LOCATION: Belfast, Northern Ireland
WEATHER: More dreariness. Cool, grey and rainy.
We took the train from Shannon to Dublin, about 2 hours. The train system is quite good here. We had a 2-hour layover in Dublin, time to take a tram across the city to a different station, grab a Guinness, and buy a sandwich to eat on the train. From Dublin, the train route hugged the coast to Belfast.
After another 2-hour ride, we arrived in Belfast. We had a bit of trouble finding our hotel, so it wasn't very comfortable walking around the city with our backpacks in the rain. Friendly people guided us along the way.
We are staying in a funky neighborhood, and our hotel has a lot of young people, from many different countries. I even saw the Ukraine rugby team in the lobby.
After resting up, we walked to the Crown Liquor Saloon, a Belfast landmark now owned by the National Trust. It is a beautiful piece of architecture, built around 1800. The interior was built for the Titanic's sister ship but since that ship did not sail, it was purchased by this bar. It is richly appointed.
We had a Guinness and Jameson (of course!) and sat in one of the tiny private sitting areas.
It probably is always busy, but this everning, particularly so, with revelers from the Ireland/England rugby game that thousands watched today.
We ate upstairs in their dining room, lucky to get seats. We shared a hunter's chicken. I had seen this on menus last year in England. It is a baked chicken breast with a touch of BBQ sauce, tiny bit of bacon, and melted cheese. It was pretty good. Nice, elegant atmosphere.
We spent some time planning out our remaining days here. We will take a tour of the rugged coast which is famous and go to the Titanic museum. We are trying to figure out how to buy ferry tickets to Scotland. Everything closes up here on the weekends, so we haven't been successful yet. Unfortunately, more of this cool (50) and rainy weather is predicted for the next week. Oh well, there are always pubs to warm up in!
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