 |
| Happy Fathers Day |
|
|
 |
| Our first view of Ireland |
 |
| Get your Party Shoes and Shorts Ready! |
 |
| "Occupy Belfast" too--but no one is on the street! |
 |
| Enormous Room of Bunks |
June 16—We arrived to Belfast and started walking to our
hostel. It was an abandoned
downtown. We hardly found anyone who
could give us directions, so we wandered a little past closed solid stores and
empty lots before we found the place.
There was a sign on the door to not let ANYone in for security’s sake. The man behind the counter said it’s pretty
noisy in the main part of the hostel, so he brought us to the overflow, out the
back, through an empty lot and a large gate, up metal stairs into an old (cold)
linen factory full of bunk beds. As far
as we could tell we were the only ones in here.
It felt both cool and creepy. I
looked around and the place had rooms and rooms of bunk beds. The desk clerk said that certain times the
place is packed. We went walking for
some food. We walked down the main drag
toward city hall and there was only McDonalds and a burrito place (with the
worst burritos I’ve ever had). I plunked
myself down at the counter with the computer, and soon loud gaggles of partiers
with platform heels and skirts at the top of their legs careened out of the basement
with bottles in hand, competing for airtime to talk, and heading out the
door. (I had video of some of this, but
lost it.) Then at midnight, the police
came. When young ones came in looking
drunk, they would take them into the alley.
(What? For an interview?) The
lady running the hostel looked really nervous.
After I hit the hay, others came in around 3-4:00. I found out in the morning, the place wasn’t
locked. I was glad to have a host for
the rest of our stay.
 |
| Les and Sean at the Bushmill's Distillery |
 |
| We walked a rope bridge to this island |
 |
| This looks like a sand castle to me |
 |
| Still Life (Get it?) |
 |
| Beach scene |
 |
| Les with the columnar basalt looking out to sea |
June 17—We went on a grand tour on a sunny day to the
northern coast. On the way, we stopped
by some castles and the Bushnell’s Distillery.
There we toasted Les Lauther and Julia Baird for Father’s Day. We crossed the gap to a fishing island on a
rope bridge modeled after those that the fishermen used to bring in their big
salmon. It was a beautiful day to be out
on the Giant’s Causeway. Like mid-Oregon, the columnar basalt has
crystals that bend and collect into pleasing patterns. This formation goes right into the sea!
 |
| Our Black Taxi |
 |
| Our Taxi Driver/Guide Paddy |
June 18—The big part of today was the Black Taxi Tour. It was all about “the troubles” and how it
developed and is resolving, and how it was to live in the troubled times. It is said that during the troubles, if you
ended up in the back of one of these black taxis, you may not come back.
 |
| It started here: King William III in 1690 |
I learned so much about how it started with
King William III of Orange WAY back in 1690, who wanted England to conquer the
island. England has been successful with
controlling just one northeastern segment called Ulster, but not without a lot
of fighting from those who wished Ireland was one united country.
 |
| The English set up a viewpost with Catholic homes below |
 |
Old photo of the view from the lookout
|
A story about Reverend Ian Paisley who saw an
Irish flag inside someone’s window and then gathered people to forcibly take
that flag down began a huge civil war.
The English brought in army forces, and the smaller group of Irish
Unionists (Freedom Fighters or Irish Republican Army) fought against them
guerrilla style, because they didn’t have the resources that the English did.
 |
| Les at the "Peace Wall" |
(It’s important to note that because the English were mostly Protestants, it
became the Protestants against the [previously-settled Irish] Catholics
conflict.) The English put up a giant
wall to separate the bands with searches to counter the car bombs and such.
 |
| Curfew Gates still in use
|
The
English implemented a curfew to keep the criminals from acting in the dark of
night, but this didn’t last too long because the women came out with their
babies in strollers and with bread and milk in their hands. The police couldn’t arrest all these women in
the street for this.
 |
| Bobby Sands died in a hunger strike in prison |
The English created
large prisons in which to keep those criminals, but those in prison wanted to
be treated as war prisoners and not common criminals. So they went around naked in blankets,
refusing to wear the criminal uniform. They upped the ante by not showering or shaving, and by soiling the
walls of the place.
 |
| The kinds of prisons |
Finally, they
started to fast. Many of them starved to
death until Brendan Hughes put an end to it all, and they were treated like war
prisoners, though the queen never officially called them war prisoners.
 |
| Anyone want to buy some "Republican Gifts" at the Sinn Fein Shop? |
Years later, US President Clinton and George
Mitchell finally got people from Sinn Fein and the British representatives to
work out a peace process.
 |
| The Protestant Side of the Wall |
Now, though
there are still angry people on either side trying to fight for what they think
is right, they are losing power because so many people are coming together for
peace and cooperation.
 |
| Remember a particularly bad neighborhood hit |
No one got
exactly what he/she wanted; there is no unified Ireland. England no longer can legally dominate the
Catholic Irish like they did before.
 |
| Flags put up getting ready for "marching season" |
 |
| Huge bonfire site. Furniture inside fire circle |
We
were there 2 weeks before the marching season, where the (English) Protestants
wear uniforms, carry flags and march through the whole of Ulster to celebrate
William of Orange’s “success.” Paddy, our guide, was informative and
dramatic. He said that many of the
Catholics go on vacation about this time, as old passions flair up in violent
ways. We saw their preparations for the
giant bonfires; this is not a small thing.
 |
| Celebrating Ulster Defense: the gun points at you no matter where you are |
 |
| Rory in his back yard |
 |
| Rory and mom |
 |
| Les and Rory's dad |
For dinner, we were invited to
Rory’s parent’s place. Geraldine and
Colin were really interesting people.
Geraldine teaches art in the schools.
We were talking about how the schools were cutting back and we were
asking her if she thought the arts programs would be cut. It was a little shocking that she couldn’t
comprehend such a thing. “It’s part of
the curriculum. You can’t cut part of
the curriculum.” The idea of cutting
back by reducing the arts programs hadn’t ever occurred to her. Colin showed us a photography book about
Ireland that he had designed with his photographer friend. It was gorgeous, and really made us want to
travel to the west side of Ireland. We
had a scrumptious dinner and scooted off so that Rory could get his Internet to
work at home.
 |
Can anyone use an O?
 |
| Can anyone help me get seate |
 |
| Neighborhood watch? |
|
June 20—After taking Rory and Anita to the community coffee
place, we packed up and set off to take the bus to Dublin. I love seeing the big view from the front.
