After a smoothe night we arrived in the morning at an overcast Belfast with a threat of rain in the offing. We have the appropriate clothing so we would not
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| Samson and Goliath |
be put off by some of the wet stuff. We could see across the harbour the huge dock cranes "Samson and Goliath" which had played a large part in the shipbuilding industry. We had booked on a city coach excursion at 1200 and so prepared before then, we picked up a packed lunch which the boat had prepared for us. Our time came for boarding the coach and off we went with a guide to the city. We were looking forward to seeing how it was recovering after the
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| Queen's University |
recent interesting history. Our first stop was at the impressive Queen's University - founded in Victorian times and still keeps the former British sovereign's connection. We had a quick walk and look at the gateways before returning to the coach. Our guide was effusive about the recovery of Belfast but did not gloss over the problems the troubles caused. We carried on through the the different quarters until we came to the
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| Belfast city hall |
city hall, another impressive building with St Paul's Cathedral influence and where we would have a guided tour. In the gardens of the building
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| Titanic memorial |
a memorial to the sinking of the Titanic has been created with plaques listing all of those who perished as she sank - very poignant. We then entered the building and were
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| looking up to the cupola |
immediately struck by the grandeur of the entrance hall with the staircase and cupola above. We had time to get comfortable and then met our specialist guide from the city hall who started the tour by going up the staircase to the first floor. There
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| the "industry" mural |
was a mural depicting the three great industries of Belfast. Linen making, shipbuilding and farming. It was painted as the building was built to
celebrate Queen Victoria giving Belfast city status. We then went down a corridor showing portraits of all the mayors of Belfast before entering the council chamber. Each of the 60 councillors had an individual desk with the chairman having an impressive seat in a commanding position to control matters. It looked more imposing than the council chamber on St Mary's. They had two gold chairs
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| part of the council chamber |
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| the state function room |
where King George V and Queen Mary sat at the opening. We then arrived at the large state room where important functions take place. Very nice décor and extremely good carpet with the city arms woven into it. We spent some time here and then we could go to see an exhibition of the history
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| stained glass Titanic |
of the city which for us had limited interest and as we went down a corridor there were stain glass windows including on showing the Titanic.
We concluded our tour and went to the garden for our picnic lunch before going for a quick look round the shopping area. We had a quick
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| good looking M&S |
unsuccessful excursion into M&S and then returned to the coach. It was a quick ride back to the ship and boarded before
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| East Maidens Lighthouse |
we set sail a bit later. As we went up the Irish coast northwards we passed the East Maidens Lighthouse. The weather was better at this end of the day.
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