the return...

hello all,

I'm back! mostly because it's friday and i'm not going anywhere this weekend. Shocked?
i know... me too...
now, where to start,
i guess i'll go back to the start and give a brief bit on everything so far... i don't know if i'll be adding pictures this time around, maybe i'll go back and add some when i finish writing but for now i just want to get the words down first and plus, you guys have all seen the pictures anyway.

so, here goes:

Belfast: way back in January i went to a place called belfast right now is not such a good time to go actually just a week ago they had some problems in nearby antrim and soldiers were shot by a dissident IRA group so i guess it was good that i went when i did

we flew from cork to dublin on ryan air it literally took 40 minutes, the flight attendants didn't even have time to push the snack cart all the way down the aisle. it's a good thing i didn't get anything because i wouldn't have had time to eat it! after we landed in dublin we took a bus to belfast. we stayed in a backpackers hostel that was more like a house with extra beds in all of its rooms. i just recently found out that it was rated as one of the best in the world. i wouldn't go that far. it was nice and clean but it was barebones.

we found a lot of great places to eat in belfast. there was one hotel/restaurant called benedicts that was really upscale but between the hours of 5 and 7 everyday they had a special that whenever you ordered that was the price you paid. so say you ordered your dinner at 6:15, you would pay 6.15 euro for the meal which is a GREAT deal.

i really really enjoyed the history of the area. i still don't fully understand everything that happened in northern ireland, but i know a basic bit of information. our black taxi tour was SO interesting. the black taxis are driven by "non-partisan" people who take you to all the major sights from the conflict. the city is definitely still divided. the cuts of the violence are just under the surface and i felt like at any second up there something could erupt. it seems like a tough place to grow up. anyway. our driver was named Hans, he's from holland but moved here when he was younger to be a foreign correspondant. he told us some pretty cool stories about how his cab has been hijacked many times because he has been threated with a gun in the face to pay protection fees. eventually, he had had enough and went to talk to the bosses of both the catholic and protestant sides -- separately of course but, he hasn't had his car stolen since, and if it is, he would have it back in ten minutes. one time, when he refused to pay someone, he was shot in the foot and couldn't walk or work for weeks. earlier on, before he was a cab driver, he burned a bus on his front lawn to keep the fighters from coming into his house. all in all, he seems like the kind of guy you would want on your side in a fight.
the murals all over town were really interesting. it's so strange to go around a modern city and see such recent artifacts. there are murals from both the protestant and catholic sides but the scariest one i saw was in a protestant ghetto and there was a man painted on it in a sniper outfit the way he was painted made it look like he was always looking and pointing his gun at you- no matter where you stood. it was as if it was saying you are always being watched in this area. where hans took us to see murals in the protestant section was a place he said even HE wouldn't go to at night. so you know things are still happening. in the protestant areas of the city things are painted red white and blue, the colors of the english flag and the catholic part is all fenced in by "peace walls" the gates between the two close at night and good luck to ya if you end up caught on the wrong side, it's not likely that you'll see morning.
on our way to one of the peace walls hans one of my friends asked hans how they knew how to fight each other since religion isn't really very visible. he said people just know who each other are, you're guarded against any stranger and they're just brought up to know who is on their side. he gave us a common question to identify protestant vs catholic.
someone walks up to you on the street and asks you the colors of the irish flag-- all 5 of my friends answered green white and orange. i said green white and gold because that's what my grandpa always taught me. hans turned around and immediately identified me as a catholic. the catholics refuse to say or use orange because of its protestant conotation. the problem with this question is that YOU don't know which side is asking you. so how do you know how to answer?
-- yeah, me either--
he took us to a wall with peace murals all over it and gave us markers to write our own messages of peace on it we were surprised but gladly accepted the offer
on both sides of town extortion is still a common occurance. both the protestant and catholic business owners pay protection fees to the bosses on each side or they would lose their stores, inventory, lives etc.
in the catholic sector, hans took us to the bobby sands memorial which was also beautiful.
he told us not to take pictures of anyone and to be careful where we pointed our cameras because some people would come and take the film, or the camera, or break it, or worse hurt you
things are obviously still very tense.

when we got back to our hostel we decided to go to the queen's botanic gardens-- there wasn't much to see-- it was january----

then we went to some of the shopping streets and i found my new favorite store in the world. its a small vintage clothes store called the rusty zipper -- it was a goldmine. as soon as i walked in i saw this blue dress with white stars on it that came with a red belt... they had put it on display for obama's inauguration i tried it on and it fit perfectly i LOVE it on the way to our dinner reservations (which i made us late for) i saw a 50's style housedress that i really regret not trying because it's nagging me now that i'll never know but i have a feeling it would have been perfect. it was so pretty with all little flowers all over it . sighhhhhhhh
anyway
GASP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i just googled it and there's a website!!! i'll be back...

just kidding, if i don't do this now i don't know if i ever will

after dinenr we went to the crown saloon. the most famous pub in belfast. it was a lot of fun there, and we actually arrived pretty early which meant we got our own private booth complete with a bar-bell and door. it was so beautifully decorated in there, everything was so ornate, and with our little door closed i felt like a mob boss. the walls around the booth were just high enough to cover people's heads so we could still hear how busy everything was. we sat next to this mirror that was really really old and was damaged from a bomb that hit the hotel across the street. the europa hotel is the most bombed hotel in all of europe- it's been hit over 50 times. one of them did damage to the crown saloon. we didn't end up staying there for long because we had a really early morning the next day

so, the next day we went to giant's causeway. i didn't know what it was before i went but i will never forget it now. we took a paddywagon tour there, which meant we had a lively tourguide and stopped at a few other places along the way. it's basically northern ireland costal cliffs but because of the way the rocks were formed, they have an octagonal shape and are just in the craziest formation. the best way to describe it would be to say go look at the pictures but even they don't do it justice. we lucked out with the WORST possible weather ever. i guess they could have closed it down but it was literally pouring sheets of rain, it snowed, hailed and sleeted on us. the wind was painful and fierce but it was SO exciting because of all this. sure it would have been nice on a beautiful sunny day, but it was much more memorable this way. although i do wish my raincoat was actually weatherproof like the label claimed it was...

so, those are the highlights from belfast! i'll do london next! xoxo