Patrick's been keeping track of our steps each day, and we have walked over 78 miles since we landed in Dublin on May 4th. Miraculously our feet are doing well. 😀
We had one glitch in our plans today. We forgot how far we are from the Edinburgh Airport and bought tickets for the 11am flight back to Belfast, Northern Ireland, which meant we had to get up at 5:30am to catch the 6:45 bus to the train station. Since the sun comes up so early, I woke up at 4:30am and tried to rest until I had to get up. Last night was the first time I worried about our connections. Everything had to go well or we have to stay in Edinburgh for the night. Hmmmm. would that really be a problem? Fortunately, our flight was delayed by 30 minutes giving us extra time to find our gate at the Edinburgh Airport, and instead of getting there with seconds to spare, we were waiting for the plane to arrive at the gate.
I'll start with a Scottish bee. I think he's wearing a white kilt.
Below are photos of Edinburgh. Still can't get over how different it is from anywhere I've ever been.
The Old Waverly Hotel. It's very swanky. The train station is underneath it. Out front, we saw several Scottish chauffeurs wearing full Scottish outfits aka: "the full dress sporran." Yeah, gotta google that one.
All pictures below are in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.
Irish Stew for me. Steak for Patrick at Brennan's Bar across the street from the Europa Hotel, the most bombed building in Europe (worth repeating).
Above is The Crown Bar, the oldest bar in Belfast. This group outside saw me taking a photo, so they cheered and waved at us. 😀
Had to do the tourist thing and have a shot of Jameson at The Crown Bar.
The photo above is hilarious. I was taking a picture of the sunset and one of the boys below yelled up to us, "Hey you English!" and then the boy in the middle pulled his pants down, underwear still on, to moon us. 😀
Our Airbnb, a "rare find," is above this childcare center and within walking distance to everything we need, including the train station to Dublin two days from now. Our window is on the far left above the car. It faces a small athletic field. Our unit is a small apartment with 3 rooms. A large bedroom, large kitchen, and living room. I think it's bigger than our condo. I was so ready for a large space to unpack, repack, and stretch out. Patrick could start his own travel agency. He's a natural.
We have one full day in Belfast tomorrow to visit Queens University, the Botanical Gardens and anywhere else we want to walk to. Yes, we've been drinking a lot, but we've never had too much. Not a single hangover or challenging day after. Just a nice even pace while on vacation. Only 3 more nights in Ireland. We'll continue to enjoy every minute.
