DUO-BLOG

Hello,

Today we are doing something special here at Digging For Guinness/ Nicole's Kitchen. We are duo-blogging.

Ok...so I get the first paragraph(nicole writing). We took the bus at 7:30 this morning from Ballinasloe and caught the bus to Belfast. It took about 5 hours and we rolled in around 1:00pm. Luke was cranky on the bus saying he was really tired and that the bus was WAY too hot. I thought it was way too hot too but only admitted that it was a tad warm. We arrived in Belfast and as soon as we were out of the bus terminal the Europa hotel was on our left, the Opera House a little further and the Crown Saloon right in front of our eyes!

Well, there's a bit of a backstory to those places...(Luke typing) The big Opera House down the way was a posh old establishment, and the Crown Saloon was put up across the street and decorated in such a manner to attract the patrons of the Opera House after shows. It looks extremely decorated, and apparently there used to be buttons in the booths to ring for service. We're going there tonight. The Europa hotel, across the street, is the most bombed hotel in Europe. Its quite nice looking, however. Its odd, really, the street that these were on really reminded me in some funny way of First Avenue by Midtown Plaza in Saskatoon.... Very strange.

Well anyway..if you are still awake after that we came to our hostel. Leslie, Anita, Luke and I are sharing a room and Jose and Gustavo have their own. Jose and Gustavo are very funny guys from Spain and are obssessed with Napoleon Dynamite and Ligers. Anita, our roomate, is completely in love with Gustavo but we don't think Gustavo is really into it. She had her head cranked back so far on the bus today that it looked almost painful but we are sure she didn't feel a thing, hanging on to his every word. I, on the other hand, was telling Luke to stop whining...oh what 6 months can do. In Belfast, Luke and I walked down to the water side and we saw the most amazing statue..which I will try and find out more about.

So, blah blah blah,(Luke again), we split up after checking in to the hostel (where we met a guy from lethbridge) and wandered around Belfast. We wanted to catch a tour of the famous murals relating to the Troubles, but were a bit too late, so maybe tomorrow. Nicole and I made it to a Chinese restaraunt for some chow (no racial pun intended) and, after a little tiff ("you're so irritating, blah blah blah"), managed to pull things back together and enjoy the rest of the evening. We met Anita and Leslie at an Indian restaurant. I decided I have to get into Indian food, it's just so rich and creamy!!!

That's fo sho (no pun intended as well). All is well now and we are back on the fun train!

Anyway, Belfast is a beautiful town, oddly surrounded by high brown hills like southern Alberta near the rockies. I can't say how different the atmosphere is than I expected.

It's really fresh and young here. Luke and I were remarking how many teenagers there are EVERYWHERE!! All dressed as rockers and punks. We felt a little old and we are so young.

Well, that's all folks. All is well in Belfast, and we're going to see the Giants' Causeway and the Bushmills' Distillery tommorrow morning (up at 7:00!!! Have to get to the bar soon if we want to make it!).

Hope all is well there too!

Luke and Nicole