Will Cook For Beer: Belfast, Derry, Politics and Saunas

The Willamette group just returned from a trip to Northern Ireland. A quick background on Irish history is really necessary to understand what NI is all about. In 1922 the Anglo-Irish treaty was signed, and the Irish free state was created. This had two main effects on the country. First, a schism was created in the IRB (Irish Republican Brotherhood) over the condition in the treaty that an oath of allegiance to the crown be signed, the Irish Civil War began, and the IRA as we know it was created. The other major effect was that 6 of the 32 counties of Ireland were retained by Britain. The conflict between the imported British protestants and the native Irish Catholics has been causing problems ever since, peaking during the Troubles of the 70's through 90's.

To say that NI is a politically charged place is an understatement. Every where you go a political statement is being made, from the signs for Londonderry with the London part crossed out (Derry is the original name, or Doire in Irish.), to the R. IRA graffiti on seemingly every building. I tried to take pictures of all the graffiti, but its impossible. We traveled through both Derry (fuck London, I am calling it that) and Belfast, and got an incredible experience of the conflict from both a Catholic and Protestant perspective.

On Saturday we traveled by bus to Belfast, and got a bus tour of the city proper. We were driven to all the 4 regions of the city, but sadly I didn't get to take any pictures from the bus since I forgot my camera. Some of the coolest parts were the Protestant part of town (The Shankhill) and from the peace wall. The peace wall was covered in professionally painted graffiti, which was then covered by people signing their names and writing messages of hope and encouragement. Devon, Jack, Ellie and myself spent so long looking and reading that the bus drove down the street to us and picked us up instead of waiting. After that tour. We had about 2 hours for lunch. I spent the majority of the time eating at Ginger Bistro, a Michelin recommended restaurant in the downtown. There are a lot of pleasures in this world, and one of them is certainly a well cooked steak, which I had the pleasure of enjoying. A beautiful butter seared rib-eye, with sauteed spinach, garlic butter, fried onions and chips (fries). If my finances were in better shape, I would have tried the fried squid with chili, but alas, they are not. The whole group enjoyed the meal, and I was glad to enjoy it with them, and was envious (slightly) of the Tagliatelle with seafood and basil cream sauce that several of them ate. After that we headed back to our hotel in Draperstown, about an hour from the city.

The hotel we were lodged in was super nice. The restaurant provided hot Irish breakfasts every morning, and lovely buffets the first two nights. The last night we ordered from the menu, and I had a lovely dish of pigeon breasts in pepper sauce with mash. We had great rooms, tvs, all the amenities. Unanimously the second nicest place we have stayed, after our landlady's house in Carraroe.

The best part of the weekend for me was experiencing our WU group grow close together again. Initially we spent a lot of time together, and I think we all got a little sick of each other. This weekend it wasn't the case. You could even tell from our bus trips that everyone was getting along well, and that we were getting back to where we once were. Another huge factor was the hotel SAUNA. Fucking posh right? Given my aching knee, I hit the sauna every night, in the company of several others. Its a great opportunity to talk, swap stories and just enjoy each other's company. It really was a great time. We also gathered in the evenings to enjoy a few drinks, play drinking games, and eventually be played to sleep by one Jack Martin. It was really a great time, and I hope we keep it up.

On Sunday we traveled to Derry for a walking tour of the city proper, bogside, and the place where the Bloody Sunday massacre occurred. Standing in that spot was an experience I will never forget. I got a ton of pictures of the city proper, graffiti, statues and murals of Derry. After the tour, we headed to lunch in town, and I bought a Celtic FC T-shirt and cleat bag. What I realized after I bought it is that supporting Celtic basically says that you are a Catholic, which isn't always that best thing to be broadcasting, especially in Derry. In the protestant part of Derry. I escaped unscathed though.

After Derry, we traveled to the Giant's causeway. One of the places best described by pictures, the causeway is a network of about 40000 interlocking basalt columns, strangely shaped like hexagons. It is a place that I have wanted to see for some time, and it was as incredible as I hoped.

Thats pretty much the interesting parts of NI. Pictures at the end, like always.