Aug 13, 2012

Snippets / Memories / Photos of the day:

• Got our laundry down to reception last night so we could sleep in this morning Ahhhhhh!
• Booked a Black Cab tour which is a tour of both sides of the ‘wall’ which has historically separated Protestants from Catholics in Belfast since the disastrous burning of 1,500 homes in Bombay Street in the Catholic area in 1969 when 3 weeks later the army stepped in and built it to keep the warring factions apart. The tour gave a good overview of the history from both perspectives which was extremely sad I thought.
• We finished the tour feeling grateful we live where we do and wondering how families must live with the heartache they have experienced here. Our cabbie told us he doesn’t expect to see real peace within his lifetime or his children’s lifetime but hopefully within that of his grandchildren. He would be about our age……Made me want to get out of Belfast as quickly as I could.
• Had my hair done this arvo, what luxury!
• Had an informative time at the Titanic Exhibition which was only opened this year on the 100th Anniversary of the launching of the ship. Found it informative and enlightening but sad. They did it well.
• As a PS to our black cab ride….We had seen a number of gates around the hotel area with times they shut and asked about them tonight at dinner. They are shut in the evenings as it is not safe to walk along the riverside after dark. Yep…time to go in the morning on the ferry!



Part of the ‘Wall’ dividing the Catholics from Protestants in Belfast. Supposedly a memorial now but local Catholic communities don’t want it removed in 2016 when the government says it will be removed as they still don’t feel safe. Seems a reasonable thing to wait until they feel safe. Norm discussing things with our cabbie in the rain.



The Town Hall….in the rain…the sun came out after we had left of course.



The Europa Hotel. Apparently the most bombed hotel in Belfast by the IRA. 30 something successful bombings form 90 plus attempts. This is also the hotel Bill Clinton took over 3 floors in when he was attempting to broker peace between the warring sides. Pretty gutsy statement really.



The Crown Bar across the road from the Europa….which ended up pretty much wrecked after each successful bombing of the Europa and since it is Heritage Listed it is not surprising that it’s owners handed it onto the national Trust to look after it since most of its decorations came from France and cost a small fortune to replace each time it became rubble.



The Titanic Museum and the H&W’s Headquarters building beside it (they built the Titanic for the White Star Line).



The remaining cranes in the dockyard from a window in the Titanic Museum. Felt a bit like an Industrial Graveyard in the area as much of the area is being redeveloped into other things….even our hotel is on the site of the old Belfast Gasworks and there was a sign in the Museum entry encouraging tourists to come to the area ‘before it is discovered by the rest of the world’ so I guess that means we beat them all.

Bits and Bobs:

Freight traffic wise conclusion in the whole of Ireland. Nowhere near the number of large trucks (rigids with curtain sides) probably because of the roads they have to negotiate as well as a reflection of the economy BUT a heap of very fast (and sometimes very pushy) plain white vans delivering all sorts of goodies as well as lots of vans painted up in the livery of many small producers (not pushy these ones). No doubt about the anonymity factor…..universal.