The Titanic Quarter

One of the first places that our tour visited in Belfast was the Titanic Quarter. In particular, we visited the museum that focuses totally on the Titanic. We arrived after having a bus tour with a tour guide from the city on our first day in Belfast.

Once we went into the museum, one of the first things that is usually done is the watching of a video regarding the building of the Titanic. There were displays that were interesting, but the one that I enjoyed the most was the ride through the “dockyard”. It was like a roller coaster ride that takes you through various parts of the “dockyard” in which there were displays that described the building of the Titanic and the conditions that the dockyard workers functioned in.

On the ground floor of the museum is a gift shop. I was interested in seeing what they had. I was looking for souvenir spoons in particular, but I found that the prices in the gift shop were steep. I did find souvenir spoons, but it was going to cost me in the neighbourhood of £25. I was not that impressed with them that I was going to pay that much. After all, I don’t have a lot of money and I look for things that are not that expensive. I left the gift shop after that.

The Titanic Quarter actually consists of more than just the museum. The museum is only one venue that resides there. Just up the street from the museum is the Public Records Office for Northern Ireland, otherwise known as PRONI. If you need to do any sort of research involving Northern Ireland, that is the place to start with. After that, there are other places that I will talk about in the future.

Across the street from PRONI is the hotel that we would have preferred to stay in. It is the other Premier Inn that is in Belfast and has much more room for buses and groups. However, there was a concert that week and the hotel was booked when the error had been pointed out to the tour company. There aren’t many trees in the area, so shade is at a premium.

There are other businesses within walking distance of the hotel. Many North American companies are locating the European headquarters of their companies in Ireland, both in Dublin and in Belfast. We drove down one of the streets and there is still a lot of development that has to happen before it will look like the plans that they have made for the area.

There are also plans to have some residential areas as well. Hopefully, Belfast can continue with the development of this area as it does have potential. Some of the pictures included with this blog were downloaded using Google to find them.

Day Six – Field Trip, April 2016

Bright and early this morning (8:15), everyone had checked out of the hotel and boarded the bus and we started our day of travel. It was a long day. We left Dublin and travelled to the Boyne Valley Visitor Center. While there, it was planned that we would spend a bit of time in the Visitor Center and then visit the tomb of New Grange which dates back between 6,000 and 8,000 years. I was all set to visit the tomb but my body decided that it was not going to cooperate with me. One of my symptoms of fibromyalgia flared up and it was really not a good time for me to visit New Grange. I was disappointed about that but there was nothing that I could do about it. I sat and relaxed until the other members of the group came back for lunch. By that time, I was also able to eat some lunch with them. Later in the day, my brother showed me some of the pictures that he had taken.

We boarded back on the bus and continued on our way to Belfast. Once we were in Belfast, the driver took us to meet our tour guide for a bus tour of the city. We had the opportunity to see some of the Victorian and Edwardian architecture and some of the monuments that were erected in the past. We were given a brief history of Belfast and were given a good tour. We visited both the Protestant and Catholic sides of the area where all the trouble in the 60s to the 90s took place. We saw that wall where there were paintings portraying the conflict. We were taken to the Peace Wall separating the Catholics from the Protestants. I haven’t full digested all that I saw today with regards to this.

As our tour continued, we were take to the Titanic Quarter and the guide left us at Titanic Belfast to go through the display. I have never seen some of the elements that were used in any other display of history. There was a chance to “take a ride through the dockyard” where the Titanic was built. There were interactive displays describing how the ship was built and the furnishings of the various quarters of the different classes of passengers. Towards the end of the display was a video of a couple of mini submarines doing a “tour” of the Titanic at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. I don’t consider that the time we spent at Titanic Belfast was a waste of time. It gave me something to think about because my great-grandmother’s brother was a Master Mariner for the Cunard Lines at that time. He could have just as easily been working for White Star Shipping Lines and been on the Titanic.

Once we were finished at Titanic Belfast, we were taken to our hotel so that we could look after a couple of quick things and get ready to go out to dinner. We then had a group dinner (which was part of the package) at Mourne Seafood Restaurant, not far from our hotel. This time, the bus driver joined us for dinner. Because of my problems earlier in the day, I decided to take it easy and tried to go for more of the light choices. As an appetizer, I had goat cheese that had been made into balls, dipped in a thin batter, deep-fried, and served with greens, beets, and a couple of crackers similar to Melba Toast. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was followed by baked chicken, mashed potatoes, and spinach. Again, it was an excellent choice. For dessert, I had ice cream. I could have had a larger dessert, but I was thinking that I had pushed enough for today.

We had such a full day that once we were back to the hotel after dinner, I sorted out a couple of questions that I had, and then sat down to let you know how our day was. It’s time for me to say “Good Night”.