Vive la LIFE: Buses, Ferries, and Trains...

OK, I am breaking in to apologize for taking so long to put this out. I have no excuse, I have just been lazy. I promise to do better. And to get back to it...

Today was one of two days where I just traveled. I had planned to be in Glasgow by late afternoon but of course I got lost trying to find the train station and ended up taking a bus which turned out to be a good and bad thing. On the good side, I saw more of the country by bus and it made me realize that I needed to come back and spend some actual time in Northern Ireland. It was a bad thing because I didn't end up in the train station, but at a bus stop (as close as the bus driver could get me when we arrived in Larne). I had to then walk 6 or 7 blocks to the ferry and by the time I arrived, I had just missed the early afternoon ferry and I then had to wait for the late afternoon ferry to make my trip across. This delay of 4 hours put the rest of my day completely out of whack. Instead of being able to get my bearings in Glasgow that afternoon, I didn't arrive until late (around 9 pm) and I was too tired to anything other than GO TO BED.

Walking down the street to the train/bus station in Belfast.

I had been told the night before to check out "The Crown Bar" as it is the oldest running pub in Belfast. I couldn't find it the night before, but I found it on my way to the bus station (it was right across from it, go figure)

Just outside the station (here is a look at the older part of Belfast)

Here is the bus station (I had to wait about 1 hour for my bus)

Here I am, walking down to the ferry in Larne (it was a pretty town and a very pretty day)

Another pretty street and you can see the sea in the background (at least I know I am going in the right direction).

And a pretty church (random picture)

A blurry picture of the ferry station (I was taking these with my camera phone)

Here is the ferry. It was not what I was expecting as they had a lot of seating, a couple of gift shops, a bar, a couple of restaurants and they played a movie on the ride over. The ride took a little over two hours and I didn't get sea sick (thank goodness). I wanted to go out and look at the water but I wasn't allowed so here are some pictures from the salt crusted windows.

The water

The biggest island that we passed.

And finally I arrived at Troon, Scotland where I had to again walk about a mile to get to the train station (dragging my suitcase the whole way there). Lucky for me, it was a lovely evening and I had some pretty scenery to look at along the way. I have to say that after that I was too tired to get any more pictures.