On Friday, we boarded a Luas tram a couple of hours before sunrise (which doesn't sound as heroic when you realize that sunrise doesn't happen until 8:30 this time of year). There was a dense fog and between that and the dark, it felt like I was in a cocoon. I hadn't ridden a tram in the dark before, so it was a bit jarring. Inside the tram, it seemed brighter than usual with no outside light to mute the glaring overhead lighting.
Our destination was the Irish Rail (Iarnród Éireann) Dublin Connolly station. About 23 stops later, we exited the Green Line Luas tram and walked a bit to get to the Red Line Luas station at Abbey Street. The tram takes you directly to the Connolly station, but that leg of the route wasn't running yet, so we got off the tram at Busaras and walked the couple blocks to the station.
It was close to the time of our Irish Rail departure, so we didn't linger too long at the station. Eli had reserved two seats for us, so we went to a ticketing kiosk to print our paper tickets and then headed for the platform. There were gates you had to go through before you could enter the platform - like subway turnstiles. You fed your ticket into the machine and it would open the gates and allow you to pass. Eli had to put his ticket in multiple times to get it to work. The machine kept buzzing and not letting me pass, so in swooped a member of the station staff. He said, "Is it not working for you, luv?" and he swiped his security card to get the gate to open.
We were in the C car, so we walked down the platform until we found our carriage and got onboard. This sign helpfully indicated that we had reserved these seats, which I thought was pretty cool (it's hard to read but it lists our names). We put our backpacks and coats in the overhead storage and settled in for departure.
The conductor came through, asking people for their ticket so he could punch them. I wished him good morning, and he said, "It'd be a good morning if I were in the pub." 🙂 A bit into the trip, a woman came by with a trolley, inquiring if we wanted a drink or snack. I told Eli I had to bite my lip not to say "We'll take the lot," which is what Harry Potter said to the trolley lady in the first HP movie.
Our car was fairly empty and quiet. There was a pair of younger ladies in the seats across the aisle from ours, and they came fully prepared for a two-hour trip. They had fruit, drinks, cookies, and a small snack pack that had crackers and salami. They kept up a steady chatter of Spanish for the entire trip, and it was fun to try to catch words I understood. (As we got closer to our destination, one of the women started applying makeup, using her phone's camera as a mirror. The train's motion was fairly steady with a few bumpier stretches, and I was in awe that she was brave enough to have a sharp eyeliner anywhere near her eye.)
The fog lifted as we moved farther away from Dublin. It was still grey but eventually, there was enough light to see the surroundings as we flew past. There were small, green pastures that were outlined by fences made of stacked stone. They were devoid of livestock, so I said, "I was promised sheep."
And I got sheep. Lots and lots of sheep. Along with a few cows and some horses. Some of the sheep were close to the tracks, some were just smallish white dots on the horizon.
At some point during the ride, Eli got a text notification so he glanced at his phone. It was our mobile provider, Virgin, letting him know that international roaming was now in place. For those of you who may not know, Northern Ireland is part of the UK so even though it's on the Irish island, it's a whole 'nother country where they use pounds instead of euros and sing "God Save the King."
We arrived at Grand Central Station in Belfast on time, leaving the train and headed for the station. Again, there were machines that required you to swipe your ticket to get into the station but they were also apparently being recalcitrant because a staff member was just waving people through.
We stopped at the Customer Service desk to see if we could get a visitor transportation pass there, and happily, we could. The passes were about £7 each, and they were valid for unlimited travel all day.
Our first stop was the Botanic Gardens. The gardens were established in 1828 by the Belfast Botanic and Horticultural Society, in response to public interest in horticulture and botany.
There were many different types of trees and flora, and we heard a lot of birdsong and saw many squirrel friends. At one point along the walk, a couple of squirrels seemed to be wanting to approach us - I'm sure people feed them, so they're used to getting handouts from humans. I didn't shoo them away, but I told them to get back. Getting bitten by a squirrel in Belfast didn't sound like the best use of my time there.
They had a grass labyrinth laid out with various types of rose bushes along the sides of the walking area but, being December, all of the bushes had been cut back in preparation for winter. I'm sure that's quite a sight to see in the summer with all of the different rose varieties in bloom.
Inside the grounds is a building that houses the Tropical Ravine. As shown in the last photo, the temperature was 24.4 C which is around 76 F. I love ferns, so I was tickled to find a couple fern species there. The waterfall was wonderful, and I got a video. I was cursing internally while filming though because there was a woman talking VERY LOUDLY nearby. Lady, I want to hear the water, not you.
Also on the grounds is the Palm House, which was built in the 1830s and is one of the earliest examples of a curvilinear cast iron glasshouse. The first plant photo is some kind of cactus-ish creature, and it made me laugh. There's this innocent-looking bouquet of blossoms at the end of a nasty stem of spikes. It's like "party in the front, bloody screaming death in the back."
After our journey around the Botanic Gardens, we took the bus to CastleCourt Shopping Centre. Eli wanted to tour the Crumlin Road Gaol (jail); I had no interest in that, so I said I'd wander around the mall instead. I like to take my time while I'm window shopping; Eli isn't as fond of that activity so this seemed like a good compromise. It was near lunchtime, and we were both hungry, so we stopped by the food court. Eli had a falafel dish and I had KFC - as one does when you're in Belfast.
Then he was off to jail and I was off to explore the mall. There were the usual clothing and shoe stores, but there was also a candy store called Gobstopper and a Bargain Books where everything was 50% off. I had to force myself not to buy anything at the bookstore.
Feeling a bit peckish, I went to a shop called Muffin Break and got a chocolate chip muffin. This thing was the size of a softball and only £2.80! Believe me when I tell you that I thoroughly enjoyed this confectionary delight. The edges of the muffin top were slightly crunchy, and the rest of it was moist and delicious.
My feet were tired, so I found a comfortable place to sit down. I texted Eli my location and in short order, he arrived to collect me. Our train back to Dublin was slated to leave at 4 p.m. so we decided to head back to the station.
The bus stop was right in front of an amusement center (a casino, basically) in a slightly sketchy looking part of town. As we stood waiting for the bus, a person exited the casino, speaking loudly and angrily in a different language. I tensed up, ready to defend if necessary, but they continued on their way, still angrily barking as they moved down the street.
Back at the station, we had time to kill before our departure so we went to Pret a Manger, which is Starbucks-like. Eli got a falafel and halloumi wrap as well as a grape and elderflower fizzy drink; I got a Coke; and we split a chocolate croissant.
We went to the platform, but they weren't allowing people to board yet so we took a seat. It was interesting that a large line was forming, but they didn't let people through until about 5 minutes before departure. Staff was punching people's tickets at this checkpoint, which slowed things down even more. I didn't think they'd let the trail pull out while people were still working their way onto the platform but I hoofed it to car D just to be on the safe side.
The outside of this train looked old, but the inside was modern and looked fairly new. I didn't get a photo, but again there was an LED sign that had our names listed. The seats were purple and covered with a velvety upholstery. For the trip back to Dublin, our seats were oriented facing the front of the train; on the trip to Belfast, we were sitting backwards.
It was dark by this time so there wasn't much to see out the windows. I read a book for a little while; Eli played around on the socials using his phone. We had trolley service again but, as we had had a snack at the station, we didn't get anything.
The ride back was fairly uneventful. A group of people boarded at the first or second stop, and they were talking quite loudly. I was like, "Dudes, read the room. It's quiet in here besides you." Thankfully, they got off at the next stop, and the train was quiet again.
We pulled into Dublin Connolly around 6:20 p.m. The Red Line tram that would've taken us from the station to Abbey Street was again in service....and we just missed it. We caught another Red Line tram to Abbey Street and walked a bit to get to the Green Line tram that would take us home.
On the front of each tram, there's a lighted digital sign that tells you the tram's final stop. The tram that pulled up when the Brides Glen tram was due said "Not in Service." We still piled on, and the driver never kicked us all off, so we figured we were good to go. It was packed with people so we had to stand for quite some time. I sat down as soon as a seat opened up as my hip was bothering me, and Eli eventually got a seat as the population thinned.
We'd been away more than 12 hours so the cats were glad to see us, and I was just as glad to be home.
As Eli pointed out, I've now been in three different countries since August (US, Republic of Ireland, and Northern Ireland). Not bad for someone who had never been outside the US in over 50 years.
