Boats, busses, and Belfast

Tuesday, June 2nd
Cairnryan, Scotland, and Belfast, Northern Ireland

Greetings from Belfast!
Today was an early morning wake up, but a beautiful day. The room was cold, the bed was comfy, and the duvet was heavy and lovely. And I know you've all been wondering: The shower was awesome and there were massive towels, which were were fantastic. 
We had breakfast provided for us in coolers by the cheeky guys who run the Rhins, and I'll get to that in a moment.
We had to check in at the ferry pretty early, but it was super easy this time and very easy to find. We waited in line in our car lanes until they decided to load us up. Then we drove up into the boat and headed up to our reserved suite!

Good morning, Cairnryan!

Sniff. Bye, Cairnryan, you adorable place you!

Thar she blows! Or however you say it...

Our suite was basically a hotel room and we were on deck 10. Yes, 10. But to be fair, parking was on 5. And 6 was for crew only. It was easy to get up top to see everything. The motion of the boat was much smoother this time, but the waves were so big we could still feel it. It was a bit like being on an airplane. And bonus! There was hot chocolate on board with free refills! There was also a spa and a mall and a game room and a cinema on board. Stenna Lines doesn't mess around.

See? It's just adorable.

Then we got to breakfast from the bed and breakfast boys, which was....ham and butter sandwiches. Don't ask. Thankfully, they also gave us muffins, yogurt, cereal bars, and orange juice boxes. They were all sitting in a cooler outside of our rooms this morning. The thought was nice...
Once we got out to sea, the motion and waves started getting crazy. We went back up to the suite and napped, watched TV, etc. So cozy! We got a phone call to the room about 15 minutes before docking to get ready and head down to our cars. (The overhead announcements don't come on in the suites.) 
Driving off of the ferry was pretty cool, we took videos. The workers thought we were nuts.

I think this was just so cool, all the cars and lorries under the ferry...

Our first stop right from the ferry was the Titanic museum and it was amazing. Very interesting and sobering. Reading about the process to make it and the details of the lives of those involved made it way more real than it's ever been. And the effect it had on those in Belfast who helped build it and shape everything. The details of victims and survivors was hard to read. I found two Connollys on board. One survived, one did not. It was very cool to see the docks where it was built and launched. Also the girl who gave us our tickets apparently sounded like me when I do an Irish accent, so it seems I am Irish after all!

Titanic was build on the left, it's sister ship Olympic on the right.

Just a really cool place. It was launched right here after it was built...

Best sign ever. Well done, Belfast.

After that we caught another hop on hop off bus down by the docks. We love those! You can learn a lot and still get where you want to go and do what you want! We had a very entertaining tour guide again! Must be our good luck or something. His name was Ed and he was great. He had some really funny moments.
"There was nothing wrong with her when she left here! This is what happens when you give your boat to English captain, a Scottish navigator, and a Canadian iceberg. It was nothing to do with us."
"Everybody jumped on the Titanic bandwagon in 2012 when we had the anniversary celebrations. Everyone. If they could make money, they did. Look to your right, you will see a Thai restaurant. Check out the name. .... Thai Tanic. OMG." He actually said that last part! We about died laughing.
"If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. If I don't know the answer, well I'll just make it up. I'm sure you'll be none the wiser anyway."

Stormont, the Parliament buildings of Northern Ireland. The only picture I took on the bus tour because... Well, read on and you'll see.

It was fascinating to hear about the struggles between Northern Ireland and Ireland, Catholics and Protestants. It was less about religion and more about how you wanted to identify yourself, as Irish or as English. Much of Belfast and Northern Ireland us still divided. They have separate schools and separate parts of town. There are murals all over the west side for memorials. It was so sad to hear about it. So much trouble for so long. Peace walls were put up around town to keep the peace in the 60's and were only meant to stay up for a few months but they are still up. Peace gates are still only open during the day, completely dividing the area. Very haunting, very how I imagine Berlin was back when the wall was up. Allegiances change from the Republic of Ireland tri-colors to the British Union Jack on the sides of these walls and gates. One side has started having Irish as their first language, the other is covered and filled with British flags and tributes to the queen. It has never been chilling to see a wall of tribute art to the Queen, but this time it was.
We learned more about the Battle of the Boyne, which was King William vs King James, and you already know about that. Dutchman, Scotsman, English crown, Irish battlefield. Whatever.
We got off to do a little shopping, then got back on a different hop on bus. That was hilarious.
Richard and Francis and Mark (all Irishmen) and Don (a Scot) fought over the troubles and different stories and what it was like. Entertaining and fascinating, and very loud with lots of interrupting. Then it became quite hysterical. They were so great.
Richard was our tour guide that second time. At one point, he asked us to stomp our feet to practice indicating that we would want to stop in case the button didn't work, and then said he'd "just put us through our sevens to be Irish dancers, and we could now officially call ourself as such."
We eventually got to our bed and breakfast, Maranatha House, and the door locked. We finally got a hold of the lady and she opened it up, it was really cute. We dropped our stuff off and decided to head up to Giant's Causeway an hour and fifteen minutes away. It's these amazing rock formations at the most northern tip of Ireland right on the coast, rumored to be man made and dated before the pyramids.

The Causeway! It was actually tricky to walk on...

According to legend, the columns are the remains of a causeway built by a giant. The story goes that an Irish giant named Finn was challenged to a fight by the Scottish giant. Finn accepted the challenge and built the causeway across the North Channel so that the two giants could meet. In one version of the story, Finn defeats him. In another, Finn hides from him when he realizes that his foe is much bigger than he. Finn's wife disguises Finn as a baby and tucks him in a cradle. When the giant sees the size of the 'baby', he reckons that its father, Finn, must be a giant among giants. He's scared back to Scotland, destroying the causeway behind him so that Finn could not follow. Across the sea, there are identical columns at Fingal's Cave on the Scottish island of Staffa. So there's that. Cool, huh?
It's a World Heritage Site and one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. We hiked along the rocks and the shore, took tons of pictures, and breathed in the glorious sea air. Absolutely spectacular and well worth the time and effort to get there.

Look at that! Just look at it! UGH!

Such a gorgeous place.

Sometimes nature is just spiritual, you know?

Definitely coming back here. Have to.

Just as an FYI... The causeway was ACTUALLY created by lava and stuff. Pretty nifty. But I like Finn the giant better.

Watch out for possible queues when driving... They happen a lot...

Then we drove back, repacked all of our stuff to try and make things got better, and now we're off to bed! We have separate rooms tonight, so Steph and I are in one and her parents in the other. And we get our own beds! Yay!
Tomorrow is another national park and a castle and back to Dublin! I can't believe we're almost done -- and I haven't found my husband yet! Guess I need to stay longer, huh?