It Was Called The Museum Of Dreams... And It Was, It Really Was!

Thar She Blows

 Let me take you on a figurative journey about a literal journey that I embarked upon with the first mate of my friendSHIP - Lesley Helen.  The theme of the trip was Titanic however, this is 2016 not 1912 and so our journey begins with a flight rather than an ocean voyage.  Well more accurately the journey began at a ludicrously early hour of the morning boarding a bus to the airport... shortly afterward followed by a flight.  The flight was with an airline that undoubtedly would have been the equivalent of  travelling third class with the steerage back in good old 1912 but I wont complain, the fight was fine, the best budget flight of my life thus far, with hardly any rats!  The flight was from good old Edinburgh to Belfast - the birth place of the ill fated ocean liner. 

Upon landing we took a brief minute to work out the bus system and then off we went engines cranked up to full speed ahead, what stood in the path between us and a long, warm, happy and healthy life (unlike the titanic) was not an iceberg and rather it was a man that to this day I am certain that his full time occupation was human trafficker.  Lesley thought he was more likely a full time junkie and tbh either guess was probably pretty spot on.  All we wanted was to get to our hotel, dispose of our bags and get straight to that Titanic museum and all he wanted was to ruin our lives through kidnap and or attempted befriending (neither of which we were interested it).  Luckily we managed to avoid our iceberg, after boarding the bus he headed straight to the back seats and we turned hard-a-starboard narrowly missing disaster and achieving a most enjoyable bus journey with 0 lives lost.  There was a short period of having to walk with him after departing from the bus at the Belfast bus station but we were soon riding solo again, Lesley and I.  I wont go into the morning much more because I know you are all dying to hear about the Titanic museum... suffice it say that we dropped off our bags, went out for breakfast, were offered caviar but turned it down because we never did like it much (lol joke it was a poor mans starbucks breakfast for two, in order to afford caviar we would have had to see our fine things sold at auction, our memories scattered to the wind ) and then it was off to the museum. 

I'm Flying Jack!

The excitement struck when we realised that the buses destination was literally Titanic Belfast, this city was definitely aware that Titanic was its biggest achievement (although is that really a good thing?) and they were going to milk it for everything they could.  We arrived in the Titanic quarter before we knew it and just like that Lesley and I were standing in the birthplace of our favorite doomed ship.  The first stop (after the ticket desk, which, yes, were designed to look like ship windows) was a photo op.  They had a green screen and an array of potential back drops to choose from, it was a no brainer for Les and I that we were going to pose on the bow of Titanic  in the most original way we could think of that we were 100% nobody else had ever done - we did the Jack and Rose "I'm Flying" pose!  The camera man was very impress with our quick thinking and originality.  I was Rose and Lesley was the dashing Mr Dawson.

To be honest I didn't even care how the rest of the day went, I was already super content knowing there was an incredible picture of my best girl and I on the ship of dreams.  However, I am pleased to report that the rest of the museum delivered!  Initially we found ourselves stuck between a group of older adults and a school group, it was all very claustrophobic and it make me kind of wish that the museum tour groups had been assigned according to class, assuring that it wasn't too crowded.  We managed to distance ourselves and this allowed us to take our time absorbing all of the facts and filling our brains to the brim with anything and everything of ship yards, ship building and pretty much anything else ship related.  After the first section of the museum I probably could have build myself my own ship, strong and true, to sail back to Edinburgh.  

If Titanic had been set in 2016

There was then a ride which is always enjoyable, there was even enough carriages for everyone in the museum which is more than can be said for life boats and the passengers of the titanic.  The ride took us on a journey through the process of ship building and although I had all the knowledge of how to build a good ship I realised I didn't have the manual labouring skills - especially with the equipment available to the workers way back in the days of Titanic.  Next we got to the part of the museum focus more on Titanic as a ship rather than the process of how she was built.

We saw models of the different types of accommodation available to passengers and I discovered that third class passengers traveled in rooms not overly smaller than my own bedroom in the flat back in Edinburgh.  We went on a virtual tour of the ship which was probably my favourite part of the museum, if one thing is for sure you can be blase about a lot of things but not about Titanic!  The next room moved us swiftly through the timeline of Titanic's journey, ending with the tragic sinking.  This lead to room where there were statements from survivors of the sinking and there was information on many of the passengers on board.

It was a dreadfully heavy thing, I only
wore it this once.

After this the next room was full of pictures/posters and videos from the many films and TV shows that were inspired by Titanic.  Lesley and I could hear Celine's voice belting out the song that has moved us to our very cores so many times before (music to drown to, now we knew we were in first class) and we spent a very long time watching the clips of Kate and Leo bringing to life the most amazing and heartbreaking fictional couple in the history of time.  We decided then and there that it was about time we watched Titanic again...

The final stage of the museum was a cinema style room where they were, unfortunately not playing James Cameron's Titanic, but were playing a very interesting video of divers exploring the ship wreck and debris.  The whole concept of the ship being at the bottom of the ocean is so strange to me.  In Lesley's words "What once held it up brought it down"  and I give her a lot of shit for this saying because she does bring it up an insane amount of times but she actually has a very good point .  It is curious that the ship was once afloat on top of the ocean and everything was fine but once the water gets inside it led to its downfall#WhenTitanicSankFromUnderUs...

 Anywayyyy.

There was actually one final stop in the museum... The gift shop!! Lesley wanted a mug and I wanted a cup.  Lesley got her mug but the cups were sold out so i considered getting socks or a fridge magnet or like a captains hat before settling on what was undoubtedly the best item in the store - the heart of the ocean key chain!  All I wanted was to purchase two so that I could throw one into the ocean, old rose style but, like Mr Dawson, I am not made of money so one unsinkable keychain it was!   We went to collect our photographs and ultimately they were pure gold as was anticipated so we bought 3 copies (1 each and 1 for luck, all life is a game of luck after all!), we carried those pics around with us all day because we like to take our pictures with us when we travel.  By this stage we were very hungry so Lesley and I decided to go out for some lamb, rare, with very little mint sauce (jk im a vegetarian).  

Take her to sea Mr Murdoch, let's stretch her
legs

The trip feels like it happened 84 years ago but its one I will never forget! I can still smell the fresh paint.  The china had never been used.  The sheets had never been slept in.  Titanicwas called the Ship of Dreams, and it was.  IT REALLY WAS!

P,S

WANNA GO TO A REAL PARTY?  Make it count and check back later for part 2 of the Belfast trip which includes Lesley and I getting very drunk at an Ellie Goulding concert, meeting Mr Andrews, VIP treatment, new found friends, up in the club and a hell of a hangover 

xoxo