Our (Michelle and I)'s first stop on our travel adventure was Glasgow to drop off some of our belongings, pack properly, and go with Lael (Michelle's California friend who's studying there) on to Belfast the next day.
Being the organized people that we are, Michelle and I did a very neat and tidy job of packing.
We took a plane from Glasgow airport to Belfast, Ireland and arrived with it being fairly decently sunny (for the UK anyway). We met up with another of Michelle's California friends (they're all over the place here!) and ate Indian food, checked into our hostel, and wandered aimlessly around Belfast for a while. I've decided I really love just walking around a place with no real intention to get anywhere just because then you never know what you're going to find.
(The Crown Bar which keeps its architecture inside and out historically accurate. I've decided that the 1800s was a cramped and dingy time period!):
We met some great people at our hostel who were from everywhere (Germany, Australia, South Africa, England... even Wisconsin!). I learned how to say a few new things in a few new languages and taught everyone how to ask 'Where are my pants?' in Japanese. As for the usefulness of that phrase, I'm not so sure.
Also, fun fact: Belfast is historically known for ship building and it was here where the Titanic was actually built. (Great job guys.) There were lots of Titanic tours offered in Belfast, but it seemed like a strange thing for a city to brag about!
While in Belfast, we had an afternoon where we explored some of the hills surrounding the city. We explored a cute little castle that we quickly named 'Cat Castle' because of all the cat statues, mosaics, shrubs, etc. that decorated the castle grounds. It really reminded me of a petite, fairy tale castle, especially due to the pink-ness of it and the curvy stone staircase in the back.
We continued on our hike up into the hills and found a cave to climb up to, though only Michelle managed to successfully get inside.
The view was spectacular either way. It seems like wherever we go we manage to find fantastic places to look out over the city.
Later in the day, we got a little lost trying to find our way to a long stretch of city murals that reflect Belfast (and Northern Ireland)'s turbulent history. Luckily, someone saw our struggles and called a taxi to take us there. The taxi driver told us a little bit about how Belfast is still in many ways divided down Protestant and Catholic lines. We drove past a wall that is meant to separate the two sides, which felt really eerie to me but also made me realize how little I know of Irish history (and country histories that aren't the US or Japan) in general.
A couple of the murals we saw:
After we had our fill of Belfast, it was back to Glasgow for a brief pit stop where we said good bye to Lael and then on to Paris, France!
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