Northern Ireland - Netherlands

We departed the Orkney Islands heading to Belfast with a warning that it would be a rough night in the North Atlantic.

That proved to be true with the ship first going into the waves which was not to bad. Once we turned south the ship began rocking from side to side and you could really feel the rocking. The waves we were in in the Pacific were much bigger, so we were okay. 

After we got between the islands it was much calmer. Our first view of Northern Ireland. On day 6 we were in the port in Belfast, which is well protected, so we docked without any issues.

Our excursion was Belfast Titanic. It began with an overview bus ride through the streets of the city and then the afternoon was spent at the Titanic Museum. There is a lot of street art in the city, much if it related to its troubled past. This is Beacon of Hope.

My plan was to have a Guinness in Dublin. More on that plan later.

The Queen's University founded in 1845.

Elmwood Hall, formerly a Presbyterian Church, was erected in 1862. It has been converted into a concert hall.

The street where the movie Belfast was filmed.

A Japanese inspired mural by Dan Kitchener.

A melting rubik's cube.

One of the most interesting things in Belfast is the Peace Wall. Constructed in the 1920's to separate the Catholics, who identified as Irish and the Protestants who identified as British. The walls were expanded in 1969 during "the Troubles", the conflict that lasted until the Good Friday Agreement of 1998.

Over the years murals where added to the wall that portrayed struggles for freedom around the world. This shows Americans who lead the fight for freedom. 

Nelson Mandela who spent 27 years in prison protesting against apartheid, then became the president of South Africa after his release.

This mural is of the people who went on the Hunger Strikes of 1981. The strike became a showdown between the prisoners and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Bobby Sands (middle) was elected to Parliament while in jail but never served as he and ten other strikers died of hunger.

Words of truth about oppression. The Peace Wall was something we could have spent more time seeing. Just this year there has been talk of taking the wall down, but many people feel it is a war relic and public art that should be preserved. I hope it stays.

Belfast City Hall was constructed at the beginning of the last century. 

The Titanic Memorial was erected to commemorate those lost in the sinking of the ship. The woman, who represents death or fate, is holding a wreath over the head of a drowned sailor being held above the waves by two mermaids. 

The statue of Queen Victoria was unveiled by King Edward VII in 1903. She reigned over the United Kingdom from 1837 to 1901.

The names of all those who perished when the Titanic sank in April 1912.

A couple we met on a cruise last year told us we should go to the Titanic Museum in Belfast. We are glad we did. The museum was built in the shipyard where the Titanic was built. The building is shaped like the bow of the ship and is the same height as the Titanic. The tour starts with the history of Belfast's various industries including early ship building.  

A replica of the Shipyard at the start of construction. Titanic's sister ship, Olympic, was being built at the same time, side by side.

This is where both were built. A third White Star line ship, Britannic, was built next. While the view of ocean travel usually shows how the rich travel, all three of these ships where built to carry the many  immigrants moving to the United States. 

No computers here. This is the drafting room where the plans for the ships were drawn.

Typical plans for the Titanic. Exiting our ship the Dawn one day, we walked through a hallway with all the plans for her on the wall.

The plans projected on the floor. The detail is amazing.

This is a ride that takes you through the shipyard while the ship was being built. It was very noisy, with people talking and pounding the hot rivets that held the hull together. There were more than 3,000,000 rivets used on the Titanic.

A picture of the Titanic'c keel. Once the hull was complete the ship was launched and furnished. Even the smoke stacks were added after the launch. 

This was a typical first class cabin. While we hear a lot about the wealthy people onboard, most of the money was made from the other classes.

A second class cabin.....

....and the third class.

Of course what made the Titanic so famous was that it sank on its maiden voyage. An entire section is devoted to the mistakes that were made, including the fact that the lookout did not have binoculars, they were going to fast, they turned the wrong way to avoid the iceberg and several more.

The results were 1,512 people died. By class, 62 % of first class ; 41% of second class and only 25% of third class survived. 75% of women; 50% of children and 20% of men survived, totaling 713 saved. The last section of the museum was about a team lead by Robert Ballard finding the remains of the ship in 1985. A video of the remains showing under this glass floor. If you have any interest in the Titanic and get to Belfast the museum is a must do.

That evening we gathered in the purple chair lounge to talk about our plans for Day 7 in Dublin.. Here are John, Gary, Jim,Wendy, Nanc and Georgie. It turned out we did not need to plan for that day as it was too rough to go ashore in Dublin. We did not get to add Ireland to our list and I had to wait until we were back in England for that Guinness.

Missing Dublin meant we had two days at sea. The first one was cold, rainy and rough. The second was sunny and warm. 

After a rough day at sea the ladies are enjoying a smooth sunny day. Here are Patty, Nanc, Suzanne and Bonnie. 

Because we missed Dublin on day 9 we arrived in Amsterdam at 8:00 AM rather than 11:00. This gave us time to walk in to the city before our excursion. Here are Georgie, Anne Marie, Nanc and Suzanne. 

We were here four years ago so we just strolled around checking out the canals and buildings.

Those wooden shoes are a real thing in the Netherlands.

While the city is interesting and beautiful it was also very dirty with a lot of trash on the streets.

Our excursion here was Windmills and Edam. It was really much more than that. Our first stop was to Zaanse Schans, a Dutch neighborhood with distinctive green houses that were relocated here to create a 18th /19th village. While it was created for tourists, all the houses are rented out and lived in. 

Of course there are shops and restaurants where the tourists can leave their euros.   

The windmills are beautiful. They were originally built to pump water from the reclaimed land. At one time there were 10,000, now there are over 1,000 and most of those are still working. A cluster of windmills is called a molengang.

A hand operated draw bridge over a canal. When 26% of your land is below sea level you need a lot of canals, bridges and windmills to keep it dry.

The next stop was Edam, the town famous for its cheese. That said, with our group the ice cream shop attracted the most people.

All those canals make it easy to find a place to dock your boat. 

There are a lot of draw bridges on the canals. This one holds cars.

The Dutch architecture is very unique.

Our last stop was to Simonhoeve, a cheese farm and clog shop. They had a tasting of many different cheeses. 

They were not making cheese when we were there, but we got a very entertaining explanation of cheese making process.

A picture I took off their web site of just a few of the many kinds of cheeses they have and the dutch sales ladies. You could get a cheese for any taste, including cannabis.  

We did get a demonstration of clog making. Of course they no longer make them by hand. This machine turns them out much faster. We would recommend this excursion for an interesting look at Dutch culture.

A motor barge passing the Dawn. We enjoyed our short stay in Amsterdam. Where we were docked there were boats and ships of all sizes,