Irish Cows are Peaceable

For those of your who recall the horrible incident involving Luxembourgeoise cows several years ago (detailed here), I am pleased to report that Irish cows, at least those in County Antrim, appear to be peaceable and docile, if somewhat stubborn.

There is a very large monument sitting on a high bluff overlooking the neighborhood in which we are staying. From our house, it looks like this:

Thursday was a bright, fresh day, with a few intermittent showers, and to give me a break from driving (which, alas, was not to be), we decided to spend a short day in Belfast. As we left the house, the sun was shining grandly, so we decided to visit the monument to see what the view was like from up there. The road off of the main highway lead up and up, winding past fields and farms. Just short of the final turnoff to the monument, we were stopped in our tracks by a rule-breaking, fence-defying, I-am-my-own-cow bovine:

This scene made us pull of the road to check out the situation further. In the field to the east was a herd of cows, which of course prompted the famous SSS Moo, for the purpose of seeing whether these cows would react in the same way as their compatriots in Flaxweiler. React they did, first by looking (almost as one) directly at me, then by trotting (not running, thank God) over to the fence next to us.

This gentleness and docility is what I expect in a cow. Bravo.

The monument is called the “Knockagh Monument” and is a memorial to those killed in the two World Wars. It is a basalt obelisk, 110 feet high, quite striking up close:

The main reason we visited the site, however, was for the view, and it did not disappoint, with great vistas of Belfast to the south, the sound to the east, and Carrickfergus to the north:

You can also see directly down to where we are staying (I’ve marked our house with a small arrow):

Since there aren’t many of them, here’s a picture of me at the monument site:

After leaving the monument, we drove back the way we came. Two men had arrived at the site of the escaped cow, and were trying, to no avail, to move her off of the road. First they tried pulling her (that didn’t work), then they tried slapping her on the rear end (that didn’t work), and as we drove away the two men were laughing, and the cow was in exactly the same position she was when we first saw her.

On to Belfast. On to traffic, traffic, traffic. We were headed for a big shopping center in the downtown that seemed to promise free parking. The on-line directions turned out to be completely wrong, and we ended up stuck in massive traffic on a freeway where construction was happening (the entire 3 lane road being taken down to one lane). Arrrggghhh. Even after pulling off the freeway, we were in traffic, but we finally managed to find our way to a parking structure and free ourselves from the car. Between the parking garage and the freeway we saw this sign — for informational purposes only, or a warning?

After a quick lunch at a sandwich shop in the train station (were we had the best lattes we’d had on our trip), went exploring. The part of downtown we saw was fairly compact, and bustling with shoppers. A few of the sites were — the Crown Bar, a famous tavern:

Belfast City Hall, a striking building in the very center of town:

A typical street scene:

The boys noted (and I believe from my very, very limited observations that this is accurate) that were many more attractive young women in Belfast than there were in London. There are, in fact, more young people (teens and children) in Belfast and the surrounding area than you see in most cities of this size. About 3 in the afternoon, when the schools let out, the streets are filled with schoolkids, all of them wearing school uniforms — neat blazers, ties, and pants for the boys, and blazers and skirts for the girls. A very pleasing site (and the kids seem to be completely comfortable in them).

After another traffic jam on the way back (this one a non-freeway traffic jam, which made it a little better), we came home and had tea. I then took Andrew and Will to Carrickfergus so that Andrew could stakeboard (he said it was essential, because June 26 is World Stakeboard Day, or some such thing (actually, a quick Internet search reveals he was off by 5 days — oh, well). After retrieving them, we ate a delicious meal of bangers and mash (thank you Suzie!) and watched Spain thump Russia 3-0 in the Euro 2008 semi-finals.

Tomorrow (today, actually) we don’t know what we are doing. Stay tuned.

PS — I used different software on some of the pictures. The sharpening function seems to make them seem a little unreal, although I’d appreciate readers’ views on this.