Tuesday Exploration

I am happy to report the downtown and hotel noise is mostly a weekend thing.  I have a funny feeling that the weekend may start on Thursday night though.  My suspicion arises from the mall hours, Thursday is the only night they are opened until 9:00 pm.  I will let you know in two days. lol

We are all starting to feel more rested the kids are sleeping in until 8:00 or 9:00.  I am usually awake at 6:00 with Steve.  We even had the alarm clock wake us up one day, often the increased traffic noise wakes us before the alarm can.

Steve's company has paid for our breakfast here at the hotel.  That has been so nice.  They have a large dinning room and breakfast is a smorgasbord style with two kinds of eggs, bacon, sausage, roasted tomatoes, cereal, yogurt and a few kinds of  bread.  With three growing kids this has been a blessing.  They are definitely filled up for an hour before we head out exploring.

Jury's Inn - our hotel

Here is a picture of our really plain hotel.  Well the outside is nothing to look at.  The rooms have been updated and they are nice.  The corner glass areas on each floor are meeting rooms.  I will have to get a picture of the Europa on the next street it is a beautiful hotel. =)

For something new yesterday the kids and I headed off to ... Ikea. Yes they have an Ikea over near where Steve works.  There is still so much confusion over the apartment we are supposed to be staying in.  Confusion is more like complete lack of communication.  It looks like the one we have been told we could have will be available after the 1st of August.  It is a two bedroom and that might not sit well with management that we have 3 kids in one room.  I am not sure they will know it has someone new in it though as it is rented by a guy other than the one staying there and the company pays for it, sigh.  We also have not been advised if the furniture will be staying on the 1st or if it belongs to the people there now.  Thus a trip to check prices and selection was in order.

The trip to Ikea involved catching a new bus.  Which we did with little difficulty.  Our kids like to sit at the back of the bus over the motor.  Yesterday with the muggy warm weather it was almost my undoing it felt a bit like sitting in a toaster oven.  On the return trip I picked our seat near the front of the bus and felt much more comfortable.

Upon arriving at Ikea we had lunch.  Their food must be the same everywhere.  Out the dining area window we could see the big Bombardier building where Steve works, so we called him to let him know we were waving.  There is a airport runway between him and the Ikea mall so he could not just walk over and see us.  We wrote down prices of several thing like beds and a table in case we need one.  The kids had fun making suggestions but soon got the idea of looking for inexpensive items that fit our family.  Our time finished off with an icecream for the kids.  Just like home.


We then headed over to the strip mall next to Ikea.  It had two house wares stores and a sporting goods store.  The one house ware store seemed to be like winners everything had a price but was marked down at least half of the original price.  The girls found bedding they would love to use and it was comparable to Ikea.  Lighting section was amazing, reminded me of McInnis Lighting in PG.  So many chandeliers as ceiling lights and lamps.  The kids were all in awe of their display.

On our return bus trip we got to go through the Titanic Quarter where Steve works. It is right on the docks.  Ship building really went down hill for Ireland after the sinking of the Titanic. So they have added industries to the area the used to be shipyards. 

I love that the Titanic Museum was built to look like the front of the ship on all four sides.  The kids and I are excited to visit the museum.  We have been warned that you have to book two weeks in advance to get in.  It is a very busy place.

Ferries at the dock

Sampson and Goliath the cranes that helped build the Titanic

Bombardier - one of their may buildings

A better idea of the size of these two massive cranes.

Titanic Museum

Another fun part of being here right now is the Olympics.  That same energy is flowing through Northern Ireland as what we had in Canada during the Winter Olympics.  The bus exchange in the downtown is City Hall where the big Olympic screen is so we spent a bit of time there yesterday it is a good spot for the kids to chase pigeons and play tag.  We got to watch on the huge screen the final bit of the torch relay.  I am not so sure about going down for the opening ceremonies on Friday night but with the security we saw yesterday and the good will of the crowd we may try it.  I will make sure to take my hunny with me.

more people watching today

Sabrina and Samuel

Sarah

For dinner we headed out to a place Steve has been wanting us to try.  It is one of his favorites.  Pizza Express, oh my it was so worth waiting until 8:30 for him to get home and go there.  Their pizza is amazing the place is crazy busy and the service is slow.  We were there until 10:00 our poor boy almost fell asleep on the table.  He told our waiter that it was number one on his list of places to eat.  We all agreed with him.  It was not the best place for me to eat because I suspect I might have an allergy to wheat and milk but a few digestive enzymes helped me to not suffer.  For dessert I was able to have a dairy free raspberry sorbet that was to die for.  The kids enjoyed their gelato icecream and Steve had Bannoffee pie.  We may have to make it a weekly place to visit. =)

Banoffee pie (also spelled banoffi, or banoffy) is an English pastry-based dessert made from bananas, cream, and toffee from boiled condensed milk either on a pastry base or one made from crumbled biscuits and butter. Some versions of the recipe also include chocolate and/or coffee.

Now doesn't that sound yummy.