Ulster Museum & Botanic Gardens

Yesterday was a dreadful day and what high hopes I started out with...actually, that is a fib. I woke up feeling dreadful, the weather was dull and I believe the temperature was only 4 degrees but I decided to catch the train into Belfast. The train was packed, mostly with tourists heading into town for the Titanic festivities (I assume). We visited the Palm House, but sadly the rest of the gardens are cordoned off for maintenance, including the beautiful bandstand. When I see the bandstand I always think of my great grandparents' who lived on the edge of Botanic Park. As you can see from my photographs the Palm House, built in the 1800s, is home to many strange and wonderful plants. We had hoped to see the Banana tree but that is in the Tropical Ravine, which is also closed for maintenance. But when it is bitter cold, windy and drizzly in Belfast the last thing I want to do is walk around. Why does it always rain when I go there?

We stopped off at the Ulster Museum, which is in Botanic Gardens, mainly to heat up. I also used it as an excuse to visit the beautiful John Lavery gallery "A Gift To The City" and I fell in love with two of his paintings, luckily for me they had lovely prints in the gift shop and now I am on the prowl for gaudy gilded picture frames.

I snapped photos of some exhibitions, we didn't see all of the museum. Overall the highlight of my day was visiting the Ruby Murray historical plaque at the Ulster Hall and getting those prints...

My next post on the Giant's Causeway is much more promising!

The Palm House

The Green Coat. This was my favourite, I bought the print. The woman is of Lavery's wife, Lady Hazel, aka the American actress, Hazel Martyn.

Beautiful

I loved this painting, sadly they didn't have a print.

Mother & Child, John Lavery

Costume Exhibition

The costume exhibition at the Ulster Museum was amazing, the tickets are only £3.50 so if you're in the area make it a point to visit. I was surprised at how tiny a lot of the costumes were, I know a lot of the period dresses required corsets so that in itself made everything about half its usual size but the stature of the gowns were very short, I noticed that Helen Mirren's elaborate gown from Elizabeth I was only about 5ft high. The highlights of the exhibition were Helena Bonham Carter's wedding dress from Frankenstein, the costumes from Downton Abbey and Elizabeth Taylor's costume, she was also very tiny! There was a cinema which played Pathe archived footage and it was wonderful to see Vivien Leigh on the big screen. Liz Taylor and Viv, what more could I want?

There are lots of photos from the exhibition which I have added to Flickr. 

Cora's costume from Downton Abbey

Lady Mary's costume from Downton Abbey

Lady Sybil's costume from Downton Abbey

Elizabeth Taylor

Lady Edith's costume from Downton Abbey

Violet's costume from Downton Abbey

With my brother and 3rd cousins Robyn & Gillian, who is visiting from Canada!

Culture & Costumes

Well, I haven't been exploring the great outdoors in two days because I've been busy in work but on Friday I am swapping my country rags for city clothes...yes, I like themed outfits! I am going to meet up with my cousin who is visiting from Canada and we're going to visit a costume exhibition at the Ulster Museum. I am very excited because a number of my favourite costumes will be on display including a dress worn by Elizabeth Taylor and some Edwardian costumes from my favourite TV series, Downton Abbey. Perhaps I should wear Egyptian eyeliner and a snake bangle as a tribute to Dame Elizabeth...oh wait, there is a Mummy on site. Anyhow, photos (if allowed) will follow on Friday. Til' then here is a book which I can't recommend enough and is always on top of my reading pile- The Mitfords: Letter's Between Six Sisters.