Belfast Tour

In  the morning we caught a ride with Gemma's brother to Gemma's cousins in the city, had a quick coffee and hopped on a bus into town centre. First act of the day find where we get on the tour bus, it was nice and simple since we took the City Sightseeing Tour bus (the red one you see everywhere) there were guys wearing the red jackets everywhere.

We started Prince Albert's wonky clock, it sank partly into the baggy ground (Belfast's leaning clock tower) they had the opportunity to fix the lean bus decided it gave it some character. We passed the big fish, legend says that if you kiss the big fish that you will gain knowledge. Others says that it will steal your knowledge.

We saw the shipyard where the Titanic was built and the shiny white star centre (Titanic Museum) The legend goes that the Irish response to the unsinkable sinking was that it was fine when it left Belfast. English captain, Scottish navigator and one Canadian iceberg -not our fault!

During the tour we passed some relics of a past age, the big shipbuilding thingies called Sampson and Goliath . Near here was the studio for the first season of Game of Thrones the room with iron throne.  From there we cruised out the docklands to the east to see the (Storment) parliament building and grounds. Coming back into the city our guide gave us a brief overview of the Troubles. 

Basically, it was separatists pushing for free NI vs. unionists who were happy being part of the UK...for 30 years after the good Friday agreement in 1998 both sides put down their arms and things are better, but the great 'peace walls' that were erected to separate the opposing sides still remain to this day.

We saw more when the bus delved into areas that suffered the Troubles and took us along its length. It was heavily decorated, as are many areas with murals. There murals serve as remembrance, a demonstration of outrage or even just marking the territory. Flown flags and painted curbs also serve the latter purpose. Wandering in the wrong parts of Ireland was dangerous business for a long time.I'd like to say that this is no longer the case, but some wounds run deep enough to need generations to fix. 

Hopping off in the university district and went through the botanical gardens to check out the Ulster Museum.  There were a few dinosaurs and we read up on the events and history of the Troubles. 

The University.

Decided against walking through the botanical gardens and headed into the city centre to go up to Victoria City Square Viewing Dome, where we got some panoramic pictures of the cloudy city. It did not wobble like a lily pad. Back on ground level we met up with Gemma's cousin Robert and started on a slow pub crawl to Filthy McNastys. Gemma wants to point out the hottie at McHughes Pub, if you are ever there say hi for Gemma. :P We had a great time and did a group drawing of random assortments of things and I was educated on a full Irish breakfast.