The Titanic Day

*Events of this post took place on March 11, 2013

     Today was my "Titanic Day." of course, I ended up deciding to do the Titanic Experience Musem tomorrow, during my hop-on, hop off tour, to spare myself a long walk back or a cab ride or something. I did do Titanic Tour with Susie Millar, whose Great-Grandfather was Thomas Millar, an engineer on Titanic. We couldn't go into the old Harland and Wolff Offices because part of the roof collapsed and we could not go to the dockyard where she was fitted out because it's impossible to drive into it, but I'll go tomorrow since it's near the Titanic Experience Museum.

 

       I would love to write in huge detail about this tour, but that would take awhile, but I'll do my best to write about some of the things, give you an idea of the tour. One of the first things we saw was the house where Thomas Andrews lived. He was the designer of the ship, and a truly couragerous man who died a hero through his actions that night. Seeing even the little bit of his house was truly awesome. the house was beautiful! an old Victorian with lots of detail and an amazing staicase! also 3 awesome stained glass windows, put in by the family that lived there before Thomas Andrews, his wife, and baby girl moved in. I didn't know he had a baby girl, but he did, just a few months old. makes his actions that night, of not even trying to get to a lifeboat to make it back home to his baby daughter, even more...heroic. This picture is of the front door of the house. on April 2, 1912, the day Titanic sailed out of Belfast on her way to Southhampton. A coach would have been waiting for him right outside, and he would have walked out these doors and never came back. He only about 39. Susise Millar,my tour guide,  had a picture of the engagement ring he gave his wife(his daughter's stepsister- his wife remarried,to her childhood sweetheart- has it now)and it was beautiful! very simple yet stunning! it was a blue square sapphire with diamonds around the side. unique and gorgeous! the house is now the home of the Irish Football association, but it was still great to be there.

 

 

 This is on the North of Belfast, and it is where my tour guide's family lived, The Millars. her great-grandfather, Thomas Millar, was an engineer on the Titanic. the Engineers on the Titanic were heroes, for sure. They kept the lights  and electricity going until about 2 minutes before the ship sank and I learned today they also kept the ship's balance. the water only came in on one side, so it should have tipped over. they kept it well balanced so it would not. Thomas Millar's wife had died, January 1912, and he decided to change from an engineer at Harland and Wolff in Belfast to a sea Engineer, on the ships, and that moving to New York would be best for his two children, the youngest was 5 and was Susie Millar's Grandfather. The touching part of this, or one of the touching parts, story is that the plan was for him to go ahead to New York, get himself settled, and then send for his children. before he left, he have them each two 1912 pennies to remenber him by and told them not to spend them until the family was back together. When word came of the sinking, Thomas Millar's Sister, who had been looking after the boys and ended up taking them in, didn't have the heart to tell the youngest boy of 5 that he had lost his father, especially when their mother had died only 3 months earlier, so she had her youngest daugther tell him. she found him sailing a pape boat on the beach pictured above(it was high tide when i took this picture but there is a beach). as she walked up, his paper boat hit a rock, filled with water, and sank. this was her opening. she said to him "your wee boat has hit a rock and sank." she then asked him if he remenber the big boat his father had left on, and that the same thing had happened to it, and that people had drowned, and his dad was one of them. he asked her if that meant he was not coming home and she said yes. he then recalled what his dad had said about the two pennies, to not spend them until the family was back together, so he did not spend them. ever. Susie Millar's family has been handing them down ever since. such a sad story, so touching. she told me that he was where this pic was taken, along with the thounsands of others, who had come to see the Titanic sail out of Belfast, and they were all cheering, happy, proud, etc. but she said he said he couldn;t understand why they were so happy because to him, it was a sad thing: his dad was leaving. so sad you know? the picture to the left is the slipway where Titanic, and her sister Olympic, was built. there is outlines of the ships on it, and they were big! sure, there are ships bigger and heavier than Titanic today, but keep in mind: back then, there were buildings these things by hand. no computers, no machinery, nothing. all by hand. whole process took about 3 years, 15000 people, and only 8 deaths. not bad all things considered.It was great doing this tour, because it made it real you know? this was part of her family story, and so that gave it a deeper connection than other tour guides. She invented me to go to the Belfast Titanic Society's meeting tonight, and I of course said yes. they only meet once a month, so it was perfect timing! Tonight they were talking about the Memorial Cruise some of them went on last year for the 100th anniversary, which sounded so great and such an amazing experience, and they also talked about the Titanic II, which some of them went to the launch and did not get a good impression of the project. they wanted to like it, they went in with the mind set that it would be good and a good thing, but that when they got there and heard the talks, it became obbious to them that it was a commercial thing, mostly about getting the Chinese market involved since it will be built in a Chinese shipyard, and that Belfast was not mentioned at all in being involved, and that all the quotes were about the movie and recreating "Jack and Rose's Dream"etc. I don't like it either from what they said. I guess what I got from them is that the project was all about money and tourism, there was no heart in it. and believe me, I for sure believe that these people love the Titanic even more than I do. it's personal for them, it's personal for this city. she was here the longest. she was created and built here, in Belfast, this is her home. I agree. It was so great being in a room full of people who love and care and are interested in Titanic, even more than me. I felt normal and not weird you know? It was a great experience. made me think of  her in a new way.

This is the resturant where I had lunch. Susie dropped me off in City Centre, my choice I wanted to look around the city centre, and picked me up at 6:40pm for the meeting which was at 7:30pm(she had to be there a bit earlier). I walked around and after a bit I found this cute little place. it's a pub/resturant. it's a...pub style resutrant. the resutant part is on the second floor, the bar area on the first floor. it was cute, cozy, and very pub-like. it was a bit more expensive than the resutrant I ate at last night, but still not very expensive, less than 10 pounds(I left a 3 pound tip so it was 13 all together). I love this about Ireland, and I also loved this about England, that you can find these cute cafes, pubs, and go in, get some good, relax for a bit and not be rushed out the door. at home, unless you live in a big huge city, you can't find a place where you sit and relax and have a drink or a meal, like a pub.

 This is what I had for lunch: Yorkshire Pudding with Roast Beef and Mashed Potatoes. sooo goood!!!!! I enjoyed this meal a lot. I still enjoyed the Chicken Curry I had last night a bit more, but it was still delish! so far, the food is amazing! Beforre I sat down to write this post, I ordered some delivery food via the hostel(they placed the order for me)from Pizza Hut, Mac and Cheese and a can of 7Up, and it was also delish! So far, the food in Ireland ahs been amazing. Still have to try the Black Pudding, though. :)

 After Lunch, I walked out and decided to go to St.Anne's Cathedral, which was mentioned in Lonely Planet and sounded beautiful so I decided to go check it out. on the way I pasted an Irish souvenier shop, fully green coz of the St.Pat's day Soueveniers, but it was really neat! they were playing some cool Irish songs, and had lots of soueniers. I found this beautiful canvas paiting of the Titanic but it was too big to take via plane. maybe at the Museum gift shop they will sell smaller ones. anyways, I decided to buy these mittens: made of wool, 100% and handknitted. SOOO warm! definetly made a difference in my hands not freezing in the cold Irish Wind and Weather! plus, they are beautiful!

 I had a bit of trouble finding St.Anne's Cathedral so by the time I found it there were 5 minutes before closing, so I'll have to go back either tomorrow or Wednesday. the bit I saw was so beautiful and...big...majestic....I love these old stone cathedrals. this one was amazing, and I was surprised: I've been to the Vatican, St.Paul's, Notre Dame,but I was still taken back by how big this church was. cannot wait to spend more time there tomorrow or Wednsesday. The picture below is one of the neatest things which I loved of the bit of the church I saw. this open cross carving like that on the outside. it's unique, you don't see things like that too often, and its impressive. I love the circle as well in the cross. I had the thought that some people see the vertical part of the cross as representing out relationship to God, and the horizontal as representing our relationship to each other. the circle conencts them both.

This is a cute little Cupcake Cafe(that's its name) I found, and stopped for some cupcakes for a bit before heading back to the Hostel for Susie to pick me up for the Belfast Titanic Society Meeting. as you can see, this was a very cute place, and the cupcakes were good though I was not quite empty of stomach enough to eat both the cupcakes I bought. still, yummy! I loved the decor, especially the brick wall.




all in all, today was a good day and I am totally loving this city!