An afternoon in Belfast, Ireland

The Insignia docked in Belfast early this morning. The weather was chilly, rainy and windy again so we were in no hurry to get off the ship. By the time we had lunch at the Terrace Cafe, it was looking much better but we still took an umbrella with us, just in case. We ended up not needing it although the sky stayed overcast. Again, we were told that this is very typical summer weather - a high of 75 degrees. While their temperature sure beats 100 degrees, I'll take sunshine any day!

Anyway, the shuttle dropped us off in a busy area of the city. A bit like Dublin, the city was a mix of old and new, but I personally liked it better than the more historic areas we walked in Dublin. I was on a mission to find hairspray and thankfully found a Boots right away (if you've been to England, you've likely been to Boots). This one was huge and had everything anyone could possibly need. I snapped a few photos as we walked along looking for a barber shop.

 

Belfast City Hall where we were dropped off

 

double deckers are pink

taxis are black

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 outdoor art is a common sight

more outdoor art

a hat shop - wish I'd had time to try some on!

Peppa with an Irish brogue

everything is green!

 

it ain't easy being green

green, green and more green

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

According to the Irish government "green on the national flag symbolizes the Gaelic political and social order of Ireland or the Catholic side, while orange symbolizes the followers of William of Orange in Ireland or the protestant side." The orange and green shamrocks reflect the statement above and the barber's statement that even 10 years ago a Catholic and Protestant couldn't have worked together.

 

St. Mary's - 1st Catholic church in Belfast (since 1784)

St. Mary's - Lourdes Grotto dedicated in 1954

From there, we stopped in a McDonalds so I could go to the bathroom. I had to climb up 3 very long flights of stairs to get to them - I was huffing and puffing by the time I reached the top! I started up the stairs on the right hand side, but quickly realized that I was going against the traffic. The Irish do steps like they drive (on the left hand side). 

From there we were in search of a badly needed haircut for Ronnie. Using google maps, we thought we had located one but we accidentally made a wrong turn and couldn't locate it. I wasn't giving up so I asked a couple of people and we were soon re-directed to an area where there were a couple of barber shops. Ronnie went inside the first one and sat down to wait his turn for a 20 pound cut. In the meantime, I crossed the street and went into a Marketplace to browse. When I came out, I spotted a second barber shop a couple of doors down. They only had one customer and their charge for a cut was 15 pounds, so I texted Ronnie to come there. He had just learned that the shop he was in would not take a credit card so he came on down to the second place.

It turned out to be such a nice experience! The 2 guys working there couldn't have been nicer. Turns out they are both Christians (one Catholic, the other Protestant). They said that 10 years ago they couldn't have worked together but now they can. We told them that we were also Christians and mentioned to them that we heard someone preaching the gospel out on the street (he was using a microphone, and could be clearly heard). They said that street preaching is very common and there are many Christians in Belfast. The owner also keeps up with American politics and we had a very good conversation. 

Ronnie was happy with his cut and tipped both of them in US dollars. The youngest one who was cutting his hair wasn't nearly as experienced as the owner. It seemed like it was taking him forever and he wasn't taking nearly enough off. So when they realized we had to get back to our pick up point by 4 pm (last shuttle) the owner took over, finished the cut and then sent the younger guy to help us find our way back. They were trying to tell us about a short cut and rather than walking out and pointing us in the right direction, the guy walked us several blocks - all the way back to our pick up point!

 

the long awaited haircut

 

While Ronnie was getting his haircut, I went across the street to Poundland (think Dollar Store in US). No, not everything is a pound there, just like everything in the Dollar Tree is no longer a dollar. 

We haven't seen any Dr. Pepper (Ronnie's drink of choice) since we left the US. Now, as we're a little over a week from home, we find them in Ireland! I should have gotten them for an anniversary gift tomorrow (ha!) but he wouldn't have had time to drink them before we're back in Texas.

 

Poundland carries a little bit of everything

look what I found there!!

 

Anyway, we basically just walked around the busy downtown area, did a little bit of shopping and got the hair cut. That really doesn't quality as sight seeing, but we have an excursion tomorrow and we'll still be in Northern Ireland.

By the way, did you know that Belfast is the birthday place of C.S. Lewis? It is thought that the surrounding countryside may have been his inspiration for Chronicles of Narnia. Several other famous people were born here, as well as the Titanic being built here.

 

Ronnie & the younger barber