Boy it has been a while since I posted, so sorry for thse of you who may have reciveed this twice, I inadvertently published it before it was complete, this version has pictures! 

I get the sense that my incessant facbook posts may be getting a bit annoying, it’s not that long ago I would be sitting at my desk, looking out on  a dull winters days , and read the posts of a friend who was a flight attendant and thinking, good grief, she’s there now!  and while i understood it was work and not at all glamorous, it didn’t stop a small pang of jealously from rising up.  I think I may now be person causing similiar reactions amongst my friends.  So rather than sprinkle a whole heap of bile producing posts I will try and condense things into a blog post.  

I have a bit to say…

So, bit of background, I have been fortunate enough to join David from my period of unemployment in Hong Kong on a work trip to Paris, we had originally planned on walking another section of the Camino in France, but for various reasons those plans have changed…..so instead of walking for ten days we came to Ireland.

Paris was fantastic, I reacquainted myself with places I have not been for a long time, and also had the time to go and see a few new sites.  And of course the food, oh my god, the food!  They really know how to eat and it is SO good!  Even the supermarkets are a gourmet delight.

It’s been interesting how the internet has changed travel so much, not just booking online but the entire way things are done.  It’s great.  Using what David would have spent on a hotel room, we had a week in a swanky modern apartment in the 16th arondidement, ten minutes walk from where he had to go to work.  Restarants were booked through La Forchette, allowing you to see reviews, the menu, prices and availability…use the location finder to get something close.  Did this the first night, found a cute bistro, loved it so much went back the last night as well.  Some still have a few things to learn ( why oh why does the Picasso museum need my address, date of birth and a password to buy tickets??), overall it’s good, but makes a data package essential while travelling…( which also allows those facebook and instagram posts, the social media element of this as well, lets npt forget that.

I did enjoy the sights, but crikey the crowds were something else, we arrived at Versailles just on opening time, there were a thousand people already waiting to get in. We cockily thought, we have tickets, we will bypass that.  But the thousand people in front of us also had tickets!!  Tant pis!  C’est comme ca!,   The same at La Louvre, you queue for an enternity only to discover that was the queue for security and then  you have to do it again to get in.  Luckily I have had my Tsim Tsa Shui training to acclimiatise me, the crowds there can prepare you for anything, head down, headphones on, emotional cone of silence activated!  Came in handy.

So I had a great time in Paris, and I’ll never say no to seeing this beautiful city, but for me I really prefer France outside of the main centres….next time the Camino!!

So, off we went to Belfast.  A city I visited in January 1991.

In some ways it has undergone a significant transformation and in some ways it still has a long way to go, but in all ways it is worth a visit.  I loved it.

We were visiting friends, so yes it helped to have some local knowledge, they had originally suggested tha they would  take us up to Giants Causeway and the Jamieson’s brewery, having seen those the first time I visited  and really wanting to focus on seeing our friends, we suggested that we just stay in Belfast, a decision that would haunt us all weekend!! As it became the butt of many jokes.

The thing i remember about Belfast the first time I was there and that you can still feel now, is the all encompassing warmth and spirit of the people there.  I swear, it’s palpable!  They are so warm, and strong annd funny in that way only the Irish can be.  On our first trip into town the taxi driver was pointing out various landmarks, including the Europa hotel.  ” the most bombed hotel in Europe, that is, an apprentice glazer worked there for 35 years non stop, so he did, came out with a pension”  Humour to cover what the most difficult of dark times.

On our first day we went to the Titanic museum and I have to say that I was rather hesitant.  I mean, I have seen the movie 5 times, and a muesuem on it now, I don’t think so.  How wrong was I!  It was fantastic and probably one of the best museum experiences I have ever had.  While Titanic is the brand that pulls you in, thsi is also a museum about Belfast, her history, her workers, the construction of the ship, the sinking, investigation and subsequent discovery.  The way it was done was simply outstanding, from small things, like giving you unexpected views and amazing digital experiences, to rides, movies, it had it all.  World class, and if you ever get here, it is a must see.

We also went on the Belfast  taxi tour.  Taxi drivers who ( still to this day) service West Belfast after buses stopped running because of the troubles, have now started to conduct tours of the city focussed in the period know as the “troubles”.  You not only get history, you get their stories and you can feel and sense some of what they have been  through.  I had really very little idea of the history that led to the religious sectarian violence that tried to tear communities apart, I really didn’t.  I  didn’t know that 50 foot fences still divided communities and that large gates still separated them at night.  I had not appreciated the horror that had been perpetuated on so many people.  I had also not for a very long time experienced and felt the strength of collective resistance.  The street art that remembers those who are lost and now is being used to about current social and political issues.  Again, if you get the chance i would highly recommend it.

Belfast still has a way to go, but it’s getting there.  We only had a few days there, but the memories of what what I felt in 1991 were still there.  People embrace you, the laugh, they carry on, they have suffered enormously as well, but maybe that makes them just that little more eager to get the most out of the moment…

It turned out that the tour we had turned down had been a picnic and 26 people were going on it, well, did we hear about the disappointed people when the bus tour was cancelled, the disappointment stories lasted all weekend, all as a result of our cancellation….divorces, redundancies, the yarn just got bigger and bigger, and was all delivered with humour and love.  Humour and love, a lot of what Belfast was about for me!

Sean Rahui