Belfast Birthday

Charlotte:

We got up and I said happy birthday to my mom. We ate breakfast in the hotel. Then went on a colourful tour bus. We sat in the very front on the top floor. We had a huge window. We saw peace walls with lots of pictures and letters and cool stuff. Some were scary and sad. I also saw a humungus park with really cool equipment to climb on. The bus driver was funny.

After the tour, we went to a bookstore and looked at lots of books. Then we went for lunch at a place called City Picnic, and I had a yummy bubblegum milkshake.

We walked really far to a mall and in there we played mini golf. Grandma and Mom were going to play Bingo while we played more golf, but they couldn’t, so then they won money at a casino. They were fanning their heads with the money while pretend coughing when they came to meet us.

Sam:

We woke up and went down to have breakfast. After, went back up to our rooms to pack because later we would be going on the ferry to the Isle of Man.

Then we did the hop on hop off tour of the city, which is a bus ride where you go around the city and you can get in and off at any of the stops all day. We just went around once. There were a lot of cool things, and tour guide was really nice. And we drove past a 24-hour Tesco which is like a big Zehrs. The thing that was interesting about it was that it was only open until 9 at night. When the tour guide told us about this, we all laughed.

We saw the peace walls, which are walls that separate the Catholic people from the Protestant people. Without the walls there might be giant fights. I felt it was sad because kids were right next to each other their whole lives, but if they grow up and end up working together, they wouldn’t have even met before. I don’t really care what my friends believe, as long as they’re nice.

Lunch was good. I got a peanut butter milkshake.

After that we went to a mall to do mini golf. It was ancient ruins themed. I played two games: one with my whole family and I’ve with just dad and me. I also had a slushy there.

We went to a really fancy place for dinner because it was Mom’s birthday. By the end of dinner it was 11pm. Then we had to go back to the hotel and I watched YouTube videos until it was time to leave for the ferry at midnight.

Mom and Dad:

Mom turned 40 today. We started the day with our hotel breakfast and getting our bags packed and stowed in the hotel storage area, awaiting our overnight ferry to the Isle of Man.

Then we set out to see Belfast on a hop-on, hop-off tour. We decided to stay on the bus for the entire route as we had prime front row top floor seats and because we weren’t sure what specific sites we would want a closer look at. Our guide, Ed, was very funny and had great stories. Some of our favourite sites included seeing the murals and the peace walls. We were pretty blown away by the continued segregation and tension in some of the neighbourhoods. The kids could not understand why going to different churches (obviously a simplified view) would make people hate one another.

After the bus tour, we decided just to wander around some shops and then pick up some lunch at a little spot called City Picnic. The food was decent and it had a fun selection of milkshakes.

Next, we decided to go mini golfing. We walked nearly an hour to get to an entertainment complex at the edge of the city. Belfast wasn’t our favourite city, so we were basically just filling up the day as we had to stay busy until our 1:30am ferry!

We all had a good time putting and then enjoyed some slushies. Mom and Grandma wanted to try Bingo across the hallway, so the kids and Dad decided to play another round. Grandma and Mom ended up playing slots instead because we couldn’t understand the rules of the Bingo Hall and the caller was speaking so quickly that we couldn’t understand what he was saying! We had an absolute blast playing and giggling together and even ended up winning £30 each!

We met back up with the others and took an Uber to Holohan’s, a top-rated restaurant. Because we were a bit early for our reservations, we popped across the street to get a closer look at Queen’s University.

Our dinner was amazing! Mom had a beef and Guinness boxty (like a crepe made out of potato) with steamed veggies. Dad and Grandma both ordered the beef two ways meal, which had a steak and brisket along with some sides. For dessert, Mom had whisky sticky toffee pudding and Grandma had an orange chocolate mousse.