As with all long term vacations and life in general: laundry is inevitable. That’s right, I spent some time in the morning doing my laundry and after that I packed my bags again. Now, the glorious thing about hostels is that they’ll let you store your bags there for a few extra hours, so even after checking out my bags stayed there while I wandered around town a little more. I was sort of surprised at how much time I had! Also, my first impression of Belfast was a little off, it’s not a bad town, but a lot of shops were abandoned and boarded up along the south end of Victoria St. Besides that, there is a very strong street art community and so pretty much any/every surface has graffiti on it.
Despite the consistent drizzle, I had enough time to visit the Botanic Gardens and while I didn’t know quite what to expect, I think I was expecting a little more color. All the same, it was a very nice place to wander around for a while.
After that I made my way uptown and paid a visit to St. Ann’s Cathedral. Now, I’m not religious at all but you’ve probably noticed me visiting my fair share of churches on this trip. That’s because I absolutely love the architecture of old stone cathedrals, you really don’t see much of that in more modern buildings and it’s such a shame.
By the time lunch came around I was picking up my bags and I made my way to the bus station, found my bus the first time and managed to get on it without any confusion at all! This was amazing because I had a flight to catch. Now, there are plenty of ways to get across from Belfast to Edinburgh, but for the sake of time I decided to fly. The flight itself was only about 40 minutes and despite being in a propeller plane, I did not throw up! Yay me! (Having motion sickness is the worst)
Once I landed in Scotland I found my bag, found the tram line and even though I was asked if I needed help, I managed to get my ticket all on my own! Look at me being an adult and everything! Now, I was told by one of my previous roomies that Edinburgh is amazing and I couldn’t agree more! This place is stunning and since it’s been drizzling since I got here, I can’t wait to see it when the sun comes out! They even have a castle on a hill, how cool is that! And to top it off I’m here during Fringe, a local arts and music festival with food stalls and street performers everywhere! I think I love this place!