Belfast - Getting There, and Day One.

The Fosters have been to Ireland, the Land of Smiles... slightly uneasy ones in the North, to be sure. We had to drive to Bristol to get the flight there on Wednesday evening, and since we had no idea how long the drive would be, we left very early so as to be quite sure of catching the plane.

It was very enjoyable driving along and noting all the vaguely familiar or plain quaint place names on the signs... Menheniot, Hatt, Wookey Hole, Cheddar and many more. We were still driving along country lanes very close to the airport - it didn't seem possible that one could be so close to hilly sheep farms. But it certainly was, and we caught the plane without incident. We had hired an apartment quite close to Belfast University, and got a very good deal on it - cheaper than several single peoples' hotel rooms. There was a slight hitch when the taxi dropped us off at 10 p.m. the first night though - the key, which was supposed to be hidden in a pre-arranged spot, was not there. Not good hanging around a dark front yard on a cold night with three children who should have been in bed long since! But all was sorted eventually, and luckily we did not have to be up early.

The next day, refreshed and breakfasted, we had a spot of shopping to do before our lunch rendezvous with the exchange crew. I needed some shoes to wear to Saturday's party, Jack needed to replace his ripped jeans, and a few other bits and pieces were needed too. Our part of Belfast was quite well-to-do, but you couldn't call it pretty. Lots of students about as we bussed into town. The shops were excellent. We could hardly understand a word of the locals, nor they of us. We went into a hairdresser to get Jack a trim, and deaf me quickly had to call Wayne in for translation purposes, although he thought haircut talk was girl business. Jack did not end up with the cut we thought we asked for (although still very handsome, of course)... Wayne reckons the bloke just made all his customers look like himself. Anyway, luckily I got some shoes very quickly (the shop lady honestly said 'wee' in every sentence), and we managed our other purchases well, too.

We met the other exchange families at the Museum on the University grounds. We had a very nice lunch. Then the poor old teachers had to go to a couple of hours of lectures on teaching in Northern Ireland. The kids and I sloped off to explore the museum. A kindly guide gave Eleanor a children's map with stickers to put on when you found 10 special things. There was some interactive stuff as well, so it was fun. We enjoyed the art bit upstairs, drawing self-portraits and glueing bits and pieces. Then we joined the others for a bus tour of Belfast.

Our guide was terrific, and made a very ordinary city drive interesting and amusing with historical references and humourous anecdotes. There was a leaning clock, and a shipyard that produced the Titanic, and several public artworks to which the locals have given colourful colloquial names. "The Troubles" could not of course be ignored, and our guide wisely did not try to ignore them, but told us what she could without any prejudice. The picture up the top is of the parliament building, now in grounds open to the public. We ended the tour going up a couple of streets that saw most of the action in the war-torn days, and they were quite confronting. The murals are very fresh and well-kept...

In the evening we got together for an informal pizza dinner. First of all we checked out the famous old "Crown" pub our guide had mentioned. ( I thought she was saying 'crine'). See picture! It was too crowded for our family, so we went to a pub closer to the pizza place for a drink first. Here is Wayne with a Guiness.

Then some traditional Irish pizza (?) with the group. An American family had children about our kids' age, and so did one other Australian family. This was good, and they started to make friends here. Another fairly late night for the kiddies!