So after Scotland, Mel and I headed to Ireland...to Belfast actually. Some people said it wasn't worth it to go there because it's pretty dark and has been scarred by "the troubles", but I wanted to go for that reason...it's like seeing history in action...it wasn't hundreds of years ago that there were battles and bloodshed, the troubles have gone on until recently. And you could definitely tell. We took a tour that took us around the Loyalist (Protestant) part of the city which was painted with the Loyalist colors (red, white, and blue) on buildings, curbs, and sign posts as a message to everyone about what part of the city you were in.
[Ok, a little history if you want it...the two sides fighting eachother are the Protestants and the Catholics, but really it's more about their political affiliation...Protestants are loyal to the British Empire and want to stay part of the UK and Catholics are also called Unionists who want Ireland to be seperate from the UK. Right now Northern Ireland is part of the UK and is also governed by them, which creates an undeniable tension in the city]. 
Well we then we crossed over into the Unionist side of town, seperated by a huge wall, called the peace wall. So, let me get this...they put up a huge wall in the middle of the city to keep the peace? Hmmm...doesn't sound like peace has really been achieved.
And the gates of the wall close every night to seperate the neighborhoods...crazy. In the Unionist part of town, I saw someone had spray painted on a building, "KILL ALL LOYALISTS". Are we living in 2009? It seemed like we had warped back into the days of...well, a civil war i guess. I guess Ireland is just having theirs right now. Well, that wasn't all we did in Northern Ireland. We took a day trip to the Giant's Causeway, where a volcanic eruption created all these hexagonal basalt columns....pretty cool stuff. 
Well that was Northern Ireland. It was interesting to see and gave a good history of the battle that continues to this day between Ireland and Britian.
Well we then we crossed over into the Unionist side of town, seperated by a huge wall, called the peace wall. So, let me get this...they put up a huge wall in the middle of the city to keep the peace? Hmmm...doesn't sound like peace has really been achieved. And the gates of the wall close every night to seperate the neighborhoods...crazy. In the Unionist part of town, I saw someone had spray painted on a building, "KILL ALL LOYALISTS". Are we living in 2009? It seemed like we had warped back into the days of...well, a civil war i guess. I guess Ireland is just having theirs right now. Well, that wasn't all we did in Northern Ireland. We took a day trip to the Giant's Causeway, where a volcanic eruption created all these hexagonal basalt columns....pretty cool stuff. Well that was Northern Ireland. It was interesting to see and gave a good history of the battle that continues to this day between Ireland and Britian. 
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