Day 18 - The Titanic Quarter, Ginger Bistro and Saturday Night Fever at the Grand Opera House

Wednesday 2 October 2019
We still have our car. I ummed and aahed about when to return it. we don't really NEED it in Belfast, but perhaps it might be handy. Oh, I don't know. We don't have to return it until Friday,  and we don't have time to faff about returning it so for now it's staying where it is. We head out from the Premier Inn, admiring the beautiful old building in ruins that is next door, just screaming potential. I think we were told it is to be converted into a hotel. It should make a beautiful hotel.

Crossing the road intending to walk down to the Salmon of Knowledge and see how we go for walking across to the Titanic Experience, I notice a Jessop's camera store. Right, that's just too convenient and they are already open. Plans are quickly changed. We talk to the guy serving and walk out with a new memory card and a sandisk card reader. Fingers and toes all crossed my little waterproof Lumix should be back in action in time for the driving in the Lake District. That's set us back a little for time, we're in plenty of time for our Discovery Tour booking but now we'll need to drive over and pay parking fees. Que sera sera. Just as well we still have the car.
Titanic Belfast is the attraction in Northern Ireland I've looked forward to the longest, but to be honest, despite great reports from friends I'm not really sure what to expect. I don't like doing things by halves, so we have booked the White Star Premium Pass and I've booked the first possible Discovery Tour intending that to be our first thing and explore the rest of the attractions afterwards. I was fascinated by the Titanic as a teenager and read books and watched movies, but that was a long time ago. 

We claim our passes and head over to the assembly point, never one to stand still for long, I give the gift shop a quick look, then hurry back as the guide arrives and commences the introduction. Well, how can I adequately convey how essential it is to do the Discovery walking tour of Titanic Belfast? I can say it is "must do" and it is, but those assessments are sometimes quite subjective. I would say, it is IMPOSSIBLE to fully appreciate this site if you do not do the walking tour. Yes, the Titanic Experience is impressive and the ride through the construction area very very good, but the walking tour adds SO much value to all of that. Also, the Titanic Experience is contructed, the walking tour takes you into the Harland and Wolf offices, where sales pitches were delivered, power plays indulged in and sometimes tragic decisions taken. Light filled rooms make working as a designer for the company look like a delightful way to earn a living. The standard of beauty of the offices was part of the sales pitch, so they are very beautiful spaces. 

We learn about the symbolism within the design of the staircases here and on those used on the Titanic. We learn about the scale of the ship building industry here in belfast, right into the time of the second world war. Importantly we also learn about the sacrifice made by the people of Belfast in an effort to protect the shipyard from bombing. Out and about on site we learn about the site and are given exercises to do that impress upon us the almightly enormity of the scale of the gantries constructed to build the Olympic class ships.

This really takes some effort to get your head around. We bust a number of myths. We acknowledge Alexander Carlisle, the real designer of the Olympic Class ships, a brave man who quit rather than remove enough life boats for every soul on board from his design. Finally we learn about the architecture of the Titanic Experience building itself and just some of the vast number of symbolic features built into the fabric of the place. Please note, despite what some walking tour guides say, the design does NOT represent an iceberg. Everything about it is intended to pay respect to the workers who built her, the lives lost in her sinking and her legacy. How crass and offensive would it be to memorialise the iceberg that sank her? We stand where we are told when we are told to note the alignment of light down through the building and onto the dock where Titanic was built. We note that even the seats we can see below are sized and arranged so that they replicate the distress message sent out by the Titanic that fateful night. Really, DO NOT go to Titanic Belfast without doing the walking tour.

Alexander Carlisle

Our guide impressed upon us that we must not miss visiting the Nomadic, miss lunch sooner than miss Nomadic. OK, yes Nomadic is definitely high on my list of priorities but we're not missing lunch either. We are learning to be wary of the portion sizes and share a sandwich and salad between us before we head over to Titanic's original tender.

Does this look enormous? It was!

Walking across to the Nomadic I finally learn what a caisson is! I have seen them mentioned and no doubt looked up what it is but seeing one is still an enlightening experience.  I walk around to the wrong side for entry causing some confusion for Hubby. Where are you going?  I need to put the light behind me for a photograph. 

The Nomadic had an interesting life well beyond her use as a tender with the White Star Line, but she's been restored as closely to her time servicing Titanic as possible. A big investment has been made in her presentation, hologram characters serve at the bar and shovel coal to the boiler. Racks of period clothing are available for people to try, examples of luggage and their contents are on display. There's even a little movie room set up. The Nomadic, like the Olympic class ships had different spaces for different classes of passenger. We take our time, examing everything closely. After about an hour we've had our fill. Hubby decides to use the toilet. Initially I wait then figure, yeah, that's not a bad idea. Emerging in wonderment I ask my one and only question of the visit. "Are the toilets original?"  The crew member smiles and gives a little laugh and says "That's one of the most frequently asked questions. Yes they are!"  We share a moment or two of mutual amazement. Here's my tip for when you visit the Nomadic: Go and at least look at the toilets. 

Now, the rest of our afternoon is devoted to the exhibition. We've no time to waste. On entry our Premium White Star Pass entitles us to a free photograph each. There's luggage for us to pose with. Hubby's a bit of a spoil sport, refusing to carry a suitcase, but at least he stands there and the snap is taken. The exhibition begins with displays about boomtown Belfast, Linen capital of the world. I enjoy the interesting displays of flax seed and harvested flax alongside samples of linen at different points in the process of making the fine thread. Later I particularly appreciated the section on the price paid by the workers for the building of the great ships. 254 accidents were recorded during the building of Titanic and 8 people died. Industrial deafness was also a problem due to the very noisy environment.  At appropriate sections the display has the feel of an industrial gantry and we're funnelled into the queue for the Shipyard Ride. This is a little carriage that is carried down in among granty framework where you are shown rivetters at work among other things. It's brilliant. 

The intention of the layout is that you proceed from context through construction and launch and on to fitout with reproductions of cabins as they were furnished. The whole thing is fascinating and very well done. In one area they have a loop playing that gives a virtual tour through the ship climbing from boilers up staircases. People watch transfixed others hold cameras steady for video. 

As we are working our way through the section that covers the sinking, we are starting to run out of time. A staff member comes through and warns us that there's still a couple of levels to go in the exhibition and only a short time to closing. We've been spending our time here in this most moving of galleries. It can consume a considerable amount of time. Luckily the thing I'm least interested in is in the final galleries - the rediscovery of the Titanic deep beneath the North Atlantic. After a quick look I decide to just max the time in the sinking section and skip that last couple of sections.  

We narrowly avoid missing picking up our free photographs, but we're too late for the shop.

By the time we get back to the car, we figure we may as well go straight to dinner because we have show tickets and dinner needs to be out of the way early. It takes us a little while to find parking, a bit more time to deal with the pay and display and then of course a short walk across to the Ginger Bistro, has us sitting down just after 6 o'clock. Luckily we're early and we can have a table in the bar area near the entrance. A little banter with our waiter, who demonstrates his knowledge of Australian beers by telling us they don't have any Little Creatures we agree that the barman can invent me a nice, still mocktail.  Hubby orders the French Onion Soup with cheese croutons and home made bread, while I play it safe with their best selling for over a decade, Ginger's Squid and dips. Both delicious and apparently fairly stable on the menu as is Hubby's Fish Pie. 

Hmm, I think this mocktail involved apple juice and ginger. It was delicious!

My meal was also very good, but once again we forgot to photograph the menu and being a quality restaurant the menu appears to have changed since so the photo of my half eaten meal is our only reminder. Such a sad first world problem.  Treacle pudding with Toffee sauce shared between us was also delicious. Ginger Bistro was a great choice. 

We are out and heading for the Grand Opera House in plenty of time to take our (excellent) seats for tonights' performance of Saturday Night Fever. I'm wondering how much I'll enjoy this to be honest. I'm generally not that into musicals or for that matter the music. I liked it OK when it was first released and saw the movie on its original release but haven't seen it since. 

There was no need to worry, Saturday Night Fever the Musical is a great night's entertainment, very energising and the music is great. The star of the show is apparently well known in these parts, but I was a bit surprised at the disparity between the applause for him compared to the other cast members. His was much greater, yet he didn't seem to be putting in his best effort on the dance numbers. He was making the moves OK but it didn't seem effortless and his moves weren't snappy and sharp. John Travolta's shoes are hard to fill I suppose. The women on the other hand, Annette and Stephanie were superb as was the supporting cast. 

We make a point of crossing over to poke our nose inside the Crown Saloon, and I snap a photo of the Europa Hotel, which suffered a lot from bomb attacks during the Troubles. Then discretion is the better part of valour and we decide we'd best head home for a good night's sleep. Lord knows, tomorrow will be another busy day, which I guess I should say, is how we generally like it!