Belfast: Day 1

Drew and I decided on a whim to head to Belfast up in Northern Ireland for a quick weekend trip.  There's a ton of beautiful scenery and touristy views even farther north of Belfast that require a car, but we didn't have the time or inclination to go see those right now.  We'll rent a car and go some other time.  Overall, we're glad we made the trip to Belfast to see what we wanted/needed to see, but we are SO GLAD we don't live there.  It happened to be a bank holiday weekend so I'm thinking lots of people were out of town, because it seemed a bit like a ghost town.  And while the Titanic paraphernalia is really wonderful, the ongoing political and religious tension is NOT.  No thank you.  (More on that later.)  We had a great time though, just the two of us, enjoying our time togeths and being stress free.  Whew.

We hopped on a train bright and early on Saturday morning and in 2 hours, we were in Belfast.  We walked to our hotel and checked in and headed out to get lunch at Made in Belfast, a BEAUTIFUL restaurant in the Cathedral Quarter that had some good Belfast Lager and the best steak sandwich with the best sauce on it I've ever had.  Too bad it was Drew's and I couldn't eat all of it.  

These signs were allll over the city.  It was like their touristy advertising theme, that really made no sense.  
(Just googled these ads, and it says that with all of the events, celebrations, and projects coming up, this is "their time" to "turn the tide and confidently put Northern Ireland on the global tourism map."  Whoops.  Sorry, Northern Ireland - this blog isn't doing you any favors.)

The Big Fish statue, 10 metres long, decorated with pictures and words depicting Belfast's history.  Kinda cool.

We then headed over to see the Titanic Museum!  The museum was opened in April 2012, on the anniversary of it's launch and sinking.  Belfast lays partial claim to the ship because it was built and outfitted here.  After it was finished, it sailed over to Southampton in England and took off from there.  The museum was really well done and took you through several sections of history: the city Belfast was during this time, the shipyard and construction, the launch, it's outfitting, it's maiden voyage, the sinking, the aftermath, the myths and legends surrounding the Titanic, and it's place in our culture today.  Pretty interesting stuff.

Titanic Museum!  It was made to look like the bow of the ship, and the height of the ship.

Thumbs up.

The Harland & Wolff Shipyards/Offices (the company that built the Titanic) - the cranes are the width of the Titanic.  

There's me, in the N!

Not sure.  But pretty, regardless.

Pretty self-explanatory.

A huge crew of Garda as they drove the Olympic Torch of the Paraolympics in the museum for an hour.  

We were waiting in the queue for our tour time and we played the game where you shout out an emotion and they have to make the face really quickly.  His was "surprised".  Ha.

Drew loves the Pound Sterling.
(Northern Ireland is part of the UK so we had to use pounds.)

But who is this lady??  We couldn't figure it out.

Once inside, you're whisked up this elevator shaft to begin the tour!

Picture of men at work.

The museum even had a RIDE that took you through a simulation of what you'd see in the building yards!  Cool!

Beautiful view.

First Class state room.  Where I would have stayed.
Just kidding.

Second Class state room.  This looks doable.

Third Class state room.  VERY tiny but hey...can't be picky when you're tryin' to get across the pond.

Cool shot.

Another lovely view.

You'll never let go?  You DID let go, you bitch!  I'll never forgive you for this!!!!

The entire museum was incredibly impressive, and you can tell that the city put in a ton of time, effort, and money to make this museum what it is, and a main tourist attraction.  A cab driver told us later that the Northern Irish had a lot of shame after what happened, but they've all realized that the Titanic was in perfect working condition when it left their shores.  "It was when they turned it over to the British that things turned to shit!" he said.  Well put.  Haha.  

We then walked over to the Titanic Dock and Pump House to see where the Titanic was held until it's maiden voyage.  This place was evidently a feat of engineering, full of massive pumps and hydraulic accumulators that could fill and empty the dry dock pretty damn fast.

This humongous pit was where the Titanic was kept!  It could fill up with water and be emptied in no time.

He's good looking.

We got a cab back and I took a little cat nap and Drew used the wireless in the lobby and had a beer, and then we went to check out some pubs and restaurants in the area.  We had a couple beers in a crowded pub and then walked around trying to find a restaurant - evidently you have to have reservations ANYWHERE you go in this city so we finally found a cute place, Hill St. Brasserie, that agreed to take us in at 9:15.  It was a delightful meal and we were home and in bed by midnight.  It was a good day full of good stuff with even more to come!