Belfast!

After another week of very frustrating bank and citizens information visits, John and I traveled to Belfast, Northern Ireland to visit some of his friends from college and work. It actually turned out to be a great weekend, as one of John's friends has a girlfriend who moved over from Wales to be with him, much like I moved from the States. It was nice to have someone who understood how I was feeling and she gave me some great advice about applying for jobs and everything. If only John still worked in Belfast!

We traveled up Saturday morning, getting to Belfast around 1:30pm and it was straight to the Ikea! After a delicious lunch of meatballs, fries and lingonberry sauce, we hit the store for some stuff for our house. We then spent the next hour and half arguing over plate colors, tupperware and the necessity of buying two massive whiskey glasses (John insisted). In the end we had a lot of nice things for the house, mostly for the kitchen. This made me happy since I am the one doing most of the cooking, as I can look up yummy recipes due to my jobless-ness. We stopped at Decathalon, a Dick's sporting goods-esque store. John drooled over the bike equipment while I pretended to know what all of it was for. We both purchased cloth swimming caps and goggles (which neither of us have used yet :P ).

The massive whiskey glasses John bought, compared to a wine glass.

 After Ikea, we checked into our hotel. Or at least we tried. The first place we went to, John kept telling the woman at the desk that he had used a website to book a room, and that he had a receipt for it but didn't print out. After checking several times, the woman said there was no reservation under his name. One euro in the public computer later, we found out that we indeed did book a hotel, but not the one we were standing in! So John apologized to the woman, tucked his tail between his legs and we walked to the correct hotel, where we were able to check in and rest for a while.

For dinner we met up with our friends Liam and Joy and had a delicious Indian dinner. We then walked over to a pub where John and his friends used to frequent when he worked there. After creeping on some people at a table, they finally left and we sat down, only to be joined by some very interesting older people. The man sitting next to me kept saying that I should drink more. I think he felt very self-conscious, as he was piss drunk and I could hardly understand him at all. From what I could understand, he was from England and came to visit his brother over in Belfast once a year. He kept pointing at his drinks and saying "It's only once a year love! Once a year!". I just smiled and nodded like I was comprehending more than every third word, and after the lads had their pints we walked down to meet some of John's other friends.

We didn't make it home til about 1am, which doesn't sound too late. But poor John had to wake up at 6am to do a 100-mile cycle in the Mourne, which has 11,000 feet of climbing! I slept in til about 10am, and watched tv in the hotel til I met up with Liam and Joy for lunch and shopping. I was really looking to try and buy some clothes that would help me fit in here, aka anything that's not jeans and Penn State shirt! Joy took me to Primark (or Penney's in Ireland), which is probably the best store in the world. It's dirt cheap, and great for trendy clothes. She picked out some clothes that I would NEVER have tried on, and I ended up with a few outfits for under fifty dollars! As she put it, she "Welshified" me, for which I am eternally grateful.

After shopping Joy and I went to the Ulster Museum while Liam went to the pub to watch the Man U match. Ulster is the northern province of the island of Ireland. The other three are Munster, Leinster, and Connacht (which is where we live). Belfast and the Ulster province have a dark modern history, more commonly known as The Troubles. In the 1970's, tensions between the Catholics and the Protestants were increasing, with the British forces open firing on peaceful protesters in Belfast (not a proud part of our history!). This is when the Irish Republican Army started setting off their infamous car bombs (not the drinks!), killing thousands of people over a 25 year span. While the two countries are mostly peaceful now, every now and again there are bomb threats or small bombs that go off around the city.

The Ulster Museum had a lot of information on The Troubles, as well as wildlife of Ireland and dinosaurs- my favorite! The museum didn't hold our interests for long, so we went back to the pub to meet Liam and eventually, a very tired John Davis. We decided to have a quick bite before heading back to Galway, in this little restaurant that Joy and Liam frequent. It was delicious! I had a burger, and John had a much needed steak with fries.

We made plans for Joy and Liam to come down to Galway, as they are leaving for Australia for a year or two in September. They will be here next weekend, and we can't wait to see them!

Next post: The Inishowen Peninsula!