I hopped a train from Dublin to Belfast upon Mike's advice. I met the nicest people on the train, who told me all of the places to go in Ireland. Sweetest people ever, they even gave me a tylonol equivalent for the headache that only allowed me a few hours of sleep. Little did I know, all of Belfast is full of kind helpful people just like them. I was so over the hustle of Dublin, it was so nice going to a town where everyone wanted start a conversation, ask where you're from, make sure you weren't lost, give you directions, and advise you on exactly where to go. I had a gentleman see me with a map in hand and ask me if I was lost and needed directions. For once I wasn't lost! But he offered to walk me back to the hostel. On the way there he told me all about where to eat and go. It was unbelievably refreshing. Also, they're serious about giving up your seat to elderly on buses- people jump up to do it.
The town was gorgeous. Beautiful architecture, wonderful people, green hills in the backdrop. So much to see in such an itty bitty town! I got the best food so far in Ireland from a place called Maggie Mae's (see picture). It was chicken and mushroom with chips. Soooooooo good.
I got in around noon, and walked all over town until about 4 or 5. I covered most of the little town of Belfast, as well as most of the surface of my right foot in blisters. I went back to the reaaaaaally nice hostel and took a nap... Rina and I slept til 9 when our newest roommate wandered in- Corinne. She quickly convinced me to shower and get dressed to go out and get food with her... delicious! Then we went to a local pub, where they sang some Johnny Cash... and a bunch of other songs I didn't know of. Remarkably my nose started getting better after some local cider... which was delissshhh. Belfast lager... not so good. I also thought the women's bathroom was a cruel joke at the bar, it's a double door, when you open the first, the four walls of the tiny room all look exactly the same, except for a blended in"push" sign. I had to walk in and out several times to figure out what was going on.
Belfast is sooooo inexpensive. Two half pints were £3.70... maybe $5? Which by the way- changing from Euros to pounds was weird. I keep pulling out the wrong money and confusing clerks.
The hostel was really nice, clean and reasonable. Got my first night of good sleep. Anyone notice something potentially annoying about the sinks here? Yeah really hard to wash your hands with warm (not boiling hot) water. The WC was just that- a WC. I've gotten used to calling bathrooms "toilets" too, at first it was kinda weird.
I've met so many great people. Corinne (she's an au pair from Switzerland by the way) and I went out to the Titanic museum today- very, very interesting. It was about £19 (ouch) but there was a ride, and lots of technology involved. Beautiful silver building as you can see. We took a cute English-style cab home... no pictures on my phone though :[
OH! She also said "Ich brauche einen kleinen Löffel" -which to anyone that knows me, knows how excited I got that someone actually used it for a legitimate purpose.
The picture of the building, "Titanic Studios" is they shoot "Game of Thrones" allegedly.
I forgot my battery for my real camera today, so I left the photography up to Corinne, but I'm excited to see how they came out. The second to last picture is in front of the City Hall, and the last is of me and Corinne.
I'll sincerely miss Belfast between my new friend and a fabulous city, I didn't want to leave at all.
I also got some scarves at the market I just so happened to see while coming up to the train station, so now I can look like a real European!
I don't have time/ feel like proof reading this, so I just gave it a quick read over. Y'all are on your own!
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