Catherine’s Reviews > Beyond Belfast: A 560-Mile Journey Across Northern Ireland on Sore Feet > Status Update

"Y'is American?" they asked. "More or less." ... "Is it like here, then?" I thought about Emain Macha, about the competing cathedrals, the "Sniper at Work" signs, the mythic landscapes and neglected holy wells. "No," I said. "It's nothing like here." ,

"The soup in question was, of course, vegetable." I can't explain this one, but it is absolutely a saving grace to vegetarians in Ireland.

"The waymarkers, I realized, were more congratulatory than purposeful."
The thing I enjoy so much about this book is that some things would sound so ridiculous, if I hadn't just experienced it myself.

"Now, there are, by my estimation, 287,042 different types of shower fixtures in Northern Ireland, no two of which are the same. ... They come pre-broken, I believe, to save time and effort. ... Having survived ... the dribble by tap that is an Irish shower ..."
Yup. The first shower in Dublin we had was crazy, but we didn't realize how good we had it.

Proof of how much was crammed into our heads in three weeks ... we heard this story of the warrior-poet Ossian, but I don't remember being told that he was the son of Finn McCool.

"I followed what I thought was a path but turned out to be just another sheep trail. It meandered through the heather awhile before simply ... vanishing as though the sheep in question had either lifted off or been sucked under. This was definitely sheep-swallowing territory, so I suspected the latter."

"No bears or snakes in Ireland, but the drivers were doing their part to keep things interesting."

"... when asked, 'Coffee or tea?,' I would think, 'Is coffee Protestant? Or Catholic? And what about tea? Which one should I choose?' (Correct answer: tea. The coffee is bloody awful."
True story, although the worst coffee we had actually wasn't in Ulster/Belfast. They really like instant coffee over there.

"...and that would be that. Belfast? ... You'd think I was asking them to go for a stroll through Baghdad."

"Well, let me tell you something, buddy, I've walked Ulster."