She is the $$$ of Belfast city

Carnside Guest House was really a great deal, very cheep, between the two main tourist attractions, a free breakfast and on top of it all a beautiful view. What could be better than that?

However we still decided to shuffle off early so we could take the coastal road to Belfast. Really a stunning view. Of course along the way dad and I had to stop by the very famous Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge. Now somehow Dad and I managed to walk passed the place where we pay for the dang thing (honestly and accident) so we walked about 20 minutes to the bridge where we found ourselves without tickets to cross the bridge. Luckily the man who was checking let us through anyway.

The rope bridge really was cute and had an amazing view, but for the price we would have paid for it, definitely would have been a rip off. When it's free though, what an incredible experience. :P When we left we left a sizeable donation for being so generous.

From there on out we didn't stop for any more sights all the way down to Belfast. Not that we needed to with a view that amazing the whole drive. If you ever find yourself with the choice of the scenic route or the direct route in Ireland definitely take the scenic route. You'd be missing out on views you wont be able to find anywhere else in the world.

Dad and I being who we are were of course blasting music the whole drive down. But we had to turn it down on our arrival to Belfast because we reached another labyrinth of streets. Which I once again expertly navigated us through Belfast to bring us to Park Inn, our very expensive hotel for the night.

For the price we're paying for this hotel it should really be a lot better. It's more than double what we payed for many of our B&B and hostels yet we get much less bang for our buck. Maybe that's Belfast though. We have to pay extra for a breakfast in the morning, which has been included in every hostel and B&B so far. We have to pay for a parking lot that wasn't included in the doubled price that's down the road. And the kicker, we have to pay by the hour for wifi... Usually I don't complain about these things but for double the price I feel those should be included if not a little extra.

Intent on not letting this ruin Belfast I was open to my dad's suggestion of doing a bus tour, which was really fascinating. So I'm glad we did it. Easily worth the cost. The bus took us all around Belfast showing us all of the murals and architecture. Fun fact, Titanic was built here... Who knew? The bus tickets are good for 48 hours and you can hop on and off as you see fit. We might go down to check out the murals again tomorrow and take advantage of our tickets.

I later let dad talk me into checking out 2 pubs to soak up the city's ambiance. Guinness has a different brew here in Ireland and you can really taste the difference. Naturally, I'm taking advantage of having as much as I can before I leave.

Before checking back into out hotel dad and I went to a Mexican place called Boojum. So far it only exists in Ireland, but it's bloody good. Irish-Mexican food, welcome to the 21^st century I guess.

That about wraps up our time in Belfast, luckily I got all this in on one hour of internet. So I only have to pay 3 pounds for this little blog entry.

-Matt