Belfast City

For our last full day in Ulster, Abby and I were taken into Belfast to spend some time in the city. The first half of this post will just be photos with descriptive captions, rather than a detailed entry. In the evening, we met with some more friends for dinner, so you can read about that, too.

Here's their shower, which is electric (crazy), which I probably broke.

Separate hot and cold taps look very nice. However, they don't make much sense...

Some statue which I don't know what it is.

I took this because it reminded me of my coworkers.

Abby in front of St George's, where she works in TN.

Old and new in Belfast.

This is a Tesco.

This is inside the Tesco. It seems a bit incongruous, but at least they don't have to knock down a gorgeous old building to make a supermarket. I like this idea. America, take note.

Abby and I eating a picnic lunch in front of City Hall. This was a good idea she had. I love the egg and cress sandwiches.

City Hall.

Inside City Hall.

Guard and ceiling.

The Assembly, which has also been converted into shops and meeting areas.

The Opera House. Beautiful. It was closed, so no interior photos.

The Europa Hotel, which was — during the Troubles — known as the most bombed hotel in Europe... or the world.

The Crown Tavern, which claims to be the oldest tavern in Belfast. I was really interested to see this; it has an interesting history. It was closed for some renovation for the day. Dang.

We went next door to Robinson's, which ended up being quite good. The horse races were on. I wish I wrote down the name of my favorite horse name.

Guinness.

Sea unicorn; Robinson's.

Here are some last photos of my boys.

Tai.

I love 'im.

A rare photo of Boomer still.

Absolutely mad.

Gordon mowed the grass and it looked gorgeous.

Helen is a girl I met on my first trip to Ireland. She and I hit it off, and she dated Graham for a couple of years. She even came over to TN with them when the family visited us one Christmas. We were only teenagers then, and I remember sneaking around the house at night with her, trying to remain undetected, though I can't recall exactly why. Helen is now married with a baby son, who is 14 months old and has the sweetest smile (and is the messiest eater). He loves to sing Happy Birthday, so I made friends with him by singing it to him. Helen's younger sister, Louise, also came with us. Louise was only a child when I first met her, and is now finishing her studies to become a teacher.

A silly name.

Helen also arranged for some more family friends to come meet us: Campbell and Eleanor (who only came for dessert), and their daughter, Karen. I first met Karen when she had a baby daughter, Holly, who is now almost 15. I definitely feel old. Campbell and Eleanor are two of the kindest, most generous and genuine people I've ever had the privilege to know. One year, I think it was the year 2000, when we were in Ireland, my dad's mother fell into a coma and died a few days later. C & E helped my parents get back home on short notice so they could be with her before she passed. Just one example of their big hearts.

We finished dinner around 10:30, and I had three options for photos: terrible on-camera flash, blurry exposure, or underexposure. I chose to go dark, so we'll see how they turn out. I was so thankful to Helen for arranging this evening. These are more people you can just pick up with where you left off, after a few minutes of getting back on the same page. And my house-made veggie burger had brie and mushrooms on it, so it was awesome. Sad update: I left my leftovers at the Hallidays' house.

Louise with Helen's baby, Brett.

Abby, Eleanor, Brett, Campbell, Chelsea.

Karen, Chelsea, Helen.