DAY-39: Belfast, The Titanic & Saying Goodbye
Day – 39: Saturday, September 30, 2017
Starting Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland
Ending Location: Dublin, Ireland
Today would be our last day together as the SMART group at least for this trip; who knows where we may next appear.
We began by having breakfast at the hotel, nothing unusual there, we've had breakfast everyday we've been over; I've had more eggs and bacon in the past five weeks than in a typical year.
At 9:30 we boarded the bus and Mike took us over to the Titanic Experience. If you didn't know, the Titanic was built in Belfast so the city is forever tied to the ship and it's ill-fated journey into the history books. As told by our driver/guide, Belfast had for years been somewhat embarrassed by the disaster but realized that there was money to be made thus the venture into establishing this center for Belfast history as well as the story of the Titanic.
Not sure if it's the world's leading attraction but I think we would all agree that this was a good stop and that if time permitted one could spend 2-3 hours or more exploring the museum, the docks and all that goes with the Titanic.
Around noon we moved toward the south and around 1:30 crossed back into the "Republic" from Northern Ireland.
We had one last tour stop before returning to Dublin. To quote one of our travelers, "Newgrange is the only thing I truly want to see while in Ireland". Being that I was likely the only person in the world unfamiliar with Newgrange, I don't need to say any more. But just in case I'm not the only person unfamiliar with Newgrange, here's a brief rundown, you've likely heard this story before (China, Scotland, etc.).
Apparently while out plowing his field a farmer stumbled upon a series of rock structures ...
fast forward about 400 years and voila we now have a visitor center for the ruins of yet another ancient civilisation (American = civilization). As is typical for Ireland, there seems to be a need to "top this" if you get my drift. So if you thought the Egyptians were old or the Skara Brae settlement in Scotland was even older, forget it, the ruins at Newgrange are older. These ancient peoples, like the Egyptians, the Aztecs, the Incas, the Stone Hengians, the Easter Islanders, the Sedonians, etc. were apparently either good observers of natural events or just darn lucky for again we have a burial mound perfectly aligned with the Sun and the winter and summers solstices ...
such that on solstices the rays of the Sun shine directly into the tomb. (Note: For those lucky enough to visit to tomb, a spotlight is used as a substitute for the sun.)
Unfortunately this was a busy place and we were unable to secure tickets for the bus ride to the actual ruins. We had to settle of a distant view of the mound and a series for museum-ish files and displays of how it was many thousands of years ago.
We moved on to Slane, Ireland where we met with Nicola, a close friend of Pat & Jack. They would remain in Slane until traveling home on Tuesday, October 3rd.
Our next stop was at the Dublin Airport Hilton Hotel where Chris and Diane & Greg disembarked. They'll be flying home on Sunday, October 1st.
Lastly Mike pulled up to the Morrison DoubleTree Hotel in Dublin ...
where Sheila and I would spend the next several days. After saying our goodbyes to Mike we checked in and began our Dublin experience.
At the hotel Sheila found herself a true Irishman, Darren, the bellman/concierge/boy-Friday and she chatted for about twenty minutes about all things Dublin earning a personalized annotated copy of a Dublin city map.
After a brief rest we were on the town with map in hand, destination, the Temple Bar Area. It was a short walk from the hotel, perhaps 15 minutes. We walked the streets but soon found ourselves settled in amongst the other tourists at The Temple Bar Pub. After standing and waiting our turn we ultimately found seats right in front of the two fellows playing all sorts of Irish music for the crowd.
We chatted up any number of other tourists, one from Sweden, another from Belgium but born in Boston (of course) and another from South Africa.
After about two hours, and a couple of pints of Guinness for me and untold quantities of Jamesons for Sheila we returned to the hotel restaurant for burgers and skinny fries. The table lamps were fascinating.
That was it, a good day in Dublin checking off the final "have to" items on our travel list, not too many left to do.
Today would be our last day together as the SMART group at least for this trip; who knows where we may next appear.
We began by having breakfast at the hotel, nothing unusual there, we've had breakfast everyday we've been over; I've had more eggs and bacon in the past five weeks than in a typical year.
At 9:30 we boarded the bus and Mike took us over to the Titanic Experience. If you didn't know, the Titanic was built in Belfast so the city is forever tied to the ship and it's ill-fated journey into the history books. As told by our driver/guide, Belfast had for years been somewhat embarrassed by the disaster but realized that there was money to be made thus the venture into establishing this center for Belfast history as well as the story of the Titanic.
 |
| The Keel |
The last photo of the Titanic as it sailed from Queenstown, County Cork.
Not sure if it's the world's leading attraction but I think we would all agree that this was a good stop and that if time permitted one could spend 2-3 hours or more exploring the museum, the docks and all that goes with the Titanic.
Around noon we moved toward the south and around 1:30 crossed back into the "Republic" from Northern Ireland.
We had one last tour stop before returning to Dublin. To quote one of our travelers, "Newgrange is the only thing I truly want to see while in Ireland". Being that I was likely the only person in the world unfamiliar with Newgrange, I don't need to say any more. But just in case I'm not the only person unfamiliar with Newgrange, here's a brief rundown, you've likely heard this story before (China, Scotland, etc.).
Apparently while out plowing his field a farmer stumbled upon a series of rock structures ...
fast forward about 400 years and voila we now have a visitor center for the ruins of yet another ancient civilisation (American = civilization). As is typical for Ireland, there seems to be a need to "top this" if you get my drift. So if you thought the Egyptians were old or the Skara Brae settlement in Scotland was even older, forget it, the ruins at Newgrange are older. These ancient peoples, like the Egyptians, the Aztecs, the Incas, the Stone Hengians, the Easter Islanders, the Sedonians, etc. were apparently either good observers of natural events or just darn lucky for again we have a burial mound perfectly aligned with the Sun and the winter and summers solstices ...
Unfortunately this was a busy place and we were unable to secure tickets for the bus ride to the actual ruins. We had to settle of a distant view of the mound and a series for museum-ish files and displays of how it was many thousands of years ago.
 |
| SMART GROUP |
Lastly Mike pulled up to the Morrison DoubleTree Hotel in Dublin ...
where Sheila and I would spend the next several days. After saying our goodbyes to Mike we checked in and began our Dublin experience.
At the hotel Sheila found herself a true Irishman, Darren, the bellman/concierge/boy-Friday and she chatted for about twenty minutes about all things Dublin earning a personalized annotated copy of a Dublin city map.
After a brief rest we were on the town with map in hand, destination, the Temple Bar Area. It was a short walk from the hotel, perhaps 15 minutes. We walked the streets but soon found ourselves settled in amongst the other tourists at The Temple Bar Pub. After standing and waiting our turn we ultimately found seats right in front of the two fellows playing all sorts of Irish music for the crowd.
After about two hours, and a couple of pints of Guinness for me and untold quantities of Jamesons for Sheila we returned to the hotel restaurant for burgers and skinny fries. The table lamps were fascinating.
That was it, a good day in Dublin checking off the final "have to" items on our travel list, not too many left to do.
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