Northern Ireland--Belfast

On our second full day in Northern Ireland, we hitched a ride to Belfast with Heather, who had a meeting there. We grabbed a quick lunch (a traditional fry for me!) at an Irish version of a greasy spoon, Hungry Bhoy.

We then headed downtown to find a map and to ride the ferris wheel, which is turning out to be a very expensive new hobby of Sophie's. She likes the rides, though, so how can we say "no?"


Under the ferris wheel was a memorial statue to those lost on the Titanic (which was built in Belfast):


Here is Sophie in front of the ferris wheel entrance:


And right after we got on:



eViews from the top:


These cranes are called "Samson" and "Goliath," apparently the biggest cranes in the world. Belfast also has the biggest dry dock in the world, if I recall correctly.

A strange bus sign that we saw while wandering around downtown...it reminded us that although we speak the same language as the Irish, we don't always understand what they're saying!


And, as usual, Sophie fell asleep in her stroller. This is how she decided she was going to sleep:


St. Anne's Cathedral, a protestant church in Belfast:


The lines in this maze actually have some symbolism: the black represents sin and leads to nowhere and the white represents the righteous path and leads to the altar.


A nice mosaic:

The nave:


A nice building in the downtown area:

Finally, after all of that walking (and a couple of trips into some bookstores!), we decided we needed some nourishment. We stepped into a coffee shop, and Sophie had her first gingerbread man. She took the first couple of bites happily, but then realized that he was starting to miss body parts...this seemed to bother her a little and slowed down her munching quite a bit!