I (Keenan) learned a valuable lesson this past weekend: Belfast residents get worked up when you refer to their land as Ireland. "NORTHERN IRELAND! NORTHERN IRELAND!" is the response I got (both times) while speaking in front of a group. The Dunfermline Link youth group invited us to join them on a weekend trip to Belfast. James and Jenny McGimpsey, natives of N. Ireland living in D'fermline, host the youth house group every week and wanted to connect some of the young Linkers with their friends, family, & church back home in Belfast. Sarah and I were privileged to go along with the group.
We drove across the country to board a ferry south of Glasgow. The 2 hour journey across the Irish Sea was immaculate. James makes this trip on a regular basis and said this was some of the best weather he'd ever had. Sarah captured some marvelous pictures of the sunset from the deck.
We were greeted by Stephen & his wife, Paula. After loading the cars, we went on a late-evening tour of Belfast, which included a look at the Titanic dockyards & museum. The ship was constructed in Belfast. Below you can see some of the museum & ramp pictures.
Above is a scale outline (in blue) of where the Titanic would have sat before being slipped into the harbor.
While the group stayed with Stephen and Paula, Sarah and I were housed with another very hospitable couple. Riley and Tanya live west of the city and have a beautiful view over the valley and the city below.
On Saturday we joined the group on a tour of the northern coastline, which included the Giant's Causeway. It was really a great time of fellowship with the D-Link youth as well as with our hosts. Several of the youth I had met on a trip to Scotland last summer. Really a great group!
Our hosts' church welcomed us for a youth event Saturday night as well as worship on Sunday morning. It was great to see the Scotland youth making friends with the N. Irish youth. They really hit it off. Lord willing this will be just the beginning of their friendship. The youth leaders from both countries seem interested in continuing this relationship. A truly memorable first weekend in the U.K.
We were greeted by Stephen & his wife, Paula. After loading the cars, we went on a late-evening tour of Belfast, which included a look at the Titanic dockyards & museum. The ship was constructed in Belfast. Below you can see some of the museum & ramp pictures.
Above is a scale outline (in blue) of where the Titanic would have sat before being slipped into the harbor.
While the group stayed with Stephen and Paula, Sarah and I were housed with another very hospitable couple. Riley and Tanya live west of the city and have a beautiful view over the valley and the city below.
On Saturday we joined the group on a tour of the northern coastline, which included the Giant's Causeway. It was really a great time of fellowship with the D-Link youth as well as with our hosts. Several of the youth I had met on a trip to Scotland last summer. Really a great group!
Our hosts' church welcomed us for a youth event Saturday night as well as worship on Sunday morning. It was great to see the Scotland youth making friends with the N. Irish youth. They really hit it off. Lord willing this will be just the beginning of their friendship. The youth leaders from both countries seem interested in continuing this relationship. A truly memorable first weekend in the U.K.
1 comments:
aaron and leah vickroy said...
i am so jealous! i love the titanic!!! :) glad yall are having a great time....keep updating!!!
love yall!