Oh my Guinness, I love Ireland

We are in Belfast visiting Sarah's friends, eating Wheaten Bread (yes, it deserves to be capitalized), and going to mass. This morning after church we had an Ulster fry - several different types of bread, bacon, sausage, and eggs, fried on the stove. Delicious.

We flew from Oslo to Dublin and stayed a night at the most luxurious (but only 50€ a night!) hotel. After lice-infested hostels and sleeping on trains, trying to beat away drunks, it was quite a treat to have our own bathroom, beds, and tv - all immaculately clean. We also got a beautiful free breakfast there of several different kinds of breads, croissants, berry and orange juice, bacon, sausage, eggs, cereal, cheese, jams, and coffee drinks from a state of the art espresso machine. Needless to say, we were in heaven.

The next day we took a tour of the Guinness factory in Dublin, which was very educational. Along with the tour you got a huge free pint of Guinness at the very top of the building, a round glass room overlooking the entire city.

That afternoon we hopped a bus to Belfast and are now staying with Sarah's friends. So far, I love Ireland! I have never so appreciated the English language more than I do today - after several weeks of hearing nothing but French, Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish, I feel quite at home here.