Portrait of Robert Burns by Alexander Naysmith

January 25th is Burns Night which celebrates the life and works of Robert Burns, aka Rabbie Burns, the Ploughman Poet or the Bard of Ayrshire, who died at the young age of thirty-seven in the year 1796.

It’s an excellent reason to drink Scotch on a Monday night.

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Traveling Europe - Fun for the Whole Family

Well, look at you. You’ve gone and done it. You’ve scrimped, you’ve saved, you’ve cashed in the kid’s birthday/Christmas checks from grandma and grandpa – that’s not right by the way – you’ve read all the books and written down your contact information. You’ve put a hold on the mail and piled cat food to the ceiling and left the toilet lid open. You’ve made all the necessary arrangements. It’s time to tour Europe. You’ve been good. You deserved this.

Here’s the thing though.  Europe is big.  It’s huge.  Like, so huge that there’s no way you’re walking around it unless you’re all convicted and doing it for a charity or awareness or something like that. If you’re not set up for anything listed previously, you’re going to need transportation.
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City Hall and the Belfast Wheel

Today kicked off the Out to Lunch Festival in Belfast‘s Cathedral Quarter which runs through the end of the month.  The popular festival pairs a tasty lunch with a daily selection of theatre, music, comedy or literature.  At one time the Out to Lunch festival was a smaller part of the Springtime Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, but it grew big enough to be its own event.  Our little festival is all grown up.  Bittersweet.
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