Belfast and Giant's Causeway


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Published: March 3rd 2011
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the fighting in northern ireland is called the troubles...
Hello all!

Today I'm writing about my first trip out of Ireland... well sort of. Last weekend we took a trip up to Belfast and the Giant's Causeway. Both of them are in Northern Ireland... which is still part of the UK while still being part of Ireland. Regardless, we got to see signs in miles and had to switch over our money to pounds for the weekend.

If anyone has heard about Belfast, you have probably heard about The Troubles, and the continuing fighting between the Protestant loyalists and the Catholic nationalists. While the number of shootings and bombings have greatly decreased since the '90s, they still do occur in certain areas. However, we'll get to that later.

On Friday, we only had a few hours to explore the city before meeting back with our group for dinner. During that time, we got to the city council building (which was amazing), and found a really impressive 'outdoor' mall which had a giant glass dome you could get into to see the entire city. After a great dinner in our hostel, most of us crashed. The trip there (about 6 hours) drained us of all of our energy.
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city hall


Saturday morning we got up nice and early and headed farther north to the Giant's Causeway. The legend says that a giant from Ireland built a bridge to Scotland to fight their giant. Seeing how big he was, the Irish giant ran home to hide. After some time, the Scottish giant came looking for him, and got scared away by some Irish trickery. On the way home, the Scottish giant tore up the bridge only leaving little bits at the start on either side. This story is way better than the real one, which involves volcanoes and cooling lava and geometry and other random stuff.

The Causeway was amazing, and we were depressed when we found out we only got a few hours there. On the way home, we stopped at a castle on the coast, and were angered even more when we only got 15 minutes there. After being delivered back to Belfast, we immediately regretted our prior adventures the night before as there was nothing else to do in that part of the city. There are some very impressive areas on the far side of the city, but that would have involved getting taxis and worrying
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city hall
about getting back in time for our next group dinner.

That night we headed to a hotel for a nice dinner, then went out with one of our tour guides to a great pub about ten minutes from the hostel. While there, one of the girls randomly met someone from her home college who just happened to be in Belfast and our tour guide met an old friend that he hasn't seen in years (small world eh?).

Sunday we woke up and went to a presentation on the murals in Belfast made by the two sides of the troubles. After it was over, we had a quick lunch and got a tour of the city. We got to see where the Titanic was built, where the Belfast Giant's ice hockey team play (one of the players from RIT plays for them now... small world again), as well as some other major buildings. But the best part of the trip was when we went into the distinct catholic and protestant districts to see the murals and the peace wall that separated their areas. The peace wall was anything but a peaceful wall. It was probably 20 feet tall with chain link fence on top of that and barbed wire to boot. Also, they lock down gates at night and during protest times so that you can't even get from one area to the next.

With another wonderfully cramped 6 hour drive, we found ourselves back in the Republic of Ireland. We might be tired, sore and slightly sick, but it was a great weekend. Next stop is either Cork or Dingle (hehe I said dingle). But for now I'll be enjoying RAG week at UL. (raising and giving week). It's a charity week, but its mainly an excuse to get outside and do crazy things. We have wonderful weather, and wonderful events, so I'm outta here.

Sláinte,
Bréanainn


Additional photos below
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street performer who demanded 5 pounds (like 7 or 8 dollars) since I took his picture. creepy creepy man
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some art in city center
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the edge of the indoor outdoor mall. you can see the roof just end and the city start. very very cool place
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city hall at night
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on the cliffs above the causeway
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on the cliffs above the causeway
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on the cliffs above the causeway
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walkway on the cliffs above the causeway
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on the cliffs above the causeway
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sign on the fence before heading down the stairs to the water
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some of the group going down the stairs
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me and Meryl (aka Shamrock) on top of some of the rocks
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Giant's Causeway
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Giant's Causeway
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Giant's Causeway
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Giant's Causeway
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Giant's Causeway


3rd March 2011

Trips
Bran, will you get an opportunity leave Ireland and go to any of the other countries near by? Ford's oldest daughter, Heather, and her son, Felix, live in Inverness Scotland which is on the bank of Loch Ness and is very beautiful there as well. If you get to go over that way at all, let me know and I will give you her number so you can find out the cool places to go! Keep blogging...love the stories and pictures. Love, Cath
3rd March 2011
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Bonus Points
Bran - that was easy....front middle....what kind of bonus points do I get? Although I have to say it would be been easier if you had been standing up because you were probably the tallest. Great pics. Love, Cath
4th March 2011
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you are getting a very good eye for the 'artsy' pictures. Very nice.
6th March 2011

We found you!
Hey Brandon, Great to talk with you this evening and I hope you are able to get in a lot of studying in preparation for your test this week. (realizing that you will read this after the fact ... but, the Pens are up 2-1 over the Bruins, 3rd period ready to start in a few minutes) Your trip north sounded like a great experience and I am glad there wasn't any civil unrest while you guys were there. Awesome pictures!!! Thanks for taking time to upload them. Speaking of pictures ... Jenni found you in less than 5 seconds after looking at the Arcadia group photo ... there you are front and center! (so what will our bonus points be going toward???) Keep taking good care of yourself and we will look forward to your next blog. Love, Dad & Jenni
8th March 2011
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=0 gorgeous! And people wonder why i want to move to europe. How old is it?
8th March 2011
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Whats this for?
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Oooohhh so pretty lights!
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That must have been a bitch to climb back up.
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likies muchly!
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Epic contrast!
8th March 2011
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In the middle front, yellow shirt, black jacket, blue jeans, and white man fro!

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