Friday, April 15th, 2022 - Day 16 - Belfast and the Titanic Museum

 There is a ramp you can park in just across the street from the AC Marriott hotel and get a special 24 hour rate of £11. Since we didn't park until 4:45pm the day before we had enough time to go to the Titanic Museum before heading back to Rostrevor.

We had the continental breakfast at the hotel (the only breakfast option that I could see, in the Norelli Restaurant) and it included hot and cold options, including eggs, bacon, potato bread, sausages, fruit, pastries, cereal, cheeses and cold cuts. I'm only assuming that it was the continental breakfast because it was £12 each, which is the price listed for that breakfast in their brochure. I never saw where we might get the full, gourmet breakfast for £17 each (reservations recommended) but that's okay since we didn't want to spend that much anyway. We checked out of the hotel, threw our suitcase into the car, and then walked to the museum.

To get to the museum we had to walk the Donegal Quay and cross the Lagan Weir pedestrian/bike bridge. The bridge just opened in September 2021.

There are these "Glass of Thrones" installations around the quay and I assume elsewhere in Belfast.

Lots of cool art and architecture on the quay.

The Lagan River pedestrian bridge.

Here I am, approaching "The Salmon of Knowledge" and apparently studying my feet.

I like the frames on the balconies.

Saw this among the food trucks, I think it's brilliant!

A Canadian food truck?

You can see our hotel on the left, we're now opposite it on the quay.

A helicopter in the sky, everyone looked up.

The "Sound Yard". I love the 1950's style illustrations, reminds me of my old "Dick and Jane" reader from grade school.

Don and I jumped up and down a few times to make the chimes ring but it was a little too much for our knees.
 

I like that the buildings are curved to mimic the curve of the quay.

This was the shipyard where the Titanic was built.

The Titanic Museum

We were inside the museum for 2 1/2 hours and any chance to sit down was welcome. Here is a picture of an amusement park like experience in the museum: a six minute ride in a car suspended on cables that took you through mock-ups of the building of the Titanic.

Done with the museum and back outside. Our ticket also gave us admission to this ship but we were foot sore and hungry so we bypassed it. Besides, the admission is good for 12 months.

After a quick lunch at Subway we headed back to the car. Here are some close-ups of the ceramic tiles on "The salmon of knowledge"

"In 1999, in celebration of the return of fish to the River Lagan, the city of Belfast erected a sculpture titled The Salmon of Knowledge but locally called The Big Fish.^[10] Each tile used to make the sculpture references part of Belfast's history. If following the local folklore, wisdom can still be gained by kissing the sculpture of The Salmon of Knowledge today." We did not kiss the fish, so we will shall be no smarter, but we are less germ infused.

Don figured out how to get us back to Rostrevor without having to go through Newry (where I always miss a turn and end up driving blocks through the busiest section of town). We took the B25 which is also part of the Roosley Scenic route.