Saturday, 9 August 2008

Gothenburg

View across from Stryso to the next little island.

On the boat out to the islands.

View from the Liseberg Tower. (In the foreground is the Gothia Towers Hotel and the Svenska Massan; the Ullevi Stadium in the backround.)

Inside Saluhallen market.
Haven't been posting as (1) still haven't got around to buying that new Dell and (2), we've been away on holiday. We're just back from a short-ish trip to Gothenburg. Gothenburg is really worth visiting - it has a wonderful archipelago of islands, a beautiful old town centre and is home to the terrific funfair Liseberg (imagine Disneyland Paris without the hard-sell and the queues).





Sunday, 6 July 2008

runkerry strand







We've just spent a mainly very wet week up at Ballylinny (just half a mile down the road from the Giant's Causeway). We did have a few breaks in the weather - we spent a wonderful evening at Runkerry Strand, watching the surfers and letting the wave chase us up the beach.

Friday, 20 June 2008

strawberry season


I love this time of year. Almost the longest day, and at last our strawberries are ready. Hard to know whether to make jam or just to gorge ourselves on the fresh berries...

Tuesday, 3 June 2008

grim food....


FIRST of all, I'm sorry I haven't been posting for a while. I've been in a bit of a trough - nothing serious, just a bit out of sorts. I should have posted a notice - I am sorry I didn't do this, it was rude of me. And sorry to have caused any concern - I've been fine - definitely not buried in the allotment! (though maybe this is just what our asparagus crop needs). I'm still taking pictures but am feeling a bit up-to-my-eyes at present so I'm not sure if I'm going to continue on with this for much longer - I'll see how I get on over the next week or so.
Anyhow, God help our tourists if this is what is on offer. The first photo was taken outside a popular local cafe a few weeks ago - I can't imagine how any tourists are going to be attracted by this sort of menu - I thought this was the sort of depressing stuff only the Irish ate. (Can you imagine an Italian tourist sitting down to mince beef pie & chips?).
The second photo was taken in a cafe in Enniskillen last week - sadly I didn't try the special toastie of tuna/banana/redcurrent&cheese - so I can only begin to imagine what it tastes like... In this cafe we were charged £12 for two (soggy from the microwave) sausage rolls, 2 very tiny bottles of (warm) water, a cup of tea and a teeny little pie. Last summer in Rome we paid 5 euro for two gorgeous coffees, a freshly squeezed orange juice and 3 wonderful croissants. I know there is some wonderful food available in NI - a lot of very good restaurants have opened over the last few years, but most of our cafes have a really long way to go.




Sunday, 16 March 2008

Happy St Patrick's Day


These two boys were celebrating at the Ulster Folk Museum this afternoon. Unlike last year, St Patrick turned the warm side of the stone today - the weather was wonderful - so hopefully we'll have a great summer to look forward to.

Europa Hotel

Viewed from Franklin Street. The building on the left has been deserted for years - a shame, as it could be lovely. Hopefully someone has sympathetic plans for it.

Tuesday, 11 March 2008

Spotted this today in House of Fraser's Paperchase concession. It seemed very appropriate, in Belfast's new temple of shopping.