Ben Crom

A view of Ben Crom reservoir from the top of Ben Crom mountain in the Mournes. I'm not sure that I have managed to capture the dizziness of the shear drop to the water below. I guess you have to be there (to appreciate it) or get a better photographer to visit it. We have had a mixture of showers and sunshine lately, but the sky is quite red tonight so perhaps tomorrow will be more settled.

continental market

Meringues at the continental market.

The Cabin

The Cabin is a lovely, really old fashioned sweet shop and cafe in Donaghadee, still selling sweets by the quarter pound and lovely home-made vanilla ice cream (99s).

Donaghadee

Donaghadee is a small town near the top of the Ards Penninsula. It is the home of Ireland's oldest pub - Grace Neills, and also of The Cabin, a wonderful old fashioned sweet/ice-cream shop (see tomorrow's post).

A continental market sets up a couple of times each year outside the City Hall. Amongst the bratwurst and patisserie stands are some local producers - including, here, Aunt Sandra's Candy Factory.

Burger stand at St George's Market - anyone for a 1ft long hot dog??

Just back after another few days in London. This photograph was taken from my hotel room window - I like the contrast between the georgian terrace and, behind it, the gentle swell of the roof of the British Museum.

Main entrance to City Hall.

Belfast Daily Photo is going to be away for a few days...back soon.

It has been wet and windy and I just haven't been in the mood to go outdoors and take photos, so, here are some lovely hats in Stephen Jones shop window, Covent Garden.

No posts for the last couple of days, I've been over in London, in the rain... This May fair at Covent Garden was held in the open air...the heavy drizzle didn't help.

There is a lot of council (social) housing in Belfast - most of it very plainly designed. Now that a lot of this housing has been sold off to residents, many people have decided to make their homes look more individual. The three door numbers are an unusual touch - I guess the owners had difficulty on deciding on a favourite, so decided to have them all!

I was in the city centre branch of Waterstones this morning and was quite taken aback to see, amongst the sections on cookery, travel etc., a whole new section devoted to 'Painful Pasts'. I find this rather disturbing - do some people actually make straight for this section to see if there are any new stories out on abused childhood?

Greyabbey

The churchyard at Greyabbey. This is a wonderful, really atmospheric place, in a little village at the top of the Ards Penninsula - just a few miles outside Belfast. The abbey itself is crumbling and apparently unsafe to visit, but the graveyard is also well worth a visit - many of the gravestones are very old and quite beautiful.

hello again

The flip-side of yesterday's photo.

This fish is lying hidden in the sand at the bottom of the tank, just the big googly eyes giving it away....

ooh hello

Ray in the touch tank at Exploris Aquarium.

festival of fools

This weekend saw the second Festival of Fools in Belfast. This photo is of half of 'Tempo Rubato' - a surreal double act. My daughter loved them, but I found their masks really creepy - (they reminded me of the mask worn by the Michael Palin character in Brazil). Unfortunately I didn't manage to get any photos of everyone's favourite, the wonderful Mario, Queen of the Circus.

My husband was walking in the Mourne Mountains yesterday and this morning. On the second photograph, you can see the Mourne Wall, a 22 mile long wall, built in the early years of the last century to enclose the Mourne water catchment area.

Big Issues seller outside Forestside shopping centre. Ireland's Big Issues is an offshoot of the UK Big Issue magazine, and provides an income for homeless people.

Intetior staircase in the City Hall. Designed by Sir Alfred Brumwell Thomas, it celebrated its centenary last year. You can take a virtual tour here.

just visiting

I'm not officially participating in today's theme day (still haven't worked out how to..), but nevertheless, I thought I'd visit another city for the day. This was taken last summer, on the last night of a wonderful holiday in Paris, at the funfair in the Tuileries. (The chairs are empty as it had just started to rain- making it a little easier to go home.)