A Continuation of Day 2

We're so excited! This bed and breakfast just put in wireless internet. Is it wrong to be excited about that while you're on "vacation?" Anyway...yesterday we flew back to London from Belfast on "Flybe" airlines, a low-cost commuter airline that flies throughout Western Europe and the UK. Something they do over here for security that we haven't seen (yet) in the states, is that they take a picture of you before you board the plane and when you get off the plane, and also give you a card which you have to hand back to a gate agent. Also, they are really picky about the weight of your bags. Anything over a certain amount and you have to pay extra. If you want to check a bag, which we didn't thankfully, you have to pay for the bags. It's not included in the price of the ticket. While we were in Belfast, we ate lunch at this restaurant called The Apartment. Steve and Mish would have loved it. Very retro. We only took one picture - that of the Belfast City Hall building. After landing back in London, we drove to the B & B, changed and went into Brighton. The seashore there is very rocky, no sand from what we saw. The water was somewhat calm. Kieran said it doesn't get any waves much. There's a wide cement promenade (like a boardwalk, only cement) that stretches the whole length of the town. About 400,000 people live in Brighton. Apparently years ago it used to be the place to come for the summer. Then it seemed to become rundown. However, "new" money has come into the area now and buildings are being renovated and restored to their previous grandeur. There's an amusement pier that's also under going some renovation and the place sort of reminds me of some areas down the New Jersey shore. We were told that Brighton is comparable to San Francisco in its demographics. The row houses and hilly streets also reminded us of SF. We ate at an Italian restaurant right on the beach. Kieran's wife, Joanne, joined us. The place had a great view. Expensive, and presentation was everything. I think that may be our most indulgent dinner on this trip. After dinner, we took the train back to the village, hailed a cab to the hotel and crashed for the night. Long day!