THURSDAY
BELFAST
THURSDAY
BELFAST
| The Avenue House would be my home for the night. Finding a parking spot on the street was a little tricky. It's not unlike hitting the lottery when you get one. I managed to find one just a couple of doors down. |
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| The big comfy bed. |
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| There were several houses on the street that were boarded up, for sale or for let. I wonder if the downturn in the economy has caused a housing crisis. From this view out the back window from my room it looks like the place next door is vacant. |
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| The house is on Eglantine Avenue. I took this picture a little earlier, but as soon as I stepped out to walk into town, it started raining and sleeting. |
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| The Ulster Museum. I just popped in for a few minutes. |
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| There was an exhibit about The Troubles, the often violent conflicts between the mostly Catholic Irish nationalists and the Protestant unionist population in Northern Ireland. A lot of the bad stuff went down here in Belfast and in Derry where I would visit the next day. |
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| That doesn't look a bit like me. And I don't smoke either. |
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| This is of course the Easter Proclamation, a document issued during the Easter Rising in 1916 proclaiming Ireland's independence from the United Kingdom. |
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| The Cavan mace. It was presented to Theophilus Clements, the mayor of Cavan in 1724. |
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The Loftus Cup. The inscription reads: This cup was made of the Great Seal of Ireland in the year 1593 Adam Loftus being then Lord Chancellor. He was also Lord Justice in anno 1582 and in anno 1583 in which anno he built his house in Rathfernan. Okay, that's kind of boring, but it's old. |
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| The BBC Northern Ireland Broadcasting House in Belfast. |
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| Ulster Hall is a concert hall that opened in 1862. |
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| Belfast City Hall is a big grand building. |
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| There's ol' Vicky again. Much to the chagrin of a lot of Irish nationalists, her flag flies over the entrance to City Hall. |
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| This stone pillar was rededicated to commemorate the visit of President Clinton to Belfast in 1995. |
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| The Titanic Memorial on the grounds of City Hall. |
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| There's lots of marble inside. |
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| I'm sure that mural illustrates some important historical event. I just have no idea what it is. Looks like there is shipbuilding and weaving going on. |
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| The Scottish Provident Institution. Another great Victorian building. |
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| This is the coolest Marks and Spencer I've ever seen. |
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| Robinson & Cleavers across the street from City Hall was Belfast’s most popular department store about a century ago. It sure looks fancy schmancy. |
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| St George's Market is the last surviving Victorian covered market in Belfast. At least that's what someone wrote on Wikipedia, and everything on there is always right. |
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| This used to be an old Presbyterian church. It's now a shopping mall. I bet they have heavenly prices. Yeah, I know. I apologize for that remark. |
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| I grabbed dinner at this pub. The accents were so thick I thought I was in a foreign country. Okay, I was but they were speaking English in a wicked Belfast dialect. I had one of the best hamburgers ever. It was definitely the best pub burger I've ever eaten. |
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| The Grand Opera House, built in a weird Victorian and oriental mix of styles. |
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| Queen's University Belfast after sundown. It was rainy and drizzly with a good deal of wind on my walk back to the guest house. |
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| One of the best things about traveling to Europe is all the soccer on television. This week was filled with Champions League and Europa League matches. Liverpool dropped this first leg match against Braga and eventually were knocked out by the Portuguese club in the round of 16. |
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