September 1 - Day 36 Belfast

Our plan of action for Ireland was to bookend our stay with Dublin and to rent a car for 10 days in between so that we could tour around the island at our leisure. This seemed like a grand idea until we got into Dublin and I saw how crazy the traffic was - not to mention how aggressive the drivers were!

To put myself at ease about driving out of the big city I bought a detailed road atlas and I got up early in the morning to go for a run on the route I planned to take to get us out of Dublin and on the road to Belfast. I felt pretty confident, so when the lady at the car hire company offered us a GPS system I said no thank you - at the same moment Constance said, yes please.

Constance has no faith!

I conceeded and said yes, until we found out the price at which point we both said no, thank you. But when she offered it to us at half price we both reverted back to yes, please.

Saying yes to the GPS turned out to be a very wise decision...and we made our way to Belfast...

And once in Belfast - with only one day in this city - we once again decided to do the most touristy thing we could think of! Double decker city sightseeing tour number 2!

Albert Memorial Clock Tower - built in memory of Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert shortly after his death in 1861.

Harland and Wolff shipyard built the Titanic in 1912 - this is one of two "Goliath type" cranes that have a combined lifting capacity of 1600 tons! 

Parliament buildings on the Stormont Estate

"Parliament Buildings is home to the Northern Ireland Assembly, the legislative authority for Northern Ireland established under the terms of the Belfast Agreement 1998 (aka. the Good Friday Agreement)."

- Northern Ireland Assembly website
 

This sculpture, called The Beacon of Hope, stands in Thanksgiving Square. It was constructed in 2007 by Andy Scott and has been given several nicknames since - my favorite being The Thing with the Ring.

There were many more interesting sights we drove by - St. Anne's Cathedral, the Belfast Peace Wall and Shankill Road to name just a few - but it was a cold and windy day and the camera stayed in my pocket (along with my hands) for the rest of the tour...