Ireland, Day 6

Culture Night was celebrated into the wee hours of the morning here in Belfast, and mother and I could hear a good portion of it from our hotel room window. Thank goodness for earplugs! 

We went downstairs for a quick hotel breakfast, and then met our group and walked over to the Titanic Museum. The museum is the #1 attraction in Europe these days and is definitely worth going to. The building itself is cool - meant to look both like the prow of a ship, and an iceberg.

The exhibits really gave a good background on the history of Belfast itself and also focused on the workers who built the ship and who they were and what it might have been like. Let's just say I'm glad I wasn't a shipyard worker in early 20th century Belfast - it sounds awful!

It's kind of ironic that the Titanic is the city's big claim to fame, and it sank! But as our guide later that day said, "It was fine when it left here! Maybe it had something to do with that English captain!" (He was joking)

We spent over two hours at the museum, and then after that had the rest of the day to do whatever we wanted. We did a hop-on-hop-off bus tour that gave us a good overview of the city and took us to all the main sights. Especially interesting were the working class neighborhoods, still divided by Catholic and Protestant with very high brick walls, built tall enough to stop bullets from when this area was a hotbed of sectarian violence during The Troubles.

It was sad to see the walls still there and lots of political murals painted on them. It's clear that even though the country is technically at peace, emotions still run high around old loyalties and traditions. We don't really have any equivalents to this in the US - it's a battle that has been going on for over 800 years, and it's hard for me to understand. It just feels so sad and pointless to me.

We rode the bus around until 2, and then stopped at a grocery store for some lunch fixings and ate back at our hotel, tucked up in our beds. I took a nap, and mother wandered around town some more. She did some shopping and brought back a mysterious wrapped package that she said is for me but to be revealed at a later time apparently. 

Neither of us were hungry for dinner, so after running out to pick up some more chocolate, we both enjoyed a quiet night in, watching TV, reorganizing our suitcases, journalling, and reviewing our pictures. It was nice to have a low-key day. I really needed it, since I'm still not feeling 100%.