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We left for Carrickfergus castle after breakfast. They had a small harbor festival going on and the castle was full of activities for kids. We diligently read the displays and did our thing. Outside the castle we looked bought two baskets of strawberries, a focaccia, some feta and some olives. Nom nom!
After that we spent some time in Belfast city. We walked around, watched a gay parade, and once again felt that the local fashion in Ireland and the UK was totally incompatible with what we are used to see. We also felt that the number of obese people reminded us of the United States. And finally we noted that maybe one in twenty looked like a poor fellow from *Train Spotting*. We didn’t like Belfast too much.
As we were about to leave and blew our last pounds on sparkling water and a mango & passion fruit shaved ice thing in a fancy shopping center, a woman walked up to Claudia and asked her whether she had a camera. Indeed we do, we said. Then we realized that it was gone. The lady had found it in the toilet and given it to an employee, and when she spotted my little orange backpack she decided that we were probably tourists (true), owned a camera (true) and had most probably forgotten it in the toilet (also true).
Dear anonymous Belfast lady, you saved us from the most aggravating experience of loosing all our holiday pictures. Thank you very, very much!
Shaken but happy we left and drove south, to the first hotel past the border. Back in Ireland, where people seem friendlier, no flags on every lamp post, no cameras on every street, no barbed wire around every police station, police cars that no longer look like light armored vehicles—Ireland, I think we like you better!
The Carrickdale Hotel & Spa was nothing special. The Spa was not included in the price and we had to wait before we got a table in the restaurant.
#Life #Ireland
