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 One Of Field Trip April 2016

Today was my first day of travel. Before I could travel, I had to do a number of things that took me most of the day.

In order to pack for my trip, I wanted to do my laundry today so that I would have the maximum amount of clothing to choose from. Because of the time of year, I chose to bring both some lighter winter clothing and some spring/summer clothing. I had completed my laundry, folded my clothing, and took out what was not going. I had been thinking about taking my medium-sized suitcase. I even got it out and started to put a couple of things in. I looked at what I was bring and decided that there was no way that I would be able to put everything into my suitcase that I needed/wanted. So…. I pulled out the big suitcase. I will be gone for just over two weeks and I am bringing enough clothing that if I can’t get a load of laundry done, I have enough clothing except for underwear. I can wash out some underwear in the bathroom sink if need be.

I also didn’t get a chance to print some business cards yesterday. I set that up to print while I was trying to complete something else.

Before I was able to have the time to pack, I had a couple of medical appointments this morning. So, I was able to manage to get the laundry into the wash machine early enough that I was able to put the clothes into the dryer before I left for my appointments. A couple of months ago, my doctor had a blood test done for cholesterol and put me on some medication. Today, we were reviewing the results of a blood test that was done earlier this week. He was very happy with the results and is letting me go without the medication until I come home again. I just have to watch what I eat.

Every time I tried to complete a task so that I could get everything completed by the time my husband came home, something else came up. I almost forgot the books that I make annotations in regarding records that I find. I don’t know how many times I reopened my suitcase to add something more. I had to print off some flyers and invitations to a family history fireside chat in May.

Finally, I was able to pack my laptop and remembered that I should take a spare pair of glasses. I found about three pair that I can use as a spare pair. I almost forgot where the suitcase locks were. Finally, I was packed and I didn’t think that I had anything more that had to go in. I can just lift my suitcase to put it into the back of our vehicle. Fortunately, there will be a few things that won’t be coming back.

As most family historians know, when you visit an archive, you can get excellent service if you give them a little gift, preferably something from your part of the world. As most people that are going on this trip are from the Ottawa area, they are bringing souvenirs of Canada. I decided that I had to be different. I am the only person from Newfoundland going on this trip that I am aware of. So, about a month ago, I went looking. Do you realize how hard it is to find souvenirs when it is not tourist season? Well, I managed to find six shot glasses, three of each of two different designs, small Newfoundland flags, some large chocolate bars, and, we just happen to have a number of pins representation of the Canadian Army. I can only hope that these will work their magic for me and get me the help I need to find certain records.

By 5 pm, I had everything into the vehicle, my husband had changed and we opted to stop along the way at a Timmies for some supper. I just happen to have some gift cards for Timmies that we hadn’t used yet and we didn’t have to pay any money.

So, now, I am ready to crash to get some sleep before getting on a plane tomorrow morning to travel from St John’s, Newfoundland to Toronto, to meet my brother and most of the other members of our group going on our expedition.