Belfast - quick and dirty

We flew into Belfast on EasyJet on Sunday night. Liz Shropshire picked us up at the airport.

You would never guess Liz and I hadn't seen each other in over 10 years by the way we just started yack, yack, yacking! It was like it had been maybe a month and yet there was soooo much to catch up on! We found Curt's hotel and dropped him off then Liz drove me all over the city which was nice but we were doing so much talking we got lost, I didn't really know what I was seeing and it was dark. So my impressions of Belfast are kind of a blur!

Liz is in Belfast working with her Shropshire Music Foundation www.teachingchildrenpeace.com. She has been going into war torn areas since Kosovo in 1999 using only penny whistles and harmonicas to teach kids devastated by war how to heal through music. She is amazing and so selfless!!! She runs programs in Kosovo, Belfast and Uganda. While there she got word that her program leader in Uganda had been robbed of all his belongings - computer, back up drive, camcorder, clothes, etc. They had hoped he'd be able to get to stay in Uganda for several more months but the cost to replace the computer alone might make his stay a bit shorter. The foundation is healthy financially but there is no fat in the budget what so ever. It amazes me that Liz has the ability, energy and chutzpah to do all this ALL the time!!! I would be crushed under the weight but she soldiers on and on and on! The word phenomenal just doesn't even come close!

Anyway, we stayed up until well past 1:30am talking. and finally hit the sack. Up around 8:30 am for a full Irish breakfast (aka heart attack on a plate) at a little hole in the wall place. We continued to talk straight through breakfast barely enough time to shovel in the sausages, beans, pudding, and whatever else I couldn't identify on the plate. As Philip Craig would have said, 'Delish!'

Liz dropped me off at the PRONI (Public Records of Norther Ireland) building on 2 Titanic Blvd, Belfast. (Did you know the Titanic was built in Belfast? Don't know if that is something I would claim but the city is making a big thing out of it). Curt had a day planned searching the archives for some 1747 Shenandoah Valley relative named McAlpine or some variation thereof.

He assigned me the 1740 Protestant Householder's list. 311 pages and a bunch of hours later I had about a dozen candidates. Unfortunately none of them could prove direct links to Curt's ancestor. I did, however, find two listings for a Mr. Tracy...

When I was done looking for Curt and had an hour of my own I cross referenced Mr. Tracy in the 1766 files - I came up with one Protestant named John Tracy! Then in 1796 I found another (or maybe the same) John Tracy in the Freeholders (land) survey. Way cool. Wonder if I'm related to him.... Will need to do the tracing back on that line to see.

Anyway, after our foray in the archives we walked back to Curt's hotel along the river to get his bags and headed to the train station. We had a lovely train ride from Belfast to Dublin. It even ran, for a while, along the coast. The weather being so lovely just made it all prettier than a picture postcard! Found our hotel in Dublin, went out for a very late night dinner and then hit the hay!