Ireland: Penultimate Day

Tuesday, our last day in Belfast, was set-aside for more research. Having located the city library on Sunday, we now set out to see what we could find.

What we found was the most helpful librarian we encountered on our trip.

When we got to the research floor, I launched into me spiel for what seemed like the umpteenth time. She looked at me like I was a bit of a lunatic. My sister thinks I did sound like a lunatic. I remain unconvinced about my own lunacy, but, will allow speculation upon my sanity, because, I frequently question it myself.

The front door of the PRONI. For those that are sniggering, there was no Pron, so stop it.

Eventually, between the two of us, we managed to convey why we were there, and what we were looking for, and she actually became engaged in our search, and interested in what we were trying to accomplish, which netted us a number of useful bits of context. The end result of this conversation was that we were not
going to find what we were looking for at this library. We needed to go to the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI). This office was located in, you guessed it, the Titanic Quarter.

We set out, grateful that we now knew the way that was not the long way, and we were soon at the office which hovered feet from those Harland and Wolf cranes. Like the Dublin city Library, we got access cards, and in this case, with our photos on them. For FREE. Our cards unlocked the research rooms, and provided an ID for accessing their online databases, and with these cards, we can access those same databases from home.

Here’s where you can imagine another library montage that looks way more interesting than it actually is. We looked through microfiche, and we looked through indices, and figured out how things were organized. Dad doozed a bit, and after we woke him (he was snoring) he took out the notebook I’d given him, and he started to work on the our very curious project, which I’ve not yet mentioned, and will explain later.

The PRONI is the building on the left edge of the picture. The cranes, are well, right there.

In the end, we did find some really interesting documents, which may, or may not have anything to do with anything, but, were worth getting photocopies of. After many hours, we finally gave up for the day.

On the way back, we stopped at the movie theater by the Belfast Ice Arena (they have a hockey team), and it was practically deserted, and the list of movie options we were interested in each required an hour of waiting, and so we gave up and headed back toward the hotel.

In honor of our last night in Belfast, we decided to go eat in the hotel’s restaurant, where we had pretty much, the best meal of the trip. Three courses. I had a roast pork dish, and a sticky toffee pudding for dessert.

The following day, we’d make our way back to Dublin, and to Limerick. From Limerick, and, after a last night at Limerick, we were heading home.  That’s a downer, I know. Sorry.