Antrim

Pictures taken between 9th and 13th of April

This is Tim's apartment (lower right) in Antrim
less than 20 minutes' drive from the airport
I like the style of these apartments
the living room is right at the back, with floor to ceiling glass windows
:)
because water is free in Ireland, the common bathroom has a huge tub with no shower
(it made me think of Singapore straight away!!)

a river runs behind the apartment.. and there's a tiny waterfall
when i look out of my bedroom window, I can see the flood plains
seems NI has a lot of rain, and the rivers flood regularly
the flood plains are there to drain the water away from the houses

after breakfast on the first day, I went around to the back
and found this little guy

on the last day, Tim took us to the Antrim castle
of which very little is left

the paths on each side of the canal are called Lover's Paths
because the paths are so narrow that couples would have to walk closely together
even walking alone, I didn't want to take any chances
so I walked on the far side, by the fences
:P

Personally, the tall fence reminds me of Secret Garden
I miss my stack of dog-eared books

the parterre is now a flower garden full of hyacinths of different colours

the same river runs through the Antrim Castle Gardens
A mossy stone on the river bank

a bird perches on a tree branch jutting into the river
(I thought it was a heron, but I'm not too sure)

Tim having a sniff at the flowers in the garden
:)

Tim drove to Lough Neagh on the way back
and i thought this really funny; a mock up of the sinking Titanic
(Titanic was constructed in Belfast)

Thanks to Tim, I'm now a lot more knowledgeable about NI and its history
though I doubt I'll ever fully understand the animosity between the Catholics and the Protestants
How about "live and let live"?
It's a shame that a beautiful place with such warm people have so much strife