Stuck in Canada

VANCOUVER, B.C. — I am not pleased.

Right now, I should be sleeping in my own bed at home. Instead, I am sitting in a hotel room in Vancouver, B.C. because British Airways can’t keep the trains moving on time.

It’s a nice hotel (I just checked and the cheapest room is $330/night), but it’s 6 a.m. and I can’t sleep, even after staying up for 24 hours straight trying to get home. And I’m sure there’s a reason, but there is a motion sensor pointed at my bed that blinks when I move. Problaby a good reason for it, but it’s kind of just freaking me out.

Looking down on Hell

CRUISING ALTITUDE OVER THE ATLANTIC — Ever wonder what Hell will look like when it freezes over?

Greenland.

I have more pictures, but WordPress says I’ve reached my upload quota. Bastards.

Belfast to Dublin on the slowest bus ever

Belfast in photos

Welcome to Sandy Row.

City Hall at Donegall Square.

Welcome to Belfast

 

BELFAST — I got hit with an egg last night.

Welcome to Belfast. Some little bastards drove by and threw a brown egg at me as I walked down the street. Thankfully, it just bounced off my leg and broke on the ground, but what the hell?

Other than that, Belfast seems pretty okay. It’s expensive because they use pounds (which is the most arrogant form of currency I’ve ever seen). And the city is a lot more spread out than the other cities in the Republic, so it’s a little bit harder to explore, but I’ve wandered around most of the city centre.

A lot of things are the same, and a lot are different. It’s weird to see British flags flying over everything.

The road to Belfast

BELFAST — Ireland is beautiful.

I have to admit that I slept most of the way from Galway to Sligo, but after that, I could barely turn away from the window. I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t stop to read. The countryside was gorgeous.

For most of the trip, the land has gone back and forth from impressive to boring, but today’s seven-hour trip to Belfast proved beautiful. Plenty of pictures.

Fly casting for the camera

GALWAY — So this is an awkward thing to try to film by yourself, especially without editing, but here is some footage of me casting along the bank of the River Corrib. I don’t know if it really worked out how it should have, but you might find it entertaining.

Fly fishing fotos

Here’s some pictures from my afternoon of fishing along the River Corrib. If I had caught that one fish, it would have been perfect.

The river was pretty great, but strange people kept showing up. Some bastard kids came down and started throwing rocks even though one of them said not to because I was fishing. And then an Italian couple came down to the water to have a lover’s quarrel about one of them cheating on the other. That was entertaining.

Enjoy the photos. Or not.

Friday the 13th

GALWAY — Happy Birthday John.

It’s the 13th, but our luck’s been okay so far. It’s raining, but not pouring which is good.

Today, Liz and I got lunch at a nice little diner called Eddie Rocket’s. Then we checked out the Galway City Museum and learned quite a bit about the city’s history as well as regional fishing culture. We also picked up some gifts while in town.

Yesterday I went fishing along the bank of the River Corrib. My fishing spot was right across the water from a fairly impressive castle. I had one really good strike, but the bastard broke my line and ran off with it.

The rest of the day was spent lounging around and finding pubs with decent music. There was a  solid band at the Roisin Dubh.

Tomorrow, I head to Belfast, in theory, for about three days before getting back to Dublin for departure. When I get to wi-fi in Belfast, I will post more pictures.

Take care all.  

Street band

More video. And something actually happens in this one.