Belfast Castle and live Irish music

Day Two in Belfast was cool - literally and figuratively. Lindsey and I borrowed a couple of bikes from the guy who owned our hostel and we biked around Belfast.

We decided to go to Belfast Castle, which unfortunately is up a rather large hill. But we did make it to the top and wandered around inside for a bit, then walked around the garden area. There is something about a white cat myth or something. Basically, the story goes that a white cat is always in residence at the castle for luck. And the gardens have nine cats worked into it through mosaics, statues and topiaries. We found eight, but not the actual living white cat. It was cold out, so the cat was probably hiding inside. The view from the castle is amazing. You can see all the way down to the coast, plus all of the city of Belfast.

And the bike ride down was fun, too. But it was freezing, so we had to stop in a shop and buy some gloves. We then rode along the bike paths on the river up to the botanical gardens. It was too cold to wander around outside too much, so we went to the Ulster museum.

The museum was really cool. We were most interested in the Irish history section, though. It went back to before the Irish potato famine up through contemporary times. It was interesting to be able to trace the political unrest through the decades. I found the contemporary Belfast history the most interesting. It was nice to be able to see a timeline of all the events of The Troubles laid out, and to be able to read a neutral account of what happened between the unionists and the nationalists.

Our hostel owner suggested a pub for us called Fibber Magee's in the city center. The pub has live music every night, and on this night is was traditional Irish music. All three guys in the band were really good, but one was amazing. He played like three different instruments. He was fantastic with all of them, especially the fiddle and the tin whistle. Fibber Magee's was connected to a pub called Robinson's, but the Fibber Magee's side is not right off the main road.

I enjoyed the second day in Belfast. Since it's not really a touristy city, we were able to just explore on our own without being bombarded with stupid little tourist shops and what not.

Saltwater breeze and seashells in the sand

On Saturday, Mona, Lindsey, and I went to Southend-on-Sea. It's this smaller town on the coast.

It was only an hour train ride to get out of the chaos of London to get to the ocean.

The three of us spent a lot of time just walking along the coast and picking up seashells or mistaking a fish head for a seashell and almost picking it up, luckily this did not happen to me.

It was overcast for most of the day, but it can't be anything but beautiful on the seaside.

And, I finally ate fish and chips. I am actually pretty glad that I waited that long because the fish was fresh and local. The restaurant had the most amazing batter.

Unfortunately we were overcharged for the train due to our own stupidity, but other than that, it was an awesome day.





It was just a fun little town, with some nice shopping areas and cool little seaside houses.

Of white cliffs and literary tales

Last weekend, I went on a day trip to Dover Castle and Canterbury that the school planned for international students.

Dover was awesome. We toured the war tunnels, which are these underground barracks, operating room, strategy rooms, etc. that are in the white cliffs. I had no idea that these tunnels even existed. Then we just walked around - a very hilly area - and went up the tower and got a beautiful view of the coast. As much as I love living in the city, it was nice to go to the coast.

Canterbury was interesting. We were all starving after walking around all day, and one of the guide people with us just wanted to tell us a little about the history before setting us loose. My friend pointed out a girl with a doughnut, and I honestly wanted to steal it.


Anyway, we went to this Cornish pasty place, took a quick survey, and got free lunch. So once I decided that I was no longer so hungry that I was going to steal food from a child, we set out to see the city. I didn't want to go to the cathedral, and instead just wandered around on the streets. A friend and I found a cool used book store, and I got Pickwick Papers for £2. It was a fun little town.


Still on the agenda . . . a post about today's day trip to the ocean, market purchases, and the best cookies. Ever.