Sunday was a full day planned of Titanic activities, but I woke up and had a terrible sore throat and ear ache. Went through my medication bag (labeled "What if?") and found the right medication for the problem. Mark looked at me like I was crazy and said, "You have a bag labeled what if?" So, I was determined to be out this day no matter what, and off we went to spend the entire day on Queens Island!
We started the day by taking the sightseeing bus to drop us off at the Thompson Dry dock pump house. Mark had pre-purchased tickets for the pump house and thought we would do this tour and would be back to the museum in time for the 13:00 walking tour, which he booked this morning. When we first arrived we were about the only people there. It was about 11:00 on a Sunday morning, and the place was empty. We picked up our tickets and then sat at the cafe and had a breakfast sandwich and a cup of tea. My throat and ears are killing me and the wind is howling today....
We did the self guided pump house and dry dock tour and we were fascinated by the scale of everything. Seeing it in pictures is not the same as being there. Also, to think that you are standing in the very spot where the three Olympic class ships (Olympic, Titanic & Britannic) sat in dry dock, it was an awe inspiring feeling. After the tour we visited the cafe again and had another cup of tea. The temperature was in the high 50's, but the wind was very strong, and it cut right through you. I (Pat) second this feeling...
After the pump house we walked over to the Titanic Museum to pick up the Titanic walking tour at 13:00. We only had to wait about 10 minutes for the tour to start. It was great timing. The walking tour was 1 1/2 hours, but the last half or so was about the pump house, which we had already done. The walking tour was nice, but it was still very windy and cold. She showed us where the gantries were built (Right next to the museum) and where the Olympic class ships slid into the river. She also showed us the Harland & Wolff design and drafting buildings, and we were able to look inside the windows. These buildings have been deserted for some time now and have fallen into disrepair, and they no longer are accessible. That is a shame. However, looking in the window you get the same vantage point as the famous picture with the draftsman sitting at their tables working on the plans for the ships. It was thrilling to be in that location.
We left the tour once it reached the pump house, which we had already done, and we walked back to Titanic museum and purchased our tickets. We were cold again so we sat at the museum cafe and had some tea and some light food. We also wanted to visit the Nomadic today, which is sitting right next to the museum in another dry dock. We checked online and found the Nomadic closed at 17:00, so we decided to leave the Titanic museum and go tour the Nomadic, and then come back to the Titanic museum. Sounds like a weird dream, huh?
The Nomadic tour was about one hour long and it was very interesting. The Nomadic was built to be a tender to ferry first and second class passengers to the Olympic class ships. It is the very last surviving vessel built by the White Star Line. The ship had a long and colorful life, and it was in France for many years. It returned to Belfast around 2005 and it has been refurbished back to almost original condition, except it has no engines. Pat liked this tour actually better than the Titanic museum.
Back to Titanic Museum for the third time today, this time we actually see the museum. I (Pat) was getting concerned that we would not have the time to tour the museum, and was a bit miffed!
About half way through we took the Disney ride which shows what work was like in the Arrol Gantry.
We proceeded only a short distance from the beginning when the ride stopped. We were stuck on the ride for about 10 minutes. Periodic announcements over the speaker system comforting us to let us know they were aware of the issue and were working on it. Then they decided to manually come let us out of the cars, and they led us to an emergency exit which led us into the interior hallways of the museum. So we got to see kind of a 'behind the scenes' tour' :-) They led us back to where we were in the museum so we could continue where we left off, minus the ride.
After we finished the museum we heard some of the attendants mentioning that the ride was working again, and they were asking people if they wanted to go back and take the ride. We followed and went back and took the ride for a second time. It completed the journey this time, yeah! Was it worth it to go back and take the ride? Yes, otherwise we would have felt like we missed something and would have always wondered what we had missed.
After we finished the museum we picked up a taxi at the entrance and headed back to the Fitzwilliam hotel. We had a dinner reservation at the hotel for 20:00, but we called and asked them if we could move it up to 19:00 so we could make it back to the room to watch "Downton Abbey". I was excited to see the first two episodes here in the UK :) Watch out for Evil Edna..... as the British papers say.
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| Look closely, it is an Original CRAPPER! |
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