Belfast and Dublin

 

We could have used more time in Belfast.  On our way to Dublin, we realized there was a titanic thing and a Game of Thrones thing in Belfast.  

We ate dinner in the cellar of the Belfast Castle.  That was cool.  Good food.  We met a couple who chatted with us about the goings on in our country and how things were in their country.  They gave us good advice for our time in Dublin.  

The plan was to take the train to Dublin.  Figured it was okay to wait and buy the tickets at the train station.  Ha.  All sold out for the time we wanted to go and the next one. We would have to wait until late afternoon to catch a train that had tickets available.  So, a bus it was.  Made me a little anxious, but it worked out fine.  This one didn't follow a coastline, so it was a much straighter ride.  And it put us in Dublin not much later than the train would have.  

We spent three nights in a castle in Dublin.  I got great rates.  When we checked in, they had a paper that I had to put information on, and it had their rates.  If I had to pay that we would not have stayed at the castle.  

We spent a good amount of time downtown.  Saw the Dublin Castle (I think we had a theme), Trinity College with the Kells, and a great ruined church in a cemetery.  We ate in the hotel, a pub, and a little hole in the wall place.  Breakfast every day at the hotel where I switched from croissants to scones.  They had the best potatoes on their breakfast buffet.  

And then it was time to head to the airport for our flight home.  We got John for our driver and his claim to fame is as a great conversationalist.  He talked the whole way.