After my second shower at the hotel in Dublin, the name I never cared enough to know, I'm ranking it as the top European shower I've ever had the pleasure of using. The wide stream, fierce pressure, and consistent temperature provided a transformative experience each morning, it truly was an Irish spring.
After breakfast we loaded up the coach and headed to the North. Cathal, our guide, covered about 450 years of Irish history, a violent history, in under 2 hours. The line "surrender or you'll all die" got people's attention.
We were treated to a rare beautiful day in the Irish winter. The sun shined brightly welcoming us to the North like kings and queens. On the bus Tommy offered me a pair of sunglasses he found on the fairway of Longmeadow. Their snug fit made me suspect that they were women's sunglasses. He pretended to be offended when I suggested this, and did not allow me to continue wearing them.
We picked up an auxiliary tour guide, Maureen, upon arrival to Belfast city center. She led us outside of town to the Northern Ireland parliament building, where we stopped for some photos. My favorite line from Maureen so far is "Ireland is not very wooded". She also pointed out that Game of Thrones was mostly filmed in Northern Ireland.
Belfast has the best-looking Irish people I've seen yet. Relatively speaking, of course, as the Irish aren't know for their beauty.
Irish people like their little boasts and making things sound impressive, which are often quite specific - largest enclosed city park in Europe, longest bar in Ireland for university students, tallest obelisk in Europe commemorating a defeat over Napoleon, the largest hospital in Northern Ireland named after a British Queen.
Had a lovely lunch and I ordered the roast of the day. I hadn't had Yorkshire pudding in at least 10 years so that was a treat.
The Titanic Experience was impressive. I went through the self-guided tour at an extra medium pace. The most compelling parts of the exhibit for me were the details of when the ship started sinking and the details of the survivors. The chaos and panic when the ship started sinking is unimaginable. What could be more terrifying than being in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and aboard a ship you know is going to sink. Unimaginable.
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| Last transmissions from the Titanic |
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| Original deed to begin work on the Titanic |
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| Murals - Belfast |
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