Belfast, Northern Ireland

We arrived in Northern Ireland this afternoon.  Most of the day was spent either on the road or waiting at the airport (although I did get up in the cold morning air for a quick run and some Insanity in a Kilmarnock park).  The car had to be back at Thrifty by 10:00am so we dropped it off and decided to head into Glasgow for a couple of hours before our flight.

 Glasgow was just as many people had described - very modern and industrial, with a lot of newer skyscraper buildings and tons of downtown-like traffic.  We hopped off the bus and spent about an hour and a half wandering around.  Downtown Glasgow has many high-end stores, but nothing different from what we'd see at home.  It was still quite chilly outside so we found Starbucks, grabbed a coffee and walked up and down a few streets.  I don't think there is much to talk about for Glasgow, though...
Glasgow City Commerce Building
George's Square in Glasgow
A Cafe Nero (like Starbucks - one on every corner) but the building is cool.
A bridge crossing the river in Glasgow
Flying EasyJet was pretty, um, easy.  We ran through the typical airport-security steps and finally got on our plane.  The quick up-and-down of the flight (40 minutes) really made it simple and fast to get here.  No customs or anything on the Belfast side, our bags were among the first to arrive on the belt, and the airport shuttle bus was just boarding when we found it.  All in all, a good experience flying over to Belfast.

 Our hostel, called Vagabonds and apparently rated the best in Belfast, is very much a party-style, youth hostel-like place.  Our room does have two single beds but they are practically on top of each other with no where for us to open up our suitcases.  The bathrooms are down the hall and down the stairs, and the shower and sinks aren't in the same room for the most part.  I've decided that, going forward, I'll pay extra for an en suite, no matter what style of place it is.  The people running the hostel are very nice and keep inviting us to go party with them tonight.  However, I think we'll be uncool and head to bed shortly (it's almost 9pm).  We did find a nice pub called Lavery's, which is apparently the older family-operated pub in Belfast.  We were having a few drinks and enjoying being out when they decided to open the doors and bring all the cold air in.  As it was freezing in the pub, we came back to our room.  It'll be an early night, which I feel I need as I have been struggling to keep my eyes open now for 3 days.  I think it's been all the down time spent in cars/busses/airplanes but I am not doing well on this trip for energy levels.  

Queen's University, Belfast
(so damn pretty! I love the architecture!)
My 'selfie' at the Lavery pub, with a pretty good red bed. 

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