Belfast

Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Woke up with some energy and excitement this morning!! We knew breakfast was included in the price of our hostel but we were expecting the standard toast and cereal. Oh wow, we were in for a treat! We had a full English breakfast which included, toast, eggs, back bacon, sausage and beans...sooo good!!! After we were loaded with all of our “essential vitamins” we were off on yet another adventure, this one was planned and guided though so how much trouble could we get into??? So we started the day meeting our bus driver Ian, who was this enthusiastic old Irishman. He was very chatty and we enjoyed his love for his job! Throughout the day we made several stops at castles and scenic areas and drove along the Northern coast of Ireland which has some fantastic views. We also stopped at the Carrick-A-Rede rope bridge which was really neat. It was about a 1km walk to the bridge where you crossed, took some pictures and ended up having to run back to the bus so we weren’t left behind. Next stop was “the big show”, the Giant’s causeway which is the 8th wonder of the world. It was really neat to climb along the rocks and we have a lot of pictures of the area and of course, us!! Our final stop of the day was at Bushmills Distillery, it was a really quick stop so we didn’t really get to see or do anything and decided not to taste the Irish Whiskey. After a long day, we were headed back to Belfast with a long night ahead of us! We stopped for a bite to eat at a local pub that the hostel endorsed and gave us 10% off of. It was here that we first enjoyed a pint of Irish Guinness...it is far better than the motor oil they pass off as Guinness at home. It’s much lighter and just plain yummy. We then went and got a couple of bottles of vino to enjoy while we changed and got ready for our night on the town. We were greeted back at the hostel by the owner who is a 40 something South African fellow named Willem (pronounced William), with a taste of “the good stuff”. We were drinking some Irish Whiskey and coke with a few of the guys who worked at the hostel but weren’t on duty. We also met a couple girls from Edmonton who turned out to be turbo Debbie downers...oy vei!!! Anywho, Willem took us girls and Mark (or Laura Ferry Bell /Tinkerbell) to Fibber McGee’s for some traditional Irish music, pints of Guinness and some good times. Willem decided to take a cab instead of our plan of walking, so we all piled into the cab and headed to the pub. When we arrived, the cab driver opened the sliding van door and out falls Meghan. We are still unsure how this even happened because it was some time after he opened the door and I more so fell straight down on my bum instead of my usual tuck and roll. Oh well, no harm, no foul! So we headed in, grabbed some drinks and started dancing to the music. We had some girls up highland dancing, we danced a jig with Willem and Tinkerbell as well as getting drinks from the 60+ crowd!! Good times! Next stop, since the band ended their set and we had already met them as the bar was shutting down, was to Thompsons. What a dead place! It was more of a dance club than anything and was the only place open after midnight. We were just a short walk from our hostel and had a handy map to guide us back, HOWEVER, because we had some angry whiskey on board, Heather decided she is going to find the way eventhough we were nicely headed in the proper direction. Lets just say it ended with a ripped up map, us falling to the ground on top of each other and a broken camera strap...which was the end of Heather`s life!!! Haha she was pretty broken up inside about the death of her camera strap. We were able to cheer her up with some za and chips and curry. Mmm...the curry and chips was way better than Onesti`s, we even got fake roses from the creepy owners. We then headed home (mapless) but with good direction and headed to bed.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Ahhh, not a pleasant morning...good thing we had a greasy full English breakfast to prepare us for the day. Today we took another walking tour (self guided) after we of course found a camera shop and replacement camera strap for Heather. We decided to take a walk into the West end of town where there is continuing political unrest between the Catholics and the Protestants. We were assured that it is in fact safe in that area of town but we were on guard and kept to ourselves. It was a pretty sketchy part of town anyhow. Along the route that the lady at the tourist centre told us to take, we were able to see and take pictures of these huge murals painted by local artists. The murals were all different but were a dedication to the unrest and troubles that have plagued Belfast for many years. It was really cool to see and we got a bit of an explanation from Neil at the hostel after we returned about what really went on and what it`s like today. Very interesting!!! We wandered around Belfast for a little while, grabbed some food from our new favourite grocer (TESCO`S)!!! We then stopped into the Crown pub for a pint and caught a bit of Tennis on the tele. Haha. The Crown bar is one of Belfast`s oldest pubs and is a traditional style pub with really neat stained glass throughout and booths around the bar that were like little rooms. It was also a really neat place. It was here that we came to the conclusion that there is a good chance that my left foot has been broken. The story for this one starts back in Edinburgh, on the pub crawl, we ended at some club that was really neat. It had different areas that were cave like and the end one had ``old school`` music like Aqua and hanson and backstreet boys, which ended up being our favourite. So during one song that everyone was particularly enjoying, some really drunk girl in heels was jumping and just so happened to land on the top of my foot...TWICE before I was able to shove her off. It really wasn`t too bad and did get a pretty nasty bruise but didn’t think much of it. I clearly wasn`t thinking properly because for the following few days, I was getting what I thought were `cramps’ in my feet nearing the end of the day and having to stretch them without much relief. So it dawns on Heather today that maybe the cramping is actually pain and it`s not my arches that are hurting but rather my `broken foot`. I am thinking that she is probably correct in this thought as the bruise is still as blue and big as ever and after walking all day, my left foot does get really sore. So I suppose we will have to see what comes of it but if it is in fact a broken bone or two in my foot, it will not likely heal too quickly of at all as we have no plans of taking it easy and staying off of it. Great!! Oh well on we went to pick up our packs and head for our first train ride. Our Eurorail passes are finally coming in handy and we can use this really expensive piece of paper instead of paying for buses. Tonight we are heading into Derry, just for a quick visit before we head to Dublin tomorrow for CANADA DAY!!! Woot!! We have been warned to collect alcohol in Derry before heading to Dublin as the prices in Dublin are ridiculous. Pints of beer cost 7 or 8 euro...good thing the economy isn`t booming right now or that would be way worse than it already is.