tour de northern ireland - belfast

day 2 of my ireland trip... **the skies hate me!**

boarded the train from dublin to belfast first thing in the morning...**had to sacrifice my irish breakfast aka lots of bacon and eggs** was running late, and i couldn't find the ticket counter at the train station as i had not collected my tickets yet... **sweat** i finally got my ticket! and i could not believe how liberal the irish people can be... guess what, a day trip to the giant causeway coast from belfast was top of my itinary, but the company conducting the tour informed me that their coach broke down...=( omans, what am i supposed to do for the rest of the day!?

and you will get FINED if you are caught littering... see, singapore is not the only country which fines for littering...

WHAT?! we can't drink in public?? omans, this is probably the first city i've seen such a sign... the signs are all over the city...

the famous st. george's market...oldest continually operated market in Ireland... the albert memorial clock... erected in 1865 to commemorate Queen Victoria's consort, Prince Albert... oh, forgot to mention that the tower leans 1.25 metres off vertical, making it belfast's own leaning tower...

belfast city hall +belfast wheel... a fine example of classical Renaissance style, this masterpiece of Portland stone is the home of Belfast city council...

the belfast castle and the Cavehill that overlooks the entire belfast... and guess what, this castle is popular as a wedding reception venue... imagine photo-taking at this italian style serpentine exterior staircase... nice! also, wanted to scale cavehill (1000++ feet above sea level, but the bad weather and lack of drinks and food, coupled with laziness lay those plans to rest... )

lastly, the largest shopping mall in UK, the victoria square... see the spiral staircase?