I really should be doing a Russian translation right now ...

Categories: places

Date: 29 January 2006 22:19:55

... but uploading photos from my weekend in Belfast is so much more fun!

I've just had the best weekend. One of my closest friends from London moved to Belfast a couple of months after I moved to Glasgow, and this is the first time we've got together since I moved up here in September. It was also my first ever time in Ireland, and I thought it was just lovely. After a ridiculously short flight (we didn't have to cruise at altitude, it was just 10 minutes going up and then 10 minutes coming back down again!) we caught our breath, dumped my stuff in her house and then headed off to a local hotel bar to catch up over some wine. Yesterday we took a drive up north along the Antrim coast road, aiming for the wonderful, world famous World Heritage Site, Giant's Causeway. It was amazing to me that all along that coast you could see Scotland really close - one thing we were really blessed with all weekend was fantastic weather, not warm but bright and sunny, it was wonderful and meant that we had great views. At its closest point Scotland is only about 20 miles away. The Causeway itself is really impressive, though as it was starting to get a bit late in the afternoon and was so bright my photos haven't come out as well as they might have done. We clambered all over it, though I have to say that whilst my friend was bounding gazelle-like across the rocks, the animal I most closely resembled was a hippopotamus - this outdoor business really doesn't come that naturally to me, much as I'd like it to! Afterwards we had a late lunch in Portrush before heading back home and then out again to Nick's Warehouse to eat, planning on going to a couple of bars afterwards. We were, however, entirely defeated by the copious amounts of alcohol and - particularly in my case - the most humungous and absolutely stunning chocolate pudding ever, and were so full (not to mention very merry) that we decided to get a cab home again at the stunningly late time of 9 o'clock! We really know how to live! Our cab driver (a mad Derby fan who was lamenting his team's loss to Colchester in the FA Cup earlier in the day but looking forward to meeting some "Derby slappers" in a couple of weeks when he goes over to catch some football) was hilarious and had us crying with laughter all the way home. Once back we got into our PJs, flopped onto the sofas and watched "Friends" (4 episodes!) - perhaps not the most hip and happening way to spend an evening in a city that's definitely on the up, but it was perfect for us.

This morning we met one of S's friends for brunch in a seafront cafe before returning having a wander round the Stormont estate (S lives a short walk from Stormont, which is the home of the Northern Ireland Assembly when it meets, although as the Peace Process has somewhat stalled the Assembly members haven't actually met there for a couple of years now). The grounds were lovely, although the drive up to Stormont is deceptively long - just as well after last night's pudding, we really needed to do something to work it off! We did manage to get shouted at by a scary loudspeaker when we explored a bit too close to the side of the main building, but other than that it was a leisurely stroll round the estate before returning home again for a late lunch and the rest of the afternoon putting the world to rights again. Just like old times.

Here are some of my pics. The first one is along the Antrim coast road, and you can see Scotland in the background:

This one is further along the coast road, and Scotland is in the background again:

These are a couple of signs which made us laugh (especially the second one) and think "Only in Ireland ...":

This is one of my pics of Giant's Causeway, which really reminds me of those pictures the satellite sent back from Titan (one of Saturn's moons) last year:

And finally this is me at Stormont (the sky really was that colour):

When can I go back?