So anyway, starting with my reading week trip to Ireland. They don't have mid-semester break as such over here, but some schools have what's called a reading week, where you just don't have any lecture or tutes for a week. And since I didn't really have any work due around this week, I decided to just spend the whole week in Ireland.
Flew to Belfast first, on the Monday morning. Got there early afternoon, and after dropping my stuff at the hostel wasn't sure what to do so went for a walk into the centre of the city. Belfast isn't the prettiest city I've seen, but it has lots of interesting old buildings which make it not too bad. The first impressive buildings that come to mind include the Crown Liquor Saloon, the City Hall, and St Anne's Cathedral. But I also found it interesting the amount of old looking buildings that had been either abandoned or neglected and so had lots of little greenery growing all over them, in or near the city centre.
Didn't a whole heap on Monday - the downside to travelling alone is that I don't really feel safe going anywhere alone at night. So I bought my first ever burrito, which was actually pretty delicious, and headed back to the hostel. Stayed at a place called Global Village, which I would definitely recommend to anyone going to Belfast. It was fairly close to everything, clean and comfortable, the staff were really friendly and helpful, and it was nice and cheap. It also happened to be filled with Australians when I was there - most from Melbourne but I shared a room with 3 girls from Sydney. So everyone was quite friendly which was nice.
Did a day trip on Tuesday to Giant's Causeway and the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge. That was really good - a bit of a long day, but the beautiful scenery made up for it. Saw the castle at Carrickfergus first. That was just a 10 minute photo stop, but a nice view to start off the day. Then drove through some beautiful countryside to the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge. Main feature I noticed was that most of the fences on farms had shrubby trees planted along them - whether they were low stone fences or newer wire-style fences. The views of and around the bridge were beautiful, and made me wish I had a better camera that could do the views a bit more justice! Still got some rather nice pics though. Unfortunately the bridge was closed for repairs so only got to see it not cross it.
After that headed along the coast to the little town of Doolin for a lunch break, then continued along the coast to the Giant's Causeway. That really was amazing. Was too skint to pay the extra money to go into the brand new visitors centre, so I remain mystified by how the causeway was formed. But I definitely recommend visiting both the bridge and the causeway if you're ever in Northern Ireland, especially if you can get there on a nice day.
Anyway, overall was lucky with the beautiful weather, and had a great day. Didn't get back til late and so decided to grab some fish and chips for dinner. Went to a fish and chip shop, and as I was deciding what to get - standing right next to the door - this young guy probably about my age walked into the shop, then starting yelling "Everybody get down! I'm robbing this joint, I've got a hamster (?) in my pocket!". It was a little frightening really - though maybe I would have been slightly more worried if I'd understood what a 'hamster' was. But I was definitely edging to the door. However everyone in the shop just ignored him, and after yelling a few more times, the woman behind the counter called out next please, and he gave this really odd laugh and ran out of the shop. It was really weird - I guess he must have been either drunk or stoned? But anyway the rest of the night was pretty uneventful after that, just watched a movie with some Australian girls, and tried to figure out how to make the best of the time I had left in Belfast the next day.
Ended up getting a sightseeing bus on Wednesday morning. Wanted to do a black taxi tour, where they take you around all the sites of political significance, but unfortunately it was too expensive to do on my own. So the sightseeing bus was the second option, as it went through political areas just in less detail. The bus route was really interesting - went through Titanic quarter, Stormont, Shankhill, Sandy Row, among other places. Made me wish I had more time in Belfast though - cos I wanted the time to actually get off at all the stops and walk around for myself. The weather also wasn't that great - a bit rainy - meaning we had to sit inside the bus and couldn't get many good pictures. But I did have time for a walking tour of the Titanic quarter, which was really interesting. It left from the brand new Titanic centre, and went through where it was designed and built. It was a little mind blowing, seeing just how immense the ship was from the size of the places it was built. In particular the dry dock. The guide was great too. Both on the bus and on the tour the guides told us about the inquiry in Belfast after the Titanic sank - apparently all they got from it was that Belfast only built her and she was fine when she left, it wasn't their fault she had an English captain, a Scottish navigator and hit a Canadian iceberg.
I found out a whole bunch of interesting stuff on my sightseeing tour, some of which I wrote down. but unfortunately/lucky for you I don't really have to time or inclination to list them right now. So moving on... I got the train to Dublin late afternoon after going back to the hostel to collect my stuff. The train was fine - after some initial confusion where I got into a reserved carriage and took someone else's seat, I just spent the rest of the trip reading all the brochures I had collected in Belfast. When I got to Dublin I dropped my stuff at the hostel, went for a walk to get some dinner, then chilled in the common room with some ciders until Meredith came.
And now I'm actually going to have to cut this short, as I have to leave shortly for Wales! So I'll have to come back to my time in the Republic of Ireland later..
But last week I will briefly talk about - the week in between Ireland and Wales :) Didn't travel, but still had a great week. Had my first experience of Nandos with Jo - despite walking past the Nandos in Canberra almost every day for at least a year, I had never been. So that was tasty :) Along with that, I soaked up a little more British culture with Jo in the form of some films - watched the Inbetweeners movie on Wednesday night, Johnny English Reborn on Thursday night, and went and saw the new James Bond film Skyfall on Sunday. Love it! Also got to catch up briefly with Hannah, when she crashed at mine for the night on the way from Ireland to Elgin. Luckily this reunion was not as eventful as the last one!
Also went to Jenna's 21st on Friday, with Jo as my lovely date :) Had a girly moment, and went shopping with Jo and bought a new dress, new shoes and even some makeup! It was good, though there was a DJ who had a bit of a power complex, and also really did not seem to understand that DJs are there to play music, not constantly drown out the music with talking/announcements. Though I'm beginning to think this is a Scottish DJ thing, because I saw another DJ thats supposed to be kinda famous at the Union, and he also talked far more than I think a DJ should!
Anyways, thats me done for now... Am taking my computer with me to Wales, as this time I actually have to do some work while I'm there :S So will possibly attempt to catch up the rest of Ireland soon. But otherwise watch this space for some fun tales from Wales!
[And yes it is awesome that that rhymed, and it will probably be the title of my Wales blog :)]
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