Belfast with Viivi

This is the follow-up to my previous post from Dublin.

On Monday Viivi and me had a very easy day because we needed to recover from our trip to Dublin. We went to Wagamama for Dinner and then to the movies.

On Tuesday we were a bit more productive. The sun was out (wow!) so we went for a walk around the city centre. We went for a coffee to the beautiful Café Vaudeville. It is a really fancy place so we thought that it would be relatively expensive as well but we couldn't have been more wrong! We were both surpised how cheap it was. The coffee was nice and the scones we had were just delightful! We had to buy some brownies to go as well 'cause they just looked so good (and they also were).

The names of all of the people who sank with the Titanic. We spotted quite a few Finnish names. I look way too happy while pointing at the names of dead people though...

Coffee and scones at Café Vaudeville

On top of Victoria Square

The weather was so nice that I decided that it would be a great day to climb the Cave Hill. In Cave Hill country park you have this beautiful scenic route that takes you up to a big hill were you have an amazing view across the city. My friend Jason was kind enough to come and be our "guide" on this trek. Well, we made it to the bottom and started climbing and it almost instantly started raining. The rain got harder and harder and also the wind got stronger and stronger. We pushed on for quite a while but we really didn't have the right equipment for that kind of weather so after some while we had to give up and head back down. At that point we were quite cold, wet and miserable.

We made it home from this umm.. experience and started to get ready for a night out. Jason had kindly invited us to join him and his friends to Limelight that night. We drank a few glasses of wine and listened to some tunes to get in the mood and then headed out. We were quite surprised when we got to Limelight and it was absolutely packed! On a Tuesday night! Don't people have to go to work on Wednesday or don't they just care? Anyway, we had a great night!

Wednesday ended up being a proper hang-over day. We were feeling quite rough after the night before and the weather was so terrible as well so we decided just to stay in and watch movies all day. And that is exactly what we did. A super lazy day.

Thursday was a super productive day! But that one deserves a whole post of its own, so stay tuned! :)

Weekend in Dublin

I ran home from work on a Friday very exited to get my bag, and headed to the train station to catch the next train to Dublin. My dear Finnish friend Viivi was flying from France to Dublin to visit me for a week. It had been quite a while since I saw her so I was very happy to see her. The plan was to spend the weekend in Dublin and then head up to Belfast. I'd never been to Dublin before either so it felt like a great chance to finally do that.

Viivi was flying in quite late, so I went to Dublin a bit earlier and checked in to the hotel. After a long struggle with opening the hotel room door I was pleasantly surprised with the room. It was really quite nice! I really liked the high ceiling.

I put down my bags and decided that I'm not just gonna sit in the room alone while waiting for my friend but to head down to a pub for a sneaky pint of Guinness and hopefully find some company. I found a pub (was not very hard in this city) and sat down for a pint of "the black stuff". It didn't take too long before some nice local fellas came to keep me company. Soon enough I got a text from Viivi that she has arrived and headed to the hotel to meet up with her. She was very tired after a long day's travel (and I was a bit tipsy after some free drinks in the pub) so we decided to go straight to bed so we'd have some energy to walk about the next day.

We woke up on Saturday morning well rested and headed to the city centre for some breakfast. After feeding ourselves it was time for some sightseeing. First we headed to the famous Trinity College. The main reason why I wanted to go there was to see the old library I had seen some photos of. It didn't let me down. I though it was absolutely gorgeous.

 After Trinity we headed to the Wax Museum. It was good fun!

Me running towards the museum intensly exited

Viivi found a friend

I found a friend too...

There was this children's tunnel thing that you could crawl through. So naturally we also did.

Gimme some loooove

Fitting in perfectly, right?

After the museum it was time for some more walking around town. And a coffee break.

The afternoon past very soon and it was already starting to get a bit dark when we arrived to the Leprechaun Museum. There we heard stories and legends of the mystical Ireland. The guide was absolutely fantastic and we really enjoyed the visit!

We got to feel like little Leprechauns!

After the Leprechaun experience it was time to head back to the hotel. We got some food on out way back and sat down to rest for a while in our room. We listened to some music, ate and drank a few glasses of wine before heading out to experience the night life in Dublin. We headed to the famous Temple Bar for a few drinks and then moved to a club called Rí-Rá. We had a great night which included quite a few drinks and busting out some serious moves.

On Sunday we slept in (until we had to give the room away at 11) and headed out to the town again. The weather was very kind to us and the sun was out most of  the day (which is quite a luxury on the "Emerald Isle").

There was some Chinese New Year celebrations on

We went for a walk in the Medieval part of Dublin with some nice Cathedrals, Churches and the Dublin Castle.

Inside the Dublin Castle

Outside the Dublin Castle

We had a little "picnic" on this bench

Then it was time for a quick bite (nice gourmet burgers & delicious crepes) and some shopping. Afterwards we went to get our luggage from the hotel and head to the bus station for the next part of our little adventure: Belfast.

Thank you Dublin, you we very kind to us (except for the ridiculous wind)

Christmas in Finland and Belfast

I travelled back home to Finland to celebrate my birthday and to have a little "pre-Christmas". I had to work for Christmas in Belfast, so this way I could kinda have a Christmas with my family. After coming back to Belfast, I had a second Christmas with my friends. So I had two Christmasses this year! Lucky me!

Christmas in Finland

Our Christmasses with my family always follow the same pattern. This year we had to do it a bit differently, but I got the most important parts. We usually don't get a Christmas tree until just a few days before Christmas, but this year they got one early so I could get the chance to decorate one. So very thoughtful of them! It was such a nice surprise!

Our front door

Then we had the traditional Christmas Dinner.

First course is traditionally the "Cold" courses. So basically different types of fish-dishes and salad and potatoes. Here we have two types of smoked salmon and two types of herring. All delicious!

After that it is time fot the main course which consists of Christmas ham, potato- carrot- rutabaga casseroles and boiled potatoes.

Cutting the ham

Ham, potato casserole and rutabaga casserole

 And here are some more photos of the Christmas Decorations

It was an absolutely gorgeous day with a bit of frost on the ground so I decided to go for a little wonder with  my camera.

Christmas in Belfast

Then it was time to come back to Belfast. At Christmas Eve I had Christmas Dinner with some friends at the Europa Hotel. The food was just as delightful as the company!

My starter..

..The Main..

..And Dessert

  And in the end, just a few pictures from the Christmas lights in Belfast City Centre