Greenock - 19 August

Greenock is the stop for Glasgow but we decided that we would have a relaxing day as we were pretty tired after Belfast.  After breakfast we made our way off the ship and had a look around Greenock which was pleasant but not overly exciting.

 View from cabin first thing in the morning

Weather starting to close in a bit

Piper outside shopping centre

We went back to the ship for lunch – Catherine needed her daily chicken burger! Later in the afternoon it was trivia time.  There weren’t many teams, but we managed to win!  Last question was about Paddington so no difficulties there!

Following on from our success in the trivia quiz we set off with confidence for the Disney quiz – another of our specialist subjects.  No problems there - we won the quiz easily – at least 4 points ahead of our nearest rivals!  Picture with our prizes to follow!

The ship was very quiet tonight as 17 coaches had gone to the Edinburgh Tattoo.  We started the evening with Movies under the Stars (or more accurately in the rain!) where we watched the first half of the Sound of Music.  Then a quick pit stop in the cabin to get changed and off for dinner – Italian night tonight.  Elizabeth skipped her daily crème brulee so that we could get to Ye Olde Pub Evening.  It was great fun with games and songs.

We finished the evening by watching Far from the Madding Crowd yet again and made our weary way to bed at 1230.  The Tattoo folk were still not back.

Plus ça change ....

Look what we found ....

Belfast - 18 August

We arrived in Belfast on a beautiful sunny morning and joined our tour.  We were immediately told that there had been a fatal accident on the M2 so the itinerary would be changed a little.  We were given a quick tour of Belfast.  It has some fine Victorian buildings in the city centre and the Queen’s University is very impressive.

As we moved out of Belfast on to the Antrim Plateau we passed areas of fairly new social housing which had replaced the former slums.  There are still clear signs of loyalism with a lot of Union flags on houses.

We climbed out of Belfast and were struck by the beautiful countryside, tidy towns with beautiful floral displays and wonderful coastline.

After about an hour of very pleasant driving, we arrived  at Portrush – a lovely seaside resort with an impressive golf course. We learned that this is the home of Graeme MacDowell and Darren  Clarke.  We passed Darren Clarke’s house which is adjacent to the golf course – very convenient!  Rory McIlroy is from Hollywood – just outside of Belfast.

We then made our way along the coastline past this Dunluce Castle to the Giant’s Causeway. 

Our guide, Jennifer, was very knowledgeable and told us stories of the Causeway – both scientific and folklore.  She also told us of a Spanish Galleon from the Armada that had sunk off the Causeway and that numerous gold treasures had been retrieved.

We were given 2 hours of free time at the Causeway so we decided to walk the high road above it which was most enjoyable.  We then walked down to the Causeway and climbed up onto it.  We were so pleased that we had taken the walking sticks.  We then walked back to the bus.
 

The route home took us past this beach where apparently the local cattle like to have a paddle and the famous rope bridge.
 

On the journey home Jennifer told us the history of Ireland, something of St Patrick and the troubles.  We were sorry not to be taken through the areas we knew so well from the news in the 60s or past Stormont but we loved this area so much that we hope to return.

Belfast is where Titanic was built by Harland and Wolff.  A new area named the Titanic District has recently been developed and is also the home of the Titanic Museum.  Do you see how it is shaped like the bow of the ship?  It is also of the same height of  the original and the finish on the building is supposed to remind us of an iceberg.
 

We were really tired when we got back but a burger and drink soon revived us and gave us enough energy to dance along with the Beatles Celebration group who were really excellent.

Dublin

We started the day with breakfast in the cabin and then got ready to have a look at Dublin.  It seemed that most of the ship was doing the same excursion as us.  The sun was shining and some Irish dancers were strutting their Riverdance type stuff as we got off the ship.  Our Irish guide, James, welcomed us on to the bus and we were on our way.  It was just a 5 minute drive into the city via the harp style bridge.

We headed to our first stop – St Patrick’s Cathedral which, surprisingly, thanks to Henry VIII, is Anglican.  However, as only 10% of the population is Anglican, the services tend to be ‘open’ Christian, so all are welcome.  Jonathan Swift of Gulliver’s Travel fame was once Dean of St Patrick’s and he is buried there along with one of his young partners.

We then moved on to Trinity College – a truly magnificent set of buildings and the setting for some of the outdoor shots of Educating Rita. We decided not to visit the Book of Kells which is housed here but instead went on the search of Molly Malone and a Starbucks.  We found Mollie but, despite visiting 4 Starbucks establishments, could not get a Dublin mug.

We decided not to bother with a glass of Guinness since neither of us likes the stuff so we returned to the ship for a pizza/pasta lunch and a rest.

Liverpool (Sunday 16th)

Lots of excitement around the port as the Royal Princess arrived ....

Futuristic way to get to the Isle of Man

Search and Rescue guys clearly up to the task as killer whale gets rescued!

Psychedelic 'Ferry cross the Mersey'

It's behind you!

Video sequence of Royal Princess docking in Liverpool

Flypast in honour of the visit!

Everyone in the picture

Then we went walkabout on the Liverpool Waterfront ....

Last saw buildings like this in Albania after the earthquake!

Padlocks - commitments of love

Then we moved on to the main Liverpool museum - The Liverpool Story