Ireland Part II - The North

Our bus from Dublin to Belfast was delayed by an hour and shortly after the bus departing it hit a parked van. The ride was comfortable and scenic. Mark met Mere and I at the bus station/mall and he took us for a short walk around Belfast. We saw the most bombed hotel in Europe, and then went to Tesco. That evening we grabbed some food and then went to Bangor and wandered around and looked at the tall ships and watched the sunset... at 11:30pm. That night we stayed at Marks place because Mark's mom and sister were kind enough to give Meredith and I a place to sleep. The next morning we took the bus tour of Belfast where we learned about the invention of air conditioning and saw where the titanic was built. We also rode through the protestant and catholic neighborhoods and heard about just how bad things got during the troubles. We then grabbed a quick lunch in the largest thatched roofed restaurant in Europe or something like that, it was tasty. The rest of my day sucked, and Mark and Meredith are truly saints for helping me. I am very thankful to have them as friends. That evening we watched some TV and I called it an early night. The next morning we went to Carrick Fergus castle and looked at stuff. Before leaving to head back to Dublin we made a last stop in at Tesco and bought a box of Mr. Brain's Pork Faggots, Ambrosia creamed custard, and a tin of Spotted Dick. I also made sure that Mark brought back his Tesco uniform for Andy to try on.