March 16, 2007: First Day in Belfast

Dr. Goth:
So yes, here we are in Belfast, Ireland. We were the first two people off the plane due to our seat location. Man, I’ve NEVER done that before! Fabulous. We walked down the stairs into the Irish air, a wee bit cold by the way. We found our way through customs, got our passports stamped for entrance to the country, walked down to the baggage area, and waited for a bit for our bags to arrive. There was a nice lady standing near us having a conversation w/Ms. Kitty about how annoying the Brits are by saying that everything is “brilliant!” It was a rather humorous conversation. Finally, our bags roll out, and we head off to find a taxi. Ms. Kitty had looked online to find out the different means of travel to our hotel, but by the time we got there we decided that we were too tired to take a bus, so we took a taxi. Our driver was quite nice, he welcomed us to Ireland, tossed our bags in his car and drove away quickly with us snuggly in the back seat. Our ride to the hotel was about 30 minutes. The Belfast International airport is a wee bit out of town, so we got to see a little of the countryside on our journey. The area was beautiful, small homes, large companies, amazing fields of view. Then, as we were coming down the hill to Belfast, we could see the water, and the sun was just then rising above the city. This was getting WAY cool! I tried to take a photo, but the car was moving so fast that nothing transpired, sorry guys. Besides, no photo could have done justice to the sight before our eyes. We got off the highway, and found our way to the hotel. On the way we passed the two giant ship building cranes, Samson and Goliath, which built the Titanic. We would later find out that the city of Belfast is planning on building a full-scale model of the Titanic for tourism. Cool, can’t wait to go back and see that!

Finally, we arrived at our hotel, the Holiday Inn Belfast. Mind you, the Holiday Inns in Europe are NOTHING like those in the US, these actually are clean and nice. We had a rather uneventful check in and headed to our room. It was quite nice, with wooden blackout blinds covering the windows, a nice shower, large closet area and expensive sodas in the mini fridge (no, we didn’t buy the $4 sodas). We called down to get some linens for the pull out bed, which took a wee bit longer than we liked, but eventually it got done. Then, of course we decided the best thing we should do at 8 am in Belfast is to take a freaken nap! We were both just so exhausted. So the blinds got closed, the blankets turned down and we headed off to dreamland for a bit. Ahhh, rest.

Of course, in a few short hours we had to be back up. Ms. Kitty had to go off to do some lawyering stuff since this really was partly a business trip for her, and I had the immense responsibility to find the Welcome Center, a good coffee shop and a place for lunch tomorrow. So after I pulled myself together, and Ms. Kitty had gone, I grabbed my backpack, my leather jacket and my Lonely Planet guidebook and headed into the streets of Belfast solo. I found the Welcome Center rather easily and it was one of THE best one’s I’ve ever been in. It had tons of maps, walking tour maps, post cards (for those of you who got one, it was from here) other souvenirs AND an internet room! Of course the best part, it was only 1Pound for 15 minutes, which quite frankly is a good deal. I promptly paid my Pound, found a terminal and began checking my email like the computer junkie I am!!! I emailed Dr. Bellydancer, Goddess of Michigan, Mr. Fabulous, Ms. SuperCoolRoommate to let them all know I had arrived safely and all was well. And then I deleted all the junk mail piled up (72 messages since I had left!). After that was all done, I found some nice postcards for folks and then I wandered back out into the streets to look about. I found a marvelous little coffee and muffin shop, where the coffee was REALLY good (in your face Starbuck’s!) and the muffins were quite tasty. As I sat eating my delicious snack and drinking my spectacular coffee, I wrote out my post cards. I’m sure I missed a few folks, I really am sorry! I try my best to remember everyone, take their addresses with me and all that, but sometimes I don’t remember them all. Heck, I even forgot to bring Dr. Bellydancer’s new address! So, after that bit of relaxation, I walked a bit more around the streets, past City Hall, near the Europa Hotel (most bombed hotel in Europe that is still standing), I realized that I was shivering and freezing cold. Ireland in winter really isn’t the best vacation spot. I was also getting rather damp, as the rain is a continuous mist with a bit of drops from time to time. So I headed back to the hotel to dry off and warm up. The streets were rather calm, no clashes or anything. I guess folks decided that making money off tourists was better than fighting. Nice. Back at the hotel, I passed the next hour warming up by drinking the complementary Cadbury drinking chocolate (Yum!) and waiting for Ms. Kitty to get back. I managed to collect info for a possible day trip on Sunday, walking tours of the Titanic, St. Patrick’s Day parade and other stuff. I was told the St. Patrick’s Day parade would not be as grand as the one in NYC (I saw that one about 2 years ago, really cool!), but it will be pretty nice. Funny that the US St. Patrick’s Day parade is thought to be better than the Irish one, at least here in Belfast. I’ll let you know, I have two camera’s with me so I’m sure I’ll get some decent pictures. Yay!

Ms. Kitty finally arrives, and we prepare to go to dinner with a ton of lawyers. A rather frightening thought actually, but I will survive, I’m sure. We get directions to the restaurant, a Spanish tapas place (why not Irish…. I’ll tell you that later!), and head out in, yes, the rain. We do eventually find the place after taking a wrong turn on the right street, and people are all around. I met some nice folks from Wales, France, Ireland, England and the US. Most folks stared at me with the deer in the headlights look when I told them what I do for a living. Not like I’m not used to that by now. Needless to say a few actually wanted to know more, or talk about US politics or advice as to where to visit in the US. My advice, skip the center of the country, the coasts are way better (I’m a marine scientist so I’m biased!). The dinner was quite good and they managed to have lots of veggie options with the mass amounts of red wine that I consumed. I wasn’t “hug happy” but I was pretty happy. Once dinner was over, we headed over to a bar, and by headed I mean we literally walked like 500 feet to the bar across the sidewalk. It was pretty cool, here I bought my first Guinness in Ireland! Yay! Ms. Kitty and I rather enjoyed the drinks. Before we left, I did have a chance to use the ladies room, where I had the odd encounter with one of the French male lawyers coming OUT of the ladies room. I pointed to the ladies sign, he didn’t seem to care. I heard the women inside laughing at him, apparently he was primping in front of the mirror for a while, while the women were staring at him. Yes, he was from France.

And of course, the night is not over. After a few drinks we walk a bit down the street to the dance club, called Ollie’s. I have another drink. Now its 11:00 pm Ireland time, here I’m in a dark, gothic-looking club with red velvet walls and black velvet chairs, low lights with candles on the tables and a separate dance floor area. This SHOULD be a good club by all rights, yet the bastards are playing the wrong music, really crappy music. What a shame. Of course I’m not even dressed right, I’m in jeans and a black sweater with a black leather jacket and black leather lace up shoes. No heels, no little skirt to flip about in. Damn. I would have loved to scare these folks with some cool attire. But of course, what fun would that be without the crew of Ms. SuperCoolRoommate, Mr. Fabulous, and Ms & Mr. Puddles? (Oh goddess, too drunk to come up with better names!) By the way, no one is even f*cking dancing! I don’t blame them, I mean really, who wants to dance to Beyonce and Justin Timberlake? Kinda scary that they are all crazy for this music here. Hello? You want good music, spin some Depeche Mode, Cruxshadows or The Cure! And the few who are dancing look like “crappy white men dancers” out there. Sad really, you’d think the Europeans could dance, sigh. But what do I do? Sit and drink another Guinness, what else!

Now we’re back at the hotel room. I had to take yet another shower to get rid of the horrible smell of cigarettes all in my hair and clothes! All over me! ICK! I forgot how smoking in Europe is so common. Yet I was told tonight by a young Welshman that as of June, bans on smoking go into effect all over Europe! Yay, I’ll come back then. So, then, we left the club around 1:15 am, yes folks, I said 1:15 am, I actually stayed awake that long. On our way walking back I started shaking cold, very horribly. It sometimes happens, I get too cold too quickly. So after trying to track down a taxi, which isn’t nearly that easy here, we found one for hire that would take us back to the hotel. I was so cold by this point that my teeth were chattering, but luckily Ms. Kitty was taking good care of me and got me back to the hotel to warm up. The taxi driver said he liked to talk to the “Yanks,” as he called us. I hadn’t heard that term since my Grampa told me about his travels in Europe. He asked if any of us had any Irish blood, I was the only one, he asked where. Doh! Too drunk to think, I just say “Galway” since I can’t remember if it’s Galway, or Cork right now. I told him I was third generation US American and that for some reason my family left this beautiful island. He replied, “I wish my family had left.” I wasn’t expecting that kind of comment. He had said it without joking. I would have like to talk to him more, but alas our ride was over and we were at the hotel. Funny, in fact all night I had been mistaken for an Irish-born girl. The accent comes too easy for me. I feel as though I’m insulting them, but I don’t realize I’ve said it with the lilt until it’s already out of my mouth. For all those in Belfast who thought I was mocking them, I’m sorry. I apologize, I really wasn’t. Okay, now to bed, tomorrow is St. Patrick’s Day and it should be quite a memory, yes, quite!

March 15, 2007: From Here to There

Dr. Goth:
So, the adventure begins. I’m at the train station in Wilmington, Delaware, waiting for my train to Philadelphia to meet up with Ms. Kitty then continue up to Newark, NJ airport. This morning I watched a fabulous friend defend her Master’s Degree successfully. You go girl! I only got a little bit of sleep last night because my pup wasn’t feeling so well. He gets nervous when he sees the suitcase come out. He woke me at 3:30 and 5:30 to go outside. I had to give him some pepto to calm his tummy, poor baby. He also crawled into my suitcase this morning while I was getting ready to leave, as if I should pack him too! He wasn’t feeling well the last two nights, exactly when I pulled the suitcase out of the closet. I guess I was torturing him without knowing it, I hope he’ll calm down while I’m gone. Of course, I’m only home two days when I get home from Ireland, off again for the weekend to a friends wedding. Busy busy.

I just saw a sign in the train station that states that this station has been here from 1907 – 2007, wow, it kinda looks it too. Old metal beams, tile floors, musty smell. There is also an interesting mix of people in here. There is a group of youngish people, looks like they’re sending off one or two friends on the train. A police officer with his dog, the dog however seems more interested in being pet by the officer than checking out the people. Such a cute doggie, I know I know, he’s working, blah blah. Whatever, the dog is cute. There is a couple sitting in front of me, older and nicely dressed. She just put on some new nylon knee-hi stockings, her other ones were torn near the ankle. There are a group of punkish looking kids too, sitting just near me. I can hear their whole conversation. They are debating the issue of parents giving expensive items to their children. One insists that parents of means should not spoil their children (right on sister!) and the other is of the opinion that if you have it “why not?” It’s a pretty well thought out conversation, I’m impressed. However, I am a bit disturbed by the fact that the music in the train station is from “Shindler’s List,” really this should never be played in a train station.

Finally, my train is coming. I go up the escalator to the platform and wait for it to arrive and board the train. I find a nice comfy spot, near the café car. Just as we begin to pull away, Ms. Kitty calls to see where I am, I’ll be seeing her in ~20 minutes at 30th Street Station in Philadelphia. The ride is quiet and I watch the cars on the highway running parallel to the train, they seem much slower from this vantage point. Soon, we’re arriving at the station. There are a LOT of people waiting for the train, I’ve saved Ms. Kitty a seat beside me, but in front of me a man sits and immediately begins talking to me. Ms. Kitty finds me and we begin our train ride to NJ. The very gay, strange, verbose man never ceases to talk to us. At one point he’s handing over his business card to her. He finally left one stop before ours. Talk talk talk, that’s all that man did. He seemed nice enough, but really, how can one talk that much? And about so much stuff! You name it, he talked about it. So finally, we get rid of Mr. Gay Chatterbox and we arrive at the Newark, NJ International airport. We are four hours early since we didn’t trust the trains being on time, but they were. We found our way to the ticket counter only to be ushered down the hall to another ticket counter. Which was just fine, since it went much faster. Then through the security lines, disrobing everything except the undies (hell, it feels that way!).

Next on our agenda, to find a girl’s priority: Alcohol and Food. Oh yes, you would think it would be shoes and shiny things, but remember without food and alcohol (beer for Dr. Goth and wine for Ms. Kitty) a girl just can’t shop well. Thus we found the Sam Adams Brew Pub. I order THE only non-meat item on the menu and a Guinness. Poor Ms. Kitty goes to place the order and has to deal with the psycho counter lady. When finally she returns, the Guinness tastes “off” and I’m frankly not caring since I’m starving at this point. At least I’ll get a decent one in Ireland. We sat at a table with some guys at the bar, all waiting to go home to Charlotte, NC, but their flight has been delayed over 3 hours! Nice guys, but a bit poor on conversation. I really don’t care since I’m shoveling a mozzarella panini in my mouth so fast all I can do is nod. Ms. Kitty is much more civil, eating as a normal human would. Well, at least one of us isn’t gonna starve any longer! Once all this is done, we bid adieu to the stranded passengers and go look about the terminal. Heck, we got here 4 hours early, so we go see what else is around. We walk down to the next terminal wing only to find a plethora of food we would have rather eaten, like SUSHI!!! Damn. As we are walking, we also sniff out the Ben & Jerry’s store. Yes, I wanted some ice cream too. So we stood in line for what seemed like an eternity for some. There was only one woman working there, so we cut her some slack for the delay, especially since it was a few customers being excessively picky causing the delays. Me? I got a plain strawberry ice cream and Ms. Kitty got a banana rum ice cream. Both were quite tasty while we slowly walked back towards our gate. Now, before those of you who know me yell at me for eating real ice cream, mind you it was a single small scoop in a cup and damn it, I’m on vacation!!!! Really. So we walked around a bit more, I called Dr. Bellydancer, the Goddess of Michigan and texted Mr. Fabulous, to say we were getting ready to leave. Ms. Kitty called her Mom and cousin as she painted her nails a super sexy brick red. Since our seats were in the very first row of the coach section (did you really think it would be first class?), we had to wait til the end to board. Of course, while we waited Ms. Kitty tripped over some lady’s suitcase while staring at a cute guy, ya goof! So finally we got on board, got settled, got blankets, and waited for take off. Luckily the flight wasn’t too bad. No big bumps, and they remembered my veggie meal. So off to sleep for the ride over the pond, resting my head on my pillow propped up on Ms. Kitty’s shoulder (I had a center seat, she had window). When I wake up we’ll be much closer to Ireland, so sweet dreams, this will be a wonderful adventure. Yes, quite.