Monday, August 19, 2019

Travel Day - Monday - Hop to Dublin & Belfast

Up early to grab our ride to the Glasgow airport. We are now packing 3 drums back with us along with bagpipes and suitcases. The first Uber filled up quick so Kris ordered a second one to get all the stuff to the airport. 

On arrival we headed for check in then watched as Kris & Anna dealt with the drums.  Extra baggage and oversized as well.  ðŸ˜± Off to another counter to pay for said drums then back to drop them off... not quite.. they take them to “Oversized Bags” at the end of the check in area... Ok well they are too big for the Oversized Bag chute so off they went back through the terminal to yet another drop off point for “Oversized Oversized Bags” 😄

Gord Pollock and Gord Cavenaugh visited for a minute then off through security to Starbucks for a coffee. We also met up with Krystal and Cody for a short visit. 


Met up with Cody & Krystal again!!
A quick 40 minute flight and we found ourselves in Dublin. Bag collection and then to storage for the drums and our bigger bags. Quick and easy. 

A short bus ride over to the car rental area and off to Belfast in our Audi A3. We jumped on the M1 and headed north then crossed the border into Northern Ireland. The highway changes to the A1 and with the help of Kris’s navigation skills through CarPlay, we found ourselves at the Titanic Experience in 1:50 minutes. 

Our ride today.
A quick lunch before we started the walk through the various displays. It is much like the Guinness experience in that it told the story of early Belfast, it’s shipbuilding heritage, the designing and planned construction of the ship itself, how it was built and then its launch. It followed its short life before that fateful night when ship speed through an area with reports of icebergs was its undoing. The rest is history. 

The exhibit was very well done but like many of these types of exhibits, there were a lot of people. So much so that trying to read all the info and absorb it was difficult. Aside from that part it was very good and I would certainly make it a stop if your in the area. 

We grabbed a geocache that was out on the area where the original gantry was built for the ships construction. It was an amazing facility built on the site of the original dockyard that was used to construct the Titanic and many other ships. 
Impressive design!

A sample of the display inside.
Logo of White Star Line

Amazing building!
Site of the original gantry.
The gals outside.

The trip back to the airport was uneventful and, after a quick fuel stop, we returned the car in good order. Funny thing..  they provide you with photography of the entire car before you leave.... except the roof! (Don’t worry... I had done my own video of it!) 

After dropping the car we headed back to the airport and grabbed our suitcases from storage. A cab ride into town and we were soon at our Airbnb. It was a everything and more than we expected.

Our bedroom.

Living Room

Kitchen
It was very nicely appointed and they even provided eggs, bread and other convenience items. 

Off to to grab dinner and we soon found ourselves at the Darky Kelly pub. Food was good, music pleasant but it was hot inside so off we went down to the temple bar area. A walkabout then into the Merchants Arch (our fav) for more music 🎶.

Temple Bar area.
Kelly gets a pic of Kris & Anna.

Zack belts it out at the Merchants Arch
Right by our flat is the St Patrick's Cathedral getting some work done.
We left shortly before midnight and headed home. 

A long busy day has taken its toll. 

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