Belfast, bus trip

Thurs, Apr. 9- Belfast
Woke up this morning at 4:30, and got on the road. We caught the tube to take the bus to catch the plane, and everything worked out wonderfully well, for a change. After less than 4 hours of sleep, I’m a bit exhausted, but we spent most of the day exploring Belfast. It’s a fun little city, but there is a huge divide between the newer developments, like malls, expo centers, etc… and the old parts of town, which are still a little seedy and “gangsta,” as Karen calls it. Karen and I walked out to H&W shipyards, where the Titanic was built, which took abt 90 minutes. Karen described it as “fun,” which should tell you a lot about Karen. It was overcast and really windy, and therefore, also a bit chilly. Karen and I took some pics, read about the shipyard and the ships they built, and then hopped into a café for some needed internal heating, followed by my insistence that we take the bus back to the city center. We wandered through the mall that’s here, and Karen tried on some fun outfits. I’ve decided that, in addition to my lederhosen, my other “German” costume is going to be the tightest pair of jeans I can find, the tightest t-shirt I can find, with a brightly colored skintight cardigan overtop, paired with some outrageously pointy dress shoes. Preferably all of these parts in many different fluorescent colors. After that, we met up with Melissa, my cousin, who is getting her masters in Belfast. We went out to dinner, and then went pub hopping. I haven’t seen her in almost 15 years, so it was great catching up, or, rather, getting to know her as an adult.

Fri, Apr. 10- Giant’s Causeway, Bus
This morning, Karen and I got up ungodly early, and hopped on a bus to the Giant’s Causeway. It’s on the north coast of northern Ireland, and is a really amazing natural phenomena where there is an entire stretch of cliffs and beach made up of octagonal pillars of rock. Got some great pictures, even though it was rainy, the sun finally came out, and I even got a pic or two of a rainbow over the Causeway! Then, we hopped on a bus for the next 11 hours, and made our way down to Galway. Ireland really is lovely, but one thing they really need to work on is roads. This country has no main roads. You drive in two-lane twisty country paths from one side to the other, and a trip that SHOULD take a few hours takes all day. Should be fun driving it though! We got in, took a cab to our hotel, and met Emily Todd here. She’s one of Karen and my friends from BC, who is gonna be traveling with us this week. Yay! Tomorrow, we’re going to explore, mebbe go to the cliffs of moher, and then experience some galway nightlife. Should be a lovely time.
happy easter weekend!