ireland part 3

Hi Again,

Well it seems the glorious weather could not last, and now I'm escaping the rain in an internet cafe in Dublin. Feels like winter back home, and from what I've heard about storms there, it IS like winter back home!

I got back last nght from the 3-day Paddy Wagon tour. It was excellent. The driver was a bit of a history buff, and hence his knowledge was amazing. he gave us a very detailed outline of the history of the troubles, and that was supplemented by the two additional tours we did (with local guides)- a walking tour of Derry and a black taxi tour in Belfast. I was going to go to Belfast on my own, but am now so glad I did a tour because I learnt so much about the whole situation in Northern ireland (and met a whole heap of people as well!)

So the first night we spent in Derry (or Londonderry, depending on who you ask!) and the following day we hopped on the bus again to the Giant's Causeway and Carrick-on-rede rope bridge. Mum, you would have loved both of these, there were long walks to see them. Giant's causeway doesn't look much on the walk down there, but there were rocks there that were about 5 times taller than me! Unfortunately, it was sunny, but the sea was not very clear, as apprently on a clear day you can see to Scotland.

Carrick-on-rede rope bridge was built for fisherman who wanted to get to this little island to catch the salmon swimming by. It's a fair walk though, with lots of steps, so I feel sorry for the poor fisherman who still use it!

After visiting these two sites we set off for Belfast and pulled in about 3:15. When we got there, one part of the group went on a black taxi tour, but ours was booked for the next day so we wandered around the botanic gardens and so on. It's kind of funny, because they were having a big opera event in the gardens the following day, but it was so wet it was hard to understand who would turn up.

That night we went to an pub to have a few drinks. i was hoping to meet some nice young lads, but the guys we were chatting to ended up being poms. Amazingly, one was from the Isle of Man and couldn't believe that I knew were Castletown and Douglas were. The Poms were actors in the show that was in the Belfast opera house, which was across the road.

The next day, I went on the black taxi tour. This was a good way to get into areas we couldn't see in the Paddywagon bus (it would have caused problems apparently) but I felt a bit uncomfortable at touring round these people's daily life. I mean, I don't think they'd be proud of the massive walls erected to separate Catholic and Protestant communities, yet i imagine that is the image that many tourists take home from Belfast. however Belfast is apparently on the up (and a hot real estate tip apparently!)

Following the tour, we had two hours free so I caught a bus to Cranmore Park, which is the street Dad used to live on. It was interesting to see another part of Belfast, and I feel that there should have been more emphasis on this side of things- Belfast is not all 'peace walls' (walls to separate the two communities), but this wasn't really made clear.

Anyway, we then got the bus back to Dublin and I went to bed really early last night!

Hopefully, I've attached some pictures for you all to see what I've been up to!

At this stage I'm meeting Katherine Green (friend from school) in Germany on Monday next week and we may go to Croatia/Slovenia. Ros and Boz are going to Den Bosch in Holland on hockey tour from Friday-Monday so I will join them on Friday or Saturday for some craic with their mates and then I'm going to London after that. So I will update when I can. Meanwhile, enjoy the pics!

Anneke

Curried chips, my first cultural experience on the Paddy wagon tour. A friend and I split these (+ sandwiches) for lunch!

The Protestant area in Derry-fenced off by a 'peace wall'. Note the Union jack.

All police stations in Northern Ireland are fortified with fences, cameras, guard towers etc. This was quite a tame one, in a holiday village.

Me on the Giant's Causeway.

The Black taxi tour group at a Peace Wall. The taxi driver then got us to sign it, it's covered with messages from around the world.

The house Dad lived in when he was a kid.