Some other tidbits about Ireland:

 

I learned this morning that a snug is a small confessional sort of wooden cubicle found in pubs.  They used to be there because it was deemed improper for women to be seen in a pub.  So they’d come in and be squirreled away in a snug.  Now they just seem like really great places to have a Euchre game or six with a ready supply of beer.

 

I also learned that “snog” is slang for making out.  It occurs to me that having a snog in a snug would be bloody brilliant.  Unfortunately I’m one beautiful blonde from the opportunity and the motivation.  Maybe next trip.

 

I’m also growing weary of being reminded that bathrooms are properly called washrooms here.  It’s hard to argue that “wash” is more accurate than “bath”.  And I suppose both are more accurate than “rest”, but none of them really get to the heart of the matter at hand now do they?

 

Well – it’s time to hit the road again.  About the time most readers will be going to bed tonight, I’ll be heading to the airport to fly to India.  Which reminds me, I need to take my Malaria medication tonight.  I’ll also be trying to get my body clock upside down.  We’ll be spending the rest of the trip visiting centers at night, which is when it will be day in the U.S.   This should bode well for when we return home, but it’s gonna be tough to sleep all day for the next week.  

 

Yeeeehaw!!

Things to know about Belfast:

When you ask the locals where you should have dinner, they all (at least 5 of them) recommend The Red Panda. We declined the advice, mostly because we didn’t want to explain why we ate Chinese in Ireland. We also discovered that after 8:30 all the kitchens close. This explains why Guiness is such a meaty brew. It’s all there is to eat after dark.

We also learned that the oldest pub in Belfast is right across from the most bombed (literally) hotel in the city. Coincidence? Makes you wonder if the hotel was just a convenience target for the chaps in the pub, or if the bombings were really an attempt by the chaps’ wives to liberate them from their bar stools.