Low key day

Today I did the hop on & off bus tour. I had already done the black cab tour, so a lot of it was a repeat. The Titanic was built in Belfast and their museum/tribute to the Titanic opens on 3/31, so I'm just missing it. March 31st marks the 100th anniversary of the sailing of the ship. Apparently it will be interactive like a Universal Studios kind of exhibit.

I also spent time yesterday at the Presbyterian Historical Society and at Public Records of Northern Ireland (PRONI). The Pres. Historical Society is part of the seminary at Queen's University which is absolutely beautiful. I was able to find the town and parish where my family lived and that is about it. As my Presbyterian cab driver explained to me, while our county was part of the original 9 counties of Ulster it was more Catholic than Protestant, so it was one of the 3 of the 9 given to the Irish Free State. I think our records kinda fell through the cracks. We aren't Catholic and our county isn't part of N. Ireland. The lady at the Historical Society tried to find out who our land owners were. I told her I had hoped we had been land owners, but she chuckled and assured me with the name Sloan we weren't land owners. :(. I told her I figured my family was one of the ones begging for scraps at a castle and that is most likely on all 4 branches.

The pictures are:

Boat used to ferry passengers out to the Titanic

Titanic Museum/Exhibit in the shape of a star like the name of the cruise line

Their government building 365 (whatever their measurement would be) for the # of days in year, 365 windows in building, 6 columns in front for the 6 counties in N. Ireland. The grounds are beautiful and would be wonderful to walk around if a tad warmer and w/o gale force winds.

Symbol of Belfast

The wall

Gates between 2 neighborhoods which are still closed every night