Up North

Today is our first day in a month with no guests. It was an exhausting few weeks, but SO much fun. Jameson came last week. He and I went to Connemara on Friday, which was gorgeous. He had a pretty short trip. Erin and I headed back to Dublin with him on Saturday, where we met Lauren. Her plane had just landed, but her traveling wasn't finished. We hopped on a train to Belfast (the capital of Northern Ireland) that night.

Belfast was a very interesting place. The city itself wasn't very impressive- sort of dirty, lots of graffiti- but the history was amazing. It still feels somewhat war torn, and there is evidence of the Protestant/Catholic hostility everywhere.

The first night, we got to our hostel and were informed that it was overbooked. So, they took us to the overfill house, which we had completely to ourselves. It was nice and quiet, but kind of creepy. We went out to a bar nearby that night. The next day, after switching to a different hostel and illegally claiming a private bedroom for ourselves, we walked ALL over the city. We saw the political murals on the West End (which were incredibly anti-Bush), the wall that separates the Protestant and Catholic sections of the city (whose gates are closed every night), a few cemeteries, the Belfast Hospital (which is world-renown for its treatment of gunshot wounds), and City Hall. It was truly sobering to see how the violence has affected the city and its inhabitants. A few things really struck us- a street named RPG, for "Rocket Propelled Grenades" (it was the clearest shot the IRA had when launching weapons against the security forces), a tall apartment building where security forces monitored activity in the city until 2005, and police cars that were literally tanks.

That night we went to a great bar called Muriel's where we sat and talked for awhile. It closed early and several people pointed us in the direction of "The Kremlin," which they described as "90% gay and a lot of fun." We made friends with some boys there and danced all night to American pop music. It was TONS of fun. Our new friends told us that the hostility of the past few decades is hard for them to identify with. They didn't seem to care much about it. Most of the bitterness is felt by their parents' and grandparents' generations. I guess that a good thing- progress?

The next day, we headed out of the city center to Belfast Castle. We took a beautiful walk through the woods to get there. The castle sat on a hill where you could see the ocean and the whole city of Belfast.

That night we took the 2 1/2 hour train ride back to Dublin and then a 3 hour bus ride home to Galway. We were so tired from all the traveling, but we were all really glad we made the trip.

This week, we went out with the UIC Rugby Team. We met them at a bar on Tuesday night and had a ton of fun, so we made plans to meet up again. They're touring Ireland and playing various Irish rugby teams. Small world, huh?

Erin and I decided that we might take after our friends, Lenny and Mick, and go "off the drink" for awhile. Our livers could use the break!

I know I promised pictures last time, but we haven't had much time to upload them. I'll really try to do it this week.

Katie