Ireland, days 8-9

On my last day in Belfast, I went to Ormeau Park with the hopes of seeing what the local city parks were like, and having a relaxing morning. This would have been great -- had I not managed to get us hopelessly lost all the way across town.

It wasn't that bad really. We took a left where we should have taken a right. When we finally hiked it in the correct direction, we went straight where we should have turned. Eventually we found our way there though.

I was pleasantly surprised when we got there. Although the park had that typical manicured look we had seen all week, it was a unique design. Apparently, it had been designed by a member of the community back in the 19th century, and the design remains roughly the same.

It's a delightful combination of evergreens and deciduous trees, wildflowers, green lawns, landscaping, and winding pathways throughout.

After spending some time at the park, we poked our heads into St. George's Market, which was basically an enclosed street market. It sold an extremely wide variety of goods, ranging from food to hardware, to jewelry, to clothing.


The day was still young and we were planning on returning to the market the next day for one of my friends' research projects, so two of us departed to go off and explore the city a little bit. We went into City Hall, which was quite ornate, and walked around in its public courtyard a little.

For some reason there was a giant tourist ferris wheel on one side of the Hall. It seemed a little out of place, but made for an interesting feature in the middle of the city.

The only thing I didn't like was that the ferris wheel was unfortunately blocking some interesting memorial statues, such as this one commemorating the HMS Titanic. In fact, although we didn't get to go to any of the exhibits, the Titanic had been built in Belfast and I believe it was the last city she departed from before her fateful voyage across the Atlantic.


The next day, we returned to St. George's Market, which -- if possible -- had an even wider array of offerings. There was every kind of food you could imagine (with lots of free samples!), including entire roasted hogs skewered on gigantic spits; cheeses of every possible kind; raw fish and meats; delicious tarts, cakes, cookies and pies (lots of gluten-free pastries too); and all sorts of fresh fruits and vegetables. There were also tons of craftsmen, artists, and people selling pretty much anything they could get a hold of.

So, after an entertaining morning at the market, we rode a city bus to Belfast City Airport, cruised through security (except they stopped me to do a random check of my electronics) and lounged at the airport for a couple hours.

Out the window, you could see Cave Hill, with McArt's For at the top, and Belfast Castle at the bottom a little to the left (see picture). It was really amazing to se how far we had gone.

About an hour before our flight was scheduled to depart we noticed a note on our boarding passes: Have passport checked before boarding. Somehow we had skipped this step and no one had stopped us (Great airport security!).

>We ran back down and asked an officer what we should do. They laughed at us a little, but one officer kindly led us back out to the passport desk where we were stamped, issued new boarding passes, and instructed to go back through security. And so we did. And, once again, I was randomly called into the security room, this time so they could do a fabric swab on my coat. I was cleared to go, and soon enough we were back on our way.

The flight home was extremely short -- about 45-50 minutes, but it was lovely watching the English countryside down below. From there, we took an 1 1/2 hour coach back into the city, and finally took the tube home just after dark.

We had made it! I couldn't help but be a little astonished we were all alive. Sure, we had our mishaps, miscommunications, misjudgments, and so on, but considering we're all slightly naive 20-year-olds who have only known each other about a month and a half, I'd say it wasn't too shabby.

It was a truly wonderful trip, and I learned a lot not only about Ireland, but also about myself, traveling, and just life in general. There really is so much in this world; so much to experience and to love and to see. It really makes me grateful for the time and opportunities I have here.