Belfast is in many ways an astonishing place as today's visit illustrated.
Our coach tour started with the Northern Ireland parliament Stormont which in a strange way illustrates perfectly the way Ulster has changed. Today it is a place of relative peace. Stormont is set in its own grounds and the seat of the Northern Ireland Assembly. The important thing is its accessibility for the public who can drive into and enjoy the grounds. No stuffy security. Apparently the whole place was opened up by MP Mo Mowlam when she was Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. So we were able to wander around the parkland and woodland with time being the only constraint.
We then had a fascinating coach tour of Belfast, showing that divisions still do exist but more from the living museum point of view than any other. And that's what Belfast has become. And I don't mean that in a derogatory way. By having a nodding acquaintance to the past, the future seems more assured.
In East Belfast Union Jacks still fly, but in West Belfast its the Irish Tricolor you will see. The murals are all still there but they no longer seem to be threatening but just a relic of the past. The centre has been re-developed to some extent and once again visitors are encouraged to wander round sections of the City Hall. It has a coffee lounge and display about industrial Belfast (I forgive them using the word meters to represent length).
What comes across very strongly (possibly as a public relations ploy) is an underlining that the strength of Belfast comes in its people. The turbulent times seem to be in the past and the there is a huge drive to attract tourism to Northern Ireland as a whole.
We found another intriguing building in the public linen library where I could have spent hours looking through books, historic documents and a display of posters from the Troubles. We had a few hours to walk round the centre but the time went all too quickly. It is somewhere we would like to return to in the future. We had lunch sitting on a bench in one of the pedestrian streets close to where two elderly guys were chatting. I was intrigued to think about the stories they probably have trapped inside of them. These were people who had lived through the troubles, experienced the heartache and who probably had strong views on many issues. I will probably never know what those stories were but I can imagine.
The afternoon was spent at the new Titanic Museum which is likely to become one of the United Kingdom's top tourist attractions over the next five years. It's strange that the museum should boast about a disaster but as our guide pointed out there was nothing wrong with the ship when it left Belfast. It was an amazing piece of engineering for 1912 but I will let you into a little secret - it sank!
It's also strange that we still use the word Titanic to emphasise something spectacular as in a Titanic effort. Once again that is in recognition of the wonderful engineering rather than the fact it sank after hitting an iceberg. Mind you it almost had a collision when setting out from Belfast. Apparently its captain Edward Smith was also in charge of another vessel the Olympic which had a contra temps in New York Harbour. So as they say in certain areas he had previous.
It's an excellent inter-active museum which includes a ride which takes you into a simulation of the Harland and Wolff shipyard where you can watch the work going on. The museum visit rounded off an excellent day.
Our coach tour started with the Northern Ireland parliament Stormont which in a strange way illustrates perfectly the way Ulster has changed. Today it is a place of relative peace. Stormont is set in its own grounds and the seat of the Northern Ireland Assembly. The important thing is its accessibility for the public who can drive into and enjoy the grounds. No stuffy security. Apparently the whole place was opened up by MP Mo Mowlam when she was Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. So we were able to wander around the parkland and woodland with time being the only constraint.
In East Belfast Union Jacks still fly, but in West Belfast its the Irish Tricolor you will see. The murals are all still there but they no longer seem to be threatening but just a relic of the past. The centre has been re-developed to some extent and once again visitors are encouraged to wander round sections of the City Hall. It has a coffee lounge and display about industrial Belfast (I forgive them using the word meters to represent length).
What comes across very strongly (possibly as a public relations ploy) is an underlining that the strength of Belfast comes in its people. The turbulent times seem to be in the past and the there is a huge drive to attract tourism to Northern Ireland as a whole.
We found another intriguing building in the public linen library where I could have spent hours looking through books, historic documents and a display of posters from the Troubles. We had a few hours to walk round the centre but the time went all too quickly. It is somewhere we would like to return to in the future. We had lunch sitting on a bench in one of the pedestrian streets close to where two elderly guys were chatting. I was intrigued to think about the stories they probably have trapped inside of them. These were people who had lived through the troubles, experienced the heartache and who probably had strong views on many issues. I will probably never know what those stories were but I can imagine.
The afternoon was spent at the new Titanic Museum which is likely to become one of the United Kingdom's top tourist attractions over the next five years. It's strange that the museum should boast about a disaster but as our guide pointed out there was nothing wrong with the ship when it left Belfast. It was an amazing piece of engineering for 1912 but I will let you into a little secret - it sank!
It's also strange that we still use the word Titanic to emphasise something spectacular as in a Titanic effort. Once again that is in recognition of the wonderful engineering rather than the fact it sank after hitting an iceberg. Mind you it almost had a collision when setting out from Belfast. Apparently its captain Edward Smith was also in charge of another vessel the Olympic which had a contra temps in New York Harbour. So as they say in certain areas he had previous.
It's an excellent inter-active museum which includes a ride which takes you into a simulation of the Harland and Wolff shipyard where you can watch the work going on. The museum visit rounded off an excellent day.
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