Days 32 33 34 35 …. Halfway round..

(Can’t finish this entry on this device, so will do another entry covering days 34 and 35)

So much has happened since my last entry, and also I was without wifi for 2days. So here goes…

Day 32 ..  Well actually I left off as we were about to leave to go to the Celtic Dream concert.. BIG DRAMA..some of the city centre of Belfast was blocked off…RIOTING !! We had a lot of difficulty getting through the blocked off city centre. We were literally right on the edge of the rioting and car burning, scary….. So many police, ambulances, armoured vehicles. We tried several approaches to the Europa Hotel, and I was quite prepared to flag it away and head back to the safety of our hotel.. But just before 8 pm LOTB found a way through and we parked only 1 block away. We were a little late but it didn’t matter, the concert was also delayed. 

The rioting was basically a clash between loyalists and the anti-internment league who had been granted permission to march in recognition of the start of internment during the ‘Troubles’ a few years ago. 

Thoroughly enjoyed the concert, Irish dancers and singers, and bought their CD after the show.

Day 32 then….. A very early brekkie at the Dunsilly hotel, then LOTB drove us to a car park near the airport, and we hopped into the shuttle vehicle for the short journey to the airport. We went to our respective departure gates, and hugged our goodbyes. Flight over to Liverpool was quick, grabbed my backpack and caught a bus into Liverpool One. Walked the short distance to my hotel…the Hard Days Night hotel. Wow…fantastic, all Beatles themed, statues of the Fab Four on the outside walls, my room number 321 had a big picture of George and John and down the staircase were big pictures of the Beatles dating from their humble beginnings until they spilt up, and then beyond…

 They let me check in early, about 9 30am, wonderful. I freshened up and headed out about 11 to go to my family reunion of cousins. I don’t know how many cousins we have from that side of the family, my mothers side, about 18 maybe. 2 have died, and some couldn’t make it from Australia. So in the end there were only 5 cousins, but their respective partners and assorted children made the number 11. We lunched at the Derby Pool Harvester Pub, at the end of Bayview Drive, Wallasey.. It was great to reconnect, and some of the party I had never met. Unfortunately Alan, who has a lot of genealogical info couldn’t make it, but I did learn that John Jacob Rietiker was an immigrant from Switzerland who is a common ancestor. 6 of us stayed to eat, and afterwards I walked the length of the promenade and caught a train back from New Brighton to Liverpool. 

Day 33 …. I went out for an early morning walk. There was a huge religious convention happening at the convention centre, all so smartly dressed and labelled. I guessed it was a new age one, dunno. I had breakfast at McDonald’s as I had been overeating big time, so just wanted something light and quick. It wasn’t very nice. I checked out at 11 and headed down to Albert docks, a huge regenerated area, and signed up for the 1 pm Magical Mystery Tour. I took in a fabulous exhibition about shipping, emigration and the old liners which plied the Atlantic…including the Titanic. 

The tour was magical. I got all emotional as the Beatles were in their heyday when I was in my formative years, 16 to 20, so used to buy their records. Great commentary, and we got photo opportunities at, strawberry field, the houses where the Beatles lived, as well as their manager Brian Epstein. This was a big highlight of my holiday so far. 

I went back to the hotel, grabbed my bags and bussed through the Mersey tunnel to my next hotel, the Liver view hotel, right next to the Seacombe Ferry.