Belfast and Dublin

Apparently I was zonked last night, because I fell asleep at about 11:30 and didn't even wake up when my roommates, three loud French girls, came in.  I also slept until 9:30, though last night was the daylight savings change here so I lost an hour somewhere in there.

My train to Dublin left at 1:00, but I had time enough for a Black Cab Tour of Belfast, which took us to some sites significant to the period of time they call the Troubles, which were about 1969 to 1986.  I knew of course that Catholics and Protestants had never really gotten along in Ireland, but I hadn't realized how bad it still is.  Belfast has walls!  The tour guide compared them to the Berlin Wall, except these have been up for forty years and don't look to be coming down any time soon.  There are gates on the roads that close for the weekends, and walls separating the Catholics from the Protestants to stop them from beating and killing each other.

It was...really amazing.  First we saw the Protestant side of the wall, which was covered in spray-painted artwork.  It looked sort of like graffiti, except it was really art, and people have come from all over to decorate the wall.  On the other side, the Catholic side, we saw a memorial garden with large plaques on the wall listing names of Catholic martyrs -- the civilians who died since Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland separated, names going into the 2000s, and also members of the IRA.  There were portraits of the IRA volunteers on the wall behind the memorial plaque.  I grew up learning that the IRA are terrorists, but to these people, they're heroes.  It's just...wow.  I'm really not sure what to think about all this, except that it's so sad that there are walls in Belfast.

I got into Dublin at about 3:30 and decided to walk to my hostel, since it wasn't very far.  I checked in and dropped my stuff off, and then decided to go to the Guinness Storehouse, because I don't have that much time actually in Dublin and I definitely wanted to see that.  I walked there as well, getting there at about 4:15.  It stopped admitting people at 5:00, but people already in there could still finish their tours and so on, so I wandered around the factory (basically a museum) and got my free pint of Guinness at the bar at the top (awesome view of Dublin from there) and bought a shirt at the store.  Guinness is much better in Ireland than in America, apparently because it's several weeks older by the time we get it in America, because it all gets shipped out from Dublin.

When I was done at the Guinness Storehouse, I saw some horse-drawn carriages, and splurged a bit.  I've always wanted to take a horse-drawn carriage, and it feels particularly awesome to have taken one in Dublin.  It took me to Temple Bar, which is basically Dublin's night-life district.  I had dinner there, and then went to a pub and listened to traditional Irish music for awhile.  That was pretty awesome.

Another early day tomorrow, since my tour is finally starting.  Now to see more of the rest of Ireland!  This is so awesome!