We had a full evening of entertainment so took our evening meal at 5:30 in the American Icon Grille. To date this has been the only restaurant we have used and we cannot fault the service or the food. At 7:30 we watched the production show, We Will Rock You and were totally wowed by the not only the show but the ship's performance of this West End show. Absolutely brilliant!! From there and with a 30 minute window, we made our way back to Two70 at the other end of the ship to watch an hour long performance called The Beatles Celebration, which again provided some great entertainment. This morning, things were a little less hectic with a later arrival time at Belfast. We were able to have a lie in and recharge our batteries in preparation for our day ashore.
We arrived at 11:00 and the gangplank was very quickly installed with passengers getting off within 15 minutes. We were off by 11:30 and very soon on the ship's shuttle to the city centre where we purchased HoHo bus tickets for the 90 minute circuit.
It seemed the whole bus had the same intention as us and used it as a tour to see some of the places that 30 years ago you would not have conceived a HoHo bus would take you. Places such as the Falls Road, Shankhill Road and the Crumlin Road. Great that it's now safe enough but there is plenty of evidence that loyalties still run very deep with lots of signs, painting and flags adorning the streets in certain areas.
Once we made it back to City Hall, we set off on foot for the Titanic Quarter where we had pre booked tickets for the Titanic Experience. We passed several items of interest along the route including Belfast's version of the leaning tower of Pisa, the Albert Memorial Clock, along with the Big Fish, which is a 32ft long ceramic salmon commissioned in 1999 to celebrate the regeneration of the River Lagan. Also the Beacon of Hope Sculpture, informally known as Nuala with the Hula.
With the Titanic Experience, we had decided that a timeslot later in the day would avoid the ship tours and although still very busy, there was little evidence of our fellow passengers.
It's an interesting and informative venue with every conceivable aspect of the Titanic taken into consideration, starting with how ship building came to be in Belfast right through to the present day and the finding and exploration of the wreck itself. I found it totally fascinating and money well spent.
From there we walked back to City Hall to get the return shuttle back to the ship. Another great day ashore and another thoroughly enjoyable place to visit. Time to relax now in preparation for dinner tonight which is at a later time of 8:30.
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