Ireland ~ Belfast (Day 6) 27Jul27

It's our last day in Belfast and we are on our own. Our first stop after breakfast was the Belfast jail (Crumlin Road Gaol), which housed a number of IRA detainees and others. We walked there from the hotel, and right past the black cab drivers into West Belfast, "where are you going?" I heard. NP. The gaol is no longer operational but it was till pretty recently.

We headed toward the triple header of Queens University, the Ulster (Scots in N Ireland) Museum, and the Belfast Botanical Gardens. After the long walk past Ulster U, cool street art, some British flags at Half mast (for the death of the queen), and more we reached Queens U. We took in a bit of the pretty university and then found a great lunch spot called Holohans.

After a fine lunch, including a seafood boxty (stuff wrapped in a potato crepe and a nice IPA), we headed to the Botanic Gardens and the Ulster Museum. The gardens were very nice with many exotic and native plants. The museum held Irish pre-history and history exhibits as well as an odd set of art exhibits. It is surely notable that almost all artifacts were not dated. WTF? I found Lord Kelvin on the walk too - measure it baby.

We hiked & bussed back to the hotel and then headed to Robinson's for a team dinner.

Van Morison was born in Belfast and a friend Dewey from the tour group headed to find his birth house and did. Van never spent much time in Belfast after leaving as a teen but he did sing about it on an early album; it's about the quiet at night during conflicts; the song is On Hynford Street (Live From Belfast '15).