Day 26: Saturday November 5th, 2011
The best part of the hostel, aside from the people I shared it with, were the free breakfasts. Free breakfast in EVERY hostel means bread, jam, butter, coffee, tea and watered down juice. It works, but God does it get boring. Lagan Backpackers, however, has a menu of legitimate breakfasts. So I had the English breakfast (you guys should know what that entails by now). While scarfing it down, I met Turner, a guy from Santa Cruz who studies in London. I’d see him Sunday.
That day, instead of going on the Giant’s Causeway through the hostel that Paul and Mary Anne had, I went on a Paddy Wagon tour. Let’s just say it’s no MacBackpackers. It’s corporate and the driver stunk. He basically repeated the itinerary over and over, and said when we had to be back on the bus seventeen times and only told us about three tidbits about Belfast. I would joke about when we were supposed to be back on the bus, but I think people thought I was just fucking stupid. Richard, this guy was not. Though he was nice, so I shouldn’t be too mean.
Immediately when getting off the bus, I made two friends. Hannah, a Korean who studied at Cambridge (dayum girl) and Kelsey, a Jersey girl who was studying in France through Northeastern out of Boston (she was in Paris but now studies in Reims, near the Champagne region; I must visit!). They became photo partners and my friends for the day.
First up we stopped at the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge, famed for wedding proposals and tourists. The bridge itself is pretty lame. Even someone slightly afraid of heights could tell the rope was completely secure and it was only like 20 meters. You had to pay extra to cross it, and of course, what else are you going to do? The crossing was meh and we got yelled at for taking pictures while on it, but the vistas that the bridge and the land beyond provided proved worth it, showing a glimpse into the beautiful landscapes and views of the sea Ireland had to offer. After coming from Scotland, I didn’t expect to be impressed so quickly, but I was. Ireland’s no slouch either.
I got a hot soda farl with sausage at the cafe by the rope bridge because the lunch stopping point was overpriced. Great move. A soda farl is basically sourdough bread, and it was hot and good, and as a little bonus, I discovered brown sauce (HP), which is basically steak sauce but better than I remember steak sauce being. Plus, at our lunch stop, I ended up getting half of Hannah’s Irish stew anyways. It’s what I would’ve gotten, but sadly, the stew was about a third as tasty as the stew at the Celtic Bayou where I used to work back home. That’s not a good sign.
Then we reached one of UNESCO’s world heritage sites and the central purpose for our tour, the Giant’s Causeway, the biggest tourist attraction in Northern Ireland. Funnily enough, the legend behind the causeway has a fun connection to the Ave in UW. Our favorite bar (obviously an Irish pub), Finn MacCool’s, is named after the giant/fearsome warrior who was purported to build the causeway as stepping stones to Scotland. Now you know.
Formed by volcanic eruption, the area has thousands of hexagonal basalt columns on a wave soaked beach that you actually get to walk directly on. There’s also a trail behind it that was majestic, but due to time constraints and too much hopping around on the causeway, we couldn’t walk much of it at all. Next time. The water was great, the view fantastic (you could see Scotland on the horizon); the geological phenomenon was worth the day tour, even with a crappy driver.
Then we drove into Derry, the city of walls and bridges. The city is pretty, but sad. Like Belfast, it has a long and storied history of religious strife between Catholics and Protestants during the Troubles, including Bloody Sunday, and of course is also still apart of the United Kingdom. We were only there a couple hours, and I wish I had been able to stay the day. But the walking tour that a local gave us provided a little insight, even if it was like 8 euros for a half an hour and minimal walking.
Kelsey, Hannah and I went to The Badger in Derry for a pint and a bit of food. I had the worst Caesar salad of my life there. Apparently all Caesars in England have bacon in it, which sounds good, but not on this one.
Then we were back to Belfast. I got Hannah and Kelsey’s information, and was off for more mexican food, this time at Boojum, essentially the Chipotle of Belfast. I got a pork burrito and it felt great and messy going in.
While eating, I met the Anna’s, two different Russian girls named Anna, and Lucia and Janina, two pretty blonde girls from Germany. The Anna’s were quiet and reserved compared to everyone else, but were really nice. It took some convincing from Paul to get them to come out with us (though Paul and Mary Anne didn’t go out with us. Paul has an excuse because he’s old, Mary Anne was just being dumb). Lucia and Janina were both students at a university in Germany on a school trip to Belfast. They had arrived before the rest of the classmates to see more of the city.
I also (re-)met Cole, Kevin, Joshua and Tony, the Americans from the night before. Naturally, we all went out together. Following my lead (not always the smartest move), we went to Fibber Magee’s, another famed bar in Belfast known for its live music. Had a Guinness, a massive Indian beer in a bottle known as Kingfisher with Cole, danced and pretended to know the words to the Irish music with Lucia, then we all went downstairs for KARAOKE.
The Anna’s left pretty quick (they hated karoake), probably after my rendition of Runaround Sue. I wasn’t as good as I sound in the car or with Ryan. I needed my boy, and kept losing my voice in key spots. Later I performed the Big Bopper’s Chantilly Lace, which turned out to be a subtly different version than the one I knew and love, but I still did alright. Josh performed an awful rendition of Smashmouth’s “All-Star” but he was turning 21 so he gets a freebie. Plus you got a free shot of Sourz for every song you sang (gross). Janina and Lucia each sang a song (or three, for Janina), and then we retreated back to the hostel.
Next: I actually see Belfast during the day.