August 26, 2022

📍Belfast, Ireland 🇮🇪

Let the travels begin!

We made it! After two long years of talking about traveling abroad, it is finally happening! Our first few days we spent in Belfast, Ireland and so far, SO good!

Day 1: After a red-eye flight and a train ride, we were in “do we sleep or do we power through” mode. But with only two days to explore the city, there was only one real choice…💪🏽. Our Uber driver made some recommendations, one being the Botanic Gardens, so we dropped our stuff off and off we went! The gardens were impressive with a museum(ish) on grounds that was also super cool.

We obviously can’t get very far in our first post without mentioning food. After spending the day at the gardens we stumbled across Maggie Mays and had ourselves a meal.

Aaaannnd then our “nap” turned into bed at 7pm…so much for powering through 🤷🏼‍♀️

Day 2: Obviously, first thing to note is our breakfast. Our day started at Lava House with a bap, which I *think* means sandwich (either way, I’m a fan).

Anyway, I woulda bet all my money we’d make it more than a day before going to prison abroad… woulda lost. We headed to an old prison called Crumlin Road Gaol and did a tour through the building.

My “this is funny but I’m ready to be let out for lunch” face

Same guy who tried to run away as a young kid but came home within the hour to eat. Not so tough, my guy.

The **Crumlin Road Courthouse** across the prison has a tunnel connecting the two. No longer in use, it’s currently up for sale.

Education moment: Northern Ireland is part of the UK. There have been wars, fights, bombings, etc. over the territory and to this day they still have walls and gates between the Catholic side (with Irish flags) and Protestant side (with UK flags) of Belfast. The wall is decorated along the road and most gates are only opened during the day.

Another educational moment: the Titanic was built and launched in Belfast! Who knew? (A lot of people…I was not one of them.) We went to the Titanic Museum which was 4 floors of facts and history about the ship. (Spoiler alert: it was not a happy ending, but the museum was worth the visit even though Leonardo was not there.)

J has a much longer attention span than me so he continued through the “extras” of the museum and I found this Irish snack.

We read there was a fish to kiss in this town so without any further research we puckered up!

Our eventful day ended with a little bar/restaurant hopping.

**The Crown Liquor Saloon**: amazing bar place to see/grab a drink

**The Perch**: rooftop bar. Recommend for drinks and they did not disappoint

And just like that, we’re off to Dublin tomorrow to celebrate Ariel and Andy’s wedding, FINALLY!

Thanks for joining us on our first blog post. Many more to come!

With love, AK & J