Marco had a conference in Belfast (Northern Ireland and part of the UK) and in Dublin (Republic of Ireland) this past week and I got to tag along. We flew into Belfast and had just enough time to visit the Titanic Museum before Marco had to get to work. The museum was very well done! It started with the history of Belfast before the Titanic was built. It then takes you through the process of the ship being built, the maiden voyage, about the crew and passengers, the communication after the ship hit the iceberg, the aftermath, a journey to bottom of the ocean, and then finally live feed of current work being done by Professor Ballard (who discovered the Titanic).
While Marco was working, I visited the Belfast Castle. It was much smaller than I expected.
The first castle was built in the last 12th century. The current castle was completed in 1870.
The gardens surrounding the castle...
The castle sits up on the slopes of Cave Hill and looks out over the city of Belfast.
It is said that good fortune will come to those who visit Belfast Castle as long as the tradition of the Castle Cat is kept (sounds a bit like the ravens at the Tower of London). The story goes that there has always been a resident white cat at the castle. The gardens celebrate this tale with 9 cats in the gardens in the form of mosaics, statues, a topiary, etc.
We stayed the night in Belfast and then took the train to Dublin early the next morning. We only had one snag on the trip... One of the carriages had an electrical fire so we had to wait for that issue to be resolved. Fortunately no one was hurt and we were soon on our way. We passed a lot of farms and small villages. I like to travel by train so you can see the countryside.
Again, while Marco was working, I got to do some site seeing. I visited Trinity College and saw the Book of Kells. The Book of Kells is the four gospels in Latin and written early 9th century in Scotland and probably by monks. During this time all bibles were written in Greek or Hebrew. The gospels were written on calf skin and has elaborate art work telling the stories of the gospels. The Book of Kells was sent to Dublin around 1653 for safe keeping when Vikings attacked the area where it was kept in Iona. The Book of Kells has been at Trinity College since 1661.
The college's library (behind the tree) was completed in 1732. The library has the books on the upper floors to protect from dampness. The Liffey River came up to the walls of the college and flooding was a problem. It is no longer a problem though. The river no longer reaches that far and there are 2 Oregon Oaks planted in the green space and they have sucked enough of the water that dampness is no longer an issue.
All over Dublin signs are written in English and Gaelic.
I visited the Dublin Castle. It was not very impressive. I had a friend say that the castle "should have been called 'offices from where you will be ruled by England for 500 years'".
I met up with Marco after he was finished with work. We went to a local pub for dinner. They had live music and then they had Irish dancers. The music made me think of Bluegrass and the River dancing made me think of cloggers. It was very enjoyable!
The following day, Marco and saw St. Patrick's Cathedral. We were not able to go in because of a graduation taking place.
The Cathedral Gardens were very nice and full of people enjoying the sunshine (even though it was cold!).
I almost missed this plaque for looking up....
Store fronts...
The last thing we did was visit the Guinness Brewery (top of Marco's list)
It was very interesting!
The tour ended with a pint (I had a half...). Here are some pints settling before they are topped off.
It was a short trip and there were things we did not have time to see and do (another time) but we had a great time!
I hope you have enjoyed!!
