Went to such-and-such

So last weekend my labmates took me for a jaunt to Belfast, thus completing my tour of the UK. (I'm not sure Northern Ireland can *really* count as a separate country, but it's the only part of the UK that I hadn't been to yet, so there was closure there, of some sort or another.)

Technicalities aside, it was a fantastic weekend. We stayed in a great little B&B in the fishing village of Carrickfergus, which came complete with wild rocky coastline, charming villagey bits, and even a castle! Sightseeing in Belfast actually left much to be desired - strong focus on the 'troubles' and the still very-present separation between Protestant and Catholic areas served as a stark reminder of the uneasiness of the peace that holds now; aside from that, a huge ferris-wheel-like thing was the only sightseeing attraction. Anyway, the cheery company more than made up for the lack of interesting things to do there. :)

Here are a few pictures of the last weekend jaunt of my regular life in England:


First, beautiful Queen's University, Belfast (actually fairly Cambridgey - we felt right at home) and the Belfast Wheel:



Goofing off in front of the Carrickfergus castle:



A traditional Irish pub lunch, and here all the physicists are posing in front of the statue of Lord Kelvin, perhaps Belfast's greatest physicist, here immortalised in the Botanic Gardens:


That's all, folks! Hope you enjoyed the travelogues of my various weekends away... in my next life, in DC, I won't be able to travel nearly as easily to such interesting places, so I won't be able to keep you entertained (?) with stories of jaunts.

I'm actually at my parents' home now, in Wisconsin, for a couple of weeks for Christmas. I will get some travelling in, in January, which is my month off to clear my head before starting my new job in DC in February. Doing a PhD really takes its toll! I am grateful to be able to have some time off and spend it with good friends in various places.