One of my bucket list items was to see the trouble spots of Belfast. I grew up hearing about the troubles on news and television. We organised the black cab tour of the trouble spots through the concierge of the Hilton Hotel. The bloke that picked us up is in in his 60s and had lived in West Belfast through the troubles. He could describe what it was like living there during the troubles and how it is slowly changing. I was amazed to see the peace wall (massive steel war) separating the Catholic and Protestant communities. What really got to me is there are three crossing points that are even now closed overnight. He explained that in about 1997 some crazy Aussie asked a black cab driver to show the trouble spots, an experienced driver eventually did. I posted some photos of the murals of the trouble spots and now realise that a mad friend of mine Shane could well be that mad Aussie. There was a high rise apartment on the Falls Road (catholic side) (see photos) where the British army took over the top few floors as an observation post. It provides excellent views over the whole of west Belfast. It is believed they had directional microphones and could listen in to most conversations on the street. I was surprised how close the trouble spots is to Belfast city. Think of the distance of Kings Cross to Sydney City. Another aspect of the troubles I did not realise was a ring of steel around Belfast city, no cars were allowed in, everyone entering the city had to be searched. Even when in the city you were then searched entering shops, not great for business. I have included the business card of the bloke who took us around in the photos. He also took us to Bombay St. This is a Catholic street right on the peace wall. All the houses in this street were burnt down during the riots of 69 and a 15 year old Catholic was killed by the rioters. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1969_No rthern_Ireland_riots. It was interesting to hear the hatred between the Protestants and Catholics was so intense during this period that people were being murdered just for being Protestant or Catholic. We then crossed from the catholic area to the Protestant side, Shankhill road area. You can sense a difference as soon as you cross the peace line, the houses were also different. We were shown some UVF and UFF memorials and graffiti on the peace wall. One memorial was for Stevie TOPGUN McKeag, a UDA thug who was believed to have murdered up to 20 people, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen _McKeag. The view from the cab driver is the troubles are definitely over and Belfast is constantly improving but will probably have to wait for the generation who were involved in the troubles to pass on for it to really improve. For us some of the improvements seem strange but they had to do it here to ensure fairness between the two parties. All job applicants must provide their religion on the application form, employers must have a 50/50 employment ratio between Protestants and Catholics. During the troubles the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and B-specials (police reserves) were all Protestant, now they are at least 30% Catholic. There are now 65 schools in Belfast that are combined Catholic/Protestant and this number is growing every year. We drove past Crumlin Road Gaol and our black cab driver then dropped us at the Titanic Museum. The Titanic experience is a very new building dedicated to the building of the Titanic and the lives of the people who built her. I wasn't sure what to expect but it was ok. The best bits were the cable car tour (sort of virtual reality tour) of different aspects of building the ship. There were good video reenactments of how each rivet was set. There was a huge video screen with constant screening of the ROV inspecting the Titanic under the ocean. That was probably the best of the whole experience. By the time we got out it was drizzling again. We wandered into Belfast for a few pints and a feed. Found a great pub called "The Dirty Onion". I am not sure about Belfast, there is something about the place that makes you want to look over your shoulder every now and again. There is definitely a rough edge still around the City. It is getting better but hasn't got the atmosphere yet. My best thoughts of Belfast is the troubles tour.