Belfast

12th August, 2010. Belfast Hostel.

Today was pretty standard we hung out in the hostel all morning talking to the girls from Liverpool an going on the Internet. Slowly we made it to the Schipol Airport and flew to Belfast. There was so much turbulence on the flight and it could easily go down as my worst landing experience yet. We caught the bus and then a taxi from the small international airport to the Lagan Backpackers Hostel. The owner, William, gave us the quickest run down of the "city". Basically he told us all the tours are "shite" besides 2. Great start here. We went and had subway, came back and here I am. Tired and wondering if Belfast is worth the stop...

15th August 2010, bus to Dublin.

Right now I'm on a bus full of Irish people escaping the likes of Belfast and heading South to Dublin. I've skipped 2 days so I'll rewind. On Friday 13th we did a 'Black Taxi' tour. Which was a tour that went around the Protestant and Catholic areas of Belfast. We saw the Murals, wrote on the Peace Wall and some other little things. The guide declared in the end that he was protestant but 3 out of 4 in the tour imagined he was Catholic. Michelle was the only one that guessed right.

Afterward we completed the rest of Belfast within the day. We saw the Statue of Belfast, a giant fish, where the Titanic was built and City Hall.
After City Hall we found a cupcake place where in the end they gave us a free cupcake each. They were the best Cupcakes I've ever had. You can find them just left of the front of City Hall when you walk out and they're called 'Cherish Cupcakes'. We were on a bit of a mission this day as well. We had to find some Irish Stew. We went to the oldest pub in Belfast which was so beautiful and hasn't been changed since it's beginnings in the 1800's. They had just sold the last of their stew about 1/2 an hour before we arrive. So we bought the Steak and Guinness Pie instead. We made our back to the hostel before it was too dark. There were police everywhere and last week saw 3 car bombs go off. Just like any other normal people we didn't want to experience any of that.

On Wednesday 14th, we joined a day group and travelled out to the Giants Causeway on McCombs tours. Overall the day was 10 hours long and I was so exhausted. Along the way to the Causeway we stopped at Carrickfergus Castle, Old Bushmills distilleryt and Dunluce Castle. We also stopped in this cute one street Irish beach town where we met Harry. He gave us ice cream for 10p cheaper than the going price. Nice guy, Harry. Finally after hours and hours of green hills, Catholic schools in hedges and police station which looked more like jails, we reached the causeway. It was smaller than I imagined but still impressive and of course it's just good to say that I've seen it.

That night we made chicken noodles, which I hadn't had forever! They don't sell them in Germany. Germans. And then we watched a Knights Tale. I'm so excited to be going to Dublin now! Northern Ireland felt a bit too British for me whereas Dublin will be full on Irish. No more Union Jacks flying everywhere and no more pounds.

1:17pm, still on bus, crossing the International Irish Border

Just got the passport checked by police on the bus. Finally back in the EU!!! Yay!! Some excitement, so bored.