Belfast

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.