Blogs from County Down, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, Europe

Since yesterday wasn't uplifting enough, we spent this morning at the Titanic Museum. Very well done museum, tracing the Titanic from inception, planning, building, furnishing, launching, sailing, sinking, and investigations. --There were no laundry facilities on board so all the linens that would be need for the trip were on board; --I guess you haven't used the bathroom till you've used a Royal Doulton urinal; --Rivets (3,000,000 of them) were driven by hand. Put the red-hot rivet through the hole, two men on one side hammering while another on the other side blocking so the metal would curl back on itself. This worked better if you have a left- and a right-handed man working together hammering; it was faster and they didn't get in each other's way. Returned to the city itself and went on a ... read more

August 20, 2019 – Belfast, Northern Ireland – Weather: 61°F/16°C, sunny with clear skies in am, cloudy with scattered showers in pm, wind 10 mph, humidity 66° Belfast, which today is Northern Ireland’s largest city, has occupied this area since the Bronze Age. The community remained a relatively small throughout the middle ages until the 17thcentury when it began to blossom into an industrial center in the 19th& 20thcenturies. Today the city continues to be an industrial hub with tentacles in the high-tech area. Belfast holds a special place in modern history as the “birthplace” of the ill-fated RMS Titanic which was designed and built in the Harland & Wolff shipyards, along with her sisters Olympic and Britannic. Today the shipyard is quiet excect for the throngs of tourists who make their way to the Titanic ... read more

Friday October 19 - After breakfast, we headed out to Belfast and arrived by 11:30am. It’s only 90 minutes away by highway. We parked in the apartment complex where we’d be staying, and walked into town from there, which took about 40 minutes. Belfast has a complex and somewhat violent recent past (think Bloody Sunday, where 14 unarmed civil rights protesters were shot by the British Army), but I was surprised at how many murals painted walls of buildings we passed by, alluding to not forgetting what had happened. It did not feel like a city at peace. We walked around downtown during the day, then took a free tour of city hall that happened to start when we arrived at 3pm. Next we headed over to a nearby mall to look at the building, discovered ... read more

26 septembre 2016 : Départ de l'hôtel à 8h45. premier arrêt au Narrow Water Castle (le vieux et le nouveau) puis nous continuons jusqu'au Greencastle Royal Castle qui est en ruine. Nous trouvons ensuite le Ballynoe Stone Circle : il est à peu près à un kilomètre de la route et il faut le chercher mais c'est à voir. Nous nous rendons ensuite à la Downpatrick Cathedral et au pied de la cathédrale se trouve la tombe de Saint Patrick, le patron de l'Irlande. Nous apercevons enfin le Mount Stewart Manor sur la route qui mène à Belfast où nous arrivons à 16h30 à l’hôtel Madison.... read more

Got lost trying to find a bar because of the awful directions from the guy in the hostel. We got back and found some aussies to party with. They took us to this place called filthy mcnastys which was really empty. Until a whole bunch of college students rocked up for their formal after party. We had a great night partying with our new friends and a bunch of randoms. The next morning was a bit of a struggle as we hauled our hungover asses up at 8 in the morning for a tour at 10. We did a big day of Game of Thrones locations, crossing a rope bridge on to the island of Carrick-a-rede and most of all the giants causeway. It was so freaking pretty!! These rock formations created from lava and gradually ... read more