Day 2: Titanic and City Hall

Day 2: Titanic and City Hall

Last night in town was fun, we found a few great pubs, thanks to Andrew and Julie for the recommendations - The "Morning Star", followed by "Robinsons". The former was a bit of a "Gastro"pub, and any pub that has its own resident butcher is OK by me, and the beer was really good too. Here's a joke we saw chalked on the menu board: 

Q. What does an Irish 7-course meal consist of? 

A. 6 pints of Guiness and a potato...

Robinsons promised live "Traditional Irish" music, and in a beautifully authentic Victorian back parlour we eagerly awaited the entertainment... Sadly for our taste the music was more "Folk thrash" than lilting Gaelic ballads, the only words we could discern above the frenzied guitars were the occasional "bejaibers!", "begorragh!" and "taytoes", (for any Irish readers - only joking!) Two pissed up Chinese guys who kept heckling and asking for "Scarborough Fair" were very amusing! It was a fun experience and after our drinks we left "Homeward Bound", (a song I doubt they would consider singing). 

In the morning we breakfasted at a local cafe - porridge and fruit salad, very nice, and then caught the train to the Titantic Quarter for our visit to the "Titanic Experience".

Harland and Wolff's massive cranes

The museum/exhibition is really good, great value and very interesting. Facts about the process of building the Titanic are truly breathtaking, the scale of the ship, the Harland and Wolff ship yards and the ultimate tragedy of the ship's maiden voyage all make for a enthralling visit. The actual  building that houses the "experience" is impressive as well - highly recommended. Did you know that two firemen on the Titanic got left behind in Southampton because they spent so long in a pub?...

 

The Titanic museum

 

The Titanic was literally built here.

As it was raining hard when we left we got a taxi back into the City, the driver was chatty. When we arrived at the City Hall he told us we could take a free tour of the building, it was still raining, so we went in.

 

Well what a stroke of good fortune! Belfast City Hall is a wonderful building, full of civic treasures, fabulous decor and fascinating history The guide - Christopher, was a mine of information and the tour he conducted was relaxed and entertaining, well done Belfast City Council!

 

A reception room

 

The ceiling in the entrance hall

We're back at the hotel now having a break, our plans for the evening include a meal out and a visit to the Belfast Empire Comedy club, report to follow.