The day was just lovely, with sunshine, a light breeze and warm temperatures. We left behind jackets and raincoats and probably at least one sweater. Of course the natives were wearing shorts and sundresses but we did not go that far!
We began the morning with a Black Taxi Tour. Our cab drivers and tour guides were life long residents of Belfast named Tom and Jerry (yes, really). They were friendly, funny and very knowledgable about the time of the Troubles in Belfast. They gave us a great summary of the conflict and the parties involved as they showed us a few murals on buildings and the Peace Wall on both the Shankhill Road (Protestant community) and Falls Road (Catholic community).
One of the tour guides had a brother who was part of the hunger strikes conducted by the political prisoners but both men had first-hand experience living through the Troubles. Each of them acknowledged the prevailing, continuous and urgent need for reconciliation in order to improve the lives of all in Northern Ireland.
As our driver, Jerry was driving and showing us a picture of the July 12 bonfires he was pulled over by the local police for driving while distracted. We felt very badly when they wrote him a ticket. The cabbies and tour providers support their families primarily from satisfying the curiosity of tourists. However, since we were near the goal (jail) we decided not to intervene even though the ticket seemed unnecessarily harsh.
Tom and Jerry dropped us off at the Titanic Museum where we had lunch and then walked from floor to floor learning from and enjoying a great variety of creative displays. We began learning about the industries of Belfast, the growing employment for the spinning of linen and ropes and manufacturing of engines and design and building of ships. Then, in particular we learned about the docks and the designing, engineering and construction of the Titanic. Some of the displays were interactive and provided you with the experience fitting together the ship, the furnishing, the loading of stores, etc. , before and after launching. Other floors exposed us to the early reports of the ship hitting the iceberg, the calls for rescue, the loading of lifeboats and the ultimate loss of the ship and lives. The final floor of the museum played film about the discovery of the Titanic sitting on the bottom of the ocean and the camera exploration of the ruins.
We also walked through the SS Nomadic and tried on period clothes for some fun pictures.
We walked over the new Belfast pedestrian bridge to downtown to make additional purchases at the "Wicker Man" before heading to McHughs for dinner near the river Lagan. Delicious!
Submitted by Paula Miller
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