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Published: October 20th 2014
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Well, since the two-day double decker bus tour in Derry was a bust, and because I felt as though I had seen everything I wanted to in that city, I decided to look into taking the train to and from Belfast for the day so I could squeeze in another city. I decided to go for it, and was pleasantly surprised when I arrived at the Londonderry train station that the fare was much lower than I had expected! I then took the train to Belfast, which took about two hours and featured stunning views of the Irish countryside. Upon arrival in Belfast, I found a place to grab lunch and then headed to the tourism office to (hopefully) purchase a ticket for a bus tour. These bus tours were still running, and I was able to purchase a ticket and headed off to catch the bus.
The bus was a classic City-Sightseeing bus, but had been modified to combat the harsh weather of Northern Ireland by providing us with a roof which later on in the tour was well appreciated when it started raining. It did make the pictures a bit harder to get, but once the rain started,
I was not regretting being on the bus with the roof. At first, I considered switching since the guide said that the next bus was a half hour behind ours and it has an open top. Despite the fact that it was sunny at the time, he said we would get wet if we went on other bus and sure enough that would have been the case. Belfast is another city that was plagued by religious conflict up until extremely recently, and it is only in the past few years that it has become a touring hub now that people are more convinced that it is actually a safe city to visit. Some highlights from the tour include Campbell College, where C.S. Lewis attended. They say that the lamp post outside of this building is what inspired the entrance to Narnia. Additionally, we drove by Titanic Studios which is where Game of Thrones is partially filmed in addition to the countryside. There was a white parliamentary building that continues to be stained to this day, due to the manner in which they tried to protect it from bombing. They covered it in manure and other dirt in an attempt to
hide it, hoping that the manure would make it easier to remove. However, the opposite was true and it remains permanently stained to a certain extent. It is an extremely industrial city that boomed up until the union with the UK, when the fall of the British Empire led to competitor markets that led to the collapse of the city. While at one point one of the wealthiest countries due to relative affluence and low population, the depression hit hard and there still remains a taste of poverty in the air.
After getting off of the bus, I walked around some more and ventured to St. Anne's Cathedral, home to the largest Celtic Cross in Ireland. All of the buildings were very pretty, but it was sad to see the effects of the bombing. You could tell where a building had been bombed based on the difference in the architectural styles. You would see a Victorian building next to one from the 1960's and you could tell that the original building where the 60's building was had been bombed. After grabbing dinner, I headed back to the train station to catch what I thought would be a relaxing ride back to the hostel. However, this train was extremely crowded and loud and I didn't get a seat until the second hour of the trip. By this point, I was quite ready to head back to the hostel.
This morning, I flew back to Prestwick, took the train to Glasgow and walked back to the flat all in time to grab a quick lunch before just making it to class on time! It was a great weekend, but I am quite tired today so I'm looking forward to sleep tonight. I'm also excited to say that I'm leaving for Spain in three days for our reading week, which is a week where I don't have classes! I'm quite ready for some warm weather.
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