seekingmygreaterperhaps

After a long day of travel headaches yesterday, I made it safely to Belfast, in Northern Ireland. I had booked my train ticket online earlier in the week, and when I got to the station, all of the online kiosks were down. Thankfully Nicole was there to bully the ticket desk lady, and the security guard people into letting me on the train. I had to SPRINT to the train to make it in time. Picture me, with a 50+ pound backpack on running frantically for a platform. Thankfully, I made it in the knick of time, maybe 30 seconds before the doors closed. The train was fine and dandy. I then took a bus to get to the port, where I took a luxury ferry across the ocean to Belfast. I got to watch Mr. Peabody and Sherman, and took a nice little nap. I’ve never been on a boat like that, so it was really neat. When I got to the port in Belfast, it was too late for any buses to be running, so I had to grit my teeth and pay for a taxi. He was really friendly and I even got a nice tour guide out of it… when I could understand what he was saying. Needless to say, 4 types of transportation later, I am here. It is rainy, and it is awesome.

This morning I went to the Titanic Experience Belfast, the world’s largest exhibit for the Titanic. When I got there for my scheduled time, it was all blocked off and closed… I found out later this was because Prince Edward was there and he got a private tour. I was walking in as he was signing the guestbook. It was surreal… mostly because I didn’t recognize him and had to ask a staff member who it was. Needless to say, I was 10 feet away from royalty, so that was cool.

When the museum was blocked off, I found an awesome cafe to sit in. This is a really unique spot- The Dock Cafe (in the Titanic District if you ever choose to visit). This cafe doesn’t have any prices. They give you tea or coffee, have scones, and assorted bakery items, and just ask that you put money into the “honesty box.” There is wifi and I was there when the doors opened. It was packed. The lady who helped me was super nice and even checked up on me and asked me if I had walked around to see all the art on the walls. I would highly suggest going there, the tea was lovely, the food was good and the atmosphere was unexplainable.

The view from my nook.

Eventually, when I actually made it into the Titanic Experience, I was blown away. First of all, the building itself is architecturally beautiful.

The exhibit itself is huge. They start by walking you through the history of Belfast at the time when the Titantic was being built. (It was built in Belfast, hence why the museum is in this particular city.) It goes in to why the industry had such an impact… as in it created a crap ton of jobs.

This is me standing in front of the spot where the Titanic was actually launched. They have silver outlining where the ship sat.

A really cool part was the ride on the inside. You sit in a very low thrill amusement ride, and you hear the stories of the workers. It takes you up and down and has heat lamps where the workers would be in the furnace area, and there were hammers constantly banging. It even takes you inside a rowdy pub where they went after the launch. It was really cool.

Next you get to see what the inside of the Titanic actually looked like. There are replicas of the first, second, and third class sleeping areas, and there are interactive exhibits where you can follows the footsteps of a certain type of passenger. You can see the specific types of china that was aboard, along with the carpeting. There is an area you can stand in that virtually takes you through the grand ballroom and everything. The movie with Leonardo DiCaprio hits it pretty spot on.

first class quarters

…. and third class quarters.

It then takes you into the inevitable- the crash. They did a really nice job of setting the mood. It was dark, the walls stuck out in jagged angles like there were icebergs around. You could read the morse code messages on the walls, and they had voices of actual survivors playing. If you looked up, you could see “stars.” It was a very sombering experience. Throughout the whole exhibit there were about 10 people highlighted, 5 of them survived, and 5 of them died. I was able to read all about their experiences. One of the most interesting was the head musician. In the movie it shows the band playing even as the ship was sinking- this is true. Wallace Henry Hartley was the bandmaster, and when he heard news of the iceberg collision, he had the band set up to try and help people not panic. They eventually moved to the deck and kept playing. Not a single band member survived. Hartley’s violin and case survived and remain one of the most prizes Titanic pieces.

Next it goes into the United States inquiries and there is a replica of the lifeboats. It reminds us that after this, there has never been an iceberg related incident on a passenger boat, and no more lives have been lost. It goes into specific legislation that has been passed to promote safety. Then there is a space for media representations… and YES- They did play Celine Dion’s “My heart will go on.” When I heard that I couldn’t help but smile.

They had a big “Discovery Theatre” where they played footage of the submarines who have visited the wreckage. You can watch this and then go down to the “seafloor” to get an look at the remaining ship from above. There are some interactive exhibits where you can look around the wreckage for yourself. In some of the debris field there are pairs of womens shoes, chamber pots, and even a dolls head. It’s very sad. It’s a sombering experience, and well worth the money to get in.

I managed to walk home, to truly get the most of my Belfast time… well I didn’t see too much, but I did see:

(sorry you’ll have to tilt your head) A woman with a hula hoop

AND

A beautiful City Hall.

I didn’t get many good selfies today, but I will try and do a better job of getting people to take pictures of me in front of things… because I know y’all would rather see me than just these buildings. Tomorrow I’ve booked a tour for something quite beautiful. Stayed tuned.