Belfast/West Belfast. Of course it was ok when we left the hostel, but about 25min into our walk (so right where the murals start) it started to pour... so much pouring rain.

I suppose there isn’t that much to type about today – we basically just wandered around Shankill and Falls Roads looking at the murals and getting soaked in the process. Umbrellas only do so much. The murals were neat to see, but it would have been nicer/we would have explored a lot more if we didn’t have puddles in our shoes.

At one point we were debating going on exploring or just going back to the City Centre when this guy came over – I suppose when you look cold, wet and sad the locals take pity on you ahahaha. He asked if we were lost and I got to chatting with him about the area and where there were more murals to find and such. He gave us a bunch of directions and was actually pretty helpful (but of course when we tried following them we found ourselves at a dead end, nevermind that). When we were thanking him he asked if we were American – we both made a slight ugh face and he quickly added or Canadian? Hahaha. Yes, Canadian.

Anyway, like I said we got stuck at a dead-end and were so wet at that point we just headed back to town – we got our fill of murals anyway. We stopped at the mall to eat our lunches and just window-shop. We found some Canadian Maple Moose ice cream place... I’m starting to think there’s a sizeable expat community here or something.

We found a camera shop so Em could get a new camera - the guy was really funny as we explained what happened and such. It turned into a convo of Canada VS UK weather and rain. It’s honestly a different kind of rain here and it just seems to be constant... I mean, yeah it’s an abnormal amount they’ve been getting this year in June/July, but still.

When we went to pay the cashier asked where we were from – he’s from Vancouver!! I asked him if there’s a large expat community since we saw that Canadian sports bar, Maple Moose, maple syrup in some stores and the Timmy’s. (He laughed at the Timmy’s comment hahaha). Apparently there’s around 8-10,000 Canadians in and around Belfast. That’s sizeable I guess.

Anyway, rest of the afternoon was spent lazing around the hostel and repacking some things. At the bus station we had fun finding the right stance for the bus – everyone told us stance 2, but I asked when another bus pulled into 3 and that was the one we were suppose to take. Helpful guys. Good thing the driver was good at least – he explained our having to switch on the ferry and all that whole ordeal again. Huzzah.

(Sidenote: I really love how it’s always ‘love’ here. “Here you go, love.” “Take care, love” “How you doin’, love” haha. Seriously, I much prefer it to ‘ma’am’. I find it cute.)

We’re currently sitting on the ferry back up to Cairnryan, Scotland. Ahahahahahahaha, Scotland. Not raining at the moment but I’m sure when we dock it will be. That’s ok though, we’ll be hopping straight on an overnight bus anyway. Next stop, London.

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