Healing Travels: 40 Days for Peace: Spending the day in Belfast: day 37

20 July Monday

There was no breakfast served at Suzanne's house so we got up about 9:00 and took our time getting ready to walk the 10 minute walk to #CaffeNeros which I had loved in London last year. I had a regular latte, which comes with 2 shots of expresso (take note Starbuck's) and Mackenzie had a Cafe Mocha...the best she has ever had! We split a free range egg salad sandwich and headed into Belfast. We were at the City Center withing 30 minutes and then found the 'Lagan River Walk' and walked downtown and over a train bridge to the Titantic Museum.

We were tired from our almost 1 hour walk so we stopped in 'The Dock Cafe' next to the Titanic for another coffee and some food. 'The Dock Cafe was something we have never experience before. It is a cafe with a sign out front that says to 'come in and rest your wee weary feet' and when you walk in it is a place filled with comfortable sofas and chairs and a 'no pay' policy...only donations. It is run by local churches and they only serve tea, coffee, sweets, and soup and you don't pay! Just donate what you feel you need to. After a cup of veggie soup (we are craving veggies), a piece of bread and two cups of Earl Grey Blue Flower tea and a M&M Cookie (you would have loved this cookie #Evilypurple12) we left 8 British Pounds in the honesty slot and headed to the Titantic Museum.

Tip: buying your tickets online will save about 5% off admission and get you right in without the lines. This Titantic exibit was an amazing history lesson on Belfast and its rise from small city to mogal giant with shipbuilding and linen production. Needless to say we were most curious about the Titantic itself, but everybit of the 14,000 foot exhibition center was worthwhile. Mackenzie is so curious about absolutely everything that we were in the center for 4 hours on a 1 hour and 45 minute recommendation. We even walked the length of the Titantic outsitde where it was built.

By now we were exhausted so we looked across the channel and there before us was a movie house! Time for another movie...this time...'Ant Man'! The 3D movie, large popcorn and large coke cost us about $23...much cheaper than in the USA. The popcorn was sans the Irish butter...which they don't even put on!

The movie was funny and we left and walked the one hour trip back to our little home stopping at a place called Rocket and Relish...http://rocketandrelish.com where we enjoyed Inish Mac Saint Beer and a chicken burger and two sliders with goat cheese and jalapeños and one with blue cheese and bacon. We really wanted salad, and they advertised different house salads, but when we asked they had: Cole Slaw, Cheese Salad, Meat Salad, and Beet Salad (lettuce was not involved) At least there was some arugula on the chicken burger...which we fought over.

We sat and talked to a great couple on a four month trip through Europe. They were from Northern California and the woman's 95 year old aunt gave them the money to do it. Cool beans! We also were served by Blake Davis. Who is Blake you ask? He is a young man working on his graduate degree in Ireland and he is from Towson Maryland. Susan Jones...can you do some research for us? He was delightful and we talked about all of the British Flags hung around for the 12th July holiday and how animosity between the protestants and catholics still exists. (we had talked about this with Carole and Muireann as well and they had both said that it still existed).

Exhausted and having walked 10 miles, we headed off to our little house where everyone else was sleeping. I hope we didn't wake them up, but hey, they woke us up this morning at 7:30 a.m....not that we minded. It was great hearing little kids' voices speaking in Irish.