Guest Bloggers: Val Cakebread and Diane Cakebread

Written By: Val and Diane, Goddesses of Travel

BY THE WAY, WE ARE STAYING AN EXTRA DAY, RETURNING ON FEB 3rd at 7:42pm.
Kerry arranged that with the airline, and there are NO FEES with the change. Kerry saw the list of things we still planned to do here, and decided that we would never get it done before the 2nd. He tried to get us 2 days extra, but the airline balked at that.

Second: We all send healing thoughts to Bob. He is doing better, and was up walking on his new hip this morning. Way to go Bob.

To Tom, Pam, Shelley, and Walt:
Hello from Mom.
We didn’t get up till around 10, after our late night out. By the way, I liked the beer. All of it. Then we headed to Belfast, which is about an hours drive, and saw the Titanic Museum and all its exhibits. About how they made it, here in Belfast. We were about 200 feet from where it was launched. We had lunch before we went in, and I had a meat pie with excellent crust on it. We were in there about 2 1/2 hours going through it, and then we drove home again. We stopped to pick up Kerry and Colleen in Drogheda. (draw ha da). We came home, had breakfast for dinner, and I am heading for bed. And it’s only 8:21. And I don’t care. Tomorrow we go to Dublin to see the sights. Love, Mom.

Val again. I woke up this morning at 9 am and read awhile. I was told there had been light flurries of snow, but nothing was on the ground. After breakfast, and showers, Amy, Diane and I left to go to Belfast. That’s about an hour north, and in Northern Ireland which is technically a different country. No passports needed. We just whizzed past the border sign on the M1. As we got in the car, it was snowing hard. But we merrily pushed onward, as if the sun was shining. Nobody seemed to notice the weather.

Arrived in Belfast, and went into this beautiful building with what looked liked the prow of a ship coming through the building. Actually four ships, one facing each direction. The exhibits were very well done, using all kinds of technology.

Getting Ready For the Exhibit

On top of a very tall gantry, with the floor moving as if there was a high wind blowing, animated photos, screens showing individual processes of building, some animated videos, a building painted on the wall with windows that lit up and showed people inside working and talking, a very large room with wraparound screens and videos that scrolled around the room. I had to grab hold of a small barrier to keep from falling. And other stuff I have forgotten. Oh, I forgot about the ride in a roller coaster like car that took us around a track to look at scenes depicting the building of the ship. The exhibits told the story from planning to build the ship, to all the processes of design and then building, through launch, and voyage, the iceberg, the ship sinking, the rescue, the aftermath, and finally a movie of the search for, and filming of the wreckage on the ocean floor. Part of the movie was shown under our feet, as if we were looking down on the wreckage. Wow. I was worn out and slept all the way home.
It snowed and hailed at different times today, and the wind is really howling outside. We might have more snow tonight, but everything from today is already melted.
I’m also seriously thinking of joining Diane, by going to bed early.