Did you miss me?

I am going to conclude the series of posts of our trip to Ireland with this entry! Personally, I am getting tired with it. Keep in mind I took over 1300 photos [just on the camera...not to mention the hundreds on the cellphone] in the 15 days we were there, and I am STILL working on them to resize and get in chronological order [addendum: I finished them and all done...Monday afternoon!! Time to celebrate]. I planned on putting them all on a disk when complete and then a flash drive. Yes, I know, there is "Cloud", and backup galore online...but, I want the safety of a disk/drive also in case accounts go belly up or disappear on me. I want MY OWN secure collection of photos. It was a long work in progress, and I do have a life outside of Ireland where I feel compelled to share OTHER little ditties like the destruction and re-'building' of our home exterior, witch hunt/dolls for the season, yard work, etc. I haven't taken the time to walk much other than re-landscaping what was torn up from the work done, and most of all NO serious trips; birding...boredom has overtook me. With serious lack of blog gumption. So, this is the last. And it's eclectic:

This photo above was left huge so you could open and read the history...

...some colorful flowers along the way. At the most northerly pub in Northern Ireland, our guide showed us "wild lilac". I took a photo of it, but have yet to find anything even close to "wild". When and if I do, I will share the gorgeous bush.

...a bit of Irish Culture...

...lastly, as you know Bud's ancestors came from Northern Ireland. The day we stopped for a jaunt downhill to the sea at Giant's Causeway, I took off by myself. I had carried a Rx vial with me from the very beginning of my trip. It was in a zippered compartment of my boho bag. I walked off the beaten path away from all the tourists, and sat down, opened the vial, and scooped up some soil from his homeland as a gift for him. I got it thru all the TSA in Ireland AND America. Got it home and put it in a small glass container, tied ribbon around it [Northern Ireland colors] and a County Antrim lapel pin. It's now displayed properly [and I hafta say, proudly by Bud] on our mantel. Also, somewhere along the way, I found a white, green, and orange stone [one each] for the colors of Ireland's flag. They are polished and next to the jar of Irish soil.  The photo directly below is where I got the soil.

I didn't shop much for souvenirs tho. For Bud, I found Titanic Shot Glasses, and an Irish Coffee cup. For me, I bought an Irish linen hankerchief and spent way too much [hundreds of pounds] for a pair of Ireland's symbol...earrings made of mined Irish Gold [yellow gold AND rose gold] ...the harp.   They are still in the box, so when I get them out to wear, I will get a photo.  All that I bought were either small enough to put in my luggage or carry as a carry-on bag. Nothing needed to be shipped!! Yay.

This concludes my once in a lifetime trip to Ireland! A gorgeous sunset from the plane's window bid us adieu from the "mother land". I'm definitely glad to be home. And tho the trip was fun, and exciting, I am like Dorothy "There's NO Place Like Home".

§ ...In a Galaxy Far, Far Away [Ireland Part XV]

After walking around Belfast for a while, my sister spotted a bar that was reported having an obervatory of sorts, with views of the city surrounding all the booths and tables. We needed a special entrance elevator [a private elevator] which we were given...the concierge keyed us in and up we climbed. I ordered a non-alcholic drink, The Belfast Castle...mighty tasty! The drink consisted of orange, mango, whites, sweetened cream, topped with orange zest. Delicious. My sister, the drinker of our trio, ordered an Irish whiskey and Irene had a cranberry concoction of some kind [also non-alcholic]. Thru the windows at our table we were looking down on Belfast's 360° skyline...

Speaking of Bars and drinks...the whole country is big on Pubs. My guess is within any town there were three pubs to a block [if not more]. The Irish do like their drink. Some pubs had food served...all nicknamed Pub and Grub. A funny story kinda...our taxi driver at one time after we asked him where to get something to eat, he said to us "There is Pub and Grub just around the corner, ON the corner". Well, we walked from the castle we visited to the beat of "we know where we're going"...only to get to the corner and NO Pub and Grub. We were LOOKING for a restaurant NAMED Pub and Grub. Then, realized after a bit of figuring the ways of the Irish...they're ALL called Pub and Grub. Kinda a general name for each bar that serves food!! We had icy beer along with our burgers!!!

Okie Dokie, on the subject of pubs and Ireland, another one that was a stop over was the NORTHERN most pub in the country; at Malin's Head! A bit of Hollywood trivia here in County Donnegal...if you are a fan of Star Wars: the last Jedi, you know that at the end, Rey climbs the steep slope of the mountain [Skellig Islands] to find Luke Skywalker and returns his light saber!! That part was filmed near that bar. Mark Hamill visited the bar, and I just may have sat in the same booth he did.

Luke to Rey: "Rey, the Force will be with you, always."
~ The End ~

§ "ICE BERG...DEAD AHEAD!" -Ireland, Belfast

Of all the sights that lay in store for our Ireland trip's itinerary, the White Line Ship Yard [◄historic name, now H&W] in Belfast, Northern Ireland, was high on my list to not miss. We arrived at the museum/ship yard for a two hour stop-over to peruse the area. De-busing, we stood in line for our Titanic ticket "to board" [enter]. The outer building was supposed to replicate an ice berg. In my opinion, it didn't even come close! Inside, the museum was jammed packed! People from all over the world were there! Hardly floor space to walk. Each and ALL exhibits were fronted by tourists, not even able get close enough to read about any of the diaramas. Eventually, I got too frustrated with the crowds and quickly perused the floors, and tried to take photos without anyone hindering the view. Impossible!!! We gave up. Leaving as quickly as we could, my sister and I stopped at the Titanic gift shop where I promised Bud I'd see if I could find him some Titanic shot glasses --he has a travel collection of trips we've been on throughout our married life [and then some].

If I were asked what I thought of it all, I'd say to anyone "it's a big waste of time unless you have DAYS to peruse each exhibit."  For me it was the most displeasure of the entire trip.

I have dozens more photos, but, to keep from complaining like a wounded cat, I'll stop here.

Above photos:

Lifeboat - Belfast

Replica of RMS Titanic - First Class dining

Ports Queenstown and NYC

1st class seating room - White Star Advertisement

SS Nomadic built by White Star in early 1900s - signage

Ticket to 'board' - museum's exterior -Ice berg? Nope, I'm not seeing it!

Note: Nomadic ship is still in existence, this is the real thing! "SS Nomadic is a former tender of the White Star Line, launched on 25 April 1911 in Belfast now on display in Belfast's Titanic Quarter. She was built to transfer passengers and mail to and from RMS Olympic and RMS Titanic".

1st class luncheon menu - Passenger list

3rd class room - Titanic builder/designer...Mr. Andrews

If you have read anything on the ship, Titanic, and viewed photos of the real people involved both in building, designing, crew members [and captain], along with passengers, you will notice how much the actors from TITANIC resemble the living!! For instance Captain Edward Smith. Even Mr. Andrews.

§ Ireland, Part 13

More lighthouses [one on each side of passageway] and lobster traps

This is a mixture of Republic and Northern.  For the time being we are heading into NORTHERN Ireland, not the Republic of Ireland. On our way to several areas, like Londonderry, The Giant's Causeway, County Antrim [Bud's ancestoral homeland], and Belfast, the captial city of N. I. [By the way, for those that didn't realize there are "two" Irelands, Dublin is the captial of the Republic of Ireland].

I am gonna try and wrap this oversea excursion in just a few more posts so I can actually blog about what's happening around Corpus and home. So, some eclectic photos coming up...

 

I think the organ was in a cathedral in Dublin. Yet, I want to share a bit of detail. The organ was built in 1902 [there has been an organ here since the 1400s] This particular one has 4000 [thousand] pipes varying from eight inches to 32 feet!! Also...a bit of trivia as promised...In the Republic of Ireland, signs, door names, streets, etc.  all have the English AND Gaelic words!  Northern Ireland only English.  Northern Ireland has YELLOW license plates on vehicles, while the Republic has white.  Highways [tho both drive on the 'wrong side' of the road :-)] are marked entirely different.  Driving, cross the border and presto chango...different markings.  The photo with the lone gal with back to us, walking on the street, is my daughter.