Friday we arrived in Belfast, walked to our Hostel (10 minutes away, very nice) and bought some pizza for dinner before going to sleep at about 9:30.

 

We got up Saturday morning to go see Gant's Causeway, a natural formation even farther north, all these rocks that are strangely shaped and stacked. While we were there it started SNOWING (the bathroom we used at the visitor's center had no running water...a bit cold) and later raining. We laughed so much. Then, wet and tired, we spent an hour in the hotel eating lunch. I had the BEST HAMBURGER ever. I don't even like them, but this was so good, slathered in cheese and covered with this giant piece of bacon, plus we had a bowl full of fries.  When we got back to Belfast it was only around 5, but as no one had slept well and it had been a long day, we decided to go to the movies. We saw Four Christmases, pretty good for what it was.

 

Sunday we had booked a taxi tour, which was amazing. The guy took us into West Belfast, which is the area where the hotspots were during the Troubles, and where you aren't really supposed to just walk into. (Hence the taxi driven by someone who knows the area). We went through both Protestant and Catholic areas, amazing how close they were, and how similar, the only way I could tell the difference was by what the murals depicted, and in the Protestant areas they paint their signposts and curbs red, white, and blue, for the Union Jack, to mark their territory. Fascinating, especially since I had read/learned so much in my Seminar, so I knew a lot of the things the tour guide was telling us.

 

We got back to Menlo at quarter of nine, I took a shower (glorious after two days of going without), and was in bed a little after ten.