We first set out to the Giant's Causeway. I'll be very brief as I'm wrting this in reverse, because the following bits of stories are more interesting and need more effort to write. The Giant's Causeway can be summed up in the photo album - simply stunning.
Two weekends with the parents hasn't driven us to civil war with each other, but got quite the history on that topic as we made our third and last weekend tour around historic Belfast, in Northern Ireland. Obviously Belfast has been scorched for the past 10-1000 years, but lately the city has come closer to peace agreements than it ever has in the past. I don't think we entirely knew what exactly we wanted to see before arriving there - the idea of seeing the city alone was enticing enough. The only substantial idea was seeing the shipyards where the Titanic was built and possibly some museums or memorials related to that, but otherwise, weren't quite sure what particulars we really wanted to see.The first thing we attempted was a tour bus of the city, the sundaymorning. This was possibly the best possible thing we could have done, and as our tour guide explained, 'It was the only thing we could have done'. Since peace is such a foreign thing to Belfast, the city is only experiencing tourism and foreigners now. So, as the city's front line in tourism, they have set up an excellent tourbus that sees the main sights within the city.
The bus took us to the shipyards where the Titanic was built. At this time, Belfast was one of the largest shipyards in the world, employing over 35,000 workers under shipbuilding giant 'Harland & Wolff'. It has since to shrunk to one-tenth of the size.The city has a distinct edgy feeling to it, possibly visible on the faces of people living there or in the disintegrating buildings in the city centre, or historical baggage, but regardless you can pick it up easily. This feeling swelled as we drove through the caloused neighbourhoods of Protestant - Loyalist Shankhill Road to Catholic - Nationalist Townsend Road, both within walking distance of each other in West Belfast, but literally separated by the 'Peace Line', a 4-storey wall crudely separating the two neighbourhoods. This is the site of the worst fighting in Belfast during the Troubles of 1969-1998. You can still see sniper towers atop resident homes in some
areas and barbed wire everywhere. The Courthouse is surrounded by 9' thick blast walls. Supposedly the conflict neighbourhoods are still populated by their respective fanatics, and small amounts of secular violence still occur here, but by connecting the dots, it's nothing compared to the past few decades. Towards the Protestant area, we found numerous wall murals sympathetic to the Loyalist feelings; in the other neighbourhood, murals sympathetic to global politics - mainly anti-Bush comments. It was all very heavy to take in, and I'm finding that my mental filter is clogging up fast. Irish history is so lengthy and complex - I'm only getting the gist of things now. Mum was quite moved by the political paintings along Townsend Road - it sort of crested many of the world's problems in one sweeping gesture which is strong enough to rattle people into awareness.
Belfast is the most socially/politically interesting city in Ireland to visit. Mum and Dad made a very good trip around the northwest quarter of Ireland which included Strokestown (which has the Famine Museum, also very moving). I guess Belfast just seemed to reveal a more exposed wound in Irish history than Dublin which seems preoccupied with the 'Celtic Tiger' and the Polish Invasion. Maybe they're well beyond all that which brings me back to the first buzz of optimism I felt upon arriving - things are good now, so enjoy life.The tail end of a great visit with the parents was fairly low-key. We went out for dinner with Paul and Maria on the night before they headed out. I have to admit, I was dreading the clash of the Titans, but it all went very well, thank all the gods haha. Sadly, off Mum and Dad went, leaving Malaysian curry powder and Tropical Menthos in their footprints. I'm anxious to see their full footage of the trip when getting home. You'd be interested to hear about Kylemore Abbey from them.
Here's a lengthy slide-video of some of the murals as well as my own slideshow of Belfast and Giant's Causeway.
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