We got a cheap family day return to Belfast on the train and, with some trepidation, we signed up for it. We were a bit worried that it was too far from Dublin for a day trip and, to be honest, it was.
We set off at nine in the morning. We got to Belfast about 11 and headed for the Titanic Quarter. Attentive readers will recall that we visited the Titanic exhibition over the summer. This time our destination was the W5 science museum. We spent about 45 minutes waiting in the station for the train to the Titanic Quarter. For some reason, I thought it was further away than it was. We could easily have walked it in less time. This led to certain low level tetchiness among the troops as we waited.
Things started to look up when we reached our destination. The local market was celebrating a year in operation and chose to do this by getting in people dressed as Storm Troopers. Whatever floats your boat, I guess. The children were charmed.
Mr. Waffle and I enjoyed seeing the Storm Troopers surround and take over a PSNI vechicle.
Two worlds collide.
The museum itself was pretty good and the children enjoyed it. There was plenty of science.
There was also a climbing space which the children enjoyed very much but was only linked tangentially to science. Overall, well worth a visit.
After spending the afternoon in the museum, we decided to go into the city centre for dinner before going home. Belfast is lovely and still pretty much tourist free so we quite enjoyed wandering around. Daniel commented on the quality of the cycling infrastructure; possibly we speak too much about this at home. “Look,” he said, “segregated cycling provision.” “Mmm yes,” said Mr. Waffle, “everything is segregated here.”
We went to Milano’s for dinner which was busy. The clientele seemed a little more upmarket than their equivalents in the South: more snazzily dressed couples, fewer frazzled families.
We got the late train home about 8 and everyone was pretty grumpy and tired by the time we actually got home. Nevertheless, we would all definitely go again. Not on a day trip though. Overall, I’m taking this as a win.
