Last weekend, Judith and I made our way up to Belfast, which is about 2 hours north of Dublin, but not part of the Republic of Ireland. Instead, Belfast is part of the UK and, unlike in the Republic, everything is in miles, pounds, and Gaelic signs are not mandatory. So... It's just like going to the States! I'm kidding it's NOTHING like it, but there is some rivalry between the Republic and Northern Ireland since the latter is still under British Sovereignty and the former is not.
So Judith and I took the train from Connolly Station in downtown Dublin and were quite fortunate to have our own personal chauffeur, Aran, waiting patiently for us at the Central Station in Belfast! This does hint to the fact that we were even more spoiled with a fantastic (and free) accommodation throughout our stay. We spent the first night at The John Hewitt with Aran and a number of his friends, drinking the night away and enjoying the live music. Judith even got to dance with the most eligible bachelor in town! It was great craic (pronouced crack)*, as most would say around here!
As an aside, a bit of background on Aran, whom I met when he came to Canada on a 1 year work visa and spent half his time volunteering at La Roma as his cousin (Rory) works there.
In any case, on Saturday, Aran drove us all the way up to the North Coast towards Portstewart, giving us a beautiful view of the lush green Irish countryside along the way! Aran DID warn us that we would be coming up to the North Atlantic very quickly, but nothing could have prepared us for the exhilarating first glimpse of the ocean at the end of the street once we turned that last bend. 
As it turns out, this is where Aran stayed for a few years while in university and so he took us to the Harbour Cafe, where we had our first ever Ulster Fry, which consists of an egg, grilled mushrooms (the Irish love their mushrooms), fried potatoes, fresh tomato, nice thick bacon, sausage, and the best part: both potato and soda bread!
We then made our way East along the coast towards the Giant's Causeway, making a brief stop at Dunluce Castle, which was built right on the edge of a high cliff, causing it to fall prey to the elements in more recent times with half of it having fallen into the ocean. And no wonder, as on our climb back up towards the parking lot after having enjoyed the view, the wind was blowing in so strongly from the open ocean that we were basically forced to RUN up the stairs!
Coming up to the Giant's Causeway, we had to go through the town of Bushmills, which gave us a glimpse of the Old Bushmills Distillery and, judging by the cold we were hit with on the coast soon thereafter, we probably should have stopped in for a drink, but we rushed on to our ultimate destination in our eagerness to get there... And what a cherry on top it was! The perfectly hexagonal basalt rock pillar formations were simply otherworldly and we were enchanted by the sight of them for the next 2 hours; just walking along the coastline and enjoying the warmth of the sun, the salty flavor in the air, and the soothing sound of the waves crashing against the shore. And, of course, the stones are well known to have been crafted by an Irish giant.
The story goes that the Irish warrior, Finn McCool, built the Causeway out of stone to reach Scotland and fight the Scottish giant Benandonner. However, after seeing Benandonner's great bulk, Finn fled back to Ireland and disguised himself as a baby. When the former saw the size of the 'infant', he assumed the alleged father, Finn, must be gigantic indeed and fled home in terror, ripping up the Causeway in case he was followed. Of course I feel like the Scottish version of this story may be slightly different, but either way, I am glad those two giants wanted to fight and left us with a wondrous place to visit. We also got to see Finn McCool's organ up on the side of the mountain.
On Sunday, our personal tour guide (and History major, which is always handy when exploring a city), brought us around the city of Belfast and we were awed by the sheer magnitude of Samson & Goliath, the two Harland&Wolff cranes used to build ships at the docks where the infamous Titanic was built. The Titanic museum is actually scheduled to open in April to mark the 100th anniversary of it's maiden voyage, which does provide some incentive to go back! We then walked along the Peace Line, which is essentially spans about 21km and divides the Catholic and Protestant neighborhoods in Belfast. It was an eerie feeling, perhaps not unlike what standing in the shadow of the Berlin wall might feel (although I may be shocking some people with that comparison). Judith and I added our names to the peace messages scrawled on it.
Finally, we briefly walked through the downtown core, with the Baroque style city hall, trendy shopping streets, and the leaning tower of Belfast: the Albert Memorial Clock.
To top off a wonderful weekend, we had our first home-cooked meal since we left Canada, with Aran and his family before we caught the last train back to Dublin.
And of course, thanks are due to Aran and his family, Caroline, Sarah, Daragh (sorry for any spelling mistakes) and Caelan for making our stay so wonderful!
Sláinte!
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