I suppose I should have better checked the weather before I left. I was thinking that the weather should not be too different than Chicago. Of course, now I realize that Northern Ireland is a little further north than Chicago. I didn’t pack an umbrella or a sweater. I did have my sport coat and I could have sworn that I packed my rain jacket. In any case, it rained almost every day while in Ireland and it was much colder – hovering around high 40’s to low 50’s. I had my sport coat on everyday and for the most part, it was sufficient since it was just a short taxi ride to the office. However, the sport coat was not enough for Saturday. It started raining on Friday night and lasted well into Saturday. I decided to take a walk and I was drenched through the coat and all about 15 minutes into the walk. On Saturday, I had to break down and get another rain coat. And what a sticker shock that was when I checked out the prices. The cheapest rain jacket I could find was about £70. That’s $170 USD!!! OMG. That really made me appreciates the shopping scene in the US. Most things are expensive in the UK. We go out to dinner and the prices on the menu seems pretty normal until you remember that you are actually seeing the prices in GBP (£). So, a £4.95 bowl of soup is actually like an $8 bowl of soup in the US. I guess it is possible to eat cheaply but as a visitor without a car, it would be quite difficult to know the cheaper places to go. The front desk at the hotel is no help at all when it comes to asking for restaurant recommendation or anything like that. In fact, my first shock came from the hotel when I had breakfast on Monday morning. The breakfast buffet at the Holiday Inn in Belfast charges £18.95 for breakfast alone!!!!!
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