NORTHERN IRELAND - That Sinking Feeling

Greetings from Belfast. I arrived here yesterday evening and I'm having a really Titanic time!

I'm staying in the "Titanic Quarter" and the famous Harland & Wolff cranes - Sampson and Goliath are right next door

The big draw is just around the corner - the new Titanic Visitor Centre - the building itself is absolutely stunning.  As for what's inside I can't really make up my mind. Lots of information, interactive screens and films but I thought that what it really lacked was a good display of good old fashioned artefacts. I suppose the big problem is that they don't actually have a boat - it is after all at the bottom of the North Atlantic!

What got my interest really going was the stuff outside. This is the slipway where the Titanic was constructed and there was another beside it where they built the Olympic at roughly the same time.

Then in a dry dock there is the Nomadic that you could board. This is the last White Star Line ship in existence and was used in Cherbourg to ferry passengers from the port to the liners as, unlike Southampton, Cherbourg was too shallow for the ships to actually come along side the quay. The vessel took 1st and 2nd class passengers to the Titanic including the Astors and Margaret "Molly" Brown.

The Nomadic

The 1st class bar on the Nomadic

The deck on the Nomadic showing the gate separating 1st and 2nd class areas

Finally you can visit the Thompson Graving Dock. This is the dry dock that the Titanic was moved into to be fitted out. You see an old pump house and the pumps that pumped the water out of the dock.

From here it's outside to view the dry dock itself and to climb down some steps into it for a wander around. I have to admit it all felt a bit spooky especially as there were only a couple of other people there. The metal caisson that is basically holding back the River Lagan and Belfast Lough looks a bit rusty doesn't it?

There was actually a new concrete one behind it, but it did feel odd. In the picture below you can see the props that the keel would have rested on.

The former Harland & Wolff drawing offices where the ships were designed have recently been turned into a very nice hotel with a Titanic theme. Whilst I am not staying there on this trip I did eat in the bar this evening, good value and the cocktail list had one called Jack & Rose ......