Last weekend we went on a trip to Belfast. The city itself is very small and pretty shitty aside from a few nice areas. We were able to see the ship yards and where the Titanic was built which was pretty cool.
Saturday morning we did a day trip to the Giant's Causeway. It's wicked cool. There's a legend behind it...
According to mythology, the Giant of the Causeway was Ulster warrior Fionn Mac Cumhaill (also known as Finn McCool), and two legends of Fionn's exploits provide an entertaining alternative to geologists' explanations of the Causeway's origins. In one, Fionn became besotted with a woman giant who resided on the Scottish island of Staffa (where the Causeway's fault-line resurfaces) and constructed a highway across the sea by which he could travel to woo his inamorata. An alternative version of the story suggests that Fionn built the Causeway in order to head over to Scotland to give another giant a good kicking, but, when confronted by his enemy's superior size, fled back to Ireland and hid in an extra-large cot which he'd persuaded his wife to construct. When the pursuing Scots giant arrived, he took just a glance at the sheer size of Fionn's supposed "baby" and fled back to Scotland.
The second story, with the baby, was what our tour guide told us. There's another story about geological basalt formations.. but I think that's just a load of BS. After the tour that took us down by the causeway, we were able to take a cliff walk up to the top. It was very cool!!
After that we met up with some of the Belfast kids that we met during Dublin orientation and walked around Victoria Square and stuff. It was a fun, relaxing evening.
The next day we went to a lecture on the political murals in Belfast. It was very interesting. At the end the lecturer talked about how they were painting over some of the nastier murals with things that showed more unity.. like famous soccer players. The lecturer, and our tour guide on the following bus tour of the city, talked about how Belfast used to be a very scary place to live. They also mentioned how they have peace now and that Belfast is becoming a very safe place to live.
I don't know if any of you have been following the Irish news, but the weekend after we were in Belfast, two British soldiers were shot and killed. A few days later a police officer was shot while sitting inside his cruiser. The gunmen have yet to be found but they are pretty sure that they are members of the IRA.
Here are links to some articles..
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/090308/world/international_us_irish_army_shooting
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/10/world/europe/10ulster.html?hp
I'm just happy I didn't go to school in Belfast.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Waterford
So 2 weekends ago we (Scott, Liz, Patricia, Stev, David and I) decided to take a trip to Waterford. You know.. like Waterford Crystal?
So we got up wicked early on Saturday morning and took the bus into Dublin. Then walked to the Bus station in Dublin and got tickets for the bus to Waterford. The trip to Waterford was very long, like 4ish hours? Lame.. Scott and I slept or made up new rules for all the observation games that we already know. It was sort of fun.
When we finally arrived in Waterford we went to the tourist information building and I found a lot of cute sheep apparel! It's super cute how many sheep there are everywhere here! I try to spot the baby lambs in the fields as we drive by.. they're super cute. Sadly I didn't get anything.. not even the sheep in Ireland calendar.
Since Liz, Stev and Patricia were spending the night in Waterford and then going to New Ross in the morning we walked to find them a hotel to stay in. (Our Irish professor gave them a few suggestions and said that she would not feel comfortable suggesting a hostel.) The important part of this is that there was a McDonald's next to the hotel and I got a euro milkshake. It was tiny, and not that great.. but still made me happy!
After they got a room and everything we hurried back to the visitor's center because there was supposed to be a historical tour of Waterford leaving soon. (According to our guidebooks it was the only really cool thing to do in Waterford.)
Unfortunately, the tour does not run in the winter and would be open again in March. (We were there at the very end of February. Bad luck!) So instead we ate our bag lunches we packed ourselves and then went to the museum. It was pretty cool. Sadly Scott and I left early because we wanted to go see Reginald's Tower, the far corner of the city wall in the Viking times, and were afraid that it would close. (If the other people missed it they could just go the next day.. but since we were leaving on a 7:30pm bus we didn't want to miss it..)
Reginald's Tower was really cool! There was even an ancient latrine! After that we walked around the city and tried to follow the ancient city walls all the way around. Waterford is a very cute city! Then we walked back to the museum to find everyone else and turns out they made it into Reginald's Tower right before it closed. So we waited on the pier for them to finish in the tower and made up hillbilly personalities for everyone. Quite entertaining!
After that we had pretty much done everything there was to do in Waterford. So we walked around more and then chilled in a pub until it was time for the bus home, which was pretty uneventful. The bus was, however much quicker because there were a lot less stops to make, thank goodness. When we got to the train station in Dublin we learned that the train back to Maynooth didn't leave for over an hour. This sucked because we were tired and hungry, so I said fuck it and walked to Burger King on O'Connell St. and ordered the Recession Buster! A double cheeseburger, small soda and small fry for 3.50 euro. Whoo!
We ran into a kid from our Irish class on the train platform and talked with him until the train came and then all the way back. It was a fun, but very tiring day.
An interesting note about Waterford and Waterford Crystal-->
According to our Irish professor, for many years now they've been making majority of the crystal in cheaper places, like China, and then sending it to Waterford Ireland to be stamped and then sold. Now that the recession is happening, they can no longer afford to make any crystal in Waterford and have shut down their factory and moved to a cheaper place.. like China.
So Jill.. I was thinking Waterford crystal might not be the best choice for your souvenir.. any other ideas?
So we got up wicked early on Saturday morning and took the bus into Dublin. Then walked to the Bus station in Dublin and got tickets for the bus to Waterford. The trip to Waterford was very long, like 4ish hours? Lame.. Scott and I slept or made up new rules for all the observation games that we already know. It was sort of fun.
When we finally arrived in Waterford we went to the tourist information building and I found a lot of cute sheep apparel! It's super cute how many sheep there are everywhere here! I try to spot the baby lambs in the fields as we drive by.. they're super cute. Sadly I didn't get anything.. not even the sheep in Ireland calendar.
Since Liz, Stev and Patricia were spending the night in Waterford and then going to New Ross in the morning we walked to find them a hotel to stay in. (Our Irish professor gave them a few suggestions and said that she would not feel comfortable suggesting a hostel.) The important part of this is that there was a McDonald's next to the hotel and I got a euro milkshake. It was tiny, and not that great.. but still made me happy!
After they got a room and everything we hurried back to the visitor's center because there was supposed to be a historical tour of Waterford leaving soon. (According to our guidebooks it was the only really cool thing to do in Waterford.)
Unfortunately, the tour does not run in the winter and would be open again in March. (We were there at the very end of February. Bad luck!) So instead we ate our bag lunches we packed ourselves and then went to the museum. It was pretty cool. Sadly Scott and I left early because we wanted to go see Reginald's Tower, the far corner of the city wall in the Viking times, and were afraid that it would close. (If the other people missed it they could just go the next day.. but since we were leaving on a 7:30pm bus we didn't want to miss it..)
Reginald's Tower was really cool! There was even an ancient latrine! After that we walked around the city and tried to follow the ancient city walls all the way around. Waterford is a very cute city! Then we walked back to the museum to find everyone else and turns out they made it into Reginald's Tower right before it closed. So we waited on the pier for them to finish in the tower and made up hillbilly personalities for everyone. Quite entertaining!
After that we had pretty much done everything there was to do in Waterford. So we walked around more and then chilled in a pub until it was time for the bus home, which was pretty uneventful. The bus was, however much quicker because there were a lot less stops to make, thank goodness. When we got to the train station in Dublin we learned that the train back to Maynooth didn't leave for over an hour. This sucked because we were tired and hungry, so I said fuck it and walked to Burger King on O'Connell St. and ordered the Recession Buster! A double cheeseburger, small soda and small fry for 3.50 euro. Whoo!
We ran into a kid from our Irish class on the train platform and talked with him until the train came and then all the way back. It was a fun, but very tiring day.
An interesting note about Waterford and Waterford Crystal-->
According to our Irish professor, for many years now they've been making majority of the crystal in cheaper places, like China, and then sending it to Waterford Ireland to be stamped and then sold. Now that the recession is happening, they can no longer afford to make any crystal in Waterford and have shut down their factory and moved to a cheaper place.. like China.
So Jill.. I was thinking Waterford crystal might not be the best choice for your souvenir.. any other ideas?
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