Today we left Dublin and headed off to Belfast in Northern Ireland. We had checked the bus schedule yesterday, and decided that the 11:00am departure was ideal - it would allow us to sleep in a bit, get breakfast, shower, and check out of the hostel on-time. It was a great plan up until we woke up - or tried to, as we were quite tired and had some trouble getting up and moving. The bus station was literally a block away from our hostel, so we were lucky that we didn't have to go to far in order to get there, ideal since despite our best intentions, we were scrambling to catch the bus.
We arrived at the bus station at 10:55 am, and because Erin held the bus while James bought tickets, we made our way onto the 11:00 am bus. The two-and-a-half hour bus ride was captivating, as we passed through small villages and hamlets, watching the patchwork quilt of stone walls, green fields and livestock. Belfast is located in Northern Ireland, which is actually in a separate country from Ireland - instead of Ireland, we would be staying in the United Kingdom (UK). As one travels from Ireland to the UK, there are no customs or border crossing stations, but it is clearly a different country - and Erin felt this was very apparent based on the countryside's changing appearance. Our only unambiguous signal that the nation had changed was our cellphones' messages welcoming us to the UK, but it seemed that the roads were better, the homes a little bigger and in better repair, and even the gardens, while still verdant and green, were a touch more plush and better-manicured.
Once we arrived at the bus station, Erin's friend Rebecca was there to pick us up. Rebecca was one of Erin's roommates when she lived in the sorority house at Michigan State University, and the two have stayed in touch ever since. Rebecca studied international relations at MSU, and moved to Belfast after she graduated. She has since completed her Masters Degree at Queen's University in Belfast, and is about to begin a doctoral program at the same institution. Rebecca was kind enough to invite us to stay with her and her boyfriend, Richard (a native Northern Irishman). Richard is a writer and is currently working on his doctoral degree at Queen's University as well.
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| Richard and Rebecca, our gracious hosts. |
Rebecca had Saturday off and was happy to show us around the city. She suggested we take a bus tour of Belfast to begin our trip. The bus tour was a great idea! The bus took us around the entire city (keeping us sheltered a bit from the rain as well), so we were able to learn quite a bit about the city and its history. First, we explored Belfast's extensive shipyard history, including a visit to the Harland and Wolf Shipyards - the builders of the Titanic. We also learned about Belfast's economic power, its trade in linen, rope-making, and engineering.
Belfast may be more popularly known as the site of a great deal of turmoil in recent decades. The fighting, termed "The Troubles" by locals, began between religious groups but eventually became political. The fighting led to a great deal of destruction to the city. However, a peace treaty was signed in the year 1998 and since then, Belfast has become a much safer place to live. In fact, on our tour, we heard that Belfast is the second safest city in the United Kingdom. Throughout the city, there are numerous murals which depict various aspects of the conflict and the city's recovery. Many of the murals are located in the Shankill neighborhood, which is the site of a number of bombings and protests during the past years.
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| Belfast City Hall, one of the first places we visited upon our arrival. |
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| One of the many murals in Shankill, Belfast. |
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| Another mural we saw along our tour. |
Once we completed the tour, we wandered around a bit more of the city with Rebecca. She showed us Queen's University, where she and Richard attend school. It is one of only two universities in Northern Ireland, and was named after Queen Victoria (as are many parts of the city). The campus was absolutely gorgeous, and after wandering through the Queen's University campus and accidentally "crashing" a reception, we stopped at a quaint bookstore with a backroom that served coffee and small snacks. Post break, we went to the Botanical Gardens for the lovely view; the grass really seems to be a brighter shade of green than we see back home. Our hypothesis is the rain we have seen every single day here.
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| Queen's University |
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| This is at the university when we "accidentally" walked into a reception that was taking place. (Although she is somewhat embarrassed to admit it, Erin thought the room resembled the dining hall in Hogwarts.) |
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| The Palm House in the Botanical Gardens. |
Once we finished our tour through the Botanical Gardens, we walked back to Rebecca's car and drove to a small Italian restaurant where we met Richard for dinner. We enjoyed discussing differences in culture, politics, and education with Rebecca and Richard over Northern Ireland-inspired pizza (and salad for Erin). James was especially smitten with the jalapeno-and-hot sauce marinara sausage thin-crust offering.
After dinner was finished, we arrived at Richard's parents' home where we are staying while in the Belfast area. The home is quite large by US standards - while not a mansion, it is certainly a large country home. The home was built in 1968 and does feature many of the original appliances and decor, which definitely give it some character. We were quite excited to see our bedroom, which had a queen size bed with a down comforter on it...no bunk beds here!
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| This is the amazing home we are staying at in Belfast. |
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| This is a picture of the yard on the side of the house. |
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| The home even has a library! |
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| The guestroom we are staying in - it has a sitting area and a vanity! |
To James's delight, we left dinner in time to catch the majority of the Michigan v. Notre Dame football game on the computer. However, we found that EuroSport was the NBC affiliate station playing the game on television! We could not believe how lucky we were! Graciously, Rebecca and Richard watched the game with us even though neither of them had any interest whatsoever in football. (They much prefer soccer, rugby, hurling and cricket). During the game, Erin also looked up the Michigan State score and was happy that her team won (they are now 2-0). And, after a close game, Michigan ended up beating Notre Dame in the last minute, and is also now 2-0.
Because of the time difference, at the end of the football game it was well after midnight here and we were tired. So, we headed off to our comfortable bed, to rest up for our second day in Northern Ireland.
