Thursday, June 11, 2009

When Irish Eyes Are Smiling...


The intrepid travelers on a walking bridge over the River Clyde.

The River Clyde.

Before we departed Glasgow, we had to see the River Clyde, as my dad lived on the Clyde River on the south shore of NS, so we wandered down and took a couple of pictures. Then we ventured back to Adelaides and packed our suitcases and headed off to Central Station to catch the train to Stranraer. From there we would catch the ferry over to Ireland. The trip southwest was beautiful through Scotland and our last glimpses were of those sweet black faced sheep, a golf course and just a lot of great pastoral scenery. 

Near Prestwick, there were numerous golf courses strung out between the railway and the sea. The roughs really looked rough.

Near Ayr, Robbie Burns country, the rolling hills were replete with wee black-faced sheep.

We arrived in Stranraer and the ferry wasn't leaving for about a 1/2 hour. There was a sign posted saying the sea crossing was moderate and not sure what that really meant, I was wondering if I should have purchased some gravol. It was fine until we got out on the open water and they put the engines on full, but I found as long as I didn't look out at the water that was quite wavy I was okay. We landed about a 1/2 hour ahead of schedule and decided that a taxi would be the quickest, easiest (although not the cheapest) way to get to our lodging. We arrived at Tara Lodge which is about 5 minutes from Queen's University and the whole street has apartments to let. It seems to be a fairly quiet place and they have done a lot of renovations to upgrade it. We headed out on foot to find a place to eat and ended up at a place called Benedict's - they have a 'beat the clock' deal - between 5:30 and 7 pm the time you order is what you pay for your meal. From there we headed toward City Hall and the downtown shopping areas.  

The wake of our ship with a glimpse of Northern Ireland to the left.

Belfast City Hall.

The Albert Memorial Clock, Belfast's leaning tower.

And finally, a street preacher in the shopping district explaining the faith (and he had an attentive audience).

Barb, I will hopefully have a lot more pictures over the next couple of days to post.

2 comments:

  1. Hi Laurel & Andrew, I now start to shiver with excitement. You have arrived in my dream destination and yes, envy is creeping into my soul. I can't wait for more pictures. Please, please, please enjoy yourselves and stay safe!

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  2. You're in the last stage of your trip. Are you ready to come home yet???haha. I am ready for you to:) Enjoy this last bit of time together!

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