(this narrative began from when I first landed in London on September 3, 2016)
Sunday
September 18 and Monday September 19, 2016:
This morning (Sunday), because I slept in and for
some reason couldn’t remember when breakfast was and when our baggage was
supposed to be put out the door, I was running late for all these things. However, after having a rather hurried
breakfast, I was finished by 8:45 am, but when I went to get the rest of my
stuff from my room at the Stormont in Belfast, I noticed that my suitcase was
still by my door and had not been picked up by a porter yet. I told John Hood, our tour director, this and
he looked after it. Meanwhile, I
concentrated on getting my backpack put under the bus and getting on the bus so
we could go. I think I was the last one
to get on.
The first thing we were going to do was a tour of
the TITANIC EXHIBITION. This exhibition
is the tale of the building in Belfast of the greatest passenger steamship that
sank on its maiden voyage on April 14, 1912 when it struck an iceberg in the
North Atlantic. I wasn’t sure what to
expect to see, but I discovered that the exhibit was much more creative and
imaginative than I ever would have thought.
I thought it was just great and I enjoyed it very much.
The next thing we were going to do was to visit
Downpatrick, Northern Ireland to see an exhibit of St. Patrick, Ireland’s
patron saint, at the SAINT PATRICK CENTRE.
I had no idea what the story was behind this man, but it was an
interesting one, and it probably accounts for the popularity and longevity of
St. Patrick as a religious icon to this day, particularly in Northern Ireland.
After seeing the St. Patrick exhibit, we were now
headed toward Ireland again, which meant we had to switch to using Euro-dollars
again. Oh well! We are headed to Dublin, Ireland and checking
into The Gibson Hotel there. Tomorrow
morning, we are scheduled to go on a city tour with John Hood as our local
guide and we also have the choice of whether to go on the tour or stay back,
but I think I’ll go. I have to see if
Dublin is as nice a city as Belfast is and then decide which one I like better. As it turns out, parts of it are very nice
indeed, but some parts are being demolished (the land by the city docks and
certain streets because of the tramway installation) because these parts need
to be reconstructed.
Tonight, we are on excursion # 6, a traditional
Irish cabaret evening that includes dinner, a drink, and an Irish coffee. This excursion turned out to include a really
excellent dinner (I had Atlantic salmon, something I rarely order to eat) and the
entertainment was also excellent. The
Irish seem to have a real gift for music, both instrumental and vocal, and for
dance. These young men and women did
dance routines that I would regard as River Dance type of dancing as well as
ballet-like dancing – in any event, it was great. There was some audience involvement in the
dance part of the evening. There was
also an old man who told jokes and got a great response from the audience of at
least two hundred tourists. All in all,
a good time was had by all. The money we
paid this excursion was well worth the value we received.
The Rio 2016 Paralympic Games are finally over as of
Sunday night and I’ll probably watch the Closing Ceremony after getting home
from the Irish cabaret evening. It’s
been a lot of fun watching these Games at night after we’ve had dinner and/or a
shower at our hotel. Prior to these
Games, I would not have believed that disabled athletes could perform at such a
high level, but I have now changed my mind.
I am suitably impressed by the caliber of these elite athletes and I
plan on watching the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games as well as their Olympic
Games.
Tomorrow (Monday), after the city tour, we have the
afternoon off and I plan on going to the hotel’s sauna and steam room (after
validating my key card for access to it).
I really need to relax my shoulder and neck muscles, which have been
tight lately. There’s no spa here, but
the sauna and/or steam room should do the trick. We’re staying in Dublin for two nights, not
just overnight, and dinner can be obtained either in the dining room or via
room service as we wish. As it turns
out, I did visit the sauna and steam room in the hotel and I can honestly say,
I was totally relaxed afterward.
I also have to find a box and tape for mailing my
souvenirs home to Canada. My souvenirs
are getting to be too much for me to carry or to fit into my suitcase. I will have to mail them off before my tour
of the continent begins in early October.
As it turns out, I was able to get to a post office by taking the city
tram located just outside our hotel.
Joe, our regular driver, told me how to get to the post office using the
tram. So, I took my souvenirs over to the
post office and told a man there that I needed to mail them to Canada. Well, I’d accumulated so much stuff already
that it cost me close to twenty pounds Sterling to put as many books and
pamphlets as I could into a very large envelope, address it to Dave Burton’s
house in Whitby, Ontario, and pay the postage (regular mail) to send it. It’ll take about two weeks to get to Dave’s
place, but that’s okay with me. I wrote
on the inside flap that the envelope contained my souvenirs so that Dave will
know it came from me.
Tomorrow morning (Tuesday), we have to wake up very early
(5:45 am), get our baggage out the door by 6:30 am, have breakfast at 6:30 am,
and leave for Liverpool, England at 7:15 am.
While I’m thankful that we’ve had a day off in Dublin, Ireland to catch
up on things like sleep etc. it’s also nice that we are leaving here soon. There is another excursion (# 7), an optional
dinner evening at the Guinness Stonehouse on Monday night, but I elected not to
participate in this one. It’s going to
be an early evening for everyone, not just me, since we all have to get up so
early tomorrow.
copyright 2016 - Anne Shier
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