Busy Weekend

Ah yes, while it's sweltering in the states, it's rather cold here.

Saturday was a LONG day.  We left QUB at 9AM and headed along the Coastal Road toward the Giant's Causeway.  On the way we stopped to check out the view and then had tea at the Londonderry Arms Hotel.  Apparently, the hotel was owned by Winston Churchill.  (Interestingly enough, Chruchill at one point was going to give Northern Ireland away during

 the war.)

After tea and scones we headed back on the coach to go to the Causeway.  When we got there we met up with Gary.  He took us around the Causeway we took the high road first and then came down the stairs onto the rocks.  Gary told us the story of Finn MacCool (various spellings) and the Giants.  The rocks are absolutely amazing (and it's said because of gl

obal warming that they will no longer be there in 12-15 years).

We left the Giants Causeway (sadly enough, if it weren't for the tourists I could've stayed there all day) and headed into Bushmills to grab some grub.  Unfortunately, we didn't get to tour Ireland's oldest whiskey distillery.

Finally we headed to Londonderry or the Derry City Walls.  The city is the only remaining

 walled city in the country and one of two in the UK.  Here, we also met the Minister for Culture, Arts and Leisure.  We took a tour of the walls and headed home.  We stopped on the way back and Tim bought us dinner.

Sunday

A day that could have been quiet and our last full day of "free time."  After sleeping in, a

 number of us headed into the city centre to grab a coach up to Carrickfergus.  While in Carrickfergus, we toured the gorgeous castle (on the way, our guide pointed out the remaining Belfast Castle, on the hillside--there was apparently one in the city proper but there is no trace of where it had been, and also the caves in the mountain just above the tree line.  This also happens to be the hill that influenced Jonathan Swift in Gulliver's Travels.)  After

 Carrickfergus Castle, we headed up the road a wee bit to the Jackson homestead.  This is where our 7th President's father grew up.  We also saw the US Army Rangers Museum and listened to Ian and his mates play the accordion and snare drum.  The Mayor of Carrickfergus came out and we met her and got a photo.

Once we returned to Belfast we decided to get a black cab tour.  These tours take you around

 the city to see a number of the murals from the troubles.  We first headed to

 Shankill Road to see the Loyalist (Protestant) murals.  Most of the murals were more like memorials and are trying to be positive.  There was one, though, that has a gunman and no matter where you stand the gun remains trained on you.  (It was very gripping.)  

After Shankill Road we drove along the Peace Wall.  It was original constructed in 1969 by the British Army to keep the two cultures apart.  

The wall began at 15 ft. high, it is now 30 ft. high in some areas.  The wall will hopefully be taken down eventually, but there are still trouble and the wall remains closed at night time and when trouble occurs.  (Many things are monitored over CCTV, closed circuit television, such as this.)  The Peace Wall has murals painted on it and on top of those murals people have signed their names and other words of wisdom and wishes that things remain to get better and people grow tolerant of each other.

The Peace Wall led us into Falls Road where we were 

able to see the Catholic side of things.  First we stopped at a Memorial Garden of the people killed from that area.  Some were civilians, while others were giving resistance.  The conditions that the people who live near the wall live in are incredible and to protect their houses they have metal cages around t

he parts facing the wall.  After the garden we visited the murals on the road.  The side of the Sinn Fein office sports a mural of Bobby Sands (of hunger strike infamy.)

While still on the Catholic side we visited the International Wall.  The things that they depict are the Catholic view of the world.  There were murals of Frederick Douglass, Spain, Cuba and they depict a certain President in a not very flattering way.

After our marvelous tour we headed back to Queens for some spaghetti and bed.  Tomorrow we head off to Stormont.  This was really our last day of free time.  The rest of the trip is packed solid with things to do and people to see!