We said "good-bye" to Corrymeela. Our tour guide, Kiran, is on the right side with the burgandy scarf. Our host for two days at this beautiful place on the ocean is in the middle.
We traveled one and half hours to Belfast. We met our city guide, Jim (or Jim-Bo). He grew up in Belfast and currently works in a youth reconciliation ministry. As we toured, we saw and learned about the sights, but also heard personal stories from his life. Jim was also very good at applying lessons from Belfast to our own lives. He has traveled to "the States" twice, so he knew very well how to relate to us. Two of the places we visited was the Parliament building and the Peace Wall. Jim brought markers for us so that we could add our names to the wall. This was an area that over 20 years ago was very tense with Protestants & Catholics fighting each other.
We then went to the new Titanic museum. The presentation of the Titanic and its history was done in a very engaging manner. Through big interactive displays, creative movie presentations and even a "ride", we learned a lot.
After checking into our hotel in downtown Belfast, Jury's Inn, we had a couple of hours free time. Most went to explore the city...let me be more accurate: explore the stores.
Our dinner was at the hotel restaurant. We had the choice of three starters (soup, salad, wings), three entries (chicken, sea bass, pasta) and three desserts (apple crisp, ice cream, fruit cup). Very impessive and delectable.
The McGrath's, along with another musician, then joined us for an Irish music time. Their family are musicians and in the past have recorded a CD with our tour guide, Kiran. The CD is entilted Celtic Psalms. Dad plays guitar and mom sings. Their 19 year old daughter is majoring in music in college and their 16 year old daughter is also an amazing singer. They sang some fun songs. Taught us some Irish. We ended by singing together some of the Psalm arrangements from their CD.
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