I had two *firsts* today.

Iain had an appointment in Belfast at 9am this morning so we had to be up and out extremely early. We flew down the motorway and suddenly realised that today was the first day the new underpass opened. It was great! We were on the Westlink within seconds, blinking rapidly at the ease with which we found ourselves there. Then we missed our turn-off for the city centre and spent the next 10 minutes sitting on the Westlink as per normal! Oh well!

The underpass gets a big thumbs up from us. Well done to the workers who finished the project a reported NINE months ahead of schedule. I saw a news report the other night where one of the guys interviewed said something along the lines of “Yea, we all worked very hard.” Awwww bless

The second first was a long awaited visit to the new Victoria Square in Belfast which kinda happened by accident, just because of where we parked up. Jessica was with me as we arrived far too early and had to spend 10 minutes in the Starbucks. Oh dear. Dirty job. We also had a quick wander towards the Albert Clock to let Jessica see it. she said “Wow - that is really big.” It is big - but it isn’t Big Ben - I kinda shrugged a little and explained that there are bigger but she put it in to perspective when she pointed out that “It is a LOT bigger than MY ALARM CLOCK!” She has a point there. I sometimes forget that she hasn’t seen everything yet and can still be surprised and awed by things.

I have to say I really loved Victoria Square. It was bright and airy and new . . . and you know how I love taking photos in shopping centres! By the WAAAAAY no one approached me as I blatently tool my shots. YAY!

Jessica was less than impressed by the fact it seemed packed with clothes shops rather than toy shops and even less impressed when the one toy shop we did go in to was too dear for her to cajole me in to making a purchase for her!

But, DUDE!!!!! URBAN OUTFITTERS!!! They have an Urban Outfitters! YAY! I made a very small purchase in there. Or ten. So going to have to go back there! Very soon.


We wandered around for a wee while and then headed up to the dome. The weather was fantastic and the views even better. But BOY was it like a greenhouse up there. I loved the views though.

Victoria Square is within walking distance from the ferry so any of my Scottish peeps could come for a day trip - do Starbucks, lunch, views and then be back on the ferry before 5pm!

Iain was less than impressed when he went to pay for the car park. £7.50 in one of the off-street parks. God he can moan about the price of parking.

He also had good cause to moan some more later when I went in to automatic pilot on the way to work, totally disregarded our motorway exit and proceeded to head for *home* instead for work adding a good 20 minutes on to our journey. Am still fairly convinced someone must have moved the exit cos I have no recollection of passing it. . . You’d think I would have noticed it huh?

If you know where to look, I have posted a pile of photos from the Square. I really enjoyed taking them just for fun. It isn’t often I take photos for myself and having the blog up and running again helped me get in to the mind-set. Yay.

So, good day all round. Am still trying to narrow down my choice of topics for the Something I Dislike part of my Reader Interactive Task. Have quite a few bubbling away here. More soon

Tags: Driving, Belfast, Victoria Square