Up the North

Happy Springtime Everyone!

Two weekends ago was the first of our two school sponsored field trips. This one was to Northern Ireland, which is actually a different country, part of the UK due to over 200 years of British/Protestant occupation. We left on Friday morning just as the sun was rising. With our overnight bags and lunches packed we started out driving through Dublin suburbia, which does exist on the north side of the River Liffey. We took this route to bypass commuter traffic and were soon off and rolling down the highway.

Only recently (in the last 20 years or so) has the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland become easy to pass. In the past there was a checkpoint where cars, luggage and people were subject to be searched for any reason. Now the only notable difference is the change over from a broken yellow stripe on the highway to a solid white line. I doubt any of our group would have noticed unless our director, Stephen, had pointed it out.

Just outside of Belfast, our first stop we had a restroom break at a McDonalds were everyone scurried to buy breakfast and coffee. We met up with our tour guide Nigel, a native of Northern Ireland and headed into the city.

Our first stop was Falls Road, which is famous for murals depicting the victims of various atrocities around the world, calls for peaceful living and trade etc. Behind these cool old-school cars is a painting that is a call to Obama to reopen trade with Cuba. Interesting connections in these paintings from an American/ foreign point of view.

After looking at these murals we hoped back on the bus and headed off to see this mural:

This mural of Bobby Sands is just around the corner from the headquarters of Sinn Féin, which is the political party of Irish Republicanism but it is considered very "left wing". This mural was painted after Bobby Sands died during the hunger strikes in the 1980s. He was elected to Parliament while serving time in Long Kesh jail (which is why the letters MP are written after his name) and was the first member of the strikes to die. The men were striking for political prisoner status, which British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher denied at the encouragement of US President, Ronald Reagan.

Our next stop was the Bombay Street memorial which commemorates the tragic burning of all the Catholic homes on Bombay Street in 1969 during a three day period of rioting. One side of this street lines the peace wall which segregates the Catholic and Protestant communities which is where this banner and other memorials to the events are.

Once all the homes were rebuilt on Bombay Street the previous owners were told they would not need to pay a mortgage on their homes for over 100 years as long as the homes remained in possession of a blood relative.

Following the visit to the Catholic side of the "peace wall" we drove by the opposite side, where the Protestant majority lives. There is a gate that closes at sundown that separates the two sides to try to prevent unnecessary violence. However, the current generation of adults in Belfast, those who primarily grew up during the Troubles have decided that in the next 20 years they intend to take the wall down, in hopes that people my age and younger will be ready to interact non-violently and will have grown up in a peaceful time. On the Protestant side of the wall there is an area that people from all over the world can sign and leave messages of peace. Now there is a small sculpture that has immortalized the messages left by people like the Dali Lama and Bill Clinton. I also signed the wall, a simple message but one that I think the young adults of Belfast are embracing and applying in their lives.

Here is a picture of Nigel, our guide for the tour of Belfast. He had a great accent and was very knowledgeable of everything he showed us. So knowledgeable in fact, that our 2 hour tour became a 3 and a half hour tour. Nonetheless it was extremely interesting and I really enjoyed it because he put everything into perspective, using examples that we could relate to our lives.

The last set of murals Nigel showed us were painted on the side of several apartments. The one below was painted by a man who lives in the complex and it won an award because no matter where you stand the sniper's rifle is pointing right at you. Near, far, left or right the sniper has an eye on you.

After our mural tour of Belfast we drove by city hall which has a statue of Queen Victoria in front and a statue of Thomas Andrew, the man who designed the Titanic.

We had a brief trip to a shopping mall for a bathroom break and a chance to use an ATM since pounds, not euros, is the currency there. Once we were back on the bus, on the way to Ballintoy, where we were spending the night, everyone took a little nap. Since the bus seats were pretty small we all cuddled up wherever we could find a spot. Here is Katherine and Aaron, passed out on our bus. So cute!

Having had a large coffee from McDonalds that morning I was not very sleepy so I was awake for the beautiful drive to Ballintoy. I am not sure where exactly this was but the wind turbines were beautiful on the mountainside.

After arriving in Ballintoy, which was a very small town near Bushmills (the makers of the famous whiskey). In fact, this town is so small that you can stand on the main road and see both ends. It's a lovely place with one hostel and two pubs. Dinner was provided by our hostel and was very Irish: beef stew, two types of potatoes, sweet corn and for dessert, strawberry cheesecake. We ate much more than our fill and headed down to the pub. Our friends Tom and April got a chance to sing while we had a few pints.

In the morning we awoke to see a beautiful view of Scotland! Yep, that's right, we could see Scotland from our hostel in Ireland. We could also see Rathlin Island, which has cliffs of chalk and less than 200 inhabitants.

Our group walked down to Ballintoy harbor and walked around on the rocks while we waited for our bus. We then headed to Giant's Causeway. It was a short drive from where we stayed so we had plenty of time to explore. The causeway is made up of basalt columns that cooled after a volcanic eruption 60 million years ago, when Ireland was closer to Eygpt's current location. The rocks cracked into these formations and there are thousands of them in the area. Some are smaller, 3-7 feet tall. Others are over 20 feet tall but they are all relatively perfect. Legend has it that a giant named Finn McCool built this causeway to Scotland to battle a giant living there. In fact, these rocks, slightly more eroded, are indeed present all the way to Scotland.

Here I am standing next to one of the smaller columns.

Here is another picture of the Giant's Causeway with all the formations stretching out into the water. They are like stepping stones, though several of them are shaky.

The next stop on our trip was Dunluce Castle, Catherine Manners lived here when she remarried to Randal MacDonnell. Catherine supposedly hate the sea (crazy) and was horrified when one night the kitchen broke of the back of the house and fell into the sea. Since then no one has lived at Dunluce Castle. It has remained in pretty good shape, only really losing it's roof and second floor since the 1600's.

Here I am taking in the beautiful view of the castle and the ocean. It was lovely and sunny all day and nice to sit in the grass, since, in Ireland, spring starts the 1st of February!

-I have effectively bypassed the cold winter months! Hooray!

One very cool aspect of Dunluce Castle was that underneath was a secret tunnel that led to the ocean. I am not entirely sure what it was used for but it's huge! We all climbed down the slippy stairs and then the slippy, shaky rocks all the way to the edge of the water. Being the Harry Potter nerd that I am I was really excited that it looked like something out of one of the novels! It was a very damp and cold cavern and even the ceiling, which held the castle above, was leaking water so I didn't spend too much time inside, you know, just in case.

Our last stop on our trip was the Carrick-a-Rede bridge. This bridge is made of really thick rope and two planks of wood all the way across. It connects the piece of land in the shadow in the picture below to the first piece of land in the sun.

Originally the bridge helped salmon fisherman get out to the end of the islands so they could catch the fish who returned to the rivers nearby to spawn every year. Since the coast has so many high cliffs this was one area where the fisherman could get out into the water with their nets and catch as many as 300 salmon a day during the right season.

This is a picture of the bridge from above, you can see how one might be frightened to cross it but Aaron and Lori were brave and went first. We were reassured by our bus driver that it's only 100 or so feet to the rocks below so you would hardly have time to freak out if you fell...yea...very reassuring.

Here is one last picture of me, on the rope bridge. I'll admit, it was absolutely terrifying but knowing that no one has ever fallen off the bridge made me feel better. Plus it's not very long and only a few people are allowed to cross at a time. As you can see, I am holding on very tightly, with both hands!

After the rope bridge and the hike back to our bus we were sufficiently exhausted. We started our drive back to Dublin but took the scenic route along the coast. As tired as I was I tried very hard to stay awake to see it since I may not have the chance again for a long time. It was beautiful and there was a very pretty sunset. As soon as it was dark and we hit Belfast I went right to sleep and slept most of the way home.

That's about all I had energy for in one weekend but I will soon share with you the adventure I had in Howth most recently. A little preview though...it involved olives, fudge and some very funny seals!

Until next time, stay well, keep laughing and remember that I love you!

Annie

Cheers! To Welsh/American Relations

Hello Everyone!

I am so sorry for taking so long to post again. It has been a busy few weeks and I wanted to do these adventures justice. So I'll start from the beginning.

Two weekends ago a few friends and I planned to go to Wales for the day. There is a ferry from Dublin Port to Holyhead, Wales and it's about 3 hours to get there. However, we were late getting to the port, not knowing that from the LUAS (inner-city transport) to the ferry was a two mile walk through tar and oil factories- ew. We ended up missing our 2:30 ferry by about 15 minutes and found out that the next one would not be leaving until 9:00 that evening. Having walked so far, with no desire to turn back, my friends and I structured a new game plan. We would take the 9:00 ferry, stay the night in Holyhead, wake up the next morning to get the bus to Caernarfon, which stopped first in Bangor. We would stay the night in Caernarfon and head back to Dublin the next day.

Little did we know that when we bought tickets for the "ferry" we would actually be getting on an small cruise boat. We all though it would be a dinky little ride with plastic chairs in rows and a little back deck. Boy were we wrong. This "ferry" was 11 stories tall with 5 stories for cars and buses, then two movie theaters, a gift shop, children's playground, lounge area, three restaurant areas, numerous arcades and gambling rooms and more.

Here is a picture of the bar, yes the bar, on board.

We were lucky enough to find a small corner to sit in for the ride over. There weren't too many people and when it got a little rough on the open sea we all had room enough to stretch out and get some rest.

Here is a map where you can see Dublin, Holyhead and Caernarfon.

The bus took us about 3 hours as well but it was a stunning ride.

This shot I took on the bus so there is a bit of reflection but there is a bridge in the distance that we crossed to reach Bangor, then the mountain range and big white clouds behind it.

When we finally reached Caernarfon around 2pm we took our things to a hostel called "Totters" where the guy was relived we were finally there so he could go out with his buddies and start drinking for the England vs. Wales rugby match that was on later that evening. He showed us our rooms, three sets of bunk beds(!) and headed out.

We knew we wanted to watch the game as well but since we were staying in the old city walls of Caernarfon, just as we do in Dublin, we decided to go see the castle.

Caernarfon Castle was commissioned by Edward I when he conquered the city in the 1200's. This is a photo I took from the courtyard.

Fortunately the castle is still in supreme shape and we were able to walk up all the towers and along all the wall and even into the basement. There were endless spiral staircases and it was exhausting, I can't imagine having to run up them with a sword or crossbow during a battle though! Near the bay end of the castle there are three towers, only one of them is currently safe enough for people to walk up to the top but and you can bet that we all did. It seemed like endless stairs before us but when we finally came out the top it was a beautiful view of the bay, the town and the rest of the castle.

Here are some of the boats floating in the harbor with the town and the mountains in the background.

Here are the three towers from the other end of the castle. The one in the back on the left is the one we walked to the top of. There are the remnants of what were once gargoyles at the top. They are disintegrating though from being exposed to the elements for 800+ years. However, it is obvious that the castle is being preserved with the rebuilding of some of the stairwells and bridges connecting towers inside.

This picture is of me on one of the bridges, over the edge it is about 30 to the ground.

Across the bridge is the old chapel in the castle, my friend Chris is a great photographer and he took this one of myself and my friend Tom. We joked that it looked like one of those senior portraits from high school. It's actually through on of the windows of the chapel and was taken from the bridge I am standing on in the last picture.

After romping around the castle for a few hours we were let out through a tiny door that was part of the bigger wooden door. Our crew headed back to our room, rested for a bit and got ready to watch the game. Not even two blocks up the street from our hostel was a sports bar, big by comparison to many of the pubs in Dublin that was broadcasting the game on 5 or 6 big screen TVs. We sat near the back of the bar and had a little bite to eat. We watched the game while Tom tried helplessly to explain the rules of rugby to us, enjoyed a few pints and cheers when everyone else did. Unfortunately Wales lost to England but I did have the opportunity to try a new type of beer, made of ginger, which is quite spicy and very delicious.

Here is a picture of my travel compainions, Aaron, Chris, Tom and Kate. This is the response I get when I say "smile" and I think it represents each of them very well.

Once the game was over we ventured out and met a few people our age who were very excited to find "real Americans!" and wanted us to meet there friends. We had a grand evening getting to know these Welsh students and they laughed at us when they would suddenly switch from English to Welsh and we looked confused. Before we headed home we had a celebratory drink to new found friends and to Welsh/American relations. Our new "mates" have promised to visit Dublin sometime so maybe we can take them out for a great evening, just like they did for us. Knowing we had to catch an early bus back to Holyhead we turned in for the night and slept wonderfully in our bunk beds.

The next morning we hoped on the bus and headed for the ferry. We arrived a little earlier than we had expected and got to take an earlier ride back to Dublin. But before we got on the ferry I snapped this quick picture of the bridge across the tracks to the port. I saw it when we arrived but it was too dark to accurately capture it. I have noticed that many bridge in Europe are really old and are generally interspersed with really new, modern looking bridges. It's a very cool juxtaposition and it's everywhere!

We arrived home on Sunday night just after 5:00 and went to bed quite early after an exhausting yet awesome trip to Wales.

I promise to post again soon with all the pictures and stories from my trip up to Northern Ireland.

Missing you all so much.

Love and Hugs,

Annie

A Very Colorful Week

My goodness! It has been a very eventful week here in Dublin. The traditional Irish music festival was grand or "great craic" as they say. I also got to go on a great hike/walk along the east coast between Bray and Greystones.

I am excited to tell you that this posting will have lots of pictures!

I guess to start out I'll tell you a bit about our hike. Twelve of the students met up to take the DART to Bray around 11. After waiting in a small cafe for coffee for about an hour, since there was only one woman working, we finally got underway.

To begin the hike we walked along the boardwalk and we could see what was ahead of us, little did we know it wouldn't look like this the whole way.

We didn't make it very far before we needed to stop for some breakfast. Katherine, Emma and I had stopped for thick cut chips (fries) before our hike began and the boys helped themselves as well. There were way too many fries for just us girls anyway.

After getting a little nourishment in our bellies we started to walk. One of the first things we ran into was the foundation of a really old, stone house. It still had a stairway up the side of the mountain but it didn't have any windows or a roof left. Katherine and Aaron were brave and walked up first. Once it was confirmed sturdy, several more people joined.

Continuing on the road we began to pass large bends and rock walls that dropped 100 feet or so to the train tracks then about 100 more feet to the ocean. There were so many different types of plants and lichen and flowers growing on the walls, which made for a very beautiful blanket covering.

Due to the twists and turns of the coast we were frequently walking in and out of the shade and sunlight. The sunlight was always welcome as it was an absolutely beautiful day out but we were walking straight at it and sometimes it was difficult to see. However, in the shade, which was a nice opportunity to cool down a bit, there was actually still frost on some of the plants from the night before. I was awed at how delicate the frost was and how it clung to the individual veins of the leaves and the tips of the blades of grass. In comparison our Vermont frosts just glitter and make everything crunchy when you walk on it but this was so soft it melted if you touched it. Pretty cool I think, must have something to do with the salt in the air maybe?

About half way to Greystones, which is about a little more than 5 miles, Aaron and I passed this sign:

We called our friends to ask if they also passed the "Danger Danger" sign or gone up the path that led up the mountain. They had walked right by it without even knowing. However, some of our other friends turned up the mountain and proceeded to get lost on quite an epic journey consisting of lots of trespassing, sheep and pricker bushes. Aaron and I opted to stick to the danger danger route and took the advice of a man who told us to walk through the field when we got to it instead of along the path where the land was collapsing and muddy.

Thank you mysterious gentlemen for possibly saving our lives!

Our path continued on quite rockily, like this:

For another mile or so until we found a small outcropping where we were able to stop for a beautiful picture. I asked Aaron to take one of me and I took one of him.

We met up with our friends Rob and Chris, who are quite the camera men and had been walking slower to take lots of pictures. Fortunately for all of us the next leg of our trip was like a springtime wonderland with lots of little waterfalls and lush valleys all around us, very surreal, like in the movies of Ireland. But this time it was for real.

After wandering through this little piece of heaven we came upon the field the man told us about and just in time too it was getting very slippy (they say that here too!) and muddy. As we approached Aaron proclaimed he was going to frolic all up and down this field. The rest of us agreed it was necessary and an intense amount of frolicking happened in the next 20 minutes or so. Here is Chris frolicking happily and Rob close behind him.

It was nice to revisit childhood for a brief moment and forget that everyone else in the field probably thought we were crazy.

After frolicking we took a moment to turn around and look at back at the length we had just walked. Though we couldn't see Bray anymore we did catch this amazing glimpse of the coast

As I'm sure you can tell by looking at the above picture, it was getting a little bit late in the day and we were nearing the end of our walk so we decided to walk along the beach of Greystones and rest a little. Aaron definitely found the best seat in the house.

I personally think he looks a little like a bird on a nest but quite comfortable nonetheless.

We made it to town shortly after where all 12 of us met up at the Beach House restaurant and shared stories of our adventurous day over delicious seafood chowder (my first experience with the soup...quite tasty indeed). By this time the sun had set and we were all ready for our nice, warm beds. The ride home was quick as was our walk back to our apartments. I am pretty sure almost all the hikers were asleep before 10:00 that evening. Not too bad for a Saturday.

The next day I woke up around 11:00 (Yes I slept that long). My roommates and I, Claire and Tom went to the Anna Livia parade down Dame Street. The first group that walked by were these giant prawn, a native species of Ireland's own River Liffey and Irish Sea.

These prawn, however, wore moon shoes and bounced around and their tails wiggled. By the way, they have prawn cocktail chips here, your immediate reaction to how that might taste is actually pretty accurate--kinda shrimpy kinda salty--different to everyone I suppose.

The next group was very Dr. Seuss themed and this gentlemen asked me if I needed a "recharge" and then "shocked" me with his giant foam plug! I was definitely awake after that!

There were seahorses jockeys and women running for the giant train float as well as a little kid nearly 30 feet in the air with a big dress on. I don't know the significance of that one but it was pretty cool either way.

Then came my personal favorite part of the parade. The traditional Irish marching band from St. Mary. I have a little clip here. It's a little loud so be careful when you play it. Definitely worth listening to though, bagpipes and drums are quite moving if you ask me and I can totally understand how they would inspire unity and motivation in troops or any other group in early Irish history! Also, if you look closely you can see a few women playing the pipes! You go girls, that's some serious lung power!

Following the parade, our group had a quick lunch and there was a band playing traditional Irish music on the first floor.

This photo is really for my Uncle Wayne who said he loved the accordion players. Here you go!

We finished lunch and headed to the Ceili (pronounced kay-lee) which is basically a large dance with a large band. Here is a picture of the band:

The band played traditional songs and lots of Irish people step danced with very specific routines. Then our Irish friend Darragh dragged our group out onto the dance floor, right to the very middle. We clearly didn't know the steps so we just hooked elbows and danced around in circles. It was hysterical and really fun, I'm glad we went for it and didn't run away. When in Dublin do as the Irish do right?

Most recently our school had a guest speaker from the United Nations Refugee Agency come to talk to one of our classes. However, since the school is so small they often invite us all to attend these special presentations and we got to listen to him tell us what his job was about. It was interesting to learn that America accepts hundreds, well thousands really, of people every year solely because they are refugees unable to safely live in the homeland or return there. Also, that we, as well as many other countries, signed a document saying we would do this and would not turn someone away unless we had a drastic rise in the number of people, then we would ask another country, like Canada to share the number of people.

Ireland is also one of the countries where people can seek refuge or asylum, though they are only able to accomdate a few hundred every year. Larger countries generally accept more people, but it also figures in political factors and population density before committing to a number. Our speaker, Stephen O'Brien, quizzed us with scenarios and I guessed that in one of them we would let the person into the country on asylum or refugee status even though they presented a fake passport. For that I won a UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) hat! We decided that the person may have had to go to drastic ends to escape from their country, even if that meant they had a fake passport when entering the country.

One of the coolest parts of Stephen's job, I think, is that he gets to help people reintegrate into the homeland if they voluntarily feel comfortable returning. For example, if a war broke out in the in Vermont and we all had to move to Florida, Stephen's job is to help those of us who would want to go home to Vermont move back as long as peace had been restored. I like that part of their job the most because they are never forced to go back but if they want to they will have help and a lot of times this means reuniting families!

Today I got to go to Collins Barracks, just across the Liffey from our apartments. This place was massive! Absolutely gigantic. We walked into a courtyard that measured longer than 100 paces and it wasn't even the largest yard area. Collins Barracks was originally used by the English Army to train and live in order to control the Irish in the 17, 18 and 1900s. Then the Irish army garrison occupied it after becoming a free state in the 1920s. They stayed there making it the longest occupied barracks in the world until the 1990s. For a few years it was basically the largest storage place in the world as lots of artifacts owned by the National Museum of Ireland were kept there. They then moved part of the museum there as well as several administrative offices. For our class we wandered around the inside learning about the people who lived and served there for so many years. There was even a section where you could hold the old rifles used for training and battle. They were bolted down though so no danger could happen but I could still feel how heavy they were and how time consuming it was to load them. We also saw the evolution of weapons used by the occupants and their uniforms. Overall, it was a great way to spend a class learning about a huge part of the English occupation here and the number of soldiers it took to control the Irish.

Well I'm sure by now you must wonder when this post will ever end. Here we have it mates. Another post done this week. I hope the one I have for you next time will be just as interesting. I am headed to Howth this weekend, for the fishermen's market where they sell, you guessed it, fish! Lots of fresh fish right off the boat. They also have a little market and lovely cliff views so maybe a little picnic will be in order.

Sending lots of love vibes across the Atlantic to all of you!

Annie