SNIPPET: One of the most moving experiences my sister and I shared on our summer 2006 trip to Ireland was a visit to "The Queenstown Story" museum, Cobh's major sightseeing attraction that fills its harborside Victorian station. The topics and displays - the famine, Irish emigration, Australia-bound prison ships, the sinking of the "Lusitania," and the ill-fated voyage of the Belfast-built "Titanic," are fascinating in themselves. What set it apart for us was the heart-stopping multi-media experience. In a large, darkened room, dramatic film footage of heaving old ships, monstrous, pounding waves, the deafening cries of frightened passengers assail you on all sides. By the time we left we felt "half-drowned," having been at the mercy of a ship on the high seas. It effectively brought history and the emigrant experience home to us. Cobh (pron. "cove") in Co. Cork was the last Irish soil a great many emigrants had under their feet. It was the major port of emigration in the 19th century. Of the six million Irish who have emigrated to America, Canada and Australia since 1815, nearly half have left from Cobh. The first steam-powered ship to make a transatlantic crossing departed from Cobh in 1838, cutting the journey time from 50 days to 18. When Queen Victoria of England came to Ireland for the first time in 1849, Cobh was the first Irish ground she set foot on. The town renamed it "Queenstown" in her honor. It was still going by that name in 1912, when the Titanic" made its final fateful stop before heading out on his maiden (and only) voyage. To celebrate their new independence from British royalty in 1922, locals changed its name back to its original name, Cobh. The harborside has gaily painted houses, St. Colman's towering neo-Gothic cathedral is impressive, and the beautifully-sculpted emigration statue just outside the "Queenstown Story" set the mood for the experience to come. We were there on a gorgeous, sunny day, and the blue sky and sea were stunning.