June 4 - Belfast and Ballywalter beach Northern Ireland

Another relaxing easy breezy day... rain off and on windy chilly cold for a little while, then the sun comes out it's nice and 58 or so... back and forth all day... M taking another day or relaxation, she got the sudoku bug lol i bought a book of 250 puzzles yesterday she's hooked... so she just stayed here all day ate up all the food we have cuz tomorrow AM we are out of here by 10 on the train to Dublin by 1:00, get to Dublin 330 our check in southwest city after 400 so going to bed early tonight it's still light tho almost 10:30 and it will be bright and sunny by 5:00 am... I well felt guilty having a car rented and not using it... lol... no really, at the City Hall yesterday they had a couple exhibits about the Troubles fascinating me for some reason, so I looked well some of the worst stuff Bloody Sunday was over in Derry/Londonderry, it's about 75 miles west I was going to go there but as i got ready to go it was pelting down rain dark windy dreary for a long drive even the fast roads here are not divided all the time and sometimes one lane which turn lanes come and go and lots of roundabouts which are like bumper car scenes so...

i looked up the troubles and see the Ulster Museum here in Belfast has an exhibition called The Troubles and Beyond, so I went there, first to the Botanic Gardens

and then to the Ulster Museum, it was a very interesting couple rooms,

well the big question everyone asks, what cause the troubles to start ? And no one knows... there's no good answer, i will post some items here i suggest you go online to find out more... the most comprehensive resource i found is The CAIN Archive https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/ Interesting things i saw today, the rubber and plastic bullets i always thought they would be the same size as regular bullets... nope

and a bunch of period artifacts and first hand accounts of people who were kids then... it's in the botanic park and as i found out close to The Queens University of Belfast which you can see is very pretty... there was a guy out there cutting the lawn real short with a mower like they use on golf greens... But overall it was a pretty somber tone... left there feeling hm... shaking my head and thankful not to have to be a part of that type of stuff, one final take away... there was a short little wall with a plea for support for Gaza... the writer of this poem, along with his wife, sister, and 3 children, ... were killed not long ago...

June 3 - Ballywalter bungalow and Belfast

So today was supposed to be a down day and it was pretty much for M, I had a big breakfast (slept late cuz it still doesn't get dark here til 10:30 and then its light again at 430) and headed into Belfast to get a rideshare bike and ride around... but, the app didn't work for some reason it takes my phone number with the 1+ USA prefix, but then when i go to rent a bike, it has to send me a text to confirm and it never does.. no phone number to call either... so i just hoofed it around central Belfast City... mostly just within a half mile of Belfast City Hall, which was quite interesting.

Belfast is a busy city, Queens College is right downtown and there were lots of tourists...besides me...

June 2 - Inverness to Belfast

Rather uneventful day we packed up and headed to the airport, flew over to Belfast on a prop plane only took about an hour and 10 minutes. Got the rental car, went to the Titanic Museum but it was too crowded no didn't want that the restaurant and cafe all packed no place to sit so we just got out of there, lol 11 minutes in the parking garage we decided just go out to where we are going to be staying and it was a good move....

Beautiful beaches out here Ballywalter beach is a mile and a half north of here, Balyhalter i think is 2 miles south and we are in a nice oceanfront bungalow which has been updated big windows look out to a walled yard, and the beach and Irish Sea. Windy today the sea is wild and it's been howling all day, was 58 it said... but it didn't feel like it, felt like 45. Anyway i went into town at Newtownards and got groceries we are set for 3 days but M want's a down day tomorrow so i am signing up for Nextbike share in Belfast i may go in it's about 26 miles well but not like 26 highway miles these roads are narrow and they drive fast and there are tractors and stone walls and all kinds of things going on, not to mention we're driving on the wrong side of the road tricky to do those right turns and only once today did i forget when the navigation app said turn right i got in the right hand lane of course here comes a guy turning left into the parking lot but he stopped and gave me a thumbs up he could tell... So it's late the wind is still howling but so quiet and peaceful here just 2 neighbors and they are not real close by...