Belfast

Mark and I spent a day and a half in Belfast and were able to get out and explore the city. The city center has numerous nice old buildings. Unfortunately the city hall was closed for restoration. Belfast is where the Titanic was constructed.



The Crown Liquor Saloon is a landmark pub in central Belfast. It is most well known for the mosaic in front of the door that includes a depiction of the Queen of England's crown. What side of the Northern Ireland situation you are on dictates how you enter the pub. If you are a loyalist and believe that Northern Ireland should remain part of the United Kingdom, you never step on the crown. On the other hand, if you come down on the other side of the fence, you always make sure to step on the crown.

Giant's Causeway

Mark and I left Dublin and took the train north to Belfast. One of the highlights of Northern Ireland that we both really wanted to see was the Giant's Causeway. I is a very unique geological feature that is only found in a few places in the world. It is a section of basalt that has cooled into the shape of giant hexagonal columns. They form through very complex processes, so I have included a photo of the sign that explains how they formed.

View from the cliffs above.

How they formed.

View from ground level.

Looking right down on them

The legend of how they formed (and my new drinking name).

Dublin

OK, so there are lots of great stories that go along with my visit to Dublin, but I am seriously running out of time before my big Vancouver B.C. - Papua New Guinea back to back trip and so all you are getting is pictures. I am sorry. I will get more info up about both Dublin and Northern Ireland when I get back in May.

A view of Dublin from the top of the Guinness Brewery.

Trinity College, home to the Book of Kells.

Kilmainham Gaol

River Liffey

Together again. For the first time.

I will say this about Dublin. It was amazing. The sites highlighted above are all definitely worth visiting. Especially Kilmainham Gaol. I had a wonderful time and a HUGE thank you goes out to Sarah for taking Mark and I out for a great last night.

Imperial War Museum North

One of the stops on my tour of England that I had to make was the Imperial War Museum North in Manchester, England. The building was designed by Daniel Libeskind. He is also the guy who won the design contest to build the new World Trade Center in New York City.


The museum takes a unique approach to presenting war and conflict to the visitor. It focuses on trying to show how war affects people and communities on a very basic level. This is accomplished by reducing the amount of "old things in glass cases" and focusing on a massive multi media surrounding experience. Every hour all of the lights in the massive exhibit hall go off and a slide show is projected on the walls. The slide show depicts different facets of war in super-size and there is a soundtrack that goes along with what you are watching. All of the walls of the museum are covered and so you are surrounded by images and sound. It is a very immersive experience. There are three different movies, each one dealing with a different theme about war.

Standing Stones

Ok, seriously. Did you actually think that I was be touring around the English countryside and not go see Stonehenge? I hope not. You should know me better than that. Anyway, on with the pictures.

Most main stream archaeologists believe that the stones were placed around 2200 BC. It is also generally believed that the stones came from about 25 miles away to the north. Don't ask how the ancient people moved the stones. Archaeologists can not answer that question. It is possible for archaeologists and engineers to figure out a possible way of moving rocks that size, but there is no way to know for sure how people in the past did it.


A little ways north of Stonehenge is the town/site of Avebury. This site is even older than Stonehenge. It dates from about 5500 BC. One of the greatest things about Avebury is that there is a small town that is in the middle of the ancient construction. The archaeological site consists of a large circular raised berm with a "moat" immediately on the inside. Inside the moat there is a ring of large stones that have been stood upright. There are also addition stones placed ion various positions inside of the area.



While many people suspect that Stonehenge may have been some sort of astrological calendar, archaeologists really have very little clue about what the function/purpose of Avebury was.

Cathedrals: Old and Older

Heading north from Portsmouth Mark and I stopped off in Salisbury, which is home to a giant cathedral. It also has the tallest tower of any cathedral in England. It was undergoing cleaning on the outside in honor of its 750th anniversary. They were also conducting an archaeological excavation inside the main portion of the cathedral so that they could install a new font. I got to talking to the head archaeologist and I was surprised to learn that they had not found anything. When I asked why, he calmly replied: "Oh, it is because this is the new church. The old ones are over on the other side of town." 750 years! The NEW one!?


Another amazing thing about the cathedral is that it houses one of the four copies of the original Magna Carta. Yes, the 1215 version. Needless to say, they wouldn't let me take a picture of it.

Portsmouth Spinnaker

After London, Mark and I headed south, spent half a day in Brighton and then made our way to Portsmouth where we spent the night. The next morning we got up early and headed to the Spinnaker Tower.

Note the rectangular window in the floor at the top.

The tower had the feel of a structure that was intentionally built by a city that is trying to establish an iconic architectural image. A lot of cities have one. Paris has the Eiffel Tower, New York has the Empire State Building and Sydney has the Opera House. While these structures have become unintentional iconic images, I couldn't help but feel like the Spinnaker Tower has that feel of a city trying too hard. Maybe it just needs to be around longer.

View looking down through the window.

That being said, I am very glad that we went and visited it. The view from the top was excellent, despite the bad weather that day, and the glass floor that you walk across at the top was great. I will admit that I had to work up the courage to walk across it. My logical side knew it was safe, but my instinctual side was setting off alarm bells...

Tate Modern

The Tate Modern Museum on the south shore of the Thames River in London is housed in an old power plant. The following photos are of what was once the turbine hall, and the unique architectural feature within it.

Looking west down the length of the turbine hall.

A view from the bridge in the middle of the hall.

Close-up of the crack.

London Buildings

London Eye

The Gerkin

St. Paul's

Loyd's

Panorama from the south bank
of the Thames River.

National Zoo

Somber Memorials

WWII

Vietnam

Korea

Korea

Arlington

Arlington