NORTHERN IRELAND, BELFAST CITY TOUR PART II

 July 11, 2024

We had one more day and one more city tour planned for Belfast. Bob had booked a street art tour, not realizing that a lot of the street art would be covered in the political "two sides" tour we had already gone on. Oh well, we didn't mind some overlap.

Unfortunately, on our way out of B&B, I stumbled on the door sill and went *SPLAT* onto that concrete block patch to the right of the door. As I was wearing a full backpack, I went down hard and awkwardly and had to call for Bob to help me get up.

Yeah, I'm a klutz.

Initially, I was more concerned about my elbow and hip, which seemed to take the most impact, but gradually, my ribs began to hurt, and while I did okay during the day, trying to lie down on a bed at night was excruciating, which made sleep difficult. A few days after I got home, and after the pain seemed to be increasing rather than decreasing, I finally went in for an x-ray and learned I had broken three ribs. As if that wasn't bad enough, I got Covid five days after visiting urgent care, and I'm pretty sure that's where I got it.

But I digress.

We met a new guide for the second tour near a small shopping mall that included a store with this window display:

I was, of course, looking for medicinal relief for my aching body. These helped.

Outside the mall is this bronze statue by Louise Walsh entitled Monument to the Unknown Woman Worker. The women are carrying symbols of what is traditionally women's work--a colander, a typewriter, a phone, a shopping basket, etc.

NEW YORK CITY: THE METROPOLITAN OPERA HOUSE

May 2023

I am blown away that I have a son who enjoys opera. He didn't get that from his dad, that's for sure. When he suggested we could all go to the Metropolitan Opera House to see a performance of Verdi's Aida, I was on it right away, and Bob reluctantly agree to come with us.

The "Met" opened in 1966 and has a capacity of over 4,000 guests, making it the largest repertory opera house in the world. It is also one of the most technically advanced and has astounding acoustics.

It is located in the Lincoln Center, a complex of buildings on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. I don't know how the LDS Church was able to get the property for the temple just a block away, but what an amazing location. The Juilliard School of Music is also just around the corner from the Met.

This is Geffen Hall, home of the New York Philharmonic. There are 35 large paintings that comprise a temporary artwork on the side of the building. Collectively, they are entitled "San Juan Heal" and celebrate both Lincoln Center and the Black and Puerto Rican neighborhood (named San Juan Hill) that was displaced when the performing arts complex was built.