Marine Court Hotel Bangor

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 ...

... of people taking photos there! and that was the end of that very interesting tour, it made me want to go out and buy a book about the whole "troubles" situation. we had another hour-ish free and i wanted to explore the city but the weather was so awful that we just went to the crown bar (famous old bar with booths and personal call bells) for a hearty irish lunch, so i'm gonna have to go back so i can see the happy side of belfast! then back on the bus, the guide judged the best ...

... 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.

... supported the peace deal between the warring factions, or if it signified that someone in the home died during The Troubles. It was incredibly sad and moving to see how these literal neighbors next door hated one another so much that it came down to killing each other. I couldn't imagine how terrifying it must have been to be out walking through town for your daily produce, and not know if you would make it home that day because of violence.

... fast internet expensive lol ) we made it to belfast about lunchtime and had some lunch then had sometime to ourselves before we started a black taxi tour which was pretty interesting. slightly scary with barb wire fences around the giant wall which is still closed every night at 11pm wrote our names on the wall and got some pics etc, by the time we ...

... was cleaner than Dublin, but that wouldn't of been to hard !!! We parked up, found the tourist info place and booked the tour. We walked across the road, and Jim, our driver was waiting for us. He wouldn't tell us which side he was batting for and wanted us to tell him at the end. So we threw a few questions at him, and not long after, we had arrived at our first stop The Protestants Here we were, five minutes from the centre of the city, and we could have been in the UK ...

... being in J&K state]. Fair point, I suppose. Grandma on the other hand...what a stress-head! Mind you, this is the lady who, 5 years ago, warned me about piranhas in the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok. As if I would go swimming in it anyway - I don't want dysentery! And piranhas? Honestly? Anyway, now there's going to be a mad week of preparation - visas, buying stuff, moving my stuff from uni back home, cancelling my dentist appointment... argh, I'm insane ...

Hi guys, The trip is going great so far, been wandering around and exploring Belfast. Beautiful city. Went on a bus tour yesterday with one of the girls in my dorm room. We visited the famous Irish Rope Bridge, the Old Bushmills Distillery and the Giants Causway....sorry, still don't have access to download any pictures...but when I ...

... were rough-looking when we were there, but perfectly serviceable. Nowadays they still look the same, so one can only assume that subsequent generations are made of lesser stuff, hrumph. Truth is, the near vertical climb up the hill nearly killed us old B*******s so one can doubt that students of today who don't want to live there might just be smarter than us. - Unbeknown to ...

... particular Protestant areas seemed poorer in comparison to the Falls Road, the terraced houses were generally not as well looked after, some of the shops were boarded up and there was a lot of litter piling up in the streets. The murals were much more foreboding too, almost exclusively glorifying Loyalist paramilitary groups with paintings of balaclava-clad men pointing machine guns in a show of strength for the Loyalist cause.

I found these places just as ...