Two Good Days

In the past week, I have had to exceptionally good days.

Day One: Portaferry/Strangford, Northern Ireland

N, A, and I made a daytrip to Portaferry and Stangford, two cities on the East Coast of Northern Ireland. After arriving, we got our morning caffeine and played few games of crazy eights at a lovely little café, before heading off to the aquarium. I learned all sorts of fun facts like: sharks take a tasting bite of everything that they eat, to see if they like it, before they keep eating. Sharks don’t like the taste of people, so almost all shark attacks are only one bite.

The aquarium also houses a seal sanctuary. Every year, the sanctuary chooses a theme for the names for seals they rescue. This year’s is American states. In the past, they have included Harry Potter characters, winter clothes (long john, anorak), Indian dishes, and desserts. We had a conversation later about future name themes – my favorite suggestions included colors, artists not recognized in their lifetime, and the word for seal in other languages.

After the aquarium, we took the ferry across the mouth of a bay to Strangford, a small village. The weather was quite bad—rainy and cold, so we huddled in the enclosed bit of the ferry. We had a happy wander and lunch in Strangford before heading back to Portaferry. We followed the walking tour of the city printed in a brochure we picked up at the Tourist Information Office.

As it was still cold and we had a few hours before the next bus back to Belfast, we hoped to find a café to while away the time. One of my least favorite aspects of Northern Irish life is that everything closes early. Cafes and many stores shut at 5. I don’t understand how anyone does their shopping. We ended up at a hotel. The staff was busy with a wedding, so we sat in the reception area, ate yummy desserts, and were pleased that they forgot about us for a few hours.

Upon returning to Belfast, we joined in a going away party for someone I had never met before.

Day Two: Yesterday, Belgrade

Z, a coworker has long-promised to take me out on her boat, but we have had trouble finding the time—mostly because when I have been in Belgrade, I have been overwhelmed with work. Yesterday, with most of the rest of my coworkers on vacation or at a conference abroad, we found the time. N, another coworker/friend and I met Z and her husband at the marina in Zemun and we headed out to the river. Every the obliging tour guides, they took us past Kalemegdan, so I could see the city from the water. We headed up the Sava, along Ada to look at the vikendice, usually, but not always small floating cabins where people spend their weekends (hence the name). We stopped and swam for a while. The water was amazingly warm.

We climbed back on the boat and feasted on fried eggplant, pita, and fruit, washed down with beer and vinjak, before heading back down the river. We then stopped at Lino Beach, on the Danube, where Z and N ran into everyone they went to school with. Of course, these old friends where invited back to the boat for a coffee and watermelon. We sat and drank and ate and chatted and watched the sun set over Zemun before heading back to the marina and the bustle of city life.