Off to Northern Ireland

After a long flight from LAX to Amsterdam, we went on a wee flight from there to Dublin where we rented a very wee car and made the 2 and a half hour drive up the motorway to Belfast. Fortunately we didn’t have to negotiate any complicated windy, narrow roads between the two major cities because I was quite tired and couldn’t be bothered with dodging sheep. The drive actually went by fairly quickly, and we were able to find parking on the street by our hotel without too much incident. Belfast is a very industrial looking city and brick is the building material of choice. Our hotel room features of close-up view of it as well. After taking an hour nap, we walked to a nearby pub called Darcy’s. I had the pub staple of fish-and-chips and tried a red ale that was named after a local dog. It had an interesting flavor — something like red wine combined with cider. It was not the best red ale I’ve had in my life. The meal was quite good, though. And one thing Nicole and I have noticed about Ireland so far is the food’s ability to retain heat. 20 mins into our meal, we were still burning the roofs of our mouths. It was uncanny. Anyway, that was about as exciting as our day was going to be after a long day and a half of straight traveling. Tomorrow we drive further up the coast in Northern Ireland.