A Day in Belfast - Day Eight

Wednesday, July 1st, 2015

Belfast is a bustling city, located on the Northeastern coast. As we headed into the outskirts of the city, we noticed a mountain to our left. This mountain, called Cavehill, is said to be the inspiration for the giant in the well known story "Gulliver's Travels." Likely for the prominent facial structures on the mountain's top.

Farther into the heart of the city, we saw more and more of the country's history and future. The town is filled with massive, beautifully constructed buildings. Many of which were designed by the architect Charles Lanyon.

Along the city's walls and bridges, are the city's well known murals. These stand as a heavy reminder of the country's violent past, current religious issues, and hopes for a peaceful future.

One of the city's gems is its' art exhibit. Artist Collin Davidson was currently showing his gallery composed of eighteen different oil paintings. Each was designed to capture an indivual who was unknown to anyone except their family. Each one had suffered in life. He was able to stop time in the moment when they were lost in  thought. Quite a moving gallery. 
(Kayla, our resident artist, will have a separate post later with more info on this part of the trip.)

Another gem of the city is its' Titaic Exhibit. Titanic was designed in here, built here, sailed from here. It was here that many excited family members waved goodbye to their family for possibly the last time. We stood within yards of where those people were. 

So as not to end on a sad note, we made sure to have at least one tourist moment. *Cue the Celine Dion music, please."

Here's the peaches who gave us the tour. Brother and Sister Peel. To know them is to love them. Instantly.

This is also a good time to mention that after searching for more than a week, I finally found some "almost" iced sweet tea. It is pretty much extinct over here. Withdrawals have insued.