Category Archives: Travel

Belfast: Pearl Jam & Ben Harper.

Our main purpose of stopping in Belfast was to see Pearl Jam with Ben Harper & The Relentless 7 at the Odyssey Arena; granted it was a great city to see for other reasons. We used Julie’s Ten Club seats for the show and they ended up being GA floor seats. In other words the best seats I’ve ever had at a Pearl Jam concert. We waited about 20 minutes before the gates open and then managed to hit the vendor booth for a poster before heading to the floor. By the time we got to the stage we were about 8 people back from it.

Ben Harper played about 7 songs during a quick set but it was good. Pearl Jam sounded really good but I wasn’t that into the set list. Maybe it was just the second encore but the first three songs of the show might have been may favorite songs from their respective albums:

Sometimes

Do The Evolution

Animal

Side Note:

* Being in General Admission we had to deal with people all night trying to move their way up to spaces that didn’t exist. Julie and I nearly had to throw down but luckily we made a strategic move. There was a group of girls behind us who were insisting on moving up and gettting in everyone’s way. About two people in front of us were two Italian guys who weren’t putting up with anyone’s shit. We stepped aside and watched the madness as these girls tried to get past these guys. They nearly smacked the girls in the face and the one guy literally did the ‘Momma Mia’ thing with his hands while saying “You don’t fuck with an Italian!”.

** I took this picture because of the amazing advancement in beer transport technology:

Belfast: The Troubles & The Crown Bar.

This past Tuesday Julie and I traveled from Dublin to Belfast via train in a little more than two hours. We basically had one full day to check the city out before heading to the Odyssey Arena to see Pearl Jam and Ben Harper. Our original plans were to head up north and see the Giant’s Causeway and tour the Bushmills Distillery but after figuring out that would take about 6 hours we passed on it. The hotel was able to arrange a ‘Black Cab‘ tour that took us through the more interesting parts of the city.

The Black Cub tour basically takes you through both neighborhoods in Belfast where most of the events of the ‘Troubles‘ took place. Our driver would point out what each mural was for, where a bombing took place and the headquarters of the IRA/UVF. It was intense. Five minutes into the drive we had to go through a police checkpoint. We drove down Shankill Road which is the heart of the Loyalist neighborhood and where a man was shot dead in broad daylight last month. We drove around both sides of the Peace Wall. The driver advised us not to take pictures on the Catholic side but we were able to get out and walk around the Protestant side. The driver kept pointing out how things were getting better; for example the new courthouse downtown is made of glass.

The Crown Bar

Once we first got into town and walked around a little bit we headed over to the Crown Bar which was about half a block from our hotel. The bar is supposed to be the oldest in Belfast. The inside has a bunch of small rooms/booths and half the place is lit with gas lamps, supposedly all the stained glass is what was leftover from the Titanic’s sister ship the Britannic, I’m not sure I buy that.

The rest of Belfast:

While at the Crown Bar we learned that our hotel was next to the Europa Hotel which happens to be the most bombed hotel in Europe. During our cab tour we also got to see the docks where the Titanic was built. Our driver said the ship was built by the Irish and was fine when it left Ireland, the problem of course was that it was captained by an Englishmen.

Over all Belfast was great. The best hotel of our entire trip.

Dublin: Guinness Brewery & Jameson Distillery.

Julie and I finished up the first part of our honeymoon in Dublin, Ireland. We managed to make our way around the city hitting several pubs, the Guinness Store House and the Jameson Distillery.

Guinness Store House:

This will probably come down as one of my favorite parts of the trip. As one who doesn’t usually ever drink Guinness, I’ve had my share so far this week beginning with the free pint at the end of the tour. The whole Guinness brewery is huge, several city blocks. You don’t really get a sense for the place until you’re at the end of the tour atop the Guinness Gravity Bar.

Jameson Distillery:

After we finished up at Guinness we walked a couple of blocks across town to the Old Jameson Distillery. They no longer actually make any Whiskey here so that was kind of a downer. It was more like walking through a museum than anything. There was free whiskey at the end and Julie participated in a whiskey taste test that included Jameson, Johnnie Walker Black, and Jack Daniels.

Needless to say she was not please.

Temple Bar:

The Temple Bar area of Dublin is basically a strip of pubs and shops in the center of the city. We did the rounds and stop in a far share of them. We watched one of the World Cup games at the Quays, Bruno was no where to be found. We also drank at the Brazenhead which is considered to be the oldest bar in Dublin dating back to 1198. I’m not sure how accurate that is but the mens room was definitely circa 1572.

Sidenote:

* Unlike usual, our experience with the Airline Industry was pleasant. We flew Aer Lingus which seemed to have a very modern plane and we managed to arrive 30 minutes early.

** Despite Dublin’s lack of decent maps and our inability to navigate via dead reckoning we successfully found a Leo Burdock for fish and chips. I could have used some ketchup but other than that it was good.

*** The rest of my photographs are here on Flickr.

Black Hand Productions

By Nik Bronder

Category Archives: Travel

Belfast: Pearl Jam & Ben Harper.

Belfast: The Troubles & The Crown Bar.

Dublin: Guinness Brewery & Jameson Distillery.