Quiet Sundays in Belfast, yet everyone is out and about (4/20)

 It's Easter Sunday, so, Happy Easter to everyone who is following along as we travel to the UK to visit with family and to experience a little down time. 

Stephani was quite tired this morning, only managing to get 3hrs because of the very heavy bedding that we are working with, so this morning we spoke to housekeeping and they were happy to provide us with a few plain sheets to see if that makes a difference. We want to get some good sleep, which is really part of a good vacation. 

We got dressed and wandered down to the flat iron building to The Pocket, a trendy, hip breakfast spot on Upper Church Lane. Very nicely decorated. Would the hip live up to the hype?  Most definitely. The menu was sophisticated. We're not talking about your Mum and Dad's Ulster Fry here, we're talking perfectly prepared Chicken and Waffles for Gary, and delicious French Toast with Marscapone and raspberry reduction for Stephani. Coffee Yummy Yummy, and we were happily fueled and out the door.

Stores Are Mostly Closed, and It's OK

After breakfast we had to do some walking to work off some calories, so we wandered around downtown. It was so early, not many people out initially, which was great because we could stand in the middle of the street for some photos and not be in the way. 

An unfortunate incident in the bathrooms 

Later in the morning we stopped into Black Sheep Coffee, and impressive coffee house of sizeable proportions. I love how many of these old buildings have been maintained and turned into retail space.  So, I got a code for the bathroom and went to take care of business, typing the code into this strange little keypad, muffing the number initially, then getting it right a second attempt. I pushed the door open and noticed a cell phone sitting on the sink, and then a woman's face leering around the door at me saying "Can I help you?", to which I profusely apologized.  If this is the way Irish toilets work, it's a new one for me. I think maybe she had forgot to lock the door after going in. Needless to say.. I did not get to go.  So we walked back to the hotel for some rest. 

Lot's of beautiful old buildings that could be renovated

The thing I kept noticing as we walked around downtown was the many properties that had become rundown. It's quite sad looking at these buildings.  There was one located on a corner that had a row of retail storefronts, all vacant, and the upper floors abandoned. 

A prime spot, and a beautiful view from large windows looking down on the city center.  Stephani came up with an idea for our renovation show that we could pitch to the BBC.  "The Loft" - an American couple buy the old building for a good price and spend the next 2 years renovating it into a prime real estate property.  One of the buildings we looked at was on 5 floors and it was only 1.3 million pounds, which seemed like a real good deal to me, just based on the prime retail space on one of the main streets and all of those floors above. 

If we had the money, I think that's what we would love to do, and how entertaining would that be.  We could involve the city of Belfast in the episode planning where we cut away to things going on around Belfast while the project progresses. 

Standing waiting to take a picture of the BELFAST sign

We noticed a large Belfast sign and wanted to take a picture of it, but the lens on my camera meant I needed to stand far back across the street. I was just about to snap my picture when some girls walked up to take pictures, they spend a good long while at the sign.  Then as they walked away several other people walked up to do the same thing, even though we were there first.  Stephani stood off to the side of the sign and began motioning to the people that I was standing across the street. They finally moved, but the whole thing took an eternity. I think the picture turned out pretty good though.

Why is Belfast so busy?

With mostly all of the shops closed, it was puzzling to see so many people out walking around. There's not much else to do on a Sunday, other than church, and we did not hire a car for this part of the holiday, so we made our own fun taking lots of pictures, which is something we both enjoy.  

The other thing we noticed is this haircut young boys all have. We used to call it a short back and sides when I was growing up, very short shaved almost around the ears and back of the neck and long mop top. All of the boys have this hairdo. 

We had dinner at Granny Annie's, a great place with live music entertainment. 

Gary had the Steak and Ale Pie with Champ (mashed potatoes with spring onion).

Stephani had the fish n chips. 

We both drank our favorite scotish lager Tenants. 

Then we headed back to the room to rest. 

Here's some photos from the day.