The rain continued this morning, but this did not dampen our spirits as we boarded the coach and drove a bit further up the coast to the Giant's Causeway. During the drive Pascal told us the story of the Giant's Causeway. He did so very well! Click here to be directed to Youtube to hear an Irishman tell the tale of the Giant's Causeway. The goal today was to be the first bus to reach the Giant's Causeway right when they opened so that we could be the first down the hill and have the rocks to ourselves. The causeway is a mere 20 minutes from Portrush and, as promised, we arrived there just as they opened. Unfortunately, today was our first truly wet day. So we all headed down the hill together hidden beneath our rain jackets. When we arrived,
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Our next stop was Dunluce Castle, a series of ruins sitting upon a windy cliff face. Today the rain persisted as we ventured out to explore the ruins for ourselves. Dunluce Castle stood its ground against many sieges, and was owned by multiple families during its history, and each one added onto the grand building. But one day a storm came upon the castle. During the storm part of the cliff came away, and with it the kitchen, along with some of the servants, fell into the ocean below. It is said that only 1 kitchen boy survived. The lady of the castle refused to live there any longer after that! For a bit more of an look at the space, and to hear the story told better, check our Rick Steves's video about Dunluce Castle!
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After our visit to Dunluce we had a decision to make, and Pascal and Mark included us in this decision. Ordinarily the tour stops in the town of Bushmills, but when we had driven through it coming from the Giant's Causeway we saw where they were preparing for their Orangemen's Parade. If we stopped there for lunch then we could catch some of the parade, but the chances of getting lunch were slim since the town would be closed for the parade. The other option was that we could continue to Belfast where we could get lunch and see some of the parades. Much of the group expressed interest in seeing the parade, and we all decided to continue on directly to Belfast.
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When we arrived in Belfast the town seemed empty. Pascal and Mark again improvised and decided to take us on a drive through the Catholic neighborhood Falls Road, and then into the Protestant neighborhood along Shankill Road. We drove along one of the peace walls (which had to have the height increased three times). Pascal reported that they had never done this with a tour group on July 12th! He told us that this has been one of the more peaceful celebrations to date. Check out the video to ride along on the bus with us.
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Mark dropped us off alongside the Europa Hotel, our hotel for the last couple nights of the tour. The Europa Hotel is the most bombed hotel in Europe. It suffered 36 bombs during the Troubles, most of these were car bombs outside the hotel that resulted in broken windows.
After finding our room and getting settled in we met up in the lobby for a quick orientation walk. We picked up a light lunch from one of the few open markets and enjoyed this while watching families picnicking in the grassy field in front of the City Hall building. Everyone had their Union Jack flags in hand, or on their clothing. Children wore Union Jack hats and carried decorated scepters. It was quite a celebration! |
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We returned back to our hotel room for a time until the distant sound of loud drums and flutes could be heard just down the street. We initially thought that they would be walking in front of the hotel, but the marching route had changed slightly and they were now turning just down the road. We walked out with enough time to watch the parade for a few minutes before meeting for a group dinner. Click on the photos below for details on what each meal item includes. We had dinner at the Europa Hotel.
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After dinner we were offered coffee or tea and joined by a couple of musicians and river dancers for a delightful evening of music and dancing! This was another "WOW!" moment! One of the gentlemen in the group was the storyteller. He narrated, telling us of the history, and the backgrounds to the songs we experienced. There was a woman on violin, and a man on guitar. There were two younger gentlemen who were the dancers.
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The Titanic is known as the pride of Belfast, so of course the Titanic Museum was on the itinerary for our visit to Belfast. The people of Belfast say, "She was fine when she left us." The museum was huge and was comprised of multiple levels which discuss the White Star Cruise Line, the building of the ships, her launching, and details of the tragedy of the sinking of the Titanic. It was a busy day at the museum, so we did not linger in many of the rooms. The museum is very modern with many different ways of conveying information from videos, to reader boards and exhibits or replicas. We came out of the museum having learned some new things about the Titanic and her voyage. I especially enjoyed the replica to show the size of the ship,
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We met up with Pascal and Mark outside the museum. We were joined by Susie Millar, our local guide of Belfast. Mark drove us to St. Anne's Cathedral where we disembarked his coach for the last time. We bid him farewell and continued on with our city tour. Susie's enthusiasm for Belfast is rivaled by Charlene in Derry! She talked to us about the Troubles in Belfast and showed us photos of the devastation inflicted upon the city from bombs and riots.
Our final stop on our walking tour was at the Titanic Memorial alongside the City Hall Building. Here Susie spent some time talking about the Titanic, and her family tie to the tragedy. Susie pointed out one name on the side of the |
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little lost on our way over, but a bit of help from Google Maps corrected our course! The gardens were beautiful. We walked through the Palm House before heading to the Ulster Museum. We had a brief visit there before finding our way around to the Rose Garden, which was absolutely incredible!
After this we returned to our room to await our meeting time for our farewell dinner. This evening we were going to be dining at a restaurant called Coco. It was a nice restaurant with quite unique decor. At our farewell dinner we toasted new friends, and listened to a speech from Pascal. He presented everyone with a print of our |
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Meanwhile Emily, my sister, was in Dublin waiting in line to see a beautiful watercolor painting, Meeting on the Turret Stairs by Frederic William Burton. This was a painting of Hellelil and Hildebrand in a hidden corridor. It is a romantic piece, but is also very special as it is a watercolor! They keep it closed up in a cabinet and only open the cabinet for viewing for a couple hours a couple days each week.
Upon arrival in Dublin we found our new hotel and dropped off our bags into the holding room until our room was ready, and we hit the streets in search of my sister. We met up at the fish and chips restaurant that we stopped at on our first day in Dublin, which we dubbed the best fish and |
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