DAY EIGHT: Ferry to the Emerald Isle, Belfast and the Titanic Experience

Crossing over from Scotland to Ireland, I am reminded of a little ditty our tour guide shared with us on the first day of our tour:

First, you have the Welsh who pray on their knees … and their neighbors.

Then you have the Scots who keep the Sabbath … and everything else they can get their hands on.

Then you have the Irish who don’t know what they want but they will fight you for it anyway.

Then there are the English, who are a self-made race which absolves God Almighty of a great deal of responsibility.

Of all our experiences to this point, this was one of my favorite days of our vacation.  We began with a 2-hour ferry ride across the Irish Sea from Scotland to Ireland.  The ferry holds 2100 passengers, more than 600 vehicles and a crew of about 350 so it felt more like a cruise ship, with a large gift shop, cafeteria, game room, play room for littles and decks on which passengers could walk about.  It was a fun and relaxing opportunity for all our Gate 1-ers to enjoy lunch and good conversation.

Once in Ireland, we were delivered to a Titanic Experience in Belfast, considered in 1912 to be "the largest and most important, properous commercial and manufacturing city in Ireland."  This $10,000,000 exhibit first opened its doors on March 31, 2012 (the 100-year anniversary of the launch of the legendary but ill-fated RMS Titanic) and has now been voted the world’s #1 tourist attraction.  Titanic Belfast is absolutely amazing.  We have toured Titanic displays in the past …. But NOTHING like this one! If you are ever in Ireland, don’t miss it!!!!  We were given 2 full hours to explore, but we barely scratched the surface of the displays. It was so incredible!

Then we did a bus tour of the city, ending at Belfast’s Peace Wall, erected to keep Ireland’s Catholics and Protestants apart during what they politely call “the troubles.” Things have now settled into an uneasy truce (thanks to skillful negotiations by US President Bill Clinton), but schools are still segregated so it wouldn’t take much to see a repeat of Ireland’s political uprising.  Our bus stopped at the wall, we were each given a marker and had an opportunity to leave a message before the wall is removed in 2023!  My message was a quote from President Thomas S. Monson:  "Your future is as bright as your faith."