Okay so I just now realized I haven't updated this blog in almost 3 weeks now and I am so so sorry Mom please don't be mad. I have a really long one for you all today so don't be upset with me!
So the last few weeks have been pretty laid back. We went on a spontaneous Dublin adventure and it was quite fun but we didn't really do all that much, to be honest. When we go back on a more planned out trip I will be happy to write a blog about it but if I were to write one now it would be really boring. Other than that, I am presently in the middle of midterms and I am
But onto this weekend! A bunch of us went on a tour of Northern Ireland with a local company that was set up for us by the International Society. There were a total of 46 of us and it was all great craic.
The tour started at 7:30 a.m. Friday morning so I groggily made it to the bus in time to promptly pass out again. This was day 3 of my cold and fever illness so I was not really having it but was determined to make the most of the weekend. So, like I said, I pretty much slept all the way to Belfast.
Okay some history...for those of you who don't know, Northern Ireland is a separate country from the Republic of Ireland, and is part of the UK. So, because of that, we had to convert our money into pounds from Euros. Guess what? The conversion rate from US dollars to pounds is even worse than the conversion of dollars into Euros. So unfortunate. Anyways, Belfast was our first stop and is pretty famous because the Titanic was built there. Our first stop in Belfast was the Titanic museum, but first we saw the shipyard. It's not that impressive, it's really just a hole in the ground:
Next to the shipyard is Titanic Studios, which is where Game of Thrones is made. If you have talked to me about TV within the last few months you understand that I am currently obsessed with Game of Thrones and when our tour guide said that sometimes the actors can be seen walking around in Belfast, I basically squealed like the biggest fangirl to ever have lived. The studio:
The outside of the museum - designed to look like sparkling water
The staff gave us our own tickets as keepsakes...definitely framing this or keeping it in a scrapbook (:
A first class bedroom on the Titanic...seriously classy stuff
Second class....meh
Third class...going to pass on this one.
There were about a dozen passengers who were featured in the exhibit that were ultimately killed. It was kind of sad to be reading personal things about people whose fates were sealed and they were, of course, completely oblivious.
This is kind of hard to understand from the picture but it represents how deep the Titanic was buried. The white at the top of the line represents 0 feet sea level. The arrow at the bottom of the picture shows where the Titanic was found, in relation to buildings such as the Empire State Building and the Eiffel Tower.
After the museum, we went into Belfast's city centre to explore for about an hour. Our tour guide told us to go to a mall that had a kind of glass dome where one could see the entire city. So naturally we went and had to take some photos. The only annoying part was that the dome had a kind of triangular bar pattern as shown.
If you look closely, the clock tower on the right hand side is leaning slightly, just like the one in Pisa.
We were so blessed to have beautiful weather all weekend -- spring has sprung!
After the view, we went to visit city hall, which was very ornate and had the greenest grass I have seen since I got here.
Eventually we got back onto the bus as it was about 6pm at that point and we needed to check into our hostel. After we got all settled in, our tour guide, Mark, asked if any of us wanted to go with him to get dinner at a nice restaurant that he really likes and a group of us decided to go. It was there in Belfast where I had the absolute best burger of my entire life and for dessert had banoffee, which is a banana toffee desert with honey ice cream. YUM. It was absolutely fantastic and I am not sure I have ever been so full in my life. I would show you a picture but I basically inhaled it and all that would be is an empty plate.
That night we went out to Robinson's, a famous pub across from the Hotel Europa, the most bombed building in Europe. It was great because there was live traditional Irish music, but it was kind of for an older crowd because we were the youngest ones there by probably 5 years. Regardless, it was probably the first "authentic" experience I've had like that.
The next morning we had breakfast at the hostel and got on the bus for a tour of Belfast. Up until this point, none of us really understood the true extent of the Catholic-Protestant feud. Only very recently has Belfast been considered safe; Mark described it as being a war zone and compared Belfast in the 90s to present day Baghdad. Things are a lot better now of course, but Catholics and Protestants are still segregated and it's all very odd to us since we have always thought of Catholic and Protestant to be a religious label, and in Ireland it is religious but it's a lot more political. Because of all the turmoil there are a lot of murals around Belfast.
Because I am a painter, I loved seeing all these and really makes me want to paint again. I have the itch!
The international peace wall... Truly enormous and I want to say it's about half a mile long. We were given sharpies to write our own messages of peace.
After the tour, it was off to Giant's Causeway, one of the natural wonders of the world. The Causeway is a geological structure of columns of hexagonal shaped rocks. It is really really cool and probably the highlight of the trip.
My favorite thing about it is the Irish legend that goes along with it. The story goes that an Irish giant Finn MacCool was challenged to a fight by a Scottish giant named Benandonner and obviously the best way to do this was for Finn to build the causeway, a kind of bridge, to Scotland (only about 10ish miles away from Ireland at this point). Finn crossed the causeway to meet Benandonner for the fight, but saw how big the other giant was and retreated back home to his wife, Oonagh. Finn was terrified at the idea of fighting Benandonner but Oonagh had a plan. She dressed Finn up like a baby and made a giant (pun intended) cradle. When Benandonner came by to fight Finn, Oonagh invited him inside to wait under the condition that he not disturb the baby. Benandonner, seeing how big the baby was, assumed Finn must be enormous and much bigger than himself. Terrified, Benandonner retreated back to Scotland, tearing up the causeway behind him. Now, all the remains is the start and end of the bridge. In real life, the columns are the aftermath of ancient basaltic lava flow. Hooray for more ESCI 1001.
Before we got to the actual Causeway, we stopped along the road to take some great pictures. The land you see here is an island, but in some of the other photos the land is Scotland.
I have a feeling I'm going to paint some of these!
The Carrick a Rede rope bridge. We didn't do this but it looked so cool!
When we finally arrived at the causeway I hadn't realized how long the beach stretches. It's a good 10 minute walk down to the main rocks, but of course the view is stunning and no one cares.
The wishing chair...You rub your butt on it 3 times and make a wish!
If you look carefully, the mossy rocks form a camel. This camel, named Humphrey, was the one who carried Finn home from his first trip across the causeway to Scotland.
Our next stop after the causeway was Derry or Londonderry. The name of the town depends on who you ask, because the Protestants, loyal to the crown, refer to it as Londonderry, but the Catholics, who believe the town (very close to the Republic of Ireland's border) should be part of Ireland, call it Derry. This makes it kind of confusing but just because it's shorter and I'm lazy at typing, I will refer to it as Derry.
Enroute, we saw this several hundred year old castle ruin. Unfortunately I can't remember its name ):
We found ourselves in Derry around 6:30 so we checked into the hostel and after getting settled, went out to a bite to eat. We found a nice place where we got fish and chips with mushy peas and a drink for 5 pounds. It was the biggest piece of cod I've ever seen and it was fantastic. I'd never had mushy peas so I thought I'd try them. They sounded pretty vile and I was wary, but they are a lot like mashed potatoes and are kind of creamy. B+.
That night we went into town and didn't drink any alcohol at all and were home by 10...hi Mom! (;
Early the next morning was time for breakfast and a walking tour of the city. Our guide was the owner of a local tour company and the former mayor's son so he was obviously well educated on the history of the town.
Austin's, the oldest department store in Ireland
World War II memorial
On the Protestant side, the curbs are painted red, white, and blue for the UK flag.
To get all of these shots, we were walking on the city's walls, which were built by the British in the 19teens when they fought against Ireland's revolution.
Because of all the turmoil, Derry also has murals everywhere. This Catholic neighborhood has a lot since they are the minority and are adamant that the rightful name of the city is Derry.
The H block memorial commemorates the prisoners who were held in prison without trial; the law was that if a policeman suspected you of being a traitor to the throne, he could put you in jail without a trial. Bobby Sands, one of the prisoners, went on hunger strike to protest and ended up dying for his cause.
The Bloody Sunday memorial. In 1972 many of the Catholics, inspired by MLK Jr., held a peaceful protest in this neighborhood. However, two British snipers decided this was unacceptable and killed a total of 14 people, most of them young boys. Because of who the killers were, it was not until very recently that the UK has acknowledged any wrongdoing done to these families, and very sadly neither one of them will ever be put in jail.
After the tour, we stopped at a local cafe to get lunch before heading back onto the road. It was a cute little place that put up with all 46 of us.
As it was Sunday, we started to head back to UL and spent a lot of time on the bus. We were all very tired so it was a pretty quiet ride but we did stop in a few places. One of them was Sligo, home to the poet WB Yates' grave.
Another stop was in Knock, a small kind of village home to an alleged sighting of Mary, Joseph, and John the Baptist. There is a beautiful church as well as a massive shrine.
After the shrine, we headed back to Limerick. It was an amazing weekend but I can honestly say I was exhausted by the end of it!
Hope you enjoyed the photos! Not sure when my next post will be because of my midterms but we are trying to put together a trip to Galway so be on the lookout!
Slainte!
Caroline
Slainte!
Caroline
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