We stayed at the Titanic Hotel Belfast last night. It was wonderful. The offices of Harland and Wolff, the company that designed and built the Titanic, have been renovated and turned into this beautiful hotel. The room where the draftsmen worked is now a dining area. We had drinks there last night and dinner there tonight. The hallways had the feeling of being on a ship with a nautical décor throughout the building. They designed it to mirror the look and feel of the Titanic. Without the sad, cold end, of course.
In the morning we toured the Titanic Belfast museum. It was very well done with a great mix of digital displays and actual artifacts. They did a good job of telling the story of the Titanic, from the industrial growth of Belfast to the results of the inquiries into the disastrous ending.
As we walked around Belfast in the afternoon I thought about my great grandparents and wondered if they walked the same streets. They lived in this growing city as the population was exploding. Belfasts population tripled between 1900 and 1910. Were they escaping this crowded city? Is that what caused them to uproot their young family for the unknowns of the Canadian prairie?
Belfast reminded me of Detroit in many ways. It shares an interesting waterfront, industrial heritage, and troubled past much like Detroit. My favorite parts of the city of Belfast were the beautiful stained glass windows depicting important events in Belfasts rich history and the cool blue fish by the waterfront. We found the stained glass windows in the historic City Hall quite by mistake while searching for restrooms, the fish is a prominent part of the waterfront near the Albert Memorial Clock.
We had mixed feelings about the area of the city known as the peace walls. Maybe because we don't fully understand the trama of "the troubles" that pledged the city for so long. We did, however find one wall we could relate to, a tribute to the civil rights movement in the US.
After an early dinner at the hotel we headed back toward Dublin and our last camper spot of the trip. While the campground is blah, the beach it sits on is beautiful and unique. It provided another opportunity for a beautiful Ireland beach walk.
A note about camping, while we have stayed in some convenient places, campgrounds like we have in the US are not a thing here. I'm thankful for the beautiful state and national park campgrounds in the US.
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