UK: Cardiff, Belfast

From London we have been lucky enough to go on some sneaky weekend jaunts around the UK and continental Europe. The first two of which were to Cardiff and Belfast. We went to Cardiff perhaps sometime in November last year... and Belfast in December... I think. I am well behind. But here are my thoughts on both. I'll quickly sneak in a photo of the White Cliffs of Dover, my first impression of all that is English.

First escape was to Cardiff, the capital of all that is Welsh. It was a town.. quite nice and windy around the harbour. The highlight (aside from a little shape cutting and a candle that changed colours while it burned.. pretty amazing really) was heading out to the country for a sunday roast with a friend of mine. The countryside was, for lack of a better word, quintessential. It was so... Wales. And aside from the abundance of wild life we don't have at home (I love squirrels) it was also very familiar looking.

The most defining moment for me though was when my mum for the day bought out lunch... it was such a fantastic lunch. Roast Lamb, vegetables, and dessert! .. so good. But the scary part was that it was virtually identical to a roast mum would make for me 20,ooo in White Rock (obviously you can't compare anything to your own mums cooking, my mums is the best in the world by far). If I think about it I shouldn't be surprised, we are after all part of the same empire, but I was a little surprised. Anyway, here's the evidence:


Second jaunt: Belfast. With a sneaky, wicked cheap flight from RyanAir we made one giant carbon footprint and flew over there. Its a cool little town and the most Irish I have ever been. We stayed with a super friendly English lass and managed to really explore the whole town. The most remarkable thing for me was the reality that is Northern Ireland. I have a habit of forgetting about things if they are not on the news every days... so I figured everyone in Northern Ireland was happy and the all the trouble had merrily resolved itself... how ignorant I am. Sure its super safe and it is just a normal town, but the history (a very recent history), is still so real. There is a frickin' massive wall separating two parts of the town, I was well surprised.


And there are also very cool murals all over the place, either side of the divide.
But Belfast is a cool town, its not just all walls and murals. There was a cool market going on in town and we met some very cool people and saw some pretty sites.

So we got Wales and Northern Ireland done over two weekends. Next blog post: Dumfries and Canterbury. And tonight Andy, Lucas and I jump on the EUROSTAR(!!!!) and go under the sea to Belgium. I'll post about that in 2009 sometime. High five!