Belfast hop-on-hop-off bus tour and the other reason why Belfast is famous...

Something I should have done on the first day rather than the 2 day was the Hop-on-hop-off bus tour of parts of Belfast.

Obviously, one of the big "features" of this was the commentary about "The Troubles". Even though Belfast appears very safe and friendly [the shuttle bus driver mentioned that tourists are always very welcome... well, maybe not the British according to one of them :-)], if you look around a bit, it's hard to miss the fact that there is still a bit of tension about. Hardly surprising considering the history I suppose.

A few bits and pieces I picked up on:

- The "Peace Walls" still exist, and in many places, are still locked up at night to stop sectarian violence!
- The latest "Peace Wall" was built in 2004 - many years after the Good Friday Peace Accord was signed...
- Some of the graffiti and murals is very recent [for example, Queen's Diamond Jubilee stuff]
- The murals looked well enough preserved... probably a brave or stupid person who would dare to scrub them off, I suppose.

Apart from all that, it felt like a very happy and safe place, and well worth a visit!

Anyway, here are some photos from the bus tour. The first one is of the big harbour cranes [called "Samson" and "Goliath"!]. The second is of the Parliamentary building, and the third of the Guard House on the grounds of Parliament [incidentally, it's staffed by G4S... I wonder how long for after the Olympics debacle :-(].

The rest of the photos are of the graffiti and murals/ shrines from the tour. A wee bit sobering, and makes me grateful that I live in a relatively peaceful country [accepting that we have our own problems of course...].

Europe Trip 2011 #3: London Sightseeing

Today was a day of sightseeing. I caught up with Simon L [around the world to catch up with someone who lives about 700kms north of me!] and we had a bit of the look around. This started with a trip on the London Eye, followed by a walk around town, including stopping outside Downing St to see the Prime Minister's residence... well, ok "see" is a bit optimistic - view from a distance past the gate and the heavily armed police!

Eventually we hopped on the DLR and went out to Greenwich. After some lunch we had a look around the National Maritime Museum, then up to the observatory. Eventually we walked down to the Thames and on the walkway under the Thames to the other side. Being a bit lazy, we took the DLR back across the Thames, then got a ferry back down to the Tower of London, then I got the tube back home.

A very busy day! Anyway, the photos are as follows:

The London Eye
View of Parliament from the London Eye
10 Downing St
New Zealand House
The DLR on the way to Greenwich
View from the Observatory
East vs West - the Greenwich Meridian

Europe Trip 2011 #1: Visit to London

Finally a blog update!

To recap, I arrived in London on Saturday afternoon [UK time]. Surprisingly, with a brisk walk from the aircraft to the immigration counters, and I was around # 8 in line, so I was through in nothing more than 5 minutes. It took longer for me to get my suitcase and wait for the pre-ordered taxi! Even then, I probably spent only 20-25 minutes in the airport terminal. So very easy this time!

I've been light on touristy things, having spent a couple of days with family, getting to know my new niece [photos on FB for those of you who have access to my FB wall]. Yesterday I did get out for a few hours, taking the tube into the Embankment station, and wandering around that area for a while, followed by taking a trip on the DLR [Docklands Light Rail]. All in all, a nice relaxing time.

Photos from this tripping around are just three photos from around Parliament. the first from across the Thames, the second from a bridge with Parliament on the left and the London Eye on the right. The last is from the parliamentary grounds [I think]

New Zealand's Parliament Buildings

It has been another nice day [albeit a bit cooler than last weekend] in Wellington, so I popped down the road for a few minutes at lunchtime to take these pictures of two of the main buildings in the Parliamentary complex - The Executive Wing [aka The Beehive] and Parliament House.

The Beehive was designed in 1964 and built in stages between 1969 and 1979. Details from the official parliamentary website are here. Parliament House replaced the original building which burned down in the early 1900's. Click here for more information.

Finally, New Zealand would have to be one of the few countries where we still have the freedom to walk up to Parliament without hindrance [they do tours as well]!