Belfast Bound

4 am - up and at em, the cab was waiting downstairs. Took the train to the airport and waited for our flight. Bacon, egg and sausage sarnie (a staple of our diet now) for breakfast. We were getting a bit nervous at this point because it's now 15 minutes before we were supposed to leave and they hadn't even announced a gate yet. We walked over to the customer service booth and stood in queue. Surprise... the only agent walked away with the guy in front of us. While trying to figure out what to do next, the gate popped up on the board. Maybe the customer service lady went out to get the plane and brought it to the gate...I don't know. Short flight and we're in Belfast. Checked in to Benedicts of Belfast early. They were very accommodating and got our room ready. I would recommend that hotel to anyone wanting to stay in Belfast. We headed to city center and bought 2 tickets on the double-decker bus tour. Belfast is a very interesting city. Our tour guide pointed out all the interesting sites where the "troubles" took place...the peace wall. the murals, the gun fights and the bombing locations. Things are a bit calmer now-a-days, but you can tell it's certainly not forgotten. Tour complete, we headed for the Crown Bar, one of the oldest in Belfast and across the street from the Europa, the most bombed building. Had a pint there and headed back towards the hotel. Laverys was across the street, so we stopped in for a late lunch and a pint( here we go again). Back to the hotel for a shower and change to meet Lisa and Jeff for dinner. Took the bus to Hillsborough and found the Plough. Jeff and Lisa were working the next day, so we were planning on an early night and the 10:00 bus - the last one back. Yeah, right! After a great dinner and craic ,we took a bit of time to walk around and see one of the old Tissington residences and then the cabs showed up. Lisa persuaded our cabbie to take us around to the other residence before leaving for Belfast. Somewhere around half 12 we made it back to the hotel only to find crowds of young people all dolled up waiting to get into the "club" part of our hotel. 12:30 am on a Tuesday and Belfast was hopping. Too tired to go on, we decided to call it a night. We were going since 4 am after all. Up the next morning, had a full Irish brekkie, checked out and headed for the airport and our rental car. Had a 3 or so hour drive ahead, all the while trying not to kill anyone while driving on the other side of the road.