Under a Belfast Sky

Author: MissRoseDarrensAngel
Date of Trip: April 2006

**April 28 ** Belfast (Bel Feirste), Northern Ireland
I had an early morning flight into Belfast from London. I met up with one of my best friends at the airport & we sorted out a taxi to the Belfast Hilton from the airport. We checked in to the hotel and rested for a bit before heading into town. We each had a “fry” for breakfast – its an egg with a slice of toasted soda bread, fried potato, mushrooms, tomato, bacon, and sausages. Then we got into the city center to the shops for shopping, an internet cafe, and the Belfast welcome center. I also seen the famous Crown bar (it was opened in 1849), City Hall, The Europa (and my best friend said that hotel has been bombed many times in the past) plus we walked a lot through different parts of the city before heading back to the hotel.

Then we went back in the city for a bit more shopping again and got some junk food and some drinks at Tescos. We had dinner at the Hilton then back to the room for junk food & drinks and listening to music & talking & relaxing long into the night. My recommendation for a place to stay – The Hilton Belfast – Outstanding service & 5 stars.

**Day 6 ** Belfast (Bel Feirste), Northern Ireland
After a nice lie – in till 10 am, my best friend & I got some breakfast at Subway then went to the internet cafe then a walk over to the Falls area (a Catholic area) of West Belfast. I seen many of the artistic murals depicting things mainly with the troubles, etc in the area, and other things plus the Garden of Remembrance to honor IRA Volunteers and Civilians killed in the troubles. Many of the signs and stuff in the area are in both English & Irish Gaelic too. We went back to the Hilton and got a taxi to the Odyssey & W5 as I wanted to see a Titanic exhibit there. The exhibit was very fascinating as it focused mainly on the Belfast contributions to the Titanic plus there were actual artifacts in display cases from the ship plus from those connected to the Titanic in some way. Pete also pointed out some areas where the Titanic was actually built too.

We then went back to the city centre for a bite to eat and more shopping (yes I love to shop) then back to the hotel. Later on, we decided to go out to the Globe (bar/club/pub). We got a taxi to take us there I was quite surprised to find out that mixed drinks are stronger here than in the states and also that they put the ice & liquor in your glass & hand you the coke to pour in yourself!! We left the bar around 12:30 am (closing time at 1am) then went to a pizza shop for a late night dinner. We had a lot of problems trying to find a taxi, and I couldn’t believe the amount of intoxicated people out plus seen enough police out as well too. We made it to a taxi place, and then after finding out how long we had to wait our turn among more partly drunk people to get a taxi back to the hotel, we walked back together to the hotel. My feet certainly were in pain at that point. Eeek, oh well. I was so relieved to get to the hotel and take off those shoes as they aren’t designed for long walks like that!!!

**Day 7 ** Belfast (Bel Feirste), Northern Ireland
After a bit of a lie-in, my best friend and I went around the Waterfront area a bit to see a few things in that general vicinity and also in front of city hall too before return back to the hotel to pack and check out then a few hours later to go to City Airport (5 minute taxi ride from the Hilton) to return to London for my return flight to the United States.