Kate's B&B Belfast

Went shopping in Belfast (cheaper in the north) and was surprised to find an Auntie Anne's pretzel store in a Westfield Mall. I must admit I was so excited about having a pretzel but no one who really knows me would not be surprised since pretzels are one ...

... out
catching some waves. Too bad we couldnt post pics yet, but we'll probs
post them a few times in between countries if we have time. We're in
Belfast
now and once again, have found a great B and B...tomorrow we head to
Scotland ont he Ferry. For tonight, just an internet cafe and a cup of
Starbucks coffee. Home Sweet Home.

... Turns out it was the grand re-opening. The museum has been closed for the last 3 years and we arrived on the 1st day it was re-opened. Finally, some good luck I thought. It was interesting enough. It is always good to re-read the history so it gets ingrained in you. The sad thing is that I know I will forget most of it by the time we get back :( I wasn't a huge fan of the loyalist spin put on the history, especially the section on the Troubles. It is funny how just the use of one ...

... when he visited Ireland. It started to rain pretty hard during the tour, so we stepped into the museum portion of it until the shower passed.

There was an audio presentation about its history after the grounds tour. We then headed back to Ballinasloe for lunch. I ended up having a salmon dinner again. It's just been so good, I couldn't pass it up. My three choices were that or beef or chicken. After ...

... name) took us on a scenic drive around a peninsula near Whitehead, just outside of Belfast where the family lives. I can't remember the names of any of the places we saw, but the scenery was fabulous and I took photos of all the information plaques we passed so that when I get back to Canada, I might actually remember where I was. When we got back, we even went to the local pub - yay, a real Irish pub night! Wendy, Chris, Caelan, Matt (Chris' brother) and I ...

What can I say about Belfast City Airport, recently renamed George Best Airport? There's actually nothing 'best' about it. It's somewhere to get out of as quickly as you possibly can. Unfortunately this natural urge is often thwarted by the fact that flights are frequently delayed owing to fog drifting off Belfast Lough. This mercifully hides the docks from view but also completely obscures the runway.

Well I'm updating this on 18th Sept so I have actually been back afew days.. I came home early for several reasons. Some to do with voluntary work - I wasn't getting any and it seems to have the 'privilege' of helping people I would have had to pay rather large amounts of cash which to me seems stupid. The way I see it the people who don't have time give money and those who give time, give their time.. but apparently not ...

... of the day was driving through northern Belfast, and the areas affected by "The Troubles" between Irish catholics and British protestants. We saw graffiti walls covered by political pictures, homes with either Irish or British flags in the windows to signify their allegiance, and the locations of previous bombings and violence. However, many of the homes had white lillies or white roses in the windows. I wondered if this was a sign that ...

... the number that wins them the grand jackpot of possibly tens of Euro.

When I had returned to the car park with the car, Amber and I were sorely tempted to sound our horn in the middle of a game and then scarper, but I figured that with bingo players’ level of dedication and their penchant for numbers, an angry lynch mob who had memorised the number plate of our car would hunt us down while we were tucking into our food in a diner in the town’s main street.

... to Mexican ringo. I was a witch! It was wild and my tiny digital camera came very handy. More than 230 pictures. Click here to see the pictures. The party went on till past 5 AM and as you can imagine we were all ******. One thing was for sure we all had a great time. If you were not at our party you missed out big time :)