Belfast City

The train service to Belfast is the Enterprise. UK was having rail strikes that week but fortunately this service appeared to be run by Iarnród Éireann. Also Northern Ireland rail wasn't joining the strikes. There were no border formalities leaving Lanyon Place station. I walked to the centre of town. I needed to get pounds from an ATM, and roaming data on my SIM, which was promised throughout the EU, but maybe NI in the UK wasn't included?

I succeeded in the first but not the second. With cash I got lunch at a sandwich bar. I needed to buy a bus ticket to my B&B several km to the south of the centre. Using the free Belfast City WiFi in the centre I managed to get an e-ticket.

At the B&B, I worked out that I needed to install an APN to get roaming data. I though that malarkey wasn't needed anymore. Phew, it would have been crippling without mobile data.

In the evening I returned to the centre since my all-day ticket was still good. The first two pictures are of Belfast City Hall from the front and right sides. The third is of the Garden of Remembrance on the same side.

On the left side of City Hall is the Titanic Memorial Garden, established in 1920.

There is a plaque with names of all those who died. I recognised several from the book I took from my shelf for this trip, The Maiden Voyage, which I had donated to the Cobh B&B after finishing. Not all the names are European, there are quite a few Middle East and Far East names.

Behind is a memorial statue. Belfast is where the Titanic was built, and later I would visit the Titanic Quarter, which has an impressive multimedia presentation of all aspects surrounding the fated ship.

Belfast city centre seemed subdued during lunch time when I arrived. There were more people going home in the evening when I visited City Hall. But it's not a very populous city, about 300,000 in the city and twice as much in the metropolitan area.

A panorama of the front:

Seeking a public toilet, I happened upon the Grand Opera House.

I walked inside and was suitably impressed by the foyer.

The bar.

The left and rear walls of the foyer have photos of famous entertainers who have played in this venue.

That's a much younger Judi Dench you see there.

And that was it for my first day in Belfast.