Fergus and George and Shirley and Eileen

Sigh.

It's the last day Shirley and Eileen are here.

Our adventure today brought us the joy of another taxi ride and since that was one of the things Shirley wanted to do while she was in Belfast, we were happy to oblige.

This is outside the apartment building waiting for the taxi. They are getting really good about me taking so many pictures.

Vivi bundled up and occasionally wore her scarf so she looked like Professor Quirrell.

Since we are in Harry Potter mode, you may as well read the rest of the blog post with the music in the background.

That's right: Carrickfergus Castle.  For more than 800 years, Carrickfergus Castle has been an imposing monument on the Northern Ireland landscape whether approached by land, sea or air.

Since Vivi and I have been to the castle before, we told them to go on ahead while we went to see the weapons demonstration. Behold, Vivi the Conqueror:

The chain mail is way heavier than it looks.

You have to look at this picture while remembering what Viv sounds like when she's cracking up because that's exactly what sound was coming out of those little holes.

She spent a while building this castle and wanted to share two pictures: drawbridge up and drawbridge down.

From the castle we walked to the train station and rode to Belfast Central Station.

Yes. I insisted on a picture on the train.

At Belfast Central Viv put all her money in this donation statue for rescue dogs.

From the train station we walked to St. George's Market.

History of Belfast's markets
Trading and market selling has played a significant role in the growth of Belfast since the 1613 Charter was awarded by James I. The Charter granted Belfast Borough status.

From the late 17th century, Belfast became the main port in the area taking over from Carrickfergus. The range and quantity of imports and exports grew throughout the 18th century and Belfast's market tradition began to develop alongside Belfast's growing commercial prosperity.

By the 1900s, Belfast had around a dozen markets which sold everything from potatoes, pork, fowl, fish and vegetables to hay, straw, flax and poultry.

The Belfast Bap Company is a booth with two lovely people who work there. The chef remembered us and remarked how tall Vivi is getting and asked where we'd been. We told him about our travels, that we have guests right now, then told him we have a London trip and a Finland trip and we'll see him in about a month when the next visitors arrive.

He makes Vivi sausage on a Bap, which she loves. I told him to make me anything and it was a beautiful arrangement of boxty, hash browns, egg, and special sauces. It was delicious.

Eileen had a relative named John Kelly so she got a print from a booth owned by...John Kelly.

Lehighton Folks at the Folk Museum

This morning we all took showers; nice, hot showers. But when we started dishes, the water was ice cold.

Huh.

Oh.

I wonder if I have enough money in the gas.

In Belfast, there is a card  that I take to the Spar store

 and put money on it. Then I  put the card in the 

but it still didn't work. I followed all the instructions in the manual and did troubleshooting online, but no success. I called the Accommodations Office and once again they were very accommodating (sorry. I can't help making the joke.) and said they'd send someone to fix it. A very nice man came, pressed a reset button and I told him that reset button is not in any of the paperwork and he agreed and said they don't usually tell people about it so they don't mess it up. I was chagrined, but happy to have instant hot water.

The adventure of the day was the Ulster Folk Museum, Viv's pick for the activity. It didn't disappoint! The weather was cold, but not frigid, and we walked the whole museum and saw all the buildings.

When the girls went on their day trip to Giant's Causeway, the bus went through this tunnel, but is far taller than this carriage.

Judge Vivian

This is some old plaster:

Hey, girl!

She's getting taller

What a great idea! Pussywillow branches are perfect for this:

Eileen had a relative named John Kelly

Fancy old timey clothes

Oh, look. Another picture of nothing I intended to capture.

Mrs. Rodgers teaching Vivian in an old timey school:

The animals were out! And they expected to be fed grass.

We obliged.

Shirley looks lovely walking on a pretty road.

This is a random stream meandering through the property.

And these are gorgeous purple flowers blanketing the woods.

Viv used the scarf in different ways depending on what body part was cold.

Moo.

Moo. Moo.

Look at the size of this thing!

Vivian is a stern teacher.

Seriously. Northern Ireland is beautiful.

The horses saw us, knew we were serious about feeding them grass and clomped over to make it happen.

That's a magpie sitting on the column.

This was maybe the best part of the day:

Vivian and I had taken the ferry from Belfast to Cairnryan, Scotland about a month ago. The ferry has a playroom and Vivian met a girl, Johanna, who was making the trip with her family. The kids hit it off and played the entire trip. Her mom saw us in port and gave us a stuffed animal Vivian had forgotten in the room.

There we were in the restaurant of the Folk Museum and Vivian waves to people outside. I didn't think anything of it because Vivian frequently waves to strangers. Then Johanna walked in. What are the chances?? The girls were reunited, Vivian gave Johanna a mood ring to remember her by, and I have a feeling the luck of the Irish will reunite these two again one day.