What a stonkingly fabulous day to be Dock Walking – drinking in the sights and sounds of God’s great creation.  A few beauty shots of the TQ on this gorgeous afternoon:

I’m poised to tell you all about some VERY BIG NEWS of a film/TV-related nature – so to whet your appetite in the meantime, the cream of the crop of recent TQ-related videos to appear on Youtube.

First up, a taste of life at the bottom of the mighty Thompson Dock – and if you haven’t taken the tour to stand in the footsteps of Titanic’s builders at this hugely-evocative piece of history, for shame!  Do it soon!

 
Secondly, an excellent summary of the ‘story-so-far’ of Nomadic’s rebirth – and a reminder that we’re always looking for volunteers to go on board to oil the teak and play our small part in the restoration of this iconic little ship:

 

And finally, in honour of James Cameron’s recent visit to the TQ…  Don’t have 3 hours of your life to devote to the full Titanic movie in 3D Blu-Ray?  Fear not, just get the cheat notes with:

The Titanic Quarter is a celeb-spotter’s delight.  From royalty to rock stars, scarcely a day goes by without an illustrious face being spotted exploring the TQ.  And in Dock Cafe we get to meet Belfast Giants, rugby players, cast and crew of Game Of Thrones on a regular basis.  (We are, after all, the nearest place they can pick up a pint of milk).

Which of course means that there’s an unseemly race to see who can accrue the most celeb encounters. Proper encounters, mind you, not “Isn’t that…?” glimpses from a distance.  I thought I was doing well with my handshake with the Queen, but I think Colin Cobb (the Grand High Emperor of Titanic Walking Tours) has edged an early lead with his encounter with the King Of The World during his visit to the TQ last week.

I did get to glimpse him from afar at a reception beside the Grand Staircase (nice fuzzy long-distance pic on the right) but Colin got to bring him down into the Thompson Dry Dock for the ultimate ‘footsteps of Titanic’ experience (pics below).

You win this time, Cobb…

No excuse for being bored in Belfast this weekend…

As you may have seen on the news, James Cameron is in town, promoting the release of ‘Titanic’ on shiny high-def Blu-Ray.  He also has donated some of the costumes and props from the movie for a new temporary exhibition at Titanic Belfast (yep I’ve been in to have a look! – pics below).  And he’s also the star guest at a reception in TB tonight, so as soon as I’ve finished writing this blog post, I’m off to change into my ‘smart casual’ duds in preparation to meet the King of the World!

There’s also lots of activity around the TQ in preparation for the Proms on Titanic’s slipway tomorrow – looks like it’s going to be a fab event.

It’s also the East Belfast Arts Festival this weekend (looking forward to seeing Van the Man tomorrow night) and one of the events is being held in Dock Cafe tonight – a Songwriter’s event at 6pm.

And there’s the air show up at the North coast…

And it’s Belfast Music Week…

And there’s a massive cruise ship berthed in Belfast, so the streets are full of visitors from all over the world…

Aren’t these great days in Belfast City?  It’s hard to reconcile this booming, thrilling city with the empty, grey, quiet streets of a few years ago…

A fantastic night at Dock Cafe last night – bunged to bursting with a gang from CFC in Belfast, who enjoyed some chilled-out tunes, coffee and snacks, and a moonlit tour of the Titanic slipways… check out the video to see what you missed!

Hmm, doesn’t Dock Cafe look great when open in the evening for laid-back nights out….?! Watch this space!