The Highways Hotel Larne

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 ...

... and towards belfast. we left around 1pm and went to a nearby shopping centre to enjoy the cheap northern prices. about 10 minutes later (while driving through some grogeous irish countryside) a warning light came on the dashboard of elaine's mammy's little bmw so we pulled into the next service station. turns out there was an obscenely flat tyre which was supposed to be self inflating so there was no spare (seems like a similar kind of logic that the ...

We hit Giants Causeway and Dunluce Castle today, which is a huge castle
that literally fell of the side of the cliff while people were in it
waiting for their meal. It was pretty cool to see, then we drove the
entire Coastline which was unreal. It was soooo cold and rainy and
windier than ever today, yet still there were a million ...

... we rose to glorious views of valleys, cliffs, and the sea beyond. Met a very weary cyclist all on her own going in the opposite direction. From what I could see (besides the excitement of the downward coast) was that she had had quite a grueling climb. But it wasn’t until taking off that I truly understood…Proceeded to descend at break-neck speeds down a road winding through forests and over bridges, swerving back onto itself for at ...

On Sunday after church we set off to have some fun. We went to the Exploris aquarium in Belfast. The design of the aquarium allows kids (and us adults) to touch stingrays, hold star fish and many other sea creatures. The kids even got to see the diver feed the fish right from his hand. The highlight for me was the medusa jellyfish they had in a circular tank you could watch from all sides. They were hunting the ...

Bank Holiday! We were advised to avoid going into Derry because of the traffic (and other!) disruptions caused by the 12th July Marches. So we drove straight through and on towards The Giant's Causeway on the north coast. That was a fascinating geological place – and quite beautiful when the sun came out. Danny was King of the Castle on any small rise of rocks. There were certainly plenty of tourists there, swarming all over the formations, but so ...

... back was rather a wise one....although this meant that he had to have them all at once and so now has sore arms....ha Also, for some reason, I only twigged that we'd actually need visas for India a couple of weeks ago...so after negotiation with an extremely difficult woman in the Indian embassy in Dublin, I now have the necessary bit of shiny paper in my ...

... 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.

... a sandwich and a hot cup of tea from our trusty flask, just to sit and look over the water and watch the waves crash onto the rock was heaven itself. As motor-homers we are always looking for nice quiet places to stop over but at Portmuck this was not possible, as there are signs up warning against stop overs, which in my view is such a ...

... I’d long desperately wanted to see it for myself, so it was no disappointment to be visiting Belfast for the second time in less than a year.

In the centre of the city itself there is no obvious hint to outsiders of the Protestant/Catholic divide, Belfast could be Bristol, Birmingham or any other British city starting with a ‘B’ you can think of. But the most famous thing to do in the city to see some of the heartlands of sectarianism is to take a ...