Day 2: Belfast!

 05/16/2023

Our second day in Belfast! My fellow travelers and I all expressed how great it was to sleep in an actual bed instead of on a plane or bus, and how satisfying it was to let our feet rest for the night after all the fun we had the day before!

We started our day off with even more walking, but no complaints here, because we got a private historical and political walking tour of the city. We had a lovely tour guide who first took us through the loyalist side of Belfast, where there were criss-crossed strings of Union flags down the street. It was fascinating to see the more local side of Belfast after being in the downtown area and doing more common tourist activities yesterday. I could tell there was a lot of pride for the area of town they were in, and also a lot of recognition of the violence they all endured. We walked through a couple very moving memorials and many murals depicting different conflicts within the time of the Troubles, or praising those they considered heroic during the time period. There was also a big sign on a side of a building celebrating King Charles III. Then, we went along the Peace Wall, and a very kind tour group offered us Sharpies so we could sign the wall like many have before us. It is fascinating to see the sheer number of signatures, and also the words of wisdom they may leave behind. 

Then, we went to the nationalist side, where immediately there were some Irish flags hanging from windows, which was a very stark difference from the loyalist side. There were also many murals depicting heroes, but this time it was the heroes that fought for the nationalists, such as Bobby Sands. It was an incredible experience to see the mural after learning about it in class; it is such a vibrant piece of art that holds so much history. Bobby Sands was a member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and was imprisoned after helping to plan a bomb attack which also led to a gunfight between him and the Royal Ulster Constabulary. In prison, Sands and ten other prisoners began a hunger strike to protest the lack of being recognized as political prisoners, and after 66 days he died. His death bolstered support for the IRA because of the international attention he got for the hunger strike. In class, we talked about how Sands’s story really shows the deep seated beliefs that people like Sands held and how much those values meant to them, that they were willing to sacrifice their lives for. A classmate and I talked about how we went into this tour with sympathy for those that died, their families, and all that had to endure violence, yet the tour and the memorials made our sympathy grow and really moved us to recognize the impact the Troubles had on Irish society. 

After the tour, we went and got ice cream with our tour guide and asked any remaining questions we had. Then, we had the rest of the day to ourselves! I had bought tickets to the Titanic museum before we even left for the trip, and we were able to take the hop-on hop-off bus straight to the museum. The museum was very in-depth from what led to the vision and making of the Titanic, to the legacy it still holds today. It started from explaining the rope making process and how the linen industry grew greatly in Ireland, then how the plans were formed for the Titanic’s architecture, how the Titanic created jobs for many people throughout Belfast, getting the massive boat into the dock, and the interior of the ship. There was this really fascinating shipyard ride that floated us all along the room and projected different videos of the workers doing different construction jobs on the ship. There was also this virtual tour of the interior of the Titanic that was so immersive it was almost dizzying. Then, there was a room dedicated to the sinking of the ship, with the names of all the survivors, and another list of all the victims. There was a room dedicated to the finding of the ship after its sinking, and in another room, there were all the original items saved from the shipwreck, such as the violin from the man that didn’t stop playing music, even as it sank. At the end of the museum, I got to live out my main character moment and recreate the scene where Kate Winslet stands against the front of the ship. After a quick gift stop shop, we also grabbed some snacks from the Titanic museum’s cafe before making the walk to Victoria Square, a shopping area. There were some nice stores we walked around in just to look, but nothing particularly stood out quite yet. 

We also took a walk to see the outside of the Grand Opera House, before going to the Crown Liquor Saloon, where we reserved a table for dinner. The Crown Liquor Saloon is famous for its Victorian Architecture, which is the same from its resurrection in the 1800s, with some touch ups along the way. The food was delicious, I had a steak and guinness pie which was absolutely scrumptious! With tired feet and full stomachs, we’re back in the hotel for the night. Day 2 = success. 

Sláinte, 

Reagan