Belfast in Review

In my last post about Belfast, we were at an internet cafe with faster and cheaper internet service which is why we could upload pictures to Walgreens for Grandma and Gramps and post 3 pictures for this blog. For some reason, the ship internet connection will usually only allow us to upload 1 picture per log in. After that, the upload pages timeout. We don't understand it but that is what we have realized.


Brian also resizes our pictures so that they are easier to upload. Since they are only viewed on our blog on a computer screen, there is no need to upload a high resolution image. Brian uses a free program called Irfanview (http://www.irfanview.com/) to do this. Even with the ship's slow internet access, we are able to upload the photos in about 10-15 seconds. Resizing the pictures to 25-30% of their original size makes the image as much as 20 times smaller.


Because we had to come back to the room to get the computer, then go back into Belfast, we had little time which is why my first Belfast post was a little short. There are some more things I wanted to add. First the Belfast Welcome Center has great internet. It cost 1 pound for 20 minutes. There was a nice table that we sat at with our laptop. We bought internet and then logged onto their wireless network with the username and password on the receipt. They also had stationary computers if you did not have a laptop. It worked out great. (While there I did check my email but I will probably not for the rest of the trip because I am spending all my internet time on this blog).


While in downtown Belfast we stopped at a McDonald's for restroom break. We were both shocked at the sink set up. Most sinks come out of the wall this one was built into it (it was flush with the wall – not protruding from the wall like sinks normally do). It was rather small. There were 3 metal buttons to push depending on what you wanted: soap, water, heat (to dry). It was interesting. I have never seen anything like it before. At first, I did not think there were any sinks and I was grateful that I had our Purell in our bag but it was not needed this time.


After we were done at the Internet Cafe, we walked outside and it was pouring down rain. I was so glad we got to the city early this morning and do everything we wanted to. Remember I really don't like rain. I think walking in it is miserable so we headed back to the ship. I hope Scotland does not have too much rain, although everyone has told us that rain is the norm here.


While we were in our cabin, we heard music outside. We went out on deck and saw an Irish band playing music for the ship. It was nice of them. We stood out there for 10-15 minutes until they packed up to go home.


For dinner we ate at Blue Lagoon. It is a comfort food restaurant open 24 hours a day. It has hamburgers, hot dogs, fish and chips, chicken fingers, etc. We did not like anything on the main dining menu so we decided to try Blue Lagoon. We both had chef salads that were good. For dessert, we had cheesecake with blueberry topping. That was very good. Many of the desserts we have tried on the ship have just been okay but this was excellent. Blue Lagoon took just as long as the main dining room would have to be served dinner even though it was not busy. We even got to sit next to the window and it was beautiful scenery during our dinner.


Also in every restaurant the waiters have not been good a filling and refilling our water glasses. Just something else we have noticed. We have learned to order ice tea and water with our dinner meals. This way we will always have something to drink. There have been many times we have waiting for more than 10-15 minutes for water. That is a bit long.


Tomorrow in Glasgow we are doing a NCL tour where they take us into the city then we have several hours to explore on our own. I believe it is about 45 minutes drive from the port we dock in. Hopefully it will be a nice day.