Remember Belfast?

We went to Belfast on the 13th of April to the 15th. It was the first time that either of us (Katie or me) had ever been to Ireland, so we were both flying by the set of our pants. This turned out to be somewhat of a shame, considering if we had booked things in advance, they would have been cheaper.... But I am jumping ahead of myself.

They first day was as I said in my other posting about Belfast (Kiss me, I'm Irish...). That night we did dress up and go out. We had a hard time finding a pub that was not either really full or just had older people in it, but once we found a pub that was lively, we stayed. It was fun. We met some siblings (2 brothers and a sister) who were out with all of their friends. They welcomed us into their group and we had a fun time trying to figure out what they were saying :) I don't mean that in a mean way, it was just that their accents were very strong and the music was very loud. Katie and I kept on looking at each other for translation, or asking them to repeat. Once I think I asked a guy to spell the word he was saying. It was all very funny.
The next day I had hoped to go out into the country, but we realized too late that any transport into the country would be very expensive. If we had booked the bus at least, a week earlier, we could have done it easy! But we had not thought of it, so we were stuck in the city. I am not really complaining though. We found ways of occupying ourselves.
That night we went to another, apparently famous bar, for their live music. It was SOO amazing! There were three older men. they each played so many different instruments (not at the same time) that I cant remember which one was which. I was so sad to not get a CD they were THAT good. And then there were people dancing traditional Irish dancing, which just made it ALL the better. The only annoying part was that there were these women who would gather at the entrance and beg. And not just like, sitting there with a cup, but they would come and push you and try to convince you that you really had money to spare. I was so afraid that they would gang up and pull out my pockets! But they didn't and when there were more men around they would bug them more than us girls. It was very funny, since at one point some of them had fake flowers that they would "sell" you, and this guy bought one to give to me! It was very flattering. I just felt bad for the guy though, since after he bought one the lady kept on saying that he should buy me another one! So that was a fun souvenir: a fake flower.
The next day we again wandered the city until our flight. It was not very long, so we went to a cafe and enjoyed listening to all the people talking around us. I really did love hearing the Irish accent for real. I mean, you can hear it in movies and such, yet its so much more obvious when the people are not speak a script, but just having a common conversation in their local cafe :) I loved it.
That was about it! I would highly suggest going to Ireland... but I would also suggest planning a bit more ahead than Katie and I :)




Academical .... that just didn't sound right to Katie and I, so I had to take a picture :)A big fish? I don't know, it was next to the river.

This is the live band that we saw... though you cant see them very well