This morning was our first Irish breakfast at the Grove House B&B. Many of us awoke earlier than planned to find that the sun was already out, well before 5:30am! Eric and I at least went back to sleep as our bed was comfortable and we were still catching up on jetlag sleep.
Dad and Eric ordered the full Irish breakfast, Dennis got pancakes and I ordered poached eggs. The Irish breakfast wasn't huge, but with that and all the extras, we were definitely full.
We decided we would drive to Belfast and make a stop at the Botanic gardens and wander around town some. Our total drive was supposed to be around 2.5 hours, so this would break it up well, and give us a chance to see the city. Dennis volunteered to drive again, and Eric bravely took on the navigation. Explaining which "exit" to take from a traffic circle is not as easy as one might think! At any rate, we made it to Belfast and wandered around to find a place to park. When we arrived, we headed for some of the buildings to find restrooms, and stumbled on the Ulster Museum, just inside the park. As a little shower had just started, we decided to wander the museum a bit first. I really really want my own Irish Red Squirrel....
And did you have any idea that a Platypus is actually poisonous?? The things you learn in Ireland!!
We wandered the Nature and Art floors. My dad got reprimanded for trying to take photos of the woodwork pieces, although none of us saw a single sign. Ahh well!
Next we headed out and walked towards the Palm House, and wandered through exploring all the beautiful flowers. It looked like they were just pre-planting season outside, and one of the gardeners may have been tending the flowers inside.
We continued our stroll through the gardens, and eventually stumbled on their amazing rose garden. I dont think any of our pictures can do it justice, but here are some of my favorites...
After the gardens we took a walk through Belfast, headed for the town hall. We decided to grab some food along the way and as we hemmed and hawed we finally just stopped at this place called JD Wetherspoon, part of the Bridge House. It had signs saying it won some awards, so we figured why not. It was weird when we first walked in. We couldnt find a host/hostess, and finally walked up to the bar. It turns out you order at the bar and they bring the food out to you. We ordered our meals and most came with drinks. Of course confusingly enough, we had just come from the Euro, and now everything was in Pounds. The meal was entirely underwhelming. It was sort of like an Irish version of Applebees in my opinion. I know I have been spoiled by some amazing restaurants lately, but this just wasnt what I expected of an Irish pub. Ahh well, teaches me for looking at a place that doesnt have a chalkboard of specials out front!
After lunch we headed for City hall and it was a grand sight.
The strangest thing, though was that they had this giant bilboard right next to it showing BBC, and the newscaster had a very eerie voice. The big sign was real cool, but it just seemed oddly out of place!
We walked back to the garden area, and then to our car as it was time to finish our drive North. I was fairly tired and ended up sort of nodding off here and there, but we caught a rain shower and a few difficult directions along the way. Who knew that round-a-bouts could be much much smaller than a bicycle?? It was confusing as we entered portrush, a Beautiful town on the northern coast, but it was definitely odd to drive into!!
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