Hey Bubbleheads,
Happy Monday :)
A while back my sister,myself,dad,marie,along with some other people we knew took a little road trip up to Belfast at the end of last year. I wrote down a list of things i wanted to do through-out that year. One of those was to do the Titanic experience. Well that day finally came in November. I've always had a fascination by the one ship that was deemed unsinkable.
We came across our hotel online called Holiday Inn which i think i can say for everyone as we were only staying for one night it was a good choice of a hotel. Situated in a good spot with in walking distance of pubs,restaurants,the town centre and across the road from us was the BBC station. We didn't realise that night Friday was the taping of the Children in Need show (sadly didn't get to see anyone). After checking in we headed up to our rooms,the room itself was cosy,comfy and i really loved the black wallpaper that was on the wall behind the beds. We had to head for a quick bite to eat cos soon after that we needed to head to the Titanic experience building. That is where Witherspoons comes in. We got talking to one of the waiters to find out about where we needed to go for the Titanic experience. Told us the best thing to do was just to jump in a cab,an that the taxi driver would simply take us there. He took the time to ring one for us which was very nice of him. It came we got in the distance over in the black cab was about 10 mins. If you were walking it i'm guessing a good 20 plus mins.
Guys the Titanic building itself has 5 levels which be looking at it you wouldn't think. One thing get there as early as possible as i didn't know until my sister told me it closed at 5.00pm and i chose the 3 o'clock tour. Check out the website to see if they have different times for different parts of the year. There is also a lot of reading and taking in replicas while you are walking around the experience. Especially if you have someone that is really quite interested in knowing about the titanic. Our tickets again we booked online,so when we arrived at the box office we just had to gave our names and the stewart handed us our tickets. We got there a tiny bit early so naturally we started the tour. Before you go up the stairs,their is a guy that takes funny pictures of you standing in front of a green screen with the help of his computer he'll put up any part of the ship. My sister and me did it he gave us the front of the ship,naturally we did that moment where rose and jack had their arms outstretched standing on the rails saying "i'm flying". After having a few giggles we headed up and started the walk around but it left us short on time to properly look at everything in the experience.
Best parts for me was the shipyard ride you got to sit in and go around in carts to take in the reality of shipbuilding back in the early 1900s. Fitting out as it's called shows you exact replicas of the first,second and third class cabins,also loved the moving journeys through the dining areas,the ship's engine rooms and working interior. To me it felt like you were really there on the ship,it was crazy! While they were my pick of the best bits i did found myself getting a tad bit sad going around the aftermath part of the journey. Reading the letters,reading about people that sadly passed in this event,all in all though i really enjoyed doing the Titanic experience and i wouldn't let that put you off.
When we finished up the experience it was dark outside (it was November after all) we decided to head back to the hotel. We took a little time to sit in the lobby,enjoy a drink and the sweet tunes from a guy with his guitar. After that we got ready and headed over to the Italian restaurant across the road from us. Busy little place and the staff were all really friendly. Then we popped down to Witherspoons for a few social drinks after that back to the hotel. All these places were quite busy which was great to see. The next day Saturday before leaving we decided to do a quick bit of clothes shopping. We walked for about 10 mins which lend us to Victoria Square Shopping Centre (heaven). Picked up a t-shirt from River Island among other bits,again a place to head back up to for a bit of shopping ;). Another thing i was raging spice was that day it was the switching on of the Christmas lights but unfortunately we had to make our journey home :(. Belfast is definitely a place to go and see. I would make sure though to make the next visit a little longer. Hopefully i'll get the chance to do it again this year :))).
Hope you enjoy reading the piece :)
Bubbles x
