Ireland again!
After several delays (Air Force One at JFK and fog in Dublin), we arrived in Belfast, late in the afternoon on the 25th. We picked up a rental car at the airport in Dublin. Rusty is a great driver over here - has the driving and shifting on the opposite sides down to a fine art. He's also an expert navigator around all of the many round-a-bouts. Our hotel, Days Hotel, Belfast, is in a wonderful location - easy walking distance to shopping, pubs, restaurants etc. The Crown Bar, one of the oldest pubs in Belfast was on our list for lunch/dinner (still working on adjusting to the +7 hour time change).

We used our hop-on/hop-off pass on Thursday to reacquaint ourselves with Belfast and taking a city tour. It has been 6 years since were here last, and the city has continued developing and thriving. IKEA has a big presence here now - it was under construction 6 years ago.

Around the corner from our hotel is the Belfast Opera house which was built in 1895 and has been restored from the bombings it endured both during WWII and the "troubles". On Thursday night we saw a performance of "Thriller" a tribute to Michael Jackson. The company was from London and it far surpassed any expectation we had of the evening. When we stopped by the box office to purchase tickets, the young woman asked very gently if anyone in our group was over 60 and if so, we could come back at 6 p.m. to buy our tickets for half price. She assured us we would get good seats - and we did!

Friday was the day set aside for the Titanic Museum and a visit to the PRONI - Public Records Office of Northern Ireland. Both buildings are located in the Titanic Quarter - the same area where the Titanic was built and is now under incredible development

The museum is fabulous. I cannot even describe the details and the displays which allow one to learn not only of the building of the ship but also the history of this part of Ireland. We were there for about 3+ hours and only left when our feet wore out!
We walked over to the PRONI office where Rusty did a bit of research and then we met our bus to take a tour of the murals which depict so much of the history of this part of Ireland.