Holywood, Northern Ireland, UK

At every stop on the train, which we have taken more than a few times, the automated voice repeats “please mind the gap.” He’s talking about the gap between the train and the platform of course, but I find it relevant for this entry because I am having some difficulty metaphorically “minding the gap” between gram and I. Obviously we have a very strong core of love between the two of us, I love my gram so much!!! But as of late I think we are ready to part ways for a few days. I, however, am not at all ready to leave Ireland.

Today we slept in a little bit and unfortunately we did not get to tour the city. We set up the black taxi tour for tomorrow and our B&B host, Donna, chit chatted with us for longer than we should have so we were even later. She gave us instructions to grab the bus so we didn’t have to pay for a taxi and then I found we could actually take a train directly to Holywood.

We got there and found the cemetery pretty easily and the worker, Michael, was there to open the priory up for us, but anything that remained of the church itself like pews and the altar (and the ceiling) were all gone. It was just more graves on the inside! After a lot longer than I thought it would take (he was very helpful but not very fast and I felt obligated to let him help us) we found the headstones of the ancestors we came to see! McCrea Blair, the brother of my third great grandfather is buried here with a couple of his sons, his wife, and some other relatives (first two photos).

Next we used our return train tickets to get off in the Titanic Quarter. We walked to the museum and got one free admission because of gram’s wheels. Next we ate.. I did not enjoy my tiny old pizza but I did enjoy my cherry scone filled with some sort of cream and my titanic beer.

The museum was designed to look like the bow of the ship from any angle, and it did indeed. We learned a lot and saw some cool stuff, including the studio where they shoot Game of Thrones. We also got to walk through the shipyard where the Titanic and it’s sister ship, the Olympic, were built. By the time we did that it was too late to go to the dry dock and gram was cold so we got a cab and I asked him to just drive me to the dock so I could take some photos, it’s supposed to be really amazing. Unfortunately I couldn’t get in but I still tried to snap some pictures.

Next he dropped us off at the Victoria Shopping Centre, which is nothing special.. It seemed like their version of an outlet mall but there were just a bunch of teenagers sitting around drinking and smoking and none of the stores were cool or original.. just your regular Guess, CK, Levi, H&M, etc. I was hoping for a souvenier shop or a sporting goods store so I cod buy a sweatshirt.

We passed the city hall and then walked to the bus to catch it back to the B&B for the night.

Last day in Belfast tomorrow, doing the cab tour and then directly to the train station for Dublin. I plan to get high on some trad Irish music tomorrow night as we celebrate our last full day in Ireland (I think one of the reasons for my mood swing is that I am missing that trad Irish music! The British rule definitely brings a notable difference in culture). Woop!