Update from Belfast

I'm sitting in the airport just waiting for my flight. We got here early to make sure everything went smoothly. I can't wait to get home even though I'm certainly not looking forward to the flight. Eight hours is a long time to be in the air. The picture attached is not me at the airport but rather me at the Crown in Belfast. It seems I uploaded the wrong image the other day. That was Jack and David.Wikipedia has a nice little history on the bar. Check it out here.

Other than that the visit here went well. I spent two extra days in the plant and got lots of good information. The weather was the same however, with rain all but one day of the whole trip. I will be changing the way I pack for the next trip here in a month. I need more sweaters and no short sleeved shirts. A nice hat and a scarf, along with some gloves will be along with me too.

We took another trip up the coast yesterday after work. By the coast, I mean the large lake called Loah Neagh that along with the River Bann cuts Northern Ireland in half. It was very much like driving through Cape Breton and going up towards Lake Ainslie and the Margaree River. We ended up at the Glengorm Castle Golf Centre for some supper but the service and food was only OK. The bar named The Pavillion was lovely but they need to work on the food. One the other hand the little place we ate the day before was very nice. The BallyRobin is a traditional English inn near the airport. It had a great menu and the service was excellent. I think we will be returning.

Belfast and the Antrim Coast

Friday night in Belfast was hoping. We wandered down about 6:00pm and walked around. The first stop was the Crown Liquor Saloon. It is owned by the Heritage Trust and is a tradition city pub, complete with ornate carvings, a beautiful bar, little booths with doors that close for privacy, and lots of local characters. We managed to get into on of the booths and enjoyed some drinks.

Next we wandered around downtown and enjoyed the sights. City Hall was impressive. There was a large Ferris wheel standing there, like a little sister to the London Eye. We ended up at a more modern pub and had some snacks. We ate the largest fries (chips in the UK) I've ever seen and prawns on salad.

Saturday we headed up the Antrim Coast. The three things we wanted to see were the rope bridge at Carrick-a-Rede, the Giant's Causeway, and the Bushmills Distillery. All in all we were not disappointed. Both the Giant's Causeway and the rope bridge are part of the Heritage Trust and had admission charges. The weather was not pleasant as it rained, at times very heavy.

Sunday was a sunny day-my first since arriving here on Tuesday. Jack and I took another spin into Belfast. As touristy (is that a word?) as a bus tour sounds it was well worth it. The wind was still chilly but we sat in the top of a open air double decker bus. The tour covered the Holland & Wolfe shipyard where the Titanic was built (my favourite part of the tour). We also went by the parliament buildings, some historic sights, and spent quit a bit of time driving through the Catholic and Protestant parts of Belfast. The history surrounding what the Irish call The Troubles was interesting, along with the bombings, the courthouses, and the jails.

The city is divided up by Peace Walls that divide the two sides. In some cases the walls are over 70 feet tall. Even now the walls still stand and serve to keep the peace. There are also lots of interesting murals all over the place depicting fighters, victims, organizations, and others involved in The Troubles. They stand as a memory and a reminder to what happened. Another interesting point is that the Belfast Giants, the local hockey team, was brought to Belfast as a neutral sport to help the locals get behind a common team.

I'm going to try to post some pictures too but if this doesn't work it will have to wait until I get home.

 

Working, Eating, Driving, and Staying Warm in Northern Ireland

Ireland is great. I've enjoyed my trip here so far although I miss the family back home. I feel like I'm missing Isabelle's growing up even though I'm only gone for a little over a week. I also know that Maggie isn't the same when one of the family is missing. She just can't seem to relax sometimes, while other times she's just silly. Anyway, I'll be back in less than a week.

Now, the plant in Ballymena here is relatively old. The people on the other hand are very friendly and seem very dedicated and willing to get the job done. My project went well and wrapped up today. After that I'm spending a few days getting to know the plant and some of the people I'll be working with on a regular basis. That will be Monday and Tuesday, then it's back home to Greenville.

Food here is very good. We've mainly been eating at pubs. Tuesday was Ellie Mae's, a quiet little inn and restaurant just outside of Templepatrick where we are staying at a Hilton. I had a lovely pork chop dinner with beans on the side and an order of champ. Champ is one of the best ways to eat mashed potatoes because they add green onions, butter, and cream.

The Hilton here is attached to a large convention centre, it has two restaurants, a bar, and a golf course. The fitness centre is private but open to guests. It has a full gym, pool, sauna and multipurpose room. The breakfasts are first class with everything you'd ever want including black pudding, beans, kippers, porridge, and the usual American fare.

On Wednesday we ate at the a small pub on the way back from the plant called the Ramble Inn. The fish and chips was huge. It also came with mushy peas. For those of you who don't know it's like mashed peas. Tonight we ate at a golf club just outside of town at a Restaurant called Barnaby's. I had curry but one of the guys had a chicken dish with fried banana and pineapple that we delicious. Jack had a chicken Caesar that had 3 chicken breasts. They sure don't skimp on portion sizes here.

To finish, one of the best things about being here is that I can get a glass of hard cider no matter where I go. As most of you know I don't drink beer but I love cider. The Stongbow was perfect last night. I don't think I've had a Stongbow from the tap since I was in Newfoundland.

Pictures

These are the pictures to go with the post.

On the Road Again, & Again, & Again...

We made it back from Atlanta with little difficulty. Isabelle did have a meltdown once or twice but we are chalking it up to too many activities and not enough rest. She had a big weekend, and so did we. The hotel we stayed at in Marietta was very good and the price was good too. The only thing that could have been better was the temperature of the outdoor pool. It was like swimming in the Atlantic in Nova Scotia. Atlanta itself was amazing. It is as large as it is said to be but getting around was mostly fairly simple as long as we used the GPS. We went downtown twice-once on Friday and once on Saturday-both times traffic was a little heavy but not too bad. Parking was easy. Friday we saw the Georgia Aquarium. It was absolutely amazing! It is all indoors (which surprised me after visiting the Vancouver Aquarium) but was huge and very well done. We didn't get to see the penguins due to some construction but the rest of the place was great. Food was a little expensive and the admission seemed a little high but in the end I can't wait to go back. The aquarium is set-up with seven or eight galleries and each has a theme. By far the best one is the one we saw last. The tank in the Undersea Discovery holds hundreds of fish including hammer head sharks and whale sharks. It was very impressive. I will try to post pictures. (They should be here if this works) I am writing this from Ireland as I am here on business. The hotel I'm at doesn't have a very good internet system but I'm trying to keep up with the blog and my email. The weather here is typical Irish weather. It's rained everyday since we got here and the temperature is hardly ever over 10 degrees C. It feels like Nova Scotia in November. Having said that it is lovely here. Getting here was a bit of a challenge. Hurricane Ike blew up the east coast on Sunday and delayed most of the flights through Newark, NJ. My connection was through Newark so I spent three hours on Sunday at Greenville airport waiting for the flight, and then when I finally got on they said it would be another hour before we left (we didn't have clearance to land in Newark!). In the end my colleague and I got off and went home to try again the next day. That went well but made for a long day on Tuesday as we went from the airport straight to the plant. I was happy to see my bed on Tuesday night. I will try to keep up the blog as I have more time this week. I hope to get out to do some sightseeing on the weekend with a friend form Nova Scotia who is also here.