Nthn Ireland

We will be in Northern Ireland from the 14-19 May

May 18

Today is our last day in Belfast and like most other days, we have the Melbourne type weather - 4 seasons in one day. It wasn't really an issue for me as I was indoors scouring records again with some success but not what I had hoped. Maree wandered the city again but the rain put a stop to any extended exploring. The blog may now have a break for a few days as we are not sure what internet access we will have over the next few days. We catch the 7.30am ferry across to Scotland over the Irish Sea and the trip takes 2 1/4 hours - weather permitting. We have booked a car so I hope it is there for us. We weren't able to get a GPS so the bonds of sisterly love are about to be sorely tested as I am the driver and Maree will be the navigator. Most of you will have had this experience  at some time in your lives and I am sure that it will all work out. The B & B is just lovely and while not cheap, has been wonderful.

May 17

We had another lovely day today even though there were showers in the afternoon. Before we had to drop the car off, we drove up to Belfast Castle which sits at the top of a beautiful park high on a hill overlooking Belfast. The gardens were lovely and the view was quite spectacular. From there we drove to Crumlin Road Jail, a notorious Belfadt prison now closed. We did our first paid tour of the trip and it was well worth it. The prison was built in 1845 and closed in 1996 with about 20 executions that are known in that time. From here we had to rush to the airport to drop the car off. Bill, our second cousin, and Rosemary his wife, picked us up there and took us back to their home, we chatted all afternoon and then they took us to a lovely country pub for tea. Fabulous tea - who would think of Guinness and chocolate fruit cake done as spring rolls, with ice cream - absolutely yummy. They then took us back to the B & B about 8pm. Here's hoping that tomorrow is as good.

May 16

Today was both a family history sojourn and some tourist things and it was a wonderful day. In the morning after breakfast we drove to where the Ruddells had lived - Lurgan, Portadown and Scarva as well as the cemeteries in those places. It rained occasionally in the morning but had generally cleared by about 1pm. By this time we were on the coastal causeway road. This meandering road goes from Belfast to Larne and up to the Giant's Causeway at the top of Northern Ireland. This was a lovely drive as the sun was out and we were looking at the sea for most of the way. We even had glimpses of Scotland when we were just north of Larne. It was a wonderful day and Doris (the GPS) performed wonderfully.

By this time it was around 5 so we decided to take the fast route back to Belfast. We were almost there when I realised that the petrol light was flashing (as in, you will run out very soon) so we jumped off the motorway to be pulled up by a police car. "Have you seen a car going down the motorway the wrong way.?" No we hadn't and we don't care as we will run out of petrol soon. While not quite like that, it almost was but  the nice policeman gave us directions to the nearest station. We headed off for what seemed like forever so we stopped and asked a woman in a car, who gave us directions also but a minute later stopped and waited for us and said that she would take us there just to make sure we didn't get lost. Such a wonderful gesture - needless to say we got there OK and filled up.

For our short time here, we have seen quite a bit of Northern Ireland. It is much more English looking than the south and doesn't have its charm, I think. Belfast is quite a boring city after Dublin. However, one thing must be said for both the north and the South - on the motorways there is not ONE sign which says Keep left unless overtaking and yet everyone, yes, everyone just passes and automatically  returns to the left (BTW the speed limit on the motorways is 120kph).

The car goes back tomorrow and I estimate that we have done close to 2000km in 9 days. The best thing was having the GPS and the second best thing was opting for an automatic. Both of these options add to the cost of the car but Doris (GPS) was invaluable and not having to worry about changing gears on wet roads while trying to follow the navigation directions was also terrific.

Tomorrow will be tourist things in the morning, return the car and then meet our second cousin in person, even though he and I have been corresponding for some years now.

May 15

Maree and I headed off again in different directions today. I went to the Public Records office to view mictofilms to find 'our' Ruddells with not much success but with numerous films still to go.  So this means that Scotland will have to be delayed by a day and we wil stay here on Monday. The trip back from the city centre to the B&B was in pouring rain so thank heavens for the GPS. It is going to mean catching a bus or two in on Monday as the car has to be returned on Sunday. I looked at taking it for another day but Avis wanted to charge me $200!!!!! Everything is so incredibly expensive but they keep telling us how bad the economy is.

We are off into the countryside tomorrow to see where the Ruddells lived in Portadown and Lurgan and to see some of the sights.

Maree

Today I did the Titanic tour in the morning.  This was a very historical experience with many interactive tools used in the whole expedition.  The exhibition is made up of different parts of the Titanic journey. It starts at Belfast at the time of Titanic‍ '​s construction in 1909–11. It then leads into the  Shipyard where I went on a ride aboard a mini-car up and around a replica of Titanic‍ '​s rudder.

The second gallery is dominated by a steel scaffold standing 20 metres (66 ft), which alludes to the Arrol Gantry built to aid the construction of Titanic. Here I went in a lift to the top of the gantry, where scenes of shipbuilding are displayed through audio and images.

The third gallery is called the Launch which shows scenes from the Spring day when Titanic was launched into Belfast Lough, watched by 100,000 people. It overlooks the slipway from which Titanic was launched and a window enables visitors to see the slipways and docks as they appear now. It certainly was a great experience.

I then decided to visit the city centre to check out some historical buildings.  I visited the Albert memorial clock which was built between 1865 to 1865  for Queen Victoria's late Prince Consort, Prince Albert and recently restored in 2002.  From there I went to the town hall which a magnificent building.  This was built in 1910.  By this time rain was coming down and I now had the old rain poncho out - wonderful sight.  Time to head back to Cathie.

May 14

We arrived in Belfast this afternoon earlier than expected as, surprise, surprise, it was raining in Dublin. We had booked the hop on, hop off bus to see the sights and it was so very disappointing as we couldn't even take photos as you will see in the post. Still it was lovely to see so many of the sights that you read about. The centre of Dubln is quite ancient and lovely - not so nice as you get further out.

The B & B is lovely and not too far from the city centre - there is even a menu for breakfast, the first we have had in any of the places we've stayed. We are heading down the street for something  to eat later to a place called The Shed so I hope that the name doesn't indicate the type of food.

I know that you will all be pleased to hear that it is cold here but the sun is Out!!!