Belfast
24 months to build, 15,000 construction workers, 3 million iron rivots hammered by hand, 4 days in the ocean, 1 iceberg.
Ireland.
The capital of Northern Ireland was only a stop on our way south back to Dublin for the the final evening together. With all the recent riots, I'm sure some tour memebers were glad to not be sleeping over. But it was perfectly safe to be in Belfast for the day.
We received a city tour by bus while Stephen described Belfast and its residents. The first thing I noticed entering the loyalist working class neighbourhood was how tough everyone looked. Apparently most of the UK army is from Northern Ireland. It was a little unsettling when the bus got stuck in traffic as a funeral was letting out. Everyone walking by the bus was somewhat young, head shaved and slightly rough around the edges.
We then drove past a section of the peace wall filled with murals depicting the past and present political and religious divisions.
Again the O'Grady clan opted to do what no one else was interested in. But I was not passing through Belfast and missing the Titanic Experience. There were many jokes and comments as the bus dropped us off; but this tour was so much more than Titanic stories and artifacts. I do not regret opting to do this instead of wandering around the centre of Belfast looking for lunch.
Everything from the architecture of the building to interactive and informative exhibits, the tour is a journey through Belfast's industrial past. The building itself represents the hulls of four ships and the medal siding reflects movement like water in the sunlight. The whole experience was created with thought to every aspect of the story of Titanic from start to finish. As a vistor you first begin learning about Belfast's industry before the construction, launch and maiden voyage of Titanic. You are then brought up to the present with the discovery of the wreck and into the future with live links to undersea exploration. Belfast has a lot of pride in the engineeering of Titanic and it took 100 years to build an attraction to tell her side of the story. I have seen the travelling artifact exhibition in America and it does not compare to the experience in Belfast.
Titanic Belfast
The End
