Titanic Belfast and the Irish Coastline

Marvelous Moments for HUM 1915 class:

• Wild Rover Bus Tour to Belfast:
• Titanic Musuem
• Photo Op at Dunluce Castle
• Lunch at The Nook
• Giant's Causeway
• Carrick-A-Rede and Larrybane & the Rope Bridge

We embarked bright and early for a long bus ride to Northern Ireland, specifically Belfast, which is still under the rule of Great Britain. Our first stop on this tour was a peek into the history of the culture of people living near the country's largest shipyard, Harland and Wolff's.

The Titanic Museum from the outside (opened in 2012)

                  Students looking out over the shipyard.                The Shipyard 

The building of the Titanic had a large impact on this area of the nation because it employed many of the locals and became a source of pride for the small community. The Titanic was launched May 31, 1911 from Belfast to South Hampton, England.From there, it would attempt to carry ex-pats and European emigrants to New York. Thousands of people journeyed to the port to watch such a momentous occasion, little did they know that in only four short days into her journey on April 14, 1912 tragedy would strike. Many members of the class found the hierarchy of the rescues very interesting. By going to the Titanic museum we learned that many of the casualties were members of the 3rd class, partly because a large amount of them were  not informed when the ship colliding with the iceberg occurred and remained in their bottom level cabins. The museum included exhibits that created wonderful displays of life on the Titanic for each class, how other ships ventured to give assistance, and then recovering those lost as well as treasures from the ship.

Professor Wolfe looks at the overhead view of the Titanic Shipwreck

Corissa, Emily O, and Erika virtually explore the shipwreck

On the way to the Giant's Causeway, we took a moment to look at our first castle in ruins. This is Dunluce Castle.

From here our class gathered back on the bus to head to Giant's Causeway. We had lunch at The Nook, a family restaurant on the coast. A few of us had fish and chips to commemorate the occasion. The class took time to marvel at the natural beauty carved into the coast from the Irish Sea.

 

Our lovely lunch spot

 

Professor Wolfe was given Game of Thrones garb to sport by our bus driver. The lot for the show was right behind the Titanic museum and much of the show has been filmed near the sites we saw.

The Causeway from a distance

A group shot in front of the Irish Sea

And a silly one

The next bus stop was at Carrick-A-Rede and Larrybane Visiting Center, where a rope bridge is strung between the cliff sides. Here all 13 members of the course, including Professor Wolfe were daring enough to cross this rickety bridge 30 meters above the sea. For over 300 years fishermen used bridges, such as this one to get to the best places for catching salmon during their migration.

 The view from the starting side of the bridge. 

Professor Wolfe bravely crosses.

Brittany is having the time of her life!

The sea through the ropes. It was so high!
















Emily O, Emily W, Amelia, and Allie looking out over the sea.

Amelia and Emily W make their ways back across the bridge, with Emily O and Allie in tow.

This is the first time that the course has ever taken an organized tour to Belfast and we highly recommend it. Like our bus driver said, it's very important to see the "real" Ireland as well as Dublin. It's naturally beauty has no comparison.

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Kaurin's favorite part of the day was the Titanic Museum.

"I loved everything about it from the ride showing how the ship was built to movie showing the debris from the ship. It was also interesting to see the way classes were divided on the ship. And how most third class people died because they weren't told what was going on."