Belfast March 2009

Had a great weekend away in Belfast. Bit of a panic on Friday morning. I was allowed 20kg on my EasyJet flight. So I popped my case on the scales and it registered 26! I checked to make sure it was on kgs and it was! So stuff was being flung out of my neatly packed case and being weighed and a decision was made to “take it” or “dump it”. Both hairdryer and hair straighteners went on the “dump it” pile! Dad turned up to take me to the airport and said “that weighs no where near 20 kg”!

We headed off to Liverpool airport. It was a lovely sunny morning. Given myself plenty of time. Dad dropped me off and I headed into the airport. I was soon able to check in and get rid of my case (which incidentally weighed in at 10.3 kg!). Had a few hours to kill around the airport so sat listening to music and people watching. I kept trying to guess where people where heading off to! Was surprised that I had to remove my belt and shoes to pass through airport security! What’s that about! The flight was only 30 minutes. No sooner had we had got to cruising altitude we were starting the decent. We landed in Belfast in the rain …. and where was my hair dryer and straighteners, yes you remembered correctly back home! Picked up my case and headed off to find the bus to the City centre. Got chatting to a lovely Irish couple (well brother and sister) on the bus into the City centre. Journey took about 30 minutes. From the bus station I set off walking to the hostel which wasn’t far … but again it was that drizzly rain! I checked in and found I’d got a text from Sarah who had arrived a few hours earlier. Did a bit of un-packing and then got a text to say they were meeting for a few drinks in the bar at Benedicts. Meet up with Anne, Martin, Rita and Dave. A couple of drinks (and yes I did order halves but got served pints!) and then headed back to hostel for a quick shower and get changed ready to go out for the evening meal.

We headed off out to Northern Whig. Had a lovely meal – chicken fajitas and scrummy warm chocolate and walnut brownie! Once dined and wined we headed off round the corner to the Cloth Ear for a few more drinks. We called it a night about midnight as we had a busy weekend ahead.

Saturday morning me and Sarah had breakfast in the hostel. Wow what a breakfast. Bacon, sausage, beans, tomato, egg, soda bread and potato bread. It was HUGE. Once we had had breakfast we booked onto one of the open top tour buses … slight problem though it was cold and raining! First part of the journey we sat down stairs on the bus but couldn’t see a thing through the windows so eventually we braved the weather and sat on top deck! Thankfully the rain had eased off. Excellent tour. It took in the Titanic dock, Samson and Goliath cranes, Stormant, the Falls Road and Shankill Road with the murals and peace wall and back into the City Centre. Well worth doing if you are ever in Belfast. As we had missed the first part of the tour we headed back off again. This time we got off the bus at the Pump House. It was desolated and it seemed we were the only foolish tourist about. We had a look around the Pump House and the Titanic dry dock and found the recently refurbished café had just re-opened. What a welcome cup of coffee that was! Warmed up by the coffee we waited for the bus to come round again. Back on the bus we sat downstairs in the dry and headed off again back round Stormant. We left the bus once back in the City Centre and headed on down to the City Hall. Again it had started to rain so we headed off into the Linen Hall Library for coffee a cherry scone (very nice!). By the time we had finished the rain had eased off so we wandered around the streets. We had a look inside the Opera House and no one would have noticed if we had taken a seat and watched David Essex in All the Fun of the Fayre. We then headed across the road to the Crown liquor house. What a quaint pub – it still has gas lights and little snugs. (I forgot to take any photos but found this http://www.crownbar.com/gallery_details_2.html ). We had a couple of beers and Hazel joined us. We all then headed back over to the Europa to meet up with Fi and Catherine. Sat and listened to the jazz band for a short while and then headed off back to the hostel.

A quick shower and thankfully Sarah had some straighteners and then we were off out to meet up with everyone in the bar in Benedicts. There must have been around 25 people. We then headed off to the restaurant. Had a lovely meal. Bang Bang Chicken for starter and Tempura Chicken for main. Both well presented. We then had a book dip – we each had to take with us a book you loved, a book you hated and one that made you laugh! We then took turns pulling a name out of a bag. For some reason I never got the book “that made you laugh” . More drinks and more chat followed and the “dreaded” sorting out of the bill! Hazel did a wonderful job and for a time we thought we would all get a refund … but sadly the restaurant hadn’t done the bill correctly. Yet more drink and chat and we final called it a night about 1.00 ish (actually I can’t remember the time but I know it was late!).

Sunday morning me and Sarah headed off to breakfast and I was still full from the night before so it was the Causeway breakfast for me (cereal, coffee, toast and croissant). Nipped into Benedicts to say goodbye to people and then I headed off for a Sunday morning walk … but oh was it cold. I had a walk around Queens College and then into the Botanical Gardens. Unfortunately the Palm House was closed but I pressed my nose up against the glass and peered in through the windows! One moment it was sunny and then I noticed that the sky was getting darker so I headed back to the hostel for a coffee to warm up … luckily I went when I did as it started snowing/raining/sleeting! My intention was to have a quick look around town but I decided to head back to the airport so I walked back to bus station (in the snow/sleet) and waited for the bus.

I was at the airport with time on my hands and I had a wait for the check-in desk to open so I found myself a seat and sat and people watched again. I picked up a paper that someone had left on the seat and the first article I read was “how to survive a plane crash” !!! Essential reading in an airport waiting lounge – not! I munched through my bag of Tayto crisps (not much different than Golden Wonders) and drank my bottle of pop as I was not allowed to take it through airport security. Eventually checked in and went through to the departure lounge. Still had time to kill so sat and read for awhile and then the flight got delayed for 30 minutes (which turned out the be an hour!). We all got herded to the gate ready for departure but there was one thing missing - the plane! Eventually the plane turned up and we were allowed to board (remembering all the tips I’d read in “how to survive a plane crash”). Arrived safely back in Liverpool. Cost us a fiver to get the car off the car park – the flight wasn’t much more than that!

A great weekend … can’t wait til the next one!

I’ve posted some photos on Facebook and I’ll leave them open to anyone to view for a short while.
Album 1 http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1581320&l=cf0a8&id=585777112
Album 2 http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1581485&l=96713&id=585777112