Ireland 2011: Northern Ireland

We just got back from a three day trip to Northern Ireland. I literally can't explain how amazing the trip was..

So first we went to Belfast.. our professor decided to give us this disclaimer "Belfast, Beirut, Baghdad, and Bosnia were named the four Bs tourist should never go to. I don't want you guys to worry though, people generally view tourism as a good thing and a sign that the troubles are over. That being said, you could get yourselves in trouble here..so just be careful." Now I did a lot of wiki-ing to prepare for this trip and I was a little scared. This warning did not help.

Belfast was awesome. We went to the capitol building first and got to talk to a bunch of politicians, well one from every party. The green guy was my fav. he was nice. Douchiest award went to the super conservative Loyalist..he was mean, avoided every tough question, and kept texting.

After that we drove around the city to see all the murals. This part was crazy..seriuosly we drove through all the gates that separate the protestant and catholic sections.. they are called Peace Walls. Weirdest thing ever.. google it. We saw a ton of buildings that were bombed during the troubles and the whole thing was really surreal. After that we went on a pub crawl. naturally. Cool thing though, the first bar was called the Crown Bar and apparently the husband and wife that owned it were a scandalous couple because the wife was a loyalist and the husband was Irish. When they opened the bar the wife won the naming fight..hence Crown..to honor England..so the husband but this huge elaborate tile crown on the floor so everybody steps on it walking in. Now you know. That night we stayed in an unmarked hostel..I dont like to think about why. Next morning another market..with the cheapest chocolate ever.

Signing the peace walls is a really big deal..be impressed

On Friday we saw a lot of natural beauty. First I crossed the oldest, highest rope bridge in the world to get to a tiny island where you could see Scotland! It was very windy and scary. Then we saw the causeway..which i must admit I fell asleep for the description of so I am not sure of the significance...but it was pretty! Then we went to Derry..or London Derry depending on who you ask. This is the town where Bloody Sunday happened. It was creepy..and really cool..and our hostel was next to a prison. oh and we sang U2s Bloody Sunday and The Cranberries Zombie..no less than 30 times over the three days..