Monday 25th july 2016...you LUCKY readers!!!

because you get another one of the now world famous Pearson FREE tours!!!!

Had a lovely breakfast which was self serve and I had fruit, cereal and yogurt and I was out of the house by 8.30 am for my walking tour of Belfast...so get your shoes on, bring some water and maybe a brolly and lets go!!!!!

Down to the river

 It was nice walking by the river!!

The path finally finished at the Titanic Quarter

This is taken from their website!!!

Titanic Belfast is a 'must see' on any trip to Belfast and has become the most popular tourist attraction in Northern Ireland and one of the top attractions in Ireland. Housed in an iconic, six-floor building, Titanic Belfast is located in the heart of Belfast, right beside the historic site of this world-famous ship’s construction.

The Titanic experience takes you through nine galleries, telling the story of RMS Titanic, from her conception in Belfast in the early 1900s, through her construction and launch, to her famous maiden voyage and tragic end. The galleries are innovative and interactive with many features including diving to the depth of the ocean to explore where RMS Titanic now rests. The Titanic story is told at Titanic Belfast in a fresh and insightful way.

Visitors can now also experience three new galleries, which capture the excitement of launch day, as well asThe Maiden Voyage gallery, which transports visitors from four embarkation ports, Belfast, Southampton, Cherbourg and Queenstown (now known as Cobh) to Titanic’s deck promenade. Guests can not only see and hear the ocean and feel the ships engines rumbling on board at the Palm Court Café but can also meet Fredrick Dent Ray, a dining room steward and survivor, utilising technology used in Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion and Universal Studios Florida’s Hogwarts Express attraction. The Maiden Voyage gallery also includes an original first class luncheon menu dated April 14, 1912, as well as the last letter ever to be written on board the Titanic

It really was a wonderful and informative two hours...even included a small cable car ride around the docks......Makes me want to watch the movie again!!!

I then walked back across the bridge and into the city and here are some of the shots starting with the City Hall...

The cathedral...

I have a little bit of an issue having to pay to go into a place of worship and they wanted 12 dollars here so I just admired the building from the outside...

I came across this memorial really just down a side street with out fanfare or advertising...

This tells a little about the conflicts!!

A BRIEF HISTORY OF “THE TROUBLES”

By Brendan McAllister | February 25th, 2009

Brendan McAllister, founding director of Mediation Northern Ireland, also attended EMU’s Summer Peacebuilding Institute in 1996 and ’98.

Since I should not assume that everyone here is informed about the nature of the conflict in Northern Ireland, I will give you a quick history lesson.

Centuries ago Ireland came under the control of England. As part of that process, large numbers of English and Scottish people were encouraged to settle in the north of Ireland. While most of the native Irish were Catholic, most of the settlers were Protestant.

At the start of the twentieth century there was a sustained campaign to break the link with Britain.

However, in the north there was a campaign to maintain the link or union with Great Britain. On both sides of this argument, significant numbers were prepared to use violence in support of their cause.

In 1920 the British settled the matter by dividing Ireland – granting independence to most of it and keeping the northern part within the United Kingdom.

However, around 40% of northerners were Irish nationalists – people who wanted independence from Britain.

Therefore, from its creation in 1920, Northern Ireland was a state whose citizens differed over their national allegiance.

Consequently, for several decades, the leaders of the Protestant, unionist majority, discriminated against the Catholic, nationalist minority.

The laws and institutions of the State reflected this discrimination.

By the 1960s, frustrations within the Catholic, nationalist community found expression in a campaign for civil rights. The state responded with brutal force.

Within the Catholic community, there were people who began a new campaign of violence to end British rule and end the partition of Ireland. These people are known as republicans.

Within the Protestant community, there were people who took up the gun to defend the link with Britain. These people are known as loyalists.

While the majority of Catholics (nationalists) and Protestants (unionists) did not support the use of violence, the terrorist campaign fought by republicans and loyalists and the State’s campaign of counter-terrorism by the use of the British army and the police, meant that the Northern Ireland conflict became defined by widespread violence.

3,500 were killed. Thousands more were injured. Thousands were traumatized by violence. Thousands were sent to prison. However by the 1990s there was recognition that violence would not deliver a solution to the conflict and that any effort to find a political answer would only succeed if republican and loyalist paramilitaries were given a voice at the negotiating table.

In Ireland, over the last 15 years or so, we have been living through a period known as ‘the Peace Process’. This period has seen the establishment of political negotiations, ceasefires by the main republican and loyalist paramilitary organizations and fundamental reform of aspects of our system of governance in order to command the respect and allegiance of all our citizens.

…[P]rogress has been so profound that it is possible now to speak of the end of ‘the Troubles’ – a 30-year period when our conflict was expressed in violence and a generation grew up in the shadow of the gun and the bomb.

From “Restorative Justice and Peace in Northern Ireland,” an address by Brendan McAllister (SPI ’96 & ’98) at the European Forum for Restorative Justice in Barcelona, June 16, 2006. (Reprinted as originally written.)

I found my way to the Market but was dis appointed it only opens at weekends!!

Some more buildings..

I walked quite a few miles and some observations!!!

Everyone is so friendly!!
The weather changes by the minute!!!
The girls are really pretty!!

As I write this at 9.00 pm the sun is so bright and the evening warm.

I start my road trip tomorrow so come back and join me hope you enjoyed Belfast!!!

Yashi Kochi!!!